Emiri Uchi

Uchi Emiri
Information
Title	High School Student
Nickname	"Emoji" [絵文字・えもじ] (Tomoko) "Ucchi" [うっちー] (Friends)
Gender	Female
Hair	Honey
Eyes	Unknown

Emiri Uchi (内笑美莉, うちえみり^?), better known in the English translation by her nickname "Ucchi," is Tomoko's second year classmate. Because she could not form a group of five with her friends for the school trip to Kyōto, she along with Yoshida and Tamura are put in Tomoko's group. Since that time and despite her initial dislike of her, she has become progressively interested in Tomoko to the point of developing a crush on her.

Overview

Ucchi is first seen in Chapter 59 during Tomoko's second year of high school. She and Tomoko sit next to each other on the bus to a baseball game, but to Tomoko's irritation, Ucchi spends the whole ride chatting with her friends who are sitting behind them. This parallels her actions during the school field trip where she tries to spend most of her time with with her friends in Group Two rather than her assigned group of Tomoko, Yoshida, and Yuri. Occasionally she would come back to their room to gather her things. In a comic scene, Ucchi walks in and spies Tomoko trying to groom herself with a pair of scissors. When Yuri and Yoshida return, they seem stand-offish, and Ucchi decides to stay away from them as much as possible. She and her friends can hear through the walls of their rooms incidents such as fights between Tomoko and Yoshida which only supports her resolve. For their part, Ucchi gives little reason for the trio to want to know her. This changes when she and Tomoko share a room together on the last night of the trip, and comic misunderstandings lead Ucchi to fear that Tomoko is sexually interested in her. From that point, Ucchi invariably misinterprets Tomoko's behavior as "perverted" interest in her; yet, she begins to follow Tomoko and even feel some pride that, in her mind, Tomoko is attracted to her while becoming severely jealous when she interprets any interaction Tomoko has with other girls as "flirting" or worse on their part. She eventually tries to find opportunities to be near Tomoko and has a tantrum when she learns she will not be in Tomoko's class. For her part, Tomoko has little interest in her and does not bother to learn her name. Instead, Tomoko refers to her as "Emoji" (絵文字・えもじ) in reference to her expression resembling an emoticon. During the field trip to the amusement park, Ucchi engineers the opportunity to join Tomoko's group by pretending that she became separated from her friends and did not bring her phone. When Mako Tanaka offers to call them, she quickly stops her. She subsequently takes the opportunity to be near Tomoko without really conversing with her. While on the one hand she walks next to and stares at Tomoko, she inwardly accuses Tomoko of having a "harem" of girls. When her friends text her on the phone she claimed she did not have, she lies that she found "that girl I was talking to you about" alone and felt sorry for her. When her friends find her, she is reluctant to leave. Later, she returns to stand next to Tomoko when watching the fireworks. After Tomoko gives her one of the cheap souvenir keychains, Ucchi interprets this as their "hearts" always being together until she sees that Tomoko gave the same to others. She then resumes secretly watching Tomoko during lunch breaks.

Personality

From her initial appearance, Ucchi appears only interested in her small and consistent circle of friends who miss her when she is separated from them. Her friend with glasses claims their group is "boring" without her. To some she appears very shy to stand-offish. She shows no interest in talking to Tomoko when they sit together on a bus. She shows similar disinterest in her assigned field trip group and instead spends most of her time chatting with her friends. Due to some comic misunderstandings and Ucchi's own behavior towards Yoshida, she vows to have as little interaction with them as possible.

Ucchi's personality gradually reveals itself as her interest in Tomoko develops. Due to a few more comic misunderstandings and Tomoko's attempts to seem mature and experienced, Ucchi believes Tomoko is a "pervert" who is sexually attracted to her. Ucchi is not completely innocent, however. Like Tomoko, she has curiosity about sexuality, but she inwardly dismisses such thoughts as "disgusting!" In Chapter 77 when she finds the other members of her assigned group all asleep in the room during dinner time she figures she should at least wake them. When she attempts to wake the difficult to arose Yoshida for dinner, she pauses and then takes the opportunity to touch her. The sleeping Yoshida dreams it is Tomoko "pinching" her "nipples": "乳首つまんで. . ." again, and she viciously elbows Ucchi in the stomach. A very hurt and angry Ucchi leaves and takes revenge by marking her entire group as present at dinner.

While Ucchi concludes that Tomoko is a lesbian and inwardly declares her "disgusting," she takes pride in her imagined interest from Tomoko. She becomes angered whenever she observes Tomoko interact with other girls and invariably leaps to the conclusion that Tomoko is either hitting on the other girl or they are both lesbians. In later chapters Ucchi's apparent disgust with her belief that Tomoko is attracted to girls mixes with her own progressively apparent desire to be with Tomoko. Her friends do notice and remark that she spends a lot of time talking about "that girl." Whether this is just jealousy, curiosity, or actual feelings remains undefined until Chapter 131.

While Ucchi tries to find opportunities to be close to Tomoko, since their night together on the last evening of the field trip she has thus far only briefly talks to Tomoko, such as to ask if Tomoko finds roller coaster rides scary, to request to have their picture taken together at the amusement park, and to simply remark that the fireworks they are watching are beautiful.

Ucchi will approach others. When she sees Mako Tanaka looking in Tomoko's direction, Ucchi talks to her freely about her conviction that Tomoko is sexually attracted to her, to Mako's confusion and despite the fact Tomoko has little regard for her. Later, she corrects Hina Nemoto's impersonation of Tomoko in front of Akane Okada, Suzuki, and Yoshinori Kiyota.

Chapter 130.5 ends with the suggestion that Ucchi may have at least come to tolerate Yoshida and Yuri, since she is the mostly likely of them to think: "They were all a bunch of disgusting creeps, but still I - had a lot of fun!" When her friends call for her and she tries to slip quietly away, Tomoko calls her by her proper name and gives her one of the cow keychains she bought. Ucchi will come to believe this connects their "hearts" only to be shattered when she realizes Tomoko gave keychains to others. 

Ucchi verbally mistreats Shizuku.

She then resumes secretly watching Tomoko during their lunch break.

The revelation may change her personality. Prior to that time while she may appear superficial to some like Tomoko and Yoshida, Ucchi is never seen to attack another verbally. While inwardly she may find many "disgusting," she does not vocalize this. Thus, during the time she would think Tomoko "disgusting," and a "pervert," she apparently never expressed these views to her close friends who seem completely unaware of any of these thoughts from Ucchi. The one exception is her conversation with Mako which is more her boasting about how she attracts Tomoko's attention and even sexually excites Tomoko rather than condemning Tomoko as a "pervert." However, later in the afternoon of the day she learned Tomoko did not give her the keychain as a symbol that they shared an emotional and romantic bond then spies Shizuku Hirasawa sitting with Tomoko. When Shizuku bumps into her, Ucchi directly insults her.

Appearance

Ucchi loses her "Emoji Face."

Ucchi's has the same hairstyle as Yū's. Drawn without color in the manga, her hair color is revealed on the color cover of the published Volume 8 to be honey also like Yū's. Unlike other characters, her face looks like an emoticon with dots for eyes, a similarity that Tomoko notes with irritation, referring to her as "Emoji Face." A few times, her face is drawn more conventionally when she becomes emotional, such as when she becomes incensed thinking Tomoko has been staring at her only to see she has been staring at some other girl.

Anime

• Season 1: Episode 10

Manga

• Volume 07: Chapter 59

• Volume 08: Chapters 69, 72, 73, 77

• Volume 09: Chapters 78, 79, 80, 82, 87

• Volume 10: Chapters 93, 95,

• Volume 11: Chapters 99, 105, 106, 107

• Volume 12: Chapters 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 120, 122

• Volume TBA: Chapters 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130.5, 131, 132

(Strikethrough episodes or chapters indicate the character was mentioned but did not make a physical appearance)

Relationships

Tomoko Kuroki

For much of the series Ucchi has a complicated and developing relationship with Tomoko. Due to several misunderstandings, Ucchi believes that Tomoko is attracted to her, which she repeatedly deems "disgusting" to herself and sometimes out loud. Yet, she boasts of her belief of Tomoko's sexual attraction to her to Mako. She grows jealous whenever she mistakes Tomoko having an interest in another girl, and she eventually seeks opportunities to be with Tomoko. Her friends note that she has come to talk constantly about "that girl"; however, the details of her conversation with her friends about Tomoko have not been depicted. When she succeeds in being with Tomoko she has thus far not tried to engage Tomoko in conversation.

Until the two share a room together on the last night of their field trip, the two have little regard for one another. Prior to that trip, Ucchi sat next to Tomoko on a bus and ignored her to talk to her friends behind her. Unknown to Tomoko, previously Ucchi noticed her in the bathroom with a pair of scissors preparing to groom herself when Ucchi returned to their room to retrieve some of her belongings. When the two end up sharing a room, a number of comic misunderstandings arise that convince Ucchi that Tomoko is a lesbian. From that time forward, she secretly watches Tomoko and makes bizarre assumptions such as concluding that Tomoko is turned on by the sound of urination when she finds her in a bathroom in Chapter 84. In Chapter 93, she sees Tomoko at a mall with Yū who bears a striking resemblance to her. Ucchi assumes the worst when she notices Tomoko in a lingerie store holding panties similar to the ones Tomoko stole from her during the Kyōto trip. She stares intently while sweating at Tomoko when Tomoko explains to the class what a "lesbian" and "bisexual" are.  When she sees Mako staring at Tomoko, she asks Mako if Tomoko has done something perverted to her, such as stare at Mako while she was naked or try to look at her panties. Mako remains skeptical as Ucchi loses her "emoticon face," smiles, sweats, and claims that Tomoko did those things to her, and insists she is Tomoko's "fetish fuel." When Tomoko turns to look at them, Ucchi flees imagining that Tomoko is "molesting" her "with her eyes." This event encapsulates the developing ambiguous and seemingly contradictory nature of Ucchi's feelings where she on the one hand wants to be near Tomoko while, sometimes in the same scene, inwardly denouncing Tomoko as "disgusting!" if Tomoko is near another girl. Thus, from behind a tree in Chapter 116 she secretly watches Megumi Imae hug Tomoko and concludes that Tomoko "made a pass" at Imae.

Over the course of the series, Ucchi appears progressively obsessed with Tomoko. She creepily lies in wait behind the lockers for Tomoko to put chocolate in her locker and, in Chapter 117, she goes so far as to travel on a train hoping to be near Tomoko having heard from Miyazaki that she was pressed against Tomoko when the train was crowded. She purposely sits next to her at the barbecue restaurant in Chapter 120 without talking to her but cooks meat she then sneaks onto Tomoko's plate. When she discovers she is not in Tomoko's class, she becomes hysterical, rolling on the ground. Separated from her usual group of friends when visiting a park based on Disney World in Chapter 126, she refuses any help to call her friends or find them when she sees that Tomoko is in the group. It is later revealed that she lied when she claimed she did not have her phone to call her friends. She sits next to Tomoko on a roller coaster, and as they all scream, Tomoko's hand clutches Ucchi's on the railing and her hair blows into Ucchi's face. Ucchi does not resist or think "disgusting!" On the contrary, she immediately wants to ride the roller coaster again, but she becomes disappointed when it is Yuri who sits next to her instead of Tomoko. When Tomoko and Nemoto sit together on another ride in front of her, Ucchi inwardly seethes that the two are "flirting" in public. Yet soon after in Chapter 128 she asks Tomoko directly if she can have her picture taken with her. Later during the fireworks she works her way to stand next to Tomoko. She does not in either case, however, try to have a conversation with Tomoko.

While her true feelings towards Tomoko appeared unresolved and developing, Chapter 131 reveals she does have a crush on Tomoko. Tomoko gave Ucchi one of the cow keychains she bought. She wears it on her bag, and when her friends ask her why she sits alone during break, when she normally goes off, she replies as the panel focuses on the keychain: "No matter how far apart we are, even if we can't meet . . . our hearts are always connected." When she discovers that Katō also has a keychain, she returns to her seat, stares sadly out the window, and imagines Tomoko. For her part, Tomoko appears utterly unaware of Ucch's feelings towards her. 

The nature of her crush remains undefined and is probably also developing. Reviewing the development of her crush, her attention remains focused on Tomoko. Other than taking the opportunity to pinch the sleeping Yoshida, Ucchi shows no apparent interest in other girls, or boys for that matter. Her unnamed friends identify Tomoko as "the girl Ucchi talks about." When asked by an amusement park character to be his "girlfriend," she declines and declares, "I already have someone I love." In Chapter 129 one of Ucchi's unnamed friends asks if Yuri Tamura is "the girl" she keeps talking about while the other rhetorically asks her, "you finished what you needed to do, right?" Ucchi only mutters "um" in response. Despite the comic aspects of Ucchi imagining Tomoko and any girl she interacts with as "disgusting" lesbians, believing Tomoko is "turned on" by the sounds of girls urinating, all the way to her fantasizing to Mako that Tomoko has sexual fantasies about her, Ucchi thus far does not have such fantasies about Tomoko. As with all characters in the series, Ucchi and her development remain a "work in progress."

Miyazaki and Unnamed Friends

Ucchi has a consistent set of friends which includes Miyazaki, Natsu, and two other currently unnamed girls.

"Black Haired" friend is obscured by Ucchi, Natsu sits to the right of "Glasses," and Miyazaki sits in between "Glasses" and "Braids."

"Black Haired Friend" discusses Tomoko with Miyazaki.

She spends most of her time with them on the field trip and becomes separated from them during a trip to a famous amusement park. As of Chapter 129, only Miyazaki is specifically named though Natsu seems to be identified by process of elimination. They all notice that Ucchi talks a lot about "that girl," Tomoko. Other than Miyazaki, there are:

• Girl with Glasses: who has her hair, which is drawn between colorless and black in the manga, in a pony tail.
• Girl with Black Hair:
• Girl with Long Braids:
• Natsu (ナツ): Girl with Light Short Hair: in Chapter 129 she is absent from the group and the Girl with Glasses states that "Natsu ditched us to go with her boyfriend."

Mako Tanaka

Ucchi feels comfortable approaching Mako to discuss Tomoko with her to the point that Ucchi insists that she is Tomoko's "fetish fuel." Otherwise, they have little interaction shown; however, Mako does have Ucchi's friend Miyazaki's phone number stored on her phone.

Yuri Tamura

Yuri at least remembers her from the field trip. When Ucchi tries to ride a train to Tomoko's stop so she will get pressed up against Tomoko by the crowd, Yuri recognizes that she will miss her stop and helps Ucchi, who feigns weakness in her legs, off the train. During the field trip to the amusement park, Yuri is somewhat offended that Ucchi is disappointed to sit next to her during a ride rather than Tomoko. In response, she pinches Ucchi's arm hard. However, when Ucchi observes Mako walking away with Koharu Minami, she turns and asks Yuri if she is okay with the situation.

Masaki Yoshida

Ucchi would seem to have little, if any, interaction with Yoshida prior to the field trip. However, she takes the opportunity when trying to wake the difficult to arouse Yoshida to pinch her nipples as Tomoko did in the same situation previously. Yoshida, dreaming her to be Tomoko, viciously elbows Ucchi in the stomach. This would seem to end any relationship between the two. Nevertheless, Ucchi does not avoid her when she joins her and Tomoko's group at the amusement park. She even appears to readily take part in activities Yoshida enjoys such as singing with a costumed character.

For her part, Yoshida notices that Ucchi lied when she claimed she did not have her phone, but she does not expose her. Otherwise, she refers to Ucchi as "that one chick" (さっばりした奴・sapparishita yatsu).

Shizuku Hirasawa

Their current relationship is literally brief, but there are potential implications for Ucchi's development. Ucchi that morning had her fantasy of Tomoko considering their hearts connected shattered. She resumes secretly watching Tomoko during their lunch break and observes her entire encounter with Shizuku. After a happy Shizuku leaves Tomoko, Ucchi walks directly into her and warns her not to over-step her place.

Futaki

In the midst of her tantrum over learning she is not assigned to Tomoko's class, Ucchi hears this girl remark that she is in that classroom and becomes jealous. Like Ucchi, her face is drawn like an emoticon, and she has blond hair gathered into two "twin tails." Ucchi appears to know who she is. Mako and Yuri recall that Futaki was part of their team in the cavalry battle when the see her again vigorously playing a video game, but otherwise know nothing about her. No further information regarding her is known; her last name was not revealed until Chapter 128. Looking for his sister, Tomoki sees her near the shoe lockers and tries to gain her attention, but he stops when he notices her stretching alone in full splits. This suggests that, like Ucchi, she is a cheerleader, which may explain why Ucchi knows her.

Trivia

• For much of her existence she is known by her surname "Uchi," or "Ucchi" in English due to her Japanese nickname うっちー. In Chapter 127, she reveals her first name is "Emiri" えみり笑美莉.
• 笑美莉 : 笑 means "laugh," 美 means "beauty," and 莉 means "jasmine." The kanji is not used for "Emoji," however.
• Her last name is shown in kanji in Chapter 114 as 内 or うち in hirigana. This should be "Uchi" in English, but most fan translations render her name as "Ucchi," and the Japanese Wikipedia lists her character name as うっちー／内（うち）. This suggests that "Ucchi" is a diminutive or nickname for her last name. In this case, the last "i" is long: "ī". Thus in Chapter 128, one of her friends tells another that she received a text message from うっちー. The English translations that give her last name as "Sasaki" for some reason add that name to two lists from the Field Trip. In the original manga her name is either cut off or covered by a speech balloon. This seems to fit with Tomoko's complete lack of interest in learning her name, and indeed, until Chapter 127 she does not know her first name.
• Her and Yū's hairstyle is known as a "bobcat"--ボブカット.
• While she does not appear in the anime, her name appears on the class seating chart.

Quotes

• "She is eating white rice while trying to sneak a peek of my underwear!"
• "I bet you're just after my body! Fine, look all you want then!"
• "She's going at it this early in the morning? Don't tell me the sound of peeing excites her?!"
• "Well, I suppose you do sound a bit like her. . . But she's actually quieter, has a higher pitch, and sounds far more depressed. The real her sounds ten times creepier, but there's this strange charm to her creepiness." - correcting Hina's impersonation of Tomoko
• "She's supposed to be a loner, so where'd she get a harem like this from?! Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting!" - thinking about Tomoko during the amusement park trip.
• "No matter how far apart we are, even if we can't meet . . . our hearts are always connected." - refering to Tomoko

Gallery

Ucchi's Friends: from left to right: Miyazaki, Black-Haired Girl, Natsu, Braids Girl, Glasses Girl, and Ucchi

The original manga does not contain the name "Sasaki" It shows "Kuroki," "Yoshida," and "Tamura."

"Sasaki" is added in the English translation for some reason.

The English again adds "Sasaki."

Uchi's name is obscured by the speech bubble.

Ucchi in color from Volume 8 cover.

Ucchi in color from Chapter 132.

Ucchi completely loses her "Emoji Face" thinking about Tomoko.

Uchi's last name on her locker: 内 = Uchi

A possibly jealous Uchi loses her "Emoji Face."

Ucchi reacts to Tomoko explaining to the class what "lesbian" and "bisexual" mean.

English translation has a person address her as "Ucchi."

Ucchi spying on Tomoko after the graduation ceremony.

Ucchi demonstrates a surprising knowledge about Tomoko.

Ucchi has a sudden tantrum when she learns she is not in Tomoko's class.

Ucchi cannot believe that Futaki, who also has an emoticon face, is in Tomoko's class rather than her.

Typically, whenever Ucchi sees Tomoko with another girl, she immediately concludes the two are flirting with one another.

Ucchi near completely loses her "Emoji-Face" talking about Tomoko.

Ucchi gives her first name えみり笑美莉. Tomoko exclaims, "That's Emoji's name?!!"

Ucchi pulls the costumed bear's arms together to bring herself in contact with Tomoko.

Ucchi thinks about Tomoko.

Ucchi completely loses her Emoji Face when she learns Tomoko gave keychains to other girls.

For the first time depicted, Ucchi insults someone directly.

Ucchi resumes secretly watching Tomoko.