I took advantage of a long flight and a row to myself to read Konohana Link from start to finish and keep notes on the characters and goings-on. Hopefully it will help people keep track of what's going on in the series.

These are arranged by character, in order of appearance (except that I moved Kuze Ryoko/Yoriko up next to her sister for easier comparison). Notes under each character are in chronological order.

First a word on name changes. Three characters names appear to change, I think between chapters 5 and 6. They are:
- female lead in the play has her given name change from Mihiro to Mahiro.
- tall, black-haired director of the play changes from Nagatani Jun to Nagaya Sonoe -- I think. Possibly they're two different people, but it doesn't seem like it.
- "good twin" Kuze Ryoko changes to Yoriko.

Second, a note on hair colours. There's no colour artwork, but I use the words "blonde", "brown" and "black" when describing hair. I'm speaking here about the literal shades in the B+W manga "white", "grey" and "black" respectively.

Third, how to tell these two "tag-team twins" apart: thickness of the rims on their glasses. Evil twin Miyako's are wire-rimmed or frameless, good twin Ryoko/Yoriko's have thick frames.

Kuze Miyako - demure(-looking) brunette with thin-framed glasses
- tells taller girl with black hair (Jun) "for half a year, until I graduate, if you go out with me, I will teach you everything"
- kisses Nagatani Jun
- spots Chieri seeing them making out
- famous for messing around with girls, according to Sakijima Saori.
- turns girls' legs to jelly, so she doesn't get expelled. they protect her (also taking Saori's word for that)
- confronts Chieri about seeing her kissing Jun
- "Does being loved by as many people as possible make me cruel?" enjoys it when the girls she seduces discover they're not the only one and try to win her exclusive favour.
- claims to be making those girls happy. Chieri disagrees. Doesn't believe in 'true' happiness, soul mates, etc.
- seems like she secretly wants to have someone who loves her forever.
- Onee-chan of Kuze Ryoko
- wears fake glasses and styles her hair to look like Ryoko

Kuze Ryoko/Yoriko - brunette, long hair. framed glasses.
- in Chieri's class
- younger sister of Miyako
- Miyako used to learn about "things" (just sexual? other things too?) and "try them out" on Ryoko. The family knew, apparently?
- they had sex up until the second year of junior high
- claims it doesn't bother her that her sister is a lesbian, just wishes she'd settle down and date someone properly.
- treats Chieri to food, supposedly to make up for her sister [o rly?]
- thinks Chieri is "more of a handful than I expected"
- knows about Night, and follows her to the unconscious Saori.
- recently in on the secret of Saori's aplastic anemia.
- asked Chieri to call her Yoriko (first time her name changes, and also first-name basis)
- see also under Takahara her reaction when Takahara shows up.

Nagatani Jun -- called Nagaya Sonoe by the drama club? same person or different? - tall with black hair
- unwillingly kissed by her sempai, Kuze Miyako
- directing the play
- confesses her love for Mihiro/Mahiro
- Skypes with Naoko, who lives in another city

Naoko - blonde, short tails
- in Sweden. friends with Nagatani Jun
- flips when Jun tells her "a guy" (actually Miyako) confessed to her. Naoko begins to realize her feelings when she notices her own reaction.
- I note her physical resemblance to Mihiro -- petite, short blonde hair.

teacher with short brown hair
- teaches Chieri's class

Suzuki Chieri - blonde, slight ahame, long tails
- clumsy.
- went to a fancy girls school
- rides a motorcycle
- old friends with Chika-chan, who doesn't go to this school
- wants to meet "cute guys", at least initially.
- sees Kuze Miyako and Nagatani Jun making out
- thinks Miyako's hair is pretty
- feels her heart beat faster when Saori takes her hand.
- runs into what looks like Miyako (but is actually Ryoko)
- in the same class as Ryoko
- dazzled by Saori's speech to open the cultural festival
- was confessed to by a girl at her old school (Chika-chan? Takahara?) and invented an excuse to get her dad to transfer her schools -- claims not to have been disgusted or freaked out by the confession, but to hate the other girl.
- annoyed Saori lied to her about Night being a secret, when Night is more like the student council's mascot.
- recently in on the secret of Saori's aplastic anemia
- sleeps with (literally) Saori in the infirmary. no moves made.
- panics on waking up next to her in an unfamiliar place
- gets pressed into service in a too-short maidlike costume for the festival because Michuru (not Saori) is ill (jumped in the pool in the wintertime, apparently?)

Fujikoshi - man with puffy black hair
- male lead in the play. tries to kiss female lead, she refuses.
- generally a toolbag.

Mihiro/Mahiro - blonde with short high ponytail in the play, loose chin-length otherwise
- female lead in the play. doesn't want to kiss male lead, no kiss in script (or possibly edited out by Jun?)
- a first year, "star rookie" of the drama club
- lies about having her boyfriend coming. in fact "someone" (a woman? no gender pronoun...) who went to the same middle school as her.
- "I was happy when you said you liked me, sempai. But I've never gone out with anyone before, I don't know much about love or romance. So, well, I know it's unfair of me to say this, but... " "Mahi--" "Can I give you my answer after the play is over...?"

Sakijima Saori - messy brown hair. longer locks over her ears, barely shoulder length.
- looks after a stray(?) dog around the school, female named Night. told Chieri it was a secret.
- takes Chieri's hand and shows her around the school
- a first year. very popular, on the student council with a landslide vote.
- has aplastic anemia. occasionally collapses, and needs blood transfusions semi-frequently.
- addresses Meiko without honorifics.
- sleeps with (literally) Chieri in the infirmary. no moves made.

Mega Meiko - long brown hair, back part tied back.
- on student council.
- in on the secret of Saori's aplastic anemia.
- addresses Saori without honorifics.
- looks out for Saori, but doesn't seem jealously protective of her; leaves Chieri to care for Saori.

Takahara - mysterious blonde who turns up in ch08
- Chieri recognizes her and is not pleased to see her.
- says "Nagasaki-san skipped school again yesterday" -- that must be Chika-chan?
- Chieri blames her "if you hadn't interfered like that--" "you would've been able to stay good friends with Nagasaki-san even now, you mean?" "grrr"
- then Ryoko/Yoriko smushes a waffle into her chest "accidentally", drags her away, and accuses her of being the one that chased Chieri away from her old school.

general notes:
- school is co-ed
- cultural festival is a big deal and starts the day after Chieri arrives

general conclusions on what's going on
- Meiko protective of Saori but not jealous; left Chieri to take care of her.
- Saori popular and much-admired, stunned Chieri who still seems taken by her, but hasn't resolved that into attraction.
- Yoriko/Ryoko protective of Chieri, not clear what she feels towards her.
- Name changes are confusing.

Speculations
- Miyako, while giving her tough-girl "that's the way the world is", "I don't believe in soul mates" speech seemed to hint at past heartbreak driving her to it. For my money, she actually loves her sister but denial or rejection have led her to do what she does. Ryoko/Yoriko tells Chieri they stopped having sex in her second year of junior high... but it seems like there's more to that story than "it just stopped happening".
- Naoko seems to resemble Mihiro. Possibly Jun is transferring her unrealized feelings for Naoko onto Mihiro? Not very likely but I wouldn't put it past Kurogane Kenn.

Graph of attraction. Format: Attracted -> To Whom. Those marked with a * are my speculations.
- Naoko -> Jun
- Chieri -> Saori*
- Ryoko/Yoriko -> Chieri*
- either Takahara or Chika-chan (whichever confessed and she supposedly hated) -> Chieri
- Jun -> Mihiro (only one with a directly witnessed confession)
- Miyako -> Jun (though with Miyako... who knows)
- Miyako -> Ryoko/Yoriko* (entirely my spec, see above. I'd bet on this one, though)

I note that not one of them is two-way. The one closest to being mutual is probably Chieri and Saori.

Those names have been fixed through out all the chapters. Or they should be now.

also, sonoe and jun are different people...most likely so. do realise that kurogane draws his characters pretty similar to each other.
it's very nice knowing that there are people out there who still bother with konohana. it feels like everyone gave up on it already.

last edited at Dec 5, 2010 7:43PM

i actually admire kuragane kenn's works, though i notice similarities betweeen the characters from work to work, but the art n the story is much to my taste... =D

i was waiting for new konohana chapters to come out n when it did, my heart was beating liek crazy... xD

but as i thought, just one isn't enough for me... i hipe more will come out soon... >.< crossing fingers