Akane Owari

Akane Owari is a student of Hope's Peak Academy granted the title of Ultimate Gymnast. Characterized by her love for eating, fighting, and training, she struggles academically but is a world-class athlete. Having escaped the extreme poverty that defined her childhood, Akane has clung to the abundance of good food around her, softening her figure after a few years of binging. She remains a competitive martial artist, but she has an even lower opinion of herself now than she did before.

Akane Owari, the Ultimate Gymnast, is a young woman attending Hope's Peak Academy. Extraordinarily physically fit, she maintains a lifestyle of constant activity and movement with an equally voracious diet. Akane grew up in extreme poverty before she began applying herself as an athlete, and her experiences have scarred her in many ways she doesn't realize. With access to free, high-quality food, Akane has taken every chance she's had to gorge herself because she's irrationally scared that one day it may run out. Witnessing violence almost every day forced Akane to not just develop a strong sense of resolve but also distance herself from others in case one day she returned home to find someone she was emotionally attached to gone forever.

With an endless number of new, neglectful stepparents entering Akane's life at a young age, there were an even greater number of stepsiblings who she felt obligated to provide for. Akane would debase herself in a horrifying number of ways in order to put food on the table, desensitizing herself to being touched in inappropriate places and being seen as an object of desire. In the process, though, she never got to experience true intimacy and regards meaningful romantic gestures as scary and risqué. While working as a waitress, Akane met her first coach, a man who she mistakenly remembers to be perverted for his interest in her but truly saw her potential to be great. With his help, she began contending in gymnastic events to earn prize money, honing her innate talent and garnering a reputation for herself.

Akane relies on her instincts to guide her intellectually, as she can't be helped when it comes to any book smarts but has a great sense of intuition. Whenever prompted to use her critical thinking skills, she's liable to blurt out the first thing that comes to her mind, as from day to day, Akane just listens to and follows her gut. She loves to fight and compete, seeing gymnastics merely as a means to an end in her pursuit of becoming a stronger opponent. Akane struggles to admit to herself when she's scared or anxious, as her past has taught her that weakness is death. The thought of facing her flaws rather than trampling over them with brute force terrifies her, bringing her back to her most traumatizing memories of childhood. A portion of Akane's seeming dimwittedness is willful ignorance, choosing to embrace the animalistic tendencies that kept her safe rather than overcoming her past.

Akane weighs in at almost two hundred pounds, a number achieved through years of continuous overeating. A lot of muscle lays beneath her fat, as proven by her continued physical excellence, but Akane has fattened herself up over the course of time. She stands at five feet and eight inches tall, sporting a pudgy hourglass figure. She has tanned skin, mauve eyes, and brown, unkempt shoulder-length hair loosely combed into wavy spikes. She wears a white, short-sleeved, button-up shirt and a short, pleated red skirt.