Umi Sonoda

Sonoda Umi is one of the nine main characters in Love Live!. She is 16 years old and a second year in high school. Umi was born on March 15 and is a Pisces. She has long blue hair and brown eyes. Her main color is blue. She is 159 centimeters tall, and her blood type is A. She is the center of Lily White, a mini idol unit. Her solo album is called "Umiiro Shōjo ni Miserarete (海色少女に魅せられて)". She is voiced by Suzuko Mimori.

Background
Umi is Kousaka Honoka and Minami Kotori's classmate and childhood friend. She is also a member of the school's archery club, which she is quite good at. She believes Honoka is bossy and pushy, but also realizes the perks of having an adventurous friend. Among the members of μ's, Umi takes the role of being their physical trainer and choreographer before Ayase Eri joins the group and takes up that role.

Personality
Umi is normally a shy girl, but she has a strong will and has some qualities of a leader. Despite of this, she is content to stay reserved and always thinks logically. Umi becomes the group's lyric writer, and wrote the song "Start:Dash!!". Umi is uncomfortable with wearing short skirts, but gets used to it after their first live. Apparently, if awaken while sleeping, Umi takes on a completely different and angry personality, and has the ability to throw "supersonic pillows," according to Episode 10.

Clubs and Hobbies
As the daughter of a traditional family, Umi experts in Kendo, Nagauta, archery, calligraphy, and traditional dancing.

Chronology
In Episode 1, after discovering that Otonokizaka High School is closing after all of the students graduate, student council president Eri and her friend Toujou Nozomi approach Kotori and her friends. They ask her if she ever heard her mother tell her anything about the school shutting down. When Kotori says no, Eri and Nozomi both excuse themselves. Honoka, Umi, and Kotori begin trying to think of a way to attract students to prevent their school from shutting down. Honoka then gets the idea to start an idol group with Kotori and Umi to save the school. However, Umi says to drop the idea. Later, Kotori shows Umi how Honoka is working hard on becoming a school idol and both of them join Honoka. They are set on becoming idols, even though their idea of a school idol club was rejected by Eri.

In Episode 2, after Honoka manages to book the school's auditorium for a concert, they realize they don't have a name for their idol group nor a song to work with. To settle the matter with the name, they decide to hold a contest for it. As for the song, Umi reluctantly takes the job of writing the lyrics, but in return, Kotori and Honoka have to exercise to get better stamina. Eri warns them that their plan could backfire and ruin the reputation of the school, however, the girls' class supports them, and they receive a name for their idol group: μ's. Honoka also gets a girl named Nishikino Maki to compose a song using Umi's lyrics, and Maki sends a CD to Honoka's home.

In Episode 3, it is the day before μ's first concert, and Umi starts to get more nervous about performing. To boost her confidence, Honoka and Kotori have Umi pass out fliers for their concert. When Kotori reveals the costumes μ's would be performing in, Umi gets more anxious because of how short it is. When it's finally time for the concert, nobody is there. However, before the girls gave up, a student named Koizumi Hanayo shows up to see the concert quickly followed by her best friend Hoshizora Rin. Despite the small audience, μ's performs the song "Start:Dash!!," which attracts a small crowd. After the song finishes, Eri appears and walks down to the stage, asking them what they plan on doing since their plan has failed. Honoka replies that μ's will keep on performing until they can one day fill up the whole auditorium.

In Episode 4, Hanayo, from the previous episode, debates with herself whether or not to join μ's. Sometime later, Hanayo comes across Honoka's sweet shop, where Umi and Kotori also are and where they notice a video of their performance of "Start:Dash!!" gaining views on the internet. The girls then ask Hanayo to join the club. Maki and Rin know about Hanayo's shyness, so they both give Hanayo a push, which then helps Hanayo agree to join μ's. Rin and Maki both decide to join, as well, thus making μ's have six members.

In Episode 5, while in a fast food joint, trying to think of a place to practice during the rainy season, Honoka realizes that there's enough members to form an official club. However, the girls learn that there's already another Idol Research Club. It ends up, however, that a girl name Yazawa Niko is the sole member of the club. The girls ask her if they can merge their groups together, but Niko flatly rejects them, based on the fact that they don't have personas. After learning from Nozomi that Niko once tried, and failed, to become a school idol, Honoka comes up with the idea to join the Idol Research Club and have Niko teach them how to be proper idols. Niko happily accepts.

In Episode 6, Nozomi films interviews with each member of μ's. When Honoka was being interviewed, Nozomi asked her why she's the leader when she does nothing for the group. It then leads to a singing and dancing contest to determine the leader. The member with the most points becomes the leader. However, in the end, everyone gets similar scores. Honoka then suggests that maybe μ's doesn't need a leader, causing everyone to agree with her, but also making them believe that she is the most worthy of becoming the leader.

In Episode 7, Hanayo tells μ's about the Love Live! tournament, a concert where the top 20 school idol groups compete in. Needing permission to enter, the girls then go over to the chairwoman for permission. Despite Eri's objection, the chairwoman tells them that they can enter, but only if they all pass the upcoming exams. Umi and Kotori help Honoka study, who generally has bad grades. Once the exams are done and everyone passes, everyone goes to the chairwoman's office, but overhear her telling Eri that the school would be shutting down next year.

In Episode 8, following the events of the previous episode, the chairwoman clarifies to μ's that the school will shut down if the upcoming open day is received negatively. Umi suggests to the group to get Eri to teach them how to dance. Eri agrees to their offer and puts the group into intense training, but is surprised by their willingness to continue. Nozomi tells μ's that Eri wants to join, but believes she can't because of how she treated them in the past. μ's go to Eri and formally invite her to join. Eri becomes honest with her feelings and joins, along with Nozomi who reveals that she came up with the group's name: μ's, which refers to the nine goddesses of music. Coincidentally, there are nine members in μ's. The now complete group performs "Bokura no LIVE, Kimi to no LIFE" at the open day to a pleased crowd, making the open day a success.

In Episode 9, after discovering Kotori working secretly in Akihabara at a maid café, Eri assigns Kotori to write lyrics for a new song based on Akiba culture, because she knows Akiba best. However, Kotori struggles to write the lyrics. However, thanks to Honoka and Umi, she is able to create the song "Wonder Zone" by recalling her feelings when she works in Akihabara. After the performance, Honoka, Umi, and Kotori go pray at a shrine for μ's success. Then, as they were leaving, they look up at the stars and promise to each other they'll be together forever.

In Episode 10, μ's decide to go to Maki's beach house after getting permission from her parents. Eri creates a rule that no one is allowed to use the honorifics "senpai" for the duration of the trip, so they can break down the barrier between upper and underclassmen. The girls spend the whole day at the beach playing, but Nozomi and Eri are quick to notice Maki not participating. At night, Nozomi initiates a pillow fight, and all of μ's except Umi play. However, two pillows hit Umi while she was sleeping, causing her to get cranky and throw "supersonic pillows" at everyone, hitting Niko, Honoka, and Eri. Just as she was about to hit Hanayo and Rin, Maki knocks Umi out with a pillow, causing her to fall back asleep. The episode ends with all the members of μ's breaking down the barrier between upper and underclassmen, and holding hands while watching the sunrise.

In Episode 11, μ's has manage to reach rank #19 on the school idol ranking site, making them eligible to apply to the Love Live! tournament. This puts pressure on μ's to keep their position. However, Niko fails to win a lottery spin to use the auditorium, causing μ's to think of where to have a concert. Honoka comes up with the idea that they can use the rooftop to hold their performance, and the group hesitantly agrees. While training on the rooftop, Umi tells Honoka that she shouldn't be working herself too hard, but Honoka said that it's all right. When Umi asks Kotori to tell Honoka to stop, Kotori doesn't respond because she is in deep thought. After Umi snaps Kotori out of her daze, Kotori says that Honoka should do whatever she want, disappointing Umi and making Honoka happy.

Later on, during a phone call, Umi asks Honoka if she ever noticed Kotori acting weird. When Honoka said that she didn't, Umi changes the subject by telling her to go straight to bed instead of exercising, then calls Kotori. Kotori then explains the reason why she's been down lately to Umi, but the audience do not get to hear the conversation.

While getting ready for the concert, Umi asks Kotori if she was fine with her decision, to which Kotori says yes and that she'd tell Honoka about it. Despite the rain, the girls perform "No Brand Girls". However, afterwards, Honoka faints, surprising both μ's and the audience.

In Episode 12, following the events of the previous episode, μ's go to Honoka's house to check on her. They discover that she's still recovering and has a sprained leg. They sadly tell Honoka that they dropped out of the Love Live! tournament, meaning their ranking was removed. Honoka blames herself for the incident, but μ's tell her that it's everyone's fault, instead. Everyone gets depressed from this event, but Honoka the most. On the rooftop, Maki, Hanayo, and Rin announce that the school has been saved, thus the group decides to have a celebration. At the party, however, Umi and Kotori are noticed to not be in jolly spirits. Umi then reveals to μ's that Kotori is moving to a fashion boarding school for the rest of her high school career. Everyone is surprised by the announcement, but Honoka gets angry at Kotori for not telling her earlier. Kotori explains to her that she wanted to tell them but couldn't, and runs away.

The next day, on the rooftop, μ's reveals that they're planning to do a final live with everybody before Kotori leaves. But Honoka tells them that it was her fault and that none of this would've happened if it wasn't for the accident. The members tell her to stop saying that, but Honoka then says that the school is saved, therefore there's no reason to keep on performing and that it's impossible to go against a group like A-Rise. Honoka tells them that she quits, but before she leaves, Umi slaps her cheek, saying that she didn't think that she's that kind of person and that she's the worst there is.

In Episode 13, following the events of the previous episode, Honoka and Umi still don't speak to each other. Eri decides to put μ's on a hiatus. However, Niko disagrees with Eri, saying that she wants to continue being a school idol. Umi visits Kotori and asks her if she really is going to study aboard. Kotori sadly tells her that there's nothing they can do about it at this point, which saddens Umi.

At school the next day, Honoka is at the stage where she, Kotori, and Umi performed "Start:Dash!!" Umi comes into the auditorium because she was invited by Honoka to come. Honoka apologizes to Umi, but Umi laughs and tells her that she has always been a nuisance. She then tells her that Honoka brought her and Kotori on a long ride, taking them to places they didn't have the courage to go before. Umi then sings the first verse of "Susume→Tomorrow," Honoka the second, and Kotori, who is at the airport, the third.

Afterwards, Honoka brings back Kotori from the airport and μ's performs "Start:Dash!!" in the auditorium, despite wearing their school uniforms, and this time with the auditorium filled with people. Honoka then tells the crowd to say "μ's Music Start!" and μ's are in the school idol ratings again.