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Yamaguchi Kenji (山口 賢二, lit. Kenji Yamaguchi) is a student at Kaimei Private School.
Appearance
Yamaguchi's full appearance.
Kenji is a slender young man with a short bob haircut. His hair is blonde and falls across his face. He has small, slanted, light brown eyes. He is implied to be very attractive as he is said to be able to get any girl he wants.
Kenji is mainly seen in his school uniform. This consists of matching green/blue pants and turtleneck jacket, sometimes worn with a white coat over the top. His fashion sense outside of school is quite cool and casual.
Personality
Although he initially uses him, Kenji is one of Haru's friends. He attends the same cram school as Shizuku and he falls in love with her, and later tries to win her affection. After being rejected by Shizuku, he distances himself from her despite his unchanged feelings.
One of Kenji's obvious characteristics is his pride. When he was lost in Syoyo High School and also, when he couldn't find the right sector in the library, he refused to ask anybody for help; as he is seen telling Shizuku "I don't like asking other people for help". It also seems that he is somewhat afraid of Yuuzan, Haru's older brother. But Kenji denies it, saying he only had a traumatic experience, and that nothing scares him. On that note, Shizuku comments that his pride will be his undoing one day.
Kenji's facial expressions.
A recurring joke is Kenji's complete lack of orientation or bad sense of direction. In almost every one of his appearances he is shown to be lost, whether it be in the city, the library or the Syoyo school grounds. Because of his pride, he refuses to admit this or ask anyone for help, even when it is completely obvious that he has no idea where he's going.
History
Kenji used to go to the same school as Haru when they were younger. He often said that because Haru had higher grades than him. When they were in kindergarten, he said that the "weird new kid beside him" was causing him problems, beating him in academics. He tried to bully him but only ended up showing their difference in intelligence once more, and getting hurt by Yuuzan when he shoved Haru (which explains why he is terrified of Yuuzan and often hides whenever he sees him). He said that the last time he saw Haru was in second grade of elementary school.
Plot
Yamaguchi Kenji's first anime debut was during episode one, Sitting Next to Yoshida-kun. He wasn't yet introduced but was seen as the 'leader' of a delinquent group of boys from Kaimei High School. His group of friends and him hung out with Haru after Haru decided to not come back to school anymore, since the last incident of his fight. The boys took advantage of Haru, and Kenji did nothing to stop them.
When Mizutani Shizuku meets the group, she points out to Haru that they're using him for his money. Kenji took an interest in Shizuku's appearance since their first introduction. After overhearing how stupid the group viewed Yoshida Haru at the Batting Centre, Shizuku stormed out to yell at Yamaguchi Kenji and his group of boys and how they should be ashamed for treating a genuine person lowly. This leaves another impression on Kenji.
Kenji never makes direct plans with either of the two, but they always casually bump into each other on the streets. To his own amusement, Kenji thought it would be entertaining to test Haru's patience by invading Shizuku's personal space, but he failed to sincerely keep his distance as he unexpectedly became attracted to Shizuku and then falling in love with her. Throughout the anime, he keeps asking, "What does she see in that guy, anyway?"
When Yoshida Haru confronted Yamaguchi Kenji if Kenji loved Shizuku or not, Kenji cooly responded with, "So what if I do?" Yoshida became irritated and jealous. He blurted out in front of Yoshida's group of friends and Kenji's group of friends that Kenji loved Shizuku in episode 10, and Kenji played it cool by pretending to brush off Yoshida's accusation, explaining that he was joking around. Yoshida Haru fell for it immediately, but their friendship remained rough when Haru couldn't shake off his jealousy.
Haru, jealous.
He doesn't know why he loves Shizuku because she is full of flaws that he cannot stand, but he does try his best to keep their distance and their acquaintanceship mutually casual. In the manga, he finally caves in and tells Shizuku how he felt, but she rejected him and sided with Haru. They both agreed to be friends. In the anime, he doesn't confess at all.
Relationships
Mizutani Shizuku
Kenji antagonising Haru.
His first impression of Shizuku was her cold exterior. During one of their first encounters, Shizuku demands Kenji and his friends to treat Haru with more respect if they truly consider themselves his friends. It is later revealed that Shizuku attends the same cram school as Kenji. Initially, Kenji pretends to be close to Shizuku to agitate Haru, but this eventually develops into sincere affection. Kenji does not really understand why he would fall for a girl like Shizuku, considering all her distasteful traits and tries to conceal his true feelings. He subconsciously takes care of Shizuku, especially after heated arguments with her friends or with Haru. Yamaken (Kenji) confesses to Mizutani Shizuku about his feelings, but it is not reciprocated. He then proposes to break off their friendship and Mizutani Shizuku calmly agreed. Later on, however, they mutually become friends.
Yamaken and Haru.
Haru Yoshida
Kenji and Haru have known each other since they were younger. He was jealous of Haru's intelligence and used to pick on him because of it. He has even seen a couple of Haru's infamous attacks on other students, which Haru fails to remember. When they were in high school, Haru was suspended and he hung out with Kenji and his friends (who only used Haru for borrowing money). Though they are still rivals up until now, they still remain friends and even compete for Shizuku's affection.
Mabo, Joji and Tomio
Yamaken goes to school with Mabo, Joji, and Tomio. Personally, Yamaken doesn't view the trio as his friends. He only hangs around them because he thinks it's "amusing to observe stupid people." The trio put up with his snobbiness. They're known as delinquents and label themselves as delinquents.
Yoshida Yūzan
Like Yoshida Haru, Yamaken runs the opposite direction when he sees Yuuzan. He denies being frightened but told Mizutani that he had a traumatic experience with him during earlier years. It is revealed in the manga that whenever Yamaken would pick on Haru in elementary school, Yuuzan would stand up for Haru by doing things to him (it is not explicitly stated what happened, but Shizuku assumed Yuuzan would beat him up). He also seems to get irritated at him when Yuuzan can't remember his name or his face. Various times in the manga, he would stop Shizuku from interacting with Yūzan, similarly to how Haru does, as a way of protecting her from him.
Yamaguchi Iyo
In the manga, Yamaken is shown to hate his sister, and pushes her aside most of the time, referring to her once as 'not my blood' and saying he doesn't remember having a stupid sister. Iyo is scared of him, but Yamaken doesn't seem to mind this. In truth, they don't hate each other that much and still have a sibling-like relationship as seen in the last volume of the manga.
Natsume Asako
There is not much interaction between Kenji and Natsume. Whenever she saw Yamaken flirting with Shizuku, she always says that he doesn't have a chance with Shizuku, thus making him angry.
Trivia
- His blood type is A.
- Kenji's star sign is Taurus.
- A word from the name Kenji is from the name of the founder of the hospital, his amazing paternal great-grandfather.
- In the future, he works as a doctor.
- Tentatively, aware of his weak sense of direction, when he makes an
appointment, he will go out in advance and would still apologize for coming late.
Quotes
- "So what if I do?"
- "How can you be in love with that?"
- "What does she see in him, anyway?"
- "I'm not lost. It's just a big school."
- "No, thanks. I can find it myself." (It's the fifth time he's asked where that book was!)
- "It seems that Shizuku likes my touch more than she does yours."
- "I'm not afraid! I just had... a traumatic experience!"
- "Hold on, it's just getting interesting."
- "Every time Haru and you fight, he always ends up alone."
- "It's amusing to observe stupid people."
- "Is that a problem?"
- "If I were Haru... I would treat you with more care"
- "Maybe it's because... I've fallen for her!"
- "Oh, sorry, I thought you were crying"
- "Shizuku, do you like me?" (In the manga ver.)
- "Idiot! I was just joking!"
- "It's no joke, I like her"
| Maki • Kyoko Misawa • Yū Miyama • Shizuku Mizutani • Yoshino Mizutani • Asako Natsume • Natsume's Ex-Colleagues • Saeko Ninomiya • Yamase • Chizuru Ōshima | |
| Andou • Haru's Father • Issei Joujima • Kitano • Masahiro Ayanokouji • Mitsuyoshi Misawa • Mizutani Takashi • Takaya Mizutani • Samejima • Sōhei Sasahara • Seda • Shimoyanagi • Ryuuji Tomioka • Kenji Yamaguchi • Haru Yoshida • Yuuzan Yoshida | |
| Dog • Mimi • Nagoya • Shizuku's Golden Fish | |