His and Her Circumstances, or Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou, is a manga by Masami Tsuda and a 26 episode TV anime series, directed by Hideaki Anno of Studio Gainax.
The main character is Yukino Miyazawa, a japanese high school freshman who is the envy of her classmates because of her good grades and immaculate appearance. However, this is just a charade she maintains to win praise - at home, she is a total slob, who lets her appearance, her family, and everything else slide so she can study relentlessly and thus maintain her grades. She is threatened in this position by Souichirou Arima, a handsome young man who also gets great grades and challenges Yukino for class leadership positions. She vows to destroy him, but after some misunderstandings they instead fall in love instead. The series follows their relationship as they're tested by school, family problems, and friends.
The title "Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou" literally means "Boyfriend and Girlfriend's Circumstances", and is commonly abbreviated by fans to "KareKano."
Yukino Miyazawa - Very smart, very attractive, very athletic and very talented, Yukino Miyazawa is supposedly the model student. However, her model exterior hides the fact that everything she does is done solely to receive praise and accolades from others and has always been since she was a little girl. This all changes when she meets...
Souichirou Arima - Also very smart, very attractive, very athletic and very talented, Souichiro Arima is the perfect complement to Yukino. At first Miyazawa couldn't stand to be around Arima, but eventually they learned just how similar they were. Arima also puts on a model exterior to hide the fact that he comes from a disreputable family.
Tsukino Miyazawa and Kano Miyazawa - Yukino's two cute, energetic, younger sisters. They are the less-serious contingent of the Miyazawa daughters. Kano dispenses love advice to Yukino that she reads in her manga.
Hiroyuki and Miyako Miyazawa - Yukino, Tsukino and Kano's parents. They met as children and married just out of high school, a continuous source of consternation for Miyako's father. Hiroyuki often acts very immature, but really just loves his three daughters. Miyako tends to act more rational than her husband and acts as the more level-headed member of the family.
Pero Pero (Pero^2) - The Miyazawa family's strange dog.
Hideaki Asaba - An attractive, but not very bright, young man, Asaba is friends with Arima. Miyazawa and Asaba don't initially care for each other (Asaba wants Arima to act as a "wingman" of sorts in Asaba's pursuit of being surrounded by cute girls), but they eventually become friends.
Tsubasa Shibahime - A very small, very cute girl who likes Arima. Arima and Tsubasa went to middle school together, but a skateboarding accident prevented her from joining high school at the same time as everyone else. She has a significant crush on Arima, who, in turn, only treated her as a younger sister. She is insanely jealous of Miyazawa, but they all eventually become friends. Tsubasa is a sucker for Totoro.
Tsubaki Sakura, Aya Sawada, Sena Rika - Tsubasa's three friends. During Tsubasa's fight with Yukino, they approach Yukino and ask her to be patient with Tsubasa. They quickly become friends with Yukino.
Maho Izawa - An attractive and intelligent student, she falls out of the limelight when she arrives in high school because of Yukino. Her jealousy becomes hatred and she turns the entire class against Yukino. Eventually, however, it backfires on her and the class turns on Maho. Yukino, however, takes the high road and makes the first efforts to turn Maho into a friend.
Katsuma Ikeda - Son of the woman that Tsubasa's father is seeing. He's a member of a rock band and has bleached hair, so he is initially looked upon with suspicion by Tsubasa and her father. However, he wishes to have her mother be happy and to have a sister of his own, so he immediately takes a shine to Tsubasa.Characters
