The student council president of Shuchiin Academy. Monstruously smart, placing among the top in the nation in mock exams, he's skilled in management as well, so he is respected by others as a genius, but it is more correct to say that he's addicted to hard work. He will never turn down an opportunity to listen to people who come to talk to him or do favors for them, and sincerely invests himself in others' well-beings. He cannot leave others in trouble, and has a knack for finding those in trouble as well. He studies for ten hours a day and works part-time jobs too, resulting in a life where no one knows how or when he even sleeps. He's in love with Kaguya, the school council vice president, but refuses to express his feelings to her because he thinks that the one who confesses to the other is going to be the weaker person in the relationship.

Also known as Nodame, which is a portmanteau of her family name and the first mora of her given name. Noda is, at the start of the series, a twenty-year-old free-spirited second-year music student. She is depicted as a complete slob: her cooking and cleaning skills are atrocious to the point of having mushrooms growing on her clothes and poisoning anyone who dares to eat her food (yet she's never been poisoned). However she is an incredibly talented pianist who primarily plays by ear, in a cantabile style. In love with Chiaki, she follows him around constantly, claiming to be his "wife," and leans on him to help her get through sticky situations. She sometimes compulsively needs to play the piano, neglecting everything in order to do it. As well as that, she seems to enjoy childish manga and movies. She is constantly hungry, and is fed dinners by Chiaki; she also steals many lunches from her fellow friend, Maki. Nodame has a tendency to speak cryptically (sometimes she doesn't even understand herself), often refers to herself in the third person and uses nonsense words like mukya and gyabo. Nodame is initially very dependent on Chiaki in terms of ambition - she has little intention of becoming a professional pianist, despite her remarkable talent, and wants to become a kindergarten teacher, though many feel she is too reckless and lacks the appropriate sensibility to be responsible with teaching children. Her piano style is considered to be completely haphazard, diverting from original intent at both dynamics, rhythms and even themes. Realizing that her current attitude towards music will eventually drive her apart from Chiaki, Nodame gradually develops the necessary drive to pursue music for her own sake. Her attitude towards music is largely due to an incident in the past where she was hurt by a teacher who demanded her to play music "as it's written." Nodame's character is based on a real-life counterpart with same name.