| “ | Wipe away your tears and stand tall! That's the only way you can see tomorrow! | „ |
| ~ Akiho Senomiya |
Akiho "Aki" Senomiya is the main female protagonist of the visual novel and anime series Robotics;Notes. She is a third-year student at Tanegashima High School and the President of the Robot Research Club. She is also Kaito Yashio's childhood best friend. Akiho is a dedicated fan of the in-series anime, Gunvarrel, and her dream is to complete the GunBuild-1 giant robot of the same name, which was started by her sister, Misaki.
She is voiced by Yoshino Nanjo in the Japanese version of the anime and Lindsay Seidel in the English version.
Appearance
Akiho is a young woman with matching brown hair and eyes. Her slightly wavy hair is tied in a ponytail and she is usually seen in her school uniform, even while working on her robots. Akiho also carries around a pair of armless glasses that she likes to equip when making anime references.
Personality
| “ | Usui: Perhaps you can at least explain why it must be a giant robot. Akiho: GunBuild-1 is the reason for the Robot Research Club's existence. It has always been my dream to take it to the Tokyo Expo. I will not give that dream up Usui: One additional question: can the two of you alone honestly hope to complete a project of this magnitude? And with such a short deadline? Akiho: Determination will prevail. |
„ |
| ~ Akiho explaining her dream to Kaoruko Usui, as well as highlighting her strong will and overconfidence |
Hot-blooded and headstrong, Akiho is quick to act and rarely considers the practicality of her decisions. This is shown when she requested an absurd sum of money from her head teacher, Kaoruko Usui (which she had done several times before), even though the school couldn't afford it, though Usui ultimately agreed if Aki and Kaito won the Robo-One tournament. She is extremely energetic and enthusiastic, being determined to finish GunBuild-1 before she graduates despite the odds being very much not in her favour. Her determination manifested at a young age, when she swore to her sister Misaki to finish what she started. However, Misaki coldly told her that she would never be more than mediocre at robot building, and it has been Aki's goal to prove her sister wrong ever since.
Aki is generally a very kind and friendly girl who gets along well with most people she meets. She's also compassionate, which is shown when she helps Junna overcome her fear of robots and reconcile with her grandfather. However, her naivety and overconfidence causes Aki to often get into disagreements with the other club members, particularly Kai and Subaru, being consistently frustrated by their lack of motivation and willingness to give up so easily. She can also get rather jealous when Kai spends time with other girls, particularly when she sees Frau put her arms around him after she returns to school. However, she denies this whenever it's pointed out to her, claiming she doesn't care if he dates other girls.
Aki is a proud fan of action mecha anime, particularly Gunvarrel, which GunBuild-1 is based off. She has a habit of quoting or making references to various mecha anime, such as Mobile Suit Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion. When the Robot Research Club is brought to JAXA for the first time, Aki initially believes it to be a set-up similar to the latter anime, even pulling a pose frequently done by Gendo Ikari, which Subaru recognizes as a 'Gendo Pose'.
Aki is shown to often let her emotions and personal feelings get the better of her; initially, she turns down JAXA's offer of cooperation, as to work with them would mean to cease work on GunBuild-1 and start on a new robot from scratch, something she doesn't want to do. As a result, she ends up learning the hard way that what would have been a masterpiece nine years ago isn't so impressive anymore, with everyone considering the finished GunBuild-1 a piece of junk. Initially, she is reluctant to let GunBuild-1 go, due to all the work she and other club members had put into it, but after talking it over with Kai, Aki accepts JAXA's offer to work on GunBuild-2, having realised that she was just being sentimental and that building a new robot won't change her original dream.
Skills & Abilities
Like Kai, Akiho suffers from the mysterious Elephant Mouse Syndrome which causes her to experience a few seconds over the course of several minutes, leaving her in a comatose-like state throughout. The syndrome occurs when she experiences extreme physical stress or is otherwise overexerted.
As the only member with serious engineering ability, Akiho is largely credited with the construction of the Robotics Club's projects. Her love of robots has helped drive and motivate her to complete impressive constructions in a remarkably short time.