Cross Game - Main Characters

Main Characters

Ko Kitamura (樹多村 光, Kitamura Kō?) Voiced by: Miyu Irino

One of the two protagonists, Ko is in fifth grade in Part One and enters Seishu High School early in Part Two. Despite their age in Part One, he and Wakaba are very close and their families treat them as if they are a couple. While he shows little interest in baseball to outsiders, he has practiced daily at the Tsukishima Batting Center in the 60-mile-per-hour (97 km/h) cage and above since he was old enough to swing a bat. Ko is described by several other characters, including Ichiyo, Yuhei Azuma, and Junpei Azuma, as very like Aoba. In particular, they say the two are both very competitive, and Junpei attributes their frequent squabbling to their similarities. After a sandlot game against Aoba's team in elementary school, Ko is inspired by her pitching form to become a pitcher himself, and at Wakaba's urging secretly adopts Aoba's daily training regimen. Although he does not play baseball in junior high school, Akaishi and Nakanishi convince him to join the high school baseball team. With his changeup pitches, control, and incredible fastball, he becomes the ace pitcher in Seishu High School, as well as a strong hitter. Ko describes himself as having no self-confidence and an excellent liar. Despite being at odds with one another, Ko and Aoba share a deep bond through their love for Wakaba. Ko takes to heart what Aoba has to say and values her opinion more than others.

Aoba Tsukishima (月島 青葉, Tsukishima Aoba?) Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu

The other protagonist, Aoba is the third daughter of the Tsukishima family, one year younger than Ko and Wakaba. Aoba is seen as a tomboy by other characters, one who loves baseball very much. Her father has played catch with Aoba since she was little, thus grooming her into a strong pitcher. She has a poster of Ryota Igarashi, a famous fastball pitcher, on her bedroom wall, and when she was young Aoba told Wakaba she was only interested in a guy who could pitch a fastball over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). She has an excellent pitching form, on which Ko based his own form, and she has a wide variety of pitches. Although as a girl she cannot play in official inter-school games, in practice games she plays center field or replaces Ko as pitcher. Many younger members of the Seishu baseball team are inspired by how much effort she puts into baseball and coaching them, and work hard to not disappoint her. Ko claims she is secretly disappointed that she will never be able to pitch in an official game, and Yuhei Azuma points out that she is using Ko as her proxy to get to Koshien.

Aoba is very close to Wakaba in Part One, and according to Ichiyo jealous of how much time Wakaba spends with Ko. She frequently reiterates her intense dislike of Ko throughout the series and often squabbles with him. Despite this, she is very like him in behavior and talents, as several characters comment. After Ko becomes the ace pitcher of Seishu High School, Aoba slowly comes to admit his qualities as a player, and becomes less reluctant to offer advice and even teaches him new breaking pitches. Eventually she admits she has faith in his ability to fulfill Wakaba's last dream, in which he pitches at Koshien. She is often teased about her similarities with Ko in their behaviors and habits. Her name means "green leaf" or "fresh leaf".