Mitakihara High School’s Newspaper Club was founded by Koharu Shirahara at the start of the school year, after an incident during her first year in which the school demanded she take down a blog containing her often critical reporting of the goings on on campus. The club’s true purpose, however, is to serve as a meeting place for the Puella Magi of Mitakihara High as they try to solve the various mysteries affecting the school and the city as a whole.
Hanako Sasaki
| Age | 15 |
| Occupation | 2nd year high school student |
| Likes | Cute things, soft music, her parents, baked goods |
| Dislikes | Loud music, obnoxious people, herself |
| Pastimes | Thinking, overthinking, playing video games |
| @SasakiLily |
Hanako Sasaki is a quiet, introverted student at Mitakihara High and a member of the Newspaper Club. An intelligent girl, with a tendency to observe and analyze everything she comes across, Hanako usually speaks in a very soft, subtle tone, stuttering when she is overthinking or upset, and constantly pausing or hesitating with her speech, either trying to find the right thing to say, or letting her thoughts keep her distracted. Hanako also suffers from constant feelings of doubt for reasons she cannot explain, other than the feeling that her mind is “in a haze.” After the mysterious disappearance of her online friend Ueno, these feelings caused her to attempt suicide in the past — yet after being interrupted by Kyubey during her attempt, she elected to confront her depression by becoming a Puella Magi, wishing for the strength to overcome the darkness within her, rather than succumbing to it.
Making a contract with Kyubey gives Hanako a significant boost to her confidence, yet also gets her involved into the various mysterious goings on in Mitakihara. Strengthened by her wish and her newly forged friendships with Shinju and Koharu, she grows into a force to be reckoned with, yet ultimately wishes for nothing more than to be left in peace. This desire, along with an unwavering loyalty to her friends and a growing dependence on Grief to keep her powers at the level she needs, starts to cloud Hanako’s moral compass. She becomes quick to deem everyone whose goals don’t directly align with her own her enemy, and unafraid to lash out hard against those who would harm her friends. Nevertheless, Hanako continues to value careful consideration above all, often taking up a moderate position in contrast to Koharu’s staunch rationalism and Shinju’s flights of passion.
As a Puella Magi, Hanako fights with a rapier and has the power to control wind. In battle, she often surrounds herself with a personal cyclone, which she can use to propel herself through the air, attack enemies and deflect projectiles. Because of the complex nature of her wish, however, Hanako’s overal strength is highly dependent on how clouded with Grief her Soul Gem is. When her Soul Gem is entirely clean, Hanako can think so clearly she all but scares herself, yet the winds she wields are little more than a breeze. When het Soul Gem is significantly tainted, however, Hanako can hold herself against more experienced Puella Magi with ease, making her a force to be reckoned with.
Koharu Shirahara
| Age | 16 |
| Occupation | |
| Likes | Puzzles, riddles, sweets |
| Dislikes | Sports, tea, school, wasted time, lies, authority |
| Pastimes | Sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong, photography, shogi |
| @KoharuShirahara |
Koharu Shirahara is the founder and president of Newspaper Club, an aspiring investigative journalist and an expert at chasing down (or creating) rumors about the mysterious disappearances and deaths haunting the city. Clever, inquisitive and intellectually gifted, Koharu’s curious nature often gets her into trouble with school authorities. She tends to overthinks things and is quick to make associations, especially when she claims to have a major stake in the situation at hand — which is almost always. Egocentric and headstrong to a fault, Koharu is quick to speak her mind and rather poor at displaying the correct emotional response to a given situation. Diagnosed with a developmental disorder at a young age, Koharu’s utilitarian approach to social interaction makes her a regular at the guidance counselor’s office and a pariah amongst her peers. Though she doesn’t mind keeping to herself, something within her craves the approval and appreciation of her schoolmates. Always desperate to prove her talents through her journalism and help those fallen victim to injustice and lies, Koharu’s ambitions and passion for finding out the truth make her a valuable asset for anyone interesting enough to earn her trust.
It is through this desire to uncover the truth that Koharu befriends Hanako and Shinju, two people touched by the various supernatural occurrences in town. Believing these events to be related to the disappearance of her mother during a mysterious storm four years ago, she stands by her friends as they make their contracts and delve into the dangerous life of a Puella Magi. Though without powers herself, she plays an invaluable role in thwarting the ambitions of her nemesis Rui Tomatsu, who manipulated and blackmailed dozens of girls into becoming Puellae Magi in pursuit of revenge against Koharu, and uncovering the secrets of an enigmatic organization known as the Conductors.
Recently, however, Koharu has found her many flaws catching up on her, as Rui’s machinations make her the prime target of Mitakihara High’s bullies and her stubborn desire to find truths without Kyubey’s help causes her to fall from one disappointment into the next. Most frustratingly, her mother reappears as if out of thin air without any of Koharu’s efforts in trying to find out what happened to her going answered or appreciated. Even worse, Hikari doesn’t seem to remember her daughter at all, which does quite a number on Koharu’s mood until her friends motivate her to now pursue the mystery of what caused this amnesia instead.
Shinju Hayama
| Age | 16 |
| Occupation | 2nd year high school student |
| Likes | Her chinchilla Kinu, gun makes and models, music |
| Dislikes | Animal abuse, boredom, wasted time, people who disrespect the military |
| Pastimes | Gymnastics, pickpocketing, playing with Kinu |
| @ShinjuHayama |
Shinju Hayama is a lively, outgoing transfer student and a member of the Newspaper Club, who moved to Mitakihara when her sister and guardian Kohaku, a sergeant in the JSDF, was transferred to military base established in the city shortly after the incident four years ago. she quickly befriends Hanako and joins the Newspaper Club to keep her company. Headstrong and loyal to a fault, she initially looks for meaning in her life through thrill-seeking and acts of petty delinquency — in spite of her unwavering respect for the military, which, as tensions between authorities and the people of the city grow more grim, often puts her at odds with the more skeptical Koharu.
When Hanako makes her contract, Shinju is eager to jump to the call as well, but the two soon find out that Shinju’s somewhat self-destructive behavior is the result of a wish her sister Kohaku made, offering herself up as a Puella Magi, in order to bring Shinju back to life after an unfortunate accident. This left Shinju without a Soul for Kyubey to claim, barring her from becoming a Puella Magi. With her sister’s help, Shinju manages to retrieve her Soul and makes her wish. Without anything to wish for for herself, however, Shinju selflessly decides to resurrect Niko Segawa, an enemy turned ally who had died protecting Shinju from Rui Tomatsu’s clique.
As a Puella Magi, Shinju gains the ability to control and even become water, which she can use with great efficiency to eventually help defeat Tomatsu and the rogue Puella Magi Chiemi Takahata. With her soul restored, Shinju eventually grows into the most considerate and level-headed member of the Newspaper Club, often arguing for common sense when her friends tend to overthink things. Her strongest relationship, however, she forges with Niko Segawa, whose all-consuming guilt towards Shinju eventually turns into love, which Shinju reciprocates after helping Niko regain control of the Dreamscape from the Puella Malefica known as Kae.
Yasu Matsushita
| Age | 17 |
| Occupation | 3rd year high school student |
| Likes | Strong convictions, long runs in the park, worn-out sneakers |
| Dislikes | Intolerance, social media, ghost stories |
| Pastimes | Track and field, reading |
| @MatsushitaYasu |
Yasu Matsushita is a considerate, mature student of few words, who is initially introduced as Rui Tomatsu’s close friend, confidante and loyal enforcer. As a transgender girl, she has been faced with intolerance and injustice throughout her teenage years, which after Rui protects her from bullies, causes her to appreciate the girl’s resolve and dedication amongst those trying to bring her down. When Rui grows increasingly more unhinged, however, Yasu begins to realize that the friend she used to know is long gone, and when her resolve is revealed to be little more than a petty vendetta, Yasu comes to see the error of her ways and joins the Newspaper Club.
This decision ends up painting a large target on her back, however, when Rui is killed. Believing Yasu to be complicit in Rui’s many misdeeds, the bully’s former victims make Yasu their new target, which eventually causes Hanako and Shinju to clash with Chiemi Takahata, the Puella Magi who murdered Rui. Takahata’s defeat and subsequent arrest by the 6th Bureau does not quench the conflict, however, as the former members of Rui’s clique eventually turn to schoolyard bullying to vent their frustrations. While Yasu initially takes the harassment in stride, she ultimately decides to leave Mitakihara and move to Tokyo to start a new life.
As a highly skilled and experienced Puella Magi, Yasu wields dozens of daggers in conjunction with the power of telekinesis, yet is held back by a curious case of amnesia, that causes her to have forgotten what she wished for in the first place. Through her friendship with an older Puella Magi named Yui Arashi, Yasu eventually finds out that she wished to have her entire life rewritten to make it so she had been assigned female at birth. This revelation sparks a desire in her to discover herself anew, which adds to her decision to say Mitakihara farewell… for now.
Yosuke Nishioka
Yosuke Nishioka is a first-year transfer student at Mitakihara High joins the Newspaper Club soon after the end of summer, much to Koharu’s dismay. He has an interest in photography and, with his blunt and intrusive personality, seems particularly keen on pushing Koharu’s buttons. Is there more than meets the eye when it comes to this intruder?
Yuna Sakurauchi
Yuna Sakurauchi is Mitakihara High’s guidance counselor and a psychologist specialized in dealing with autistic children, who — much to Koharu’s dismay — serves as the Newspaper Club’s advisor. However, in reality, Yuna is an agent of the 6th Bureau, sent to infiltrate the school and monitor the Puella Magi there. For more information about Yuna Sakurauchi, check The 6th Bureau.
Mitakihara Original 