Mio Minato

"Let's go! One stage higher!"

– Mio before her performance

Mio Minato
UniformUniform | Link CoordLink Coord
Kanji	湊みお
Romaji	Minato Mio
Statistics
Gender	Female
Age	13
Birthday	January 6
Occupation	Student Idol
Affiliation	Star Harmony Academy Pure Palette
Blood Type	A
First Appearance
Data Carddass Game	Part 1
Anime	Hello Friends!
Portrayal
Seiyū/Singer	Ibuki Kido

Mio Minato (湊みお, Mio Minato) is one of the two protagonists of the Aikatsu Friends! series. She is a student of the idol division at Star Harmony Academy. Mio is a cool-type idol whose preferred brand is her self-created brand, Material Color. Along with Aine Yūki, the two are a part of Pure Palette.

Bio

Appearance

Mio has cerise eyes and chest-length sky blue hair with a lavender ombre. A braid resides on each side of the head and meet at the center, while her bangs are spread out with the left tucked and held with a two gold star clip. She has a single curled strand at the center, while her forelocks reach her shoulder.

At a younger age, Mio's hair was separated into two braids and tied into side buns, her forelocks held with a star clip similar to that of the one she uses now.

Personality

Mio is known to be cool and is a girl who is constantly in a professional mindset. Mio is also a bit shy when it comes to Aine because of her feelings and how she cares about Aine.

Background

Mio has been doing idol activities since she was young and is good at fashion design. She is a popular and active idol among Star Harmony Academy, and is the cover model for the magazine "Aikatsu! Style Times". Mio continues her idol activities, aiming for the top, the Diamond Friends.

Mio met Aine at the Penguin Café by coincidence and asked Aine to join her on her idol activities.

Relationships

• Aine Yūki

Mio first met Aine when she delivered Mio lunch from Aine's family cafe. The two quickly became friends, and Mio invites Aine to perform with her for an event, with Aine transferring to the Idol Division of the school following Mio's invitation to join her on the path of idols.

• Tamaki Enjōji

Tamaki is Mio, Aine, Maika and Ema's manager.

• Reiko Minato

Mio's mother.

Etymology

Minato (湊, Minato) means harbor or port.

Mio (みお, Mio) can be written as "澪" in Kanji, which means waterway or channel. Other common forms of the name also include "海央", used to describe the beauty of oceans.

Quotes

"All the dresses I've worn till now, are all filled with my precious feelings."

– Mio Minato

"If you become an idol, the cards will be your friends; the fans cheering you on will be your friends, and you'll be able to make a million friends. That's why... shall we Aikatsu together? Let's go. Together."

– Mio to Aine

"It came to me in a Vivid flash!"

– Mio's catchphrase

Trivia

• She is 155cm tall.
  • She is tied with Aine as the shortest main characters.
• Her star sign is Capricorn.
  • Her birthday, January 6th, is known as Color Day in Japan, as the numbers 1/6 (i ro, 1/6) can be read the same as "color" (色, iro). The holiday celebrates people whose occupations are related to colors, alluding to Mio's position as the designer of Material Color.
• She loves picture books.
• Her favorite food is sandwiches (especially tomato basil and cheese sandwiches).
• Her specialties are dining reports and designing.
• Her weakness is working together in groups.
• Mio is the Seventh character in the Aikatsu! franchise to have ombre hair, following Sora Kazesawa, Nina Dōjima from the original Aikatsu! series, as well as Yume Nijino, Yozora Kasumi, Lilie Shirogane and from the Aikatsu Stars! series and Aine Yūki.
  • She is the twelfth character overall in the Aikatsu! franchise to have dual colored hair, following Sora Kazesawa, Mikuru Natsuki, Rin Kurosawa, Nina Dōjima from the original Aikatsu! series, as well as Yume Nijino, Tsubasa Kisaragi, Yozora Kasumi, Lilie Shirogane, Elza Forte and Kirara Hanazono from the Aikatsu Stars! series and Aine Yūki.
  • Her hair bears similarities to Nina Dōjima's from the original Aikatsu! series.
• Mio resembles Cosmo Hojo from PriPara and Pretty Rhythm.
  • Both have blue hair worn in similar styles.
  • Both have purple eyes.
  • Both have futuristic style clothing.
• She shares her voice actress with Asami Himuro and Kurumi Mori from the original Aikatsu! series.
  • Coincidentally, both Mio and Asami are cool-type idols.
• Following Aine Yūki, Mio is the second main protagonist whose debut performance is not a solo, but a duet.
  • Mio is also the second main protagonist to already be a second-year middle school student in her introduction.
• Mio shares her last name with Yukina Minato from BanG Dream!.
• She is the eighth idol in the Aikatsu! franchise to have created her own brand, following Mizuki Kanzaki, Sora Kazesawa, Hime Shiratori, Lilie Shirogane, Elza Forte, Yume Nijino, and Rei Kizaki, followed by Mirai Asuka.
  • She is the ninth teenager overall to have a brand, following Mizuki Kanzaki, Sora Kazesawa, Tsubasa Sena, Hime Shiratori, Lilie Shirogane, Elza Forte, Yume Nijino, and Rei Kizaki, followed by Mirai Asuka.
• Mio addresses Penne as Pen-sama (ペン様, lit. Lord Pen) out of admiration and love for him.
• She is shown to be afraid of bugs.

Gallery

Main article: Mio Minato/Image gallery