Hitori Gotōh

Birthday: February 21 / Height: 156cm / Weight: 50kg / Blood Type: O

The protagonist of the series. Lead guitarist and lyricist. First to second year at Shuka High School. Nicknamed "Bocchi-chan," given by Ryō based on her name. Lives near Kanazawa-Hakkei Station in Yokohama. She has long pink hair with two cubic hair clips in blue and yellow on the right side. Always wears tracksuits, and at home, she constantly plays guitar in a dark closet, a typical introverted girl. She hardly ever goes out, preferring to stay indoors.

She struggles significantly with interpersonal communication, finding it nearly impossible to initiate conversation with strangers and unable to make eye contact. Her speech is often hesitant, and she is susceptible to peer pressure and unable to refuse requests or invitations, easily swayed by others' opinions. Attempts to liven up the atmosphere often fail, either by falling flat or overdoing it. Her emotions are easily visible, and she tends to panic in stressful situations, seeking refuge in trash bins or cardboard boxes. She had a lonely middle school life, leading to a complex about her youth and a strong dislike for school events like sports festivals, often expressing a desire to succeed in her band and drop out of high school early. She shows a physical aversion to conversations about youth, including nausea and physical collapse. This leads to a strong desire for approval, and she is easily swayed by praise. She has a strong imagination, both positive and negative, and harbors strong prejudices against the so-called "popular" types, often fantasizing about others as villains in her scenarios. She tends to put on a brave front and show off. Despite her difficult personality, she is observant of her band members and others, quickly noticing when someone is troubled or under pressure. She takes notes diligently in class and studies for tests, though her academic performance is quite poor, often requiring remedial classes and has nearly given up on advancing her education.

After entering high school, she was approached by Nijika while playing guitar in a park, and after Ikuyo fled, she temporarily took over as the guitarist for a band, eventually joining it officially. Through her interactions with Ikuyo, Nijika, and Ryō, she began to see music as something she wanted to pursue not just for herself but together with her bandmates. She has grown as a person through various live performances and meeting Kikuri, though her personality remains largely the same.

She practiced guitar for over six hours daily for about three years since middle school, reaching a professional level, able to play complex pieces after hearing them once. At a school festival, when unable to tune her guitar due to a peg malfunction, she managed with Kikuri's bottle slide guitar technique. She can also perform special techniques like playing with her teeth or behind her back, captivating audiences with her intense performances, though she struggles with performing in front of others and lacks experience in playing with a band.

In the band, she handles lyric writing, avoiding words related to youth, leading to generally darker lyrics. During the production of a label mini-album, she tried her hand at composing and arranging, but the arrangement did not go well, and Ryō ended up handling it indirectly.

According to Nijika and Ikuyo (though often overlooked due to her usual odd behavior), she is a beautiful girl. At the cultural festival, she was praised for looking good in a maid outfit, with Ryō suggesting she could be marketed for her visuals, calling her a "diamond in the rough." She can perform the "tapioca challenge," placing a cup of tapioca drink on her chest and drinking it, indicating her excellent figure, which sometimes earns her jealous looks from Nijika and Ikuyo. Ikuyo mentioned that with the right facial expression, she could aim for an idol agency, though she cannot maintain it for more than 10 seconds. She has an extremely low self-esteem and is not conscious of her appearance or style.

Initially set as a normal cute girl, her character was revised to be more intense after feedback from the editor, quickly becoming the current setting.

Guitar Hero

The handle name Hitori uses when posting videos online, symbolizing her inner desire for recognition, a stark contrast to her real-life persona, with settings like "girlfriend of the basketball team's ace" and "over 1000 friends on LINE." She posts popular band cover videos shot from angles that hide her face, with subscriber numbers exceeding 30,000 at the time of the first volume and 100,000 by the fourth volume, with many videos reaching over a million views, attracting attention from music industry figures like Poison♡ and Mino. The videos are monetized by Naoki, with the revenue used for expenses such as buying a new guitar after hers broke during a school festival performance. Despite her current live performance abilities, she does not reveal her identity as "Hitori Gotō of the band" publicly, as she believes she cannot yet satisfy fans under the name Guitar Hero.