Kanda Sorata is the male protagonist of the story. He is a second-year student of Suiko University of Arts, who lives in room 101 of the Sakurasou Dormitory. He was kicked out of the standard school dorm after he refused to abandon a white cat he picked up. As many of the Sakurasou Dormitory residents have outstanding grades and art skills, he often feels plain and normal among them. He is chosen by Chihiro to take care of Mashiro's daily life and although he initially resists, he eventually grows accustomed, even somewhat fond of the job.
Chihiro Sengoku is the 29-year old (+15 months) dorm teacher of Sakura Dormitory and an art teacher of Suiko. Despite being a teacher, Chihiro is lazy and only cares about drinking alcohol and trying to date men. Despite being a teacher, she often gives Sorata improper advice. She is Mashiro's cousin and is the one who arranges the transfer, but she forces Sorata to take care of Mashiro due to her laziness. She was a conscientious student of Suiko, and wanted to become a professional artist, but she changed and became an art teacher because of Kazuki Fujisawa wanting to be a game designer.
She is also Sorata's classmate. Although she is harsh to Sorata, she obviously is in love with him, and everyone aside from Sorata has noticed this, due to the fact that Sorata is oblivious to her feelings towards him. She escaped from her home to become a voice actress, and has to live on her own.After she finds herself low on money to live in the normal dorm, as well as wanting to find out the true relationship between Sorata and Mashiro, she chooses to move into Sakura Dormitory's room 203.Nanami is actually a diligent and hardworking girl, stopping at nothing to achieve her goals. Nanami is a tsundere sometimes towards Sorata, slacking him sometimes. She tends to overdo herself, especially when she's determined to work, sometimes harming herself in the process. This is primarily due to a complex that she has, wherein she has to do her best and be extremely competitive in nature. She gives out her best in whatever she's doing, which earns the residents of Sakurasou their admiration, with Chihiro even saying that she makes life easier at Sakurasou.Nanami is generally a shy person, possessing a noticeable degree of shyness in regards to her body and own feelings.
Misaki Kamiigusa- former resident of room 201. Third-year-student of Suiko who later attends Suimei University of the Arts. Very good at drawing. She gets married to Jin; making her new name, Mitaka Misaki.
When abandoned kittens and his good conscience force second year Sorata Kanda to move into Suimei High School’s infamous Sakura Hall, the satellite dorm and its eccentric, misfit residents turn his life upside down. The decidedly average Sorata finds it difficult to fit in with the bizarre collection of dorm residents like Misaki, an energetic animator; Jin, a playwright playboy; Ryuunosuke, a reclusive programmer; and Chihiro, the dorm manager, art teacher, and party girl. Sorata's friend Nanami, a second year student and aspiring voice actress, pushes him to find new owners for the many cats so that he can quickly move back into the regular dorms. However, his desire to escape Sakura Hall wavers when the pet-like and infantile second year Mashiro Shiina, a world-class artistic savant looking to become a mangaka, transfers in during the spring trimester and quickly latches onto him. Supported by each other's quirks, Sorata and Mashiro come out of their shells and trigger change in the lives of those around them. Based on the light novel series of the same name, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo explores the fine threads connecting talent, hard work, romance, and friendship with its ensemble cast.
Genre
Akasaka Ryūnosuke is the resident of room 102. Ryuunosuke is a second-year student of Suiko. He is a recluse who rarely leaves his room, and usually communicates with others with cellphone messages or e-mails. To reduce the need to communicate with others, he programmed an AI program, "Maid". As an expert with computers and programming, he contributes lots of useful advice and information to Sorata for the latter's computer game. According to Ryuunosuke, his ultimate goal is to make Maid become a real human. He has gynophobia, and will even pass out when girls touch him, which becomes worse after Rita falls in love with him. Ryuunosuke is a very pragmatic and reservedperson. Extremely intelligent, he can decipher the true natures of people. However, he seldom holds regard for the feelings of others, and ends up hurting some of them due to his nature of being frank and direct. Like most residents of Sakurasou, he is open with his feelings but sometimes he is a tsundere.
Jin mitaka is the former resident of room 103. Third-year student of Suiko. He is Misaki's childhood friend and a playboy. He finally becomes a couple with Misaki during the fifth novel. He wants to become a playwright, and later attends a university in Osaka to achieve his goal. To pacify Misaki, he gives her a marriage registration form with his signature as a warranty, but Misaki ends up turning it in after his departure on the same day, which makes them officially married.
Shiina Mashiro is the main female protagonist of the story and resides in Room 202 of the Sakura Dormitory. She is the most quiet person. Mashiro is a world famous artist who transferred into Suiko as a second-year to learn how to draw manga. Although her artworks are widely admired by the world in spite of her young age, she knows little to nothing other than drawing and is extremely reliant on others just to get by. Mashiro is an excellent painter and draws, but extremely terrible in everything else due to lacking any common sense. She is almost completely devoid of emotion. Having a soft voice, Mashiro is a girl of few words, since at times, she herself is unsure of what to say, let alone think. These traits may suggest that she suffers Savant's syndrome. She is eccentric, as if living in her own world. As a result, she typically reacts to situations in an unconventional manner and operates on very different morals from others. Mashiro can be considered an idealistic person, able to have faith in others quite easily and is quickly convinced of another's potential based on how hard that person is trying to achieve their goal. Despite being successful at her practices, Mashiro cares little for fame or esteem. This trait allowed her to go to Japan and become a mangaka, abandoning her painting career without regret. Mashiro can become obsessive with her work, going nights without sleep and neglecting to eat in order to complete a project. That said, Mashiro is easily motivated by food. At times, Mashiro allows her emotions to control her actions. This tends to be the case due to lacking any otherwise logical thinking. To Sorata, he thought she was wasting her time but for Mashiro, it's for her to show feelings towards Sorata.
Rita Ainsworth was Mashiro's roommate and handler when Mashiro was in England. She was jealous of Mashiro's art talent, and so advised Mashiro to draw manga, but she later regrets this after finding that Mashiro made a big hit on her manga, and comes to Japan to bring Mashiro back to England. After realizing Mashiro's determination, she gives up and returns to England and resumes to study art. She usually argues with Ryuunosuke. Rita hated Ryuunosuke for being too harsh to her when it came to details regarding her wants and expectations. However, she ended up admiring him, as she loved the wisdom that he spewed (and the fact that he was also the one who made her realize what she really wanted). Soon, Rita becomes interested in him and falls for him. While Ryuunosuke is cold to her and keeps letting Maid handle her email, this only increases her determination and makes her constantly argue with Maid over the Internet. Rita believes in chivalry, given her English heritage. She is a persistent person, as shown by her determination to bring back Mashiro to England, falling for Ryuunosuke, despite failing somewhat. She, however, makes this work with her successes and talents, being determined enough to continue painting, after realizing what she really wanted She may be considered "Sakurasou's eighth resident".
