Nico Yazawa

Yazawa Niko is one of the nine main characters in Love Live!. Despite her looks, she is in fact 17 years old and a third year. Niko was born on July 22 and is a Cancer. She has black hair tied up in double ponytails and red eyes. Her main color is pink. Niko is 154 centimeters tall, and her blood type is A. She is part of BiBi, a mini idol unit. Niko is voiced by Sora Tokui.

Background
In Episode 5, it is discovered that during her first year in high school she started an idol group. However, one by one the members gave up because Niko's goal to become an idol was too much for them and they couldn't keep up.

Personality
Normally Niko has quite an aggressive personality, but when she takes on her alternate personality she becomes a happy, upbeat character who is always smiling.

A common joke in the series is that she's often ignored by the other members of μ's at her attempts at being the better idol. An example of her trying to make the others believe she is the better idol is in episode 10 when Niko claims that she has a personal chef like Maki, and Kotori falls for the lie unknowingly. However, Niko accidentally forgot about her lie, and ends up cooking for everyone, where the truth is revealed.

Niko often gets annoyed with the student council president, Ayase Eri, for taking away the spotlight from her with her beauty and maturity.

Clubs and Hobbies
Yazawa Niko is the Idol Research club president and is interested in fashion, therefore she designs the group's outfits with Kotori.

In Episode 10, Niko is shown to be a very skilled cook despite saying she never cook before.

Chronology
Yazawa Niko first appears in Episode 1 in a noticeable disguise that consists of a scarf, heavy jacket, face mask, and sunglasses. Niko was at UTX when Kousaka Honoka appears, watching A-Rise perform on a screen. Because of Niko's first attempt at becoming an idol failed, Niko showed resentment towards A-Rise. Not knowing who they were, Honoka asked Niko who the group on the screen were. Shocked, Niko explains to her that they're a school idol group, and that UTX was getting a lot of students because of their fame.

Niko doesn't appear until Episode 5 when she confronts Honoka and Kotori to tell them to break up μ's. Later on, Niko meets the rest of μ's who ask her to end her Idol Research Club so they can create a School Idol Club, since they have enough members to form a club. Niko flat out refuses and tries to run away but fails when Hoshizora Rin catches her, thanks her lack of stamina. Still remaining stubborn and her belief in μ's being inexperienced idols based on their lack of personas, Niko says no again and locks them out of the club room.

The school's vice-president Toujou Nozomi explains to μ's that Niko once attempted to become a school idol, but failed because she set the bar too high for her group, causing them to quit one by one. After some thinking, Honoka comes up with the idea to join Niko's Idol Research Club to ask Niko to teach them how to improve μ's. Happily, Niko accepts the offer.

In Episode 6, Nozomi records interviews with μ's, but stops to ask Honoka why she is the leader when she does nothing for the group. Niko then suggests to have a karaoke and dance contest to determine the leader (although secretly trying to outshine everyone else). However, her plan backfires when everyone gets similar scores. Honoka then suggests that μ's doesn't need a leader and everyone agrees, despite believing that Honoka was the most worthy of becoming the leader.

In Episode 7, Koizumi 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. The chairwoman tells them that they can enter, but only if they all pass the upcoming exams. Niko gets paired up with Nozomi to study, even though she says that she doesn't need any help. 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. Sonoda 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 LIVE" at the open day to a pleased crowd, making the open day a success.

In Episode 9, the group goes to Akihabara and discover that they're being featured as merchandise. Niko, not being able to find any items of her, freaks out and begins looking through the rest of the members' merchandise. Niko soon comes across merchandise of her and happily takes pictures of it. They also discover that Kotori has been secretly working a maid café after school to build confidence. Finding Akiba a good place for a concert, Eri assigns Kotori the job of writing lyrics for μ's next song. Kotori struggles with this, however, but after receiving help from Honoka and Umi, she is able to successfully write "Wonder Zone".

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 them join in except for Umi, who is already fast asleep. However, a pillow hits Umi while she was sleeping, causing her to get cranky and begin throwing "supersonic pillows" at everyone, hitting Niko, Honoka, and Eri. At the end of the episode, all of μ's go out to the beach and watch the sunrise while holding hands.

In Episode 11, μ's has reached rank #19 on the school idol website, meaning they are eligible to perform in the Love Live! tournament. However, things don't go their way when they are unable to secure a spot on the auditorium for the upcoming school festival, thanks to Niko failing a lottery spin. Honoka suggests that they instead hold their performance on the school rooftop where they train, but the other members are slightly hesitant to this idea but eventually agree. For the whole episode, Kotori is preoccupied about a letter she received in episode 9. Umi notices her distress and calls her later that day, discovering that Kotori had been wanting to tell Honoka something. Honoka, meanwhile, had overworked herself for the whole episode that she wakes up with a fever the day of the festival, but goes to school, anyway. At the concert, μ's perform "No Brand Girls," but after it finishes, Honoka faints.

In Episode 12, following the events of the previous episode, Eri tells the audience that one of the members had an accident. The next day, 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 from the school idol ranking site. 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. At the rooftop, Maki, Hanayo, and Rin all 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 reveal to Honoka that they're planning to do a final live before Kotori leaves. However, 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's 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, Eri decides to put μ's on a hiatus. Despite this, Niko tells Hanayo and Rin to continue practicing. Later, while on her way home, Honoka comes across Niko, Hanayo, and Rin training. Niko tells Honoka that she loves being an idol and that everything that has happened is because Honoka quit being an idol. Rin and Hanayo tell Niko that she's being too harsh on her, but Honoka tells them that Niko is right.

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