Nico Yazawa

she's 18 Nico Yazawa is a main character in Love Live!. Despite her childlike stature, she was a third-year student at Otonokizaka High School until she graduated in the anime's series finale, but still retained her status in Love Live! The School Idol Movie. She was a member of BiBi, a sub-unit under μ's. Her image color is pink.[3]

Background In Season 1 Episode 5, it is discovered that during her first year of high school she started an idol group. However, one by one the members gave up because Nico's standard for idols was too high for them and they couldn't keep up.

In Season 2 Episode 4, it is revealed she has two younger sisters named Cocoro and Cocoa, and a younger brother Cotaro. Nico's father has been out of the picture, and so her mother is constantly out of the house in order to work and financially provide needs for her four children. Due to being in a single-parent household, money is tight and their living space is compact. Because Nico's mother is nearly never home, Nico has long since assumed the role of their household's head (or possibly sole) caretaker. Nico is the eldest by the largest age gap, with her three siblings being all much younger than her and closest to age with each other. Because of this, Nico is accustomed to and skilled in cooking and housekeeping. Most importantly, however, she seems to care very much for her younger siblings, and will do anything to make them smile. She will go as far as to lie in order to make them happy. This is discovered when Nico's siblings express their belief that the other members are Nico's backup dancers, which was a lie that Nico told them and substantiated with altered μ's posters in which she was the center (switched with Honoka). Unaware of the truth, Cocoro, Cocoa, and Cotaro act happy, proud and inspired by the idea of their oldest sister's unparalleled success.

All of this information comes as a surprise to the other members, as it runs contrary to her often self-centered behavior at school and during idol work. However, the revelation of Nico's home life provides insight as to why Nico's specific personality traits and values developed and how they inform her behavior within μ's. Her brazen desire for the spotlight and to be doted on is a product of not being afforded such attention due to her home situation. Nico's obsession with making others smile with her catchphrase ("Nico Nico Nii!" or にっこにっこにー) is related to when Nico would try her hardest to cheer up her family members during hardships.

Personality Nico's famous "Nico Nico Nii" catchphrase. Nico's famous "Nico Nico Nii" catchphrase.

Normally, Nico has quite an abrasive personality, but when she takes on her alternate personality, she becomes a happy, upbeat character who is always smiling, often saying her catchphrase, "Nico Nico Nii!" (にっこにっこにー), accompanied with a pose. She usually thinks a bit highly of herself but, despite that, she is also caring.

It is later revealed in Season 2 Episode 4 that her obsession with performative, over-the-top happiness and cuteness is because of the difficulty of her home situation. Her family circumstances and the role she plays in it have led her to fixate on both making sure as many people as possible are smiling and also seeking and receiving attention and praise. This manifests in her idol obsession and subsequent persona.

A common joke in the series is that she's often ignored by the other members of μ's when she claims that she is the better idol. An example of her trying to make the others believe she is the better idol is in Season 1 Episode 10 when Nico claims that she has a personal chef like Maki and has never cooked before. Kotori falls for the lie unknowingly. However, she accidentally forgot about her lie when it was dinner time, and ended up cooking for everyone to reveal the truth.

Sometimes, her determination to become the best idol causes her to be a little bit cold, calculating, and somewhat ill-intentioned. An example of this is in Season 1 Episode 6 where she is seen suggesting that the girls hold a karaoke and dancing competition, hoping to outshine the others, so that everyone will accept that she is the better idol and to be able to claim center position.

Nico often gets annoyed with the former student council president, Eli Ayase, for taking away the spotlight from her with Eli's beauty and maturity.

She also argues a lot with Maki, since their personalities often clash together. However, they have a good friendship and they actually care about each other.

Clubs and Hobbies Nico was the Idol Research Club's president (before she passed on the role to Hanayo) and is interested in fashion. Therefore, she designs the group's outfits with Kotori. Her special skill is hair arrangement.

In Season 1 Episode 10, Nico is shown to be a very skilled cook despite saying she has never cooked before.

Appearance Nico has long black hair that she ties into twin-tails and crimson eyes.

Other Data Nico's Diary (January 2011)[4] Nico's Holiday (June 2012)[5] Secret Short Cuts Cut 1: Nico & Maki (July 2013)[6] Secret Short Cuts Cut 10: Nico & Honoka (May 2014)[7] Vital Statistics[2] ~μ's Member Q&A~ Audio Does not work on iPad, or any medium that does not support the .ogg audio format. No. Songs Duration Audio 01 Hajimemashite -Yazawa Nico[11] 2:09 02 Anata to Kurisumasu -Nico Yazawa-[12] 0:55 Songs The songs featuring Nico are:

Solo μ's BiBi Duo & Trio Mahoutsukai Hajimemashita! Hane wa Shitte Shimatta no? Niko puri♥Joshi dou

Chronology Season I Season II Manga Ep. Title 01 "Come True! Our Dreams!" (叶え!私たちの夢―― "Kanae! Watashitachi no Yume") 093 S1Ep1 Nico Yazawa first appears in Episode 1 in a noticeable disguise that consists of a scarf, heavy jacket, face mask, and sunglasses. Nico was at UTX when Honoka Kosaka appears, watching A-RISE perform on a screen. Because of Nico's first attempt at becoming an idol failed, Nico showed resentment towards A-RISE. Not knowing who they were, Honoka asked Nico who the group on the screen were. Shocked, Nico explains to her that they're a school idol group, and that UTX was getting a lot of students because of their fame. 02 "Let's Start Becoming Idols!" (アイドルを始めよう! "Aidoru wo Hajimeyou!") 089 S1Ep2 In Episode 2, Nico appeared behind Hanayo, who was looking at the μ's poster, asking what it was with an obviously displeased tone. 03 "First Live" (ファーストライブ "Faasuto Raibu" ) 284 S1Ep3 In Episode 3, Nico was secretly watching Honoka, Umi, and Kotori performing "START:DASH!!" in their concert. 04 "MakiRinPana" (まきりんぱな "MakiRinPana") 339 S1Ep4 In Episode 4, Nico, who was in the Idol Research Club's club room, browses through photos of the new μ's members. She then comments on how inexperienced they are through the internet. 05 "Nico Attacks" (にこ襲来 "Niko Shuurai" ) 358 S1Ep5 Nico confronts Honoka and Kotori to tell them, μ's, to break up. Later on, Nico meets the rest of μ's who ask her to end her Idol Research Club so they can create a School Idol Club, since they have enough members to form a club. Nico flat out refuses and tries to run away, but fails when Rin Hoshizora catches her, thanks to her lack of stamina. Still remaining stubborn and her belief in μ's being inexperienced idols based on their lack of personas, Nico says no again and locks them out of the club room. The school's vice-president, Nozomi Tojo, explains to μ's that Nico once attempted to become a school idol, but failed because she set the bar too high for her group, causing them to quit one by one. After some thinking, Honoka comes up with the idea to join Nico's Idol Research Club to ask Nico to teach them how to improve μ's. Nico was reluctant to accept at first, but became willing after hearing their determination to continue even though it was going to be hard.

06 "Who'll Be the Center?" (センターは誰だ? "Sentaa wa Dare da?") 316 S1Ep6 In Episode 6, Nozomi records interviews with μ's, but stops to ask Honoka why she is the leader when she does nothing for the group. Nico then suggests to have a karaoke and dance contest to determine the leader (although secretly trying to outshine everyone else). However, her plan backfires when everyone gets similar scores. Honoka then suggests that μ's doesn't need a leader and everyone agrees, despite believing that Honoka was the most worthy of becoming the leader. μ's performed the song "Korekara no Someday". 07 "Elichika" (エリーチカ "Erichika" ) 116 S1Ep7 In Episode 7, Hanayo tells μ's about the Love Live! tournament, a contest where the top 20 school idol groups compete in. Needing permission to enter, the girls then go over to the chairwoman for permission. The chairwoman tells them that they can enter, but only if they all pass the upcoming exams. Nico gets paired up with Nozomi to study, even though she says that she doesn't need any help. Once the exams are done and everyone passes, everyone goes to the chairwoman's office, but overhear her telling Eli that the school would be shutting down next year. 08 "What I Want To Do Is..." (やりたいことは "Yaritai Koto wa" ) 322 S1Ep8 In Episode 8, following the events of the previous episode, the chairwoman clarifies to μ's that the school will shut down if the upcoming open day is received negatively. Umi Sonoda suggests to the group to get Eli to teach them how to dance. Eli agrees to their offer and puts the group into intense training, but is surprised by their willingness to continue. Nozomi tells μ's that Eli wants to join, but believes she can't because of how she treated them in the past. μ's go to Eli and formally invite her to join. Eli becomes honest with her feelings and joins, along with Nozomi who reveals that she came up with the group's name: μ's, which refers to the nine goddesses of music. Coincidentally, there are nine members in μ's. The now complete group performs "Bokura no LIVE Kimi to no LIFE" at the open day to a pleased crowd, making the open day a success. 09 "Wonder Zone" (ワンダーゾーン "Wandā Zōn") 263 S1Ep9 In Episode 9, the group goes to Akihabara and discover that they're being featured as merchandise. Nico, not being able to find any items of her, freaks out and begins looking through the rest of the members' merchandise. Nico soon comes across merchandise of her and happily takes pictures of it. They also discover that Kotori has been secretly working at a maid café after school to build confidence. Finding Akiba a good place for a concert, Eli assigns Kotori the job of writing lyrics for μ's next song. Kotori struggles with this, however, but after receiving help from Honoka and Umi, she is able to successfully write "Wonder zone" by recalling the feelings she gets whenever she works in Akihabara. 10 "No Upperclassmen Allowed!" (先輩禁止 "Senpai Kinshi!" ) 215 S1Ep10 In Episode 10, μ's decide to go to Maki's beach house after getting permission from her parents. Eli creates a rule that no one is allowed to use the honorifics "senpai" for the duration of the trip, so they can break down the barrier between upper and underclassmen. The girls spend the whole day at the beach playing, but Nozomi and Eli are quick to notice Maki not participating. At night, Nozomi initiates a pillow fight and all of them join in except for Umi, who is already fast asleep. However, two pillows hit Umi while she was sleeping, causing her to get cranky and begin throwing "supersonic pillows" at everyone, hitting Nico, Honoka, and Eli. At the end of the episode, all of μ's go out to the beach and watch the sunrise while holding hands. 11 "The Greatest Live Performance" (最高のライブ "Saikō no Raibu" ) 305 S1Ep11 In Episode 11, μ's has reached rank #19 on the school idol website, meaning they are eligible to perform in the Love Live! tournament. However, things don't go their way when they are unable to secure a spot on the auditorium for the upcoming school festival, thanks to Nico failing a lottery spin. Honoka suggests that they instead hold their performance on the school rooftop where they train, but the other members are slightly hesitant to this idea but eventually agree. For the whole episode, Kotori is preoccupied about a letter she received in episode 9. Umi notices her distress and calls her later that day, discovering that Kotori had been wanting to tell Honoka something. Honoka, meanwhile, had overworked herself for the whole episode that she wakes up with a fever the day of the festival, but goes to school, anyway. At the concert, μ's perform "No brand girls," but after it finishes, Honoka faints. 12 "Friends" (ともだち "Tomodachi" ) Ep12 00163 In Episode 12, following the events of the previous episode, Eli tells the audience that one of the members had an accident. The next day, μ's go to Honoka's house to check on her. They discover that she's still recovering and has a sprained leg. They sadly tell Honoka that they dropped out of the Love Live! tournament, meaning their ranking was removed from the school idol ranking site. Honoka blames herself for the incident, but μ's tell her that it's everyone's fault, instead. Everyone gets depressed from this event, but Honoka the most. At the rooftop, Maki, Hanayo, and Rin all announce that the school has been saved, thus the group decides to have a celebration. At the party, however, Umi and Kotori are noticed to not be in jolly spirits. Umi then reveals to μ's that Kotori is moving to a fashion boarding school for the rest of her high school career. Everyone is surprised by the announcement, but Honoka gets angry at Kotori for not telling her earlier. Kotori explains to her that she wanted to tell them but couldn't and runs away. The next day, on the rooftop, μ's reveal to Honoka that they're planning to do a final live before Kotori leaves. However, Honoka tells them that it was her fault and that none of this would've happened if it wasn't for the accident. The members tell her to stop saying that, but Honoka then says that the school is saved, therefore there's no reason to keep on performing and that it's impossible to go against a group like A-RISE. Honoka tells them that she quits, but before she leaves, Umi slaps her cheek, saying that she didn't think that she's that kind of person and that she's the worst there is.

13 "μ's Music Start!" (μ'sミュージックスタート! "Myūzu Myūjikku Sutāto!") Ep13 00149 In Episode 13, Eli decides to put μ's on a hiatus. Despite this, Nico tells Hanayo and Rin to continue practicing. Later, while on her way home, Honoka comes across Nico, Hanayo, and Rin training. Nico tells Honoka that she loves being an idol and that everything that has happened is because Honoka quit being an idol. Rin and Hanayo tell Nico that she's being too harsh on her, but Honoka tells them that Nico is right. After Honoka brings back Kotori from the airport, later on in the episode, μ's performs "START:DASH!!" in the auditorium, despite wearing their school uniforms, and this time with the auditorium filled with people. Afterwards, Honoka tells the crowd to say "μ's Music Start!" and μ's are in the school idol ratings again.

Etymology The name Nico is written in hiragana (にこ), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji it could possibly mean: 仁 - "compassionate" (ni).[13] 日 - "sun, day" (ni).[14] 子 - "child" (ko).[15] 湖 - "lake" (ko).[16] 胡 - "barbarian, foreign" (ko).[17] 香 - "fragrant" (ko).[18] The official Chinese translation uses 日香 for her name.[19] Nico's surname Yazawa means "arrow" (矢) (ya)[20] and "marsh" (澤) (zawa).[21] Trivia Nico fulfills the smile attribute of the μ's third years. Unlike the rest of μ's, Nico wears a pink cardigan on top of her school uniform's shirt, and under her winter uniform's blazer. Before the anime aired, Nico wore her hair in low pigtails, similar to Nozomi, and she had longer hair. This makes her the first Love Live! character in the franchise to get an official updated look for her default hairstyle. The second is Sayaka Murano. In Japanese, the onomatopoeia for smile is Niko Niko (ニコニコ). In Japanese onyomi readings, Nico's first name is equivalent to being read as the number "25". The number "25" is often seen on items, such as Nico's wristband and Cotaro's shirt, as well as meat (Niku) at a price of 2525 yen as a reference to Nico's first name while the number "25252" refers to her catchphrase. In Love Live! School idol festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE! there is a comic in which Nico declares 2/5 (February 5th) as "Nico Day".[22] Nico was the only member of μ's who was never shown as a child until the 2018 April's Fools Event in the Love Live! School idol festival mobile game. Nico appears to be the rapper of the subunit BiBi. Nico is the only member of μ's Maki addresses with honorifics, specifically "Nico-chan". Nico predicted that her chest could grow 3 cm more. Therefore, she wrote 74 instead of 71 for her chest size.[1] The posters in Nico's room are published official art.[23] In the manga, Nico has a more easy-going personality (similar to Nozomi) in contrast to her vain, jaded and prideful attitude in the anime. She is also shown as wanting to attend UTX and join A-RISE, but could not due to her family's financial background. Nico shares the same birthday with the Puyo Puyo game series' protagonist Arle Nadja, who, coincidentally, shares the same English voice actress. Nico makes a cameo as "Colonel 252 of the Earth Defense Forces" in the Chapter 38 of Famitsu App 4Komas for Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club. She later makes another cameo, albeit unmasked, in the 27th chapter of the "Rebellion of Nijigasaki" comic series. Nico signature pose (Nico-Nico-Nii!!) could be a reference for the sign language for "I Love You". During μ's early days, Nico's signature pose was a peace. This can be seen in the PV for Bokura no LIVE Kimi to no LIFE in minute 4:39 and the MV for Oh,Love&Peace! in minute 1:53. Nico does not know how to swim. In the public beta of School Idol Festival's Chinese Server, Nico's name was translated into "nī kě" (妮可) which doesn't have a meaning, however it is phonetically similar to "Nico". After the official release of the Traditional Chinese Server, her name was changed into "rì xiāng" (日香) which means "day, sun" (日) and "fragrant" (香). The change was made to align with the other official Chinese translations of the character's name. Kotori and Nico are the only two characters whose name in the Chinese public beta was different compared to the subsequent release. Her catchphrase "Nico Nico Nii" is written as "NicoNicoNi" in the Hong Kong and Mainland China translation of the novels. In the game and Chinese dub of the anime, it is written as "wéi xiào xiǎo xiāng xiāng" (微笑小香香)[24] which directly translates to "smiling little xiang xiang". In the Chinese sub of the anime, it is written as "nī kě nī kě nī" (妮可妮可妮).[25] she's 18