This page lists the characters from the manga, light novel and anime series Strawberry Panic!. The characters are divided depending on which of the three schools they attend. Originally, when the series was first created in the short stories stage, there were twelve characters—four from each school. From Miator: Nagisa, Shizuma, Chiyo, and Tamao; from Spica: Hikari, Amane, Tsubomi, and Yaya; from Lulim: Kizuna, Chikaru, Kagome, and Remon. Later, additional characters were introduced in the manga and light novel stage of the series in order to create new plotlines and conflict. Some of the new characters include: Miyuki Rokujō, Kaori Sakuragi, Shion Tōmori, Kaname Kenjō, and Momomi Kiyashiki. __TOC__

Attending Miator

Nagisa is the main protagonist who suddenly transfers to an all-girls school called St. Miator Girl's Academy. The reason she transferred is because her parents went overseas for work, leaving Nagisa behind. Nagisa ended up transferring to Miator after her aunt, who is a past graduate of St. Miator, the oldest school of Astraea Hill, recommended she attend. She seems to have a peppy personality, which can usually cause her to get in trouble if it gets the best of her. This trait is apparently quite distinguishing, as Amane Ohtori from Spica had commented that the other Miator students remind her of "caged birds", but that Nagisa is extraordinarily different. One might theorize that she is one of few Miator students not deeply enmeshed in that school's traditions and customs and therefore more free-spirited and more likely to act according to her own impulses, rather than according to expected patterns. She certainly has a gift for energizing her surroundings and the people around her. From their first meeting on, Nagisa gradually develops a strong attraction towards Shizuma; the Etoile may very well be Nagisa's first love. Other things about her include that Nagisa is easily frightened, making her tremble at even the slightest mention of something scary, especially ghosts. This continues the theme that she tends to be more childish than most of the rest of the students her age. She has a large appetite, especially for sweet foods. Also, she admires others for their artistic abilities. She herself has displayed an aptitude for acting and the piano, both nurtured through interaction with Shizuma. She is a fairly talented actress, being able to take over the lead role of Carmen when Chikaru is injured. Her weakness is French, for which she requires tutoring from Tamao and Shizuma. Nagisa bears a striking resemblance to Shizuma's deceased Etoile partner, Kaori Sakuragi. The only difference are their hair colors (Kaori's is black, while Nagisa's is red) and Kaori's pale skin.

The current Etoile, Shizuma is a highly respected and much beloved person to most of the other students attending the three schools. She looks very mysterious and also seems to have a number of secrets to match this visage. This makes her a difficult person to figure out or to even talk to for someone just meeting her. Most of her secrets—and personal problems—seem to be related to her prior relationship with Kaori Sakuragi. Shizuma is very skilled on the piano and likes to play it constantly. Much of the time, she does not enjoy the dull work of the Etoile, so she often finds ways to skip on her duties, much to the annoyance of Miyuki Rokujō. However, Nagisa manages to persuade Shizuma to resume performing her duties. She is a skilled actress and has participated in Astraea's annual play twice in a row, playing Don Jose in the production of Carmen. She is also noted to excel in French. Shizuma quickly develops a crush on Nagisa, but has also been seen showing interest in other girls. Despite initially seeing Nagisa as "just one more pretty girl" to get close with, Shizuma eventually comes to see her as different. Early in the development of her relationship with Nagisa, she is only trying to replace the hole in her heart left by her former Etoile partner and first love, Kaori, who had died the same year they had been elected the Astrea Hill Etoile. Towards the end of the anime, after a series of guilt-ridden conflicts and her own self-discovery, Shizuma realizes she is truly in love with Nagisa.

Tamao is Nagisa's roommate. She is the first person Nagisa gets to get to know at the school and Tamao even helps Nagisa by showing her around the campus by introducing her to several of the other students. After an interesting introduction, Tamao early on showed interest in Nagisa and it quickly became apparent that she has a crush on her, which eventually turned into love. It is this attraction she has that gives her a sense of determination to be around Nagisa. Unfortunately for Tamao, Nagisa herself appears to remain oblivious to the depth of Tamao's feelings, and considers her only as a best friend throughout the series. Tamao often goes overboard with regards to her obsession with Nagisa, for example, calling her "my Nagisa", scaring her just to capture her "cute" screams on tape and taking full body measurements of her under the pretense of ordering a school uniform when, in actuality, she just wants to write this "precious data" in her notebook. Tamao has a nice, helpful personality and sometimes enjoys gossiping about other people when it comes to matters of love and attraction. Also, Nagisa and Tamao tend to be a lot alike, in that they are both usually filled with energy and share a lot of the same interests. Highly literate, she is a member of the Literature Club and loves to write poems. She writes the script for Astraea's adaption of Carmen. She is well regarded among her fellow Miator students; many of the first-years see her as a viable Etoile candidate.

As the student council president of Miator, Miyuki tries her best at doing her job in keeping everything in line. She is stern, yet understanding, and quite sensitive; Shizuma describes her as a crybaby. Often, when Shizuma is neglecting her duties as the Etoile, she gets annoyed at her and scolds her about it, which makes them seem more like a mother-child pair than as classmates. The two have been rooming together since they arrived at Miator years earlier, but their "parent-child" roles were initially reversed as Shizuma comforted the young homesick Miyuki. Nevertheless, the two seem to be close friends and have considerable knowledge of and insight into each other. After the death of Kaori Sakuragi, Miyuki became Shizuma's assistant and has remained a confidante of some importance. It is implied that she has unrequited feelings for Shizuma despite having to marry a fiancé decided at birth after she graduates. When Shizuma forcefully kisses Miyuki as a "joke", she sees this as cruel perhaps because she is being made to taste what she cannot have, which makes her slap Shizuma. While she wishes for Shizuma to be happy and encourages her, she seems uncomfortable with Shizuma's relationship with Kaori and later Nagisa, albeit for different reasons. As the student council president, she has several responsibilities to attend to. So far, she has had to intervene into a few of Nagisa's mistakes, making sure that she understands the rules of the school. When in student council meetings, she usually gets in disputes over Astraea matters with Shion Tōmori, the student council president of Spica.

Chiyo is a young girl who recently arrived at Astraea Hill, where she quickly became the "room temp" (a younger student appointed to perform cleaning duty as a maid for senior students, who in return receives help with studies and, presumably, other matters from those same seniors) for Nagisa and Tamao, which incidentally is exactly what she wanted. Chiyo tends to be a very shy girl who is unable to articulate herself forcefully enough most of the time and is also rather a klutz. Additionally, she too seems to have a crush on Nagisa, who she refers to as Nagisa-onee-sama, which can also be construed as a form of admiration and idolism on her part. Also, she is a member of the Library Club and works as a librarian in Astraea's Library. Chiyo tries to do her best most of the time, especially when around Nagisa, though things do not always go her way. So far, she has been very grateful to be employed as the room temp for Nagisa and Tamao, but especially because of her chance to be close with Nagisa.

Kaori was a young girl who came to attend Miator starting off in her first year. Ever since she was young, Kaori has been physically weak due to an affliction which remains unnamed, but apparently affected her breathing and possibly her heart. It was due to being this weak since birth that she spent most of her elementary school years at home, too sick to attend. She had a placid personality, and dealt with her condition with surprisingly good grace. Upon arrival at Miator, she was entrusted to Miyuki and Shizuma in order to look after her and make sure she had a worthwhile experience while at the school. Eventually, Kaori and Shizuma formed an intimate relationship, which is why when Shizuma entered to become the next Etoile, she chose Kaori as her partner. However, by the time they both had become Etoile, Kaori's body had deteriorated too much and before long she died, leaving Shizuma with a broken heart. Kaori apparently anticipated some of Shizuma's response and left her a letter, which Shizuma is very late to find.

Sister Mizue is an old woman who is the main person in charge of Miator. Her main duties include handing out punishments and reprimanding students when they do something wrong. The range of punishments can vary, but they can get rather outrageous, such as dusting the entire staircase in the enormous church. She seems to be an angry woman most of the time and rarely ever smiles. This could be because she has to handle unruly students on a daily basis and is tired of all the problems that she has to deal with, or she could just have a poor disposition when it comes to people much younger than herself. She is probably one of the three Sisters in the school system that head the three respective schools, though the other two have yet to be introduced.

Attending Spica

A rather shy and quiet girl most of the time, Hikari tends to not be very outspoken and it usually takes a lot for her to say what is really on her mind. Much like Nagisa Aoi, Hikari is also a transfer student, arriving at Spica in the second year. In that same year, she joined the St. Spica Choir (also known as the Saintly Chorus) with her best friend and roommate Yaya Nanto. Later, she starts to develop a crush on Amane Ohtori, and they begin showing intense feelings of attraction for one another. She tends to be a physically weak girl who is fairly easy to be taken advantage of, much to her dismay. Unpleasant experiences related to her vulnerability seem to have inspired some fear of unexpected physical proximity in her. She does, however, have friends that look out for her well being. Hikari also seems to be very religious and can be seen praying within the church or at the Spica fountain with a statue depicting the Virgin Mary on the school grounds.

Amane appears to be a very loved and respected member of the school, much like Shizuma Hanazono, although she is more of a local celebrity of Spica. She is often seen riding a white horse named Star Bright, which makes her seem more like a prince (a title which Shizuma later marks her with) from a fairy tale. Furthermore, she has a very masculine appearance, and in effect, a lot of the students at St. Spica are her fans. She tends to have a silent demeanor, which also makes her seem intimidating, making her difficult to talk with or approach. It seems that she is actually quite shy and states that she dislikes being the center of attention, causing her to decline acceptance of presents from her many fangirls (with the exception of Hikari).