Honoka Kosaka

Kousaka Honoka is the main protagonist of Love Live!. She is 16 years old and a second year in Otonokizaka High School. She was born on August 3. Honoka has ginger hair with some of it tied up in a right, side ponytail, and blue eyes. Her main image color is orange, though her outfits are sometimes pink. She is the leader of Printemps, a mini idol unit. Her solo album is called "Honnori Honokairo! (ほんのり穂乃果色!)".

Background
Honoka's family owns a Japanese sweets shop. She lives at the back of the shop with her mother, father, and little sister. Since she was young, she has been friends with Minami Kotori, and she befriended Sonoda Umi after inviting her to a game of hide and seek. She is also friends with Fumiko, Hideko and Mika at school. Her grandmother and her mother both are graduates from Otonokizaka.

Personality
Honoka is an optimist who is never afraid to take risks. She is always in a good mood and likes to look at the bright side of things. She is determined and once her mind is set on something, nothing can stop her. This is believed to be the driving force behind μ's' formation and success. But because of her persistent personality, she often overexerts herself.

Her personality is similar to Hoshizora Rin's because they are both determined and hard-working. For example, in Season 1 Episode 7, Honoka, Rin and Yazawa Nico had to work hard to pass exams in order to enter the Love Live! (School Idol Tournament), and are known as the "San baka (三馬鹿)."

She likes to eat bread, but she does not enjoy eating red bean paste or white bean paste despite working at her family's shop that sells Japanese sweets.

Clubs and Hobbies
Honoka enjoys swimming and collecting stickers. Her special skill is often finding money on the streets, which she attributes to good luck. She is the former leader of the school idol group μ's before Rin takes the role over. Starting from the second season, she succeeds Ayase Eli as Otonokizaka High School's student council president.

In the manga version, before starting an idol club, Honoka is in the Kendo club with Umi and is good enough to win a tournament.

Chronology
Season I = Season II =

Trivia

 * She liked milk while she was in elementary school.
 * The only thing she is good at, other than cheering people up, is making rice cakes.
 * Honoka from the Dead Or Alive series has a strong resemblance to Kousaka Honoka.
 * The various media in the project disagree on the relationships between the second-years. In the manga which was published earlier, Honoka is closer to Umi as the two of them are childhood friends and not Kotori, but in the anime and other newer media, the three of them are all childhood friends.
 * There has also been a Q&A answered in a magazine which stated that Honoka and Kotori are childhood friends because their mothers were also childhood friends, and they've always been living on the same street.
 * According to Kotori's Q&A answer, Honoka's side ponytail was originally made by Kotori back when they are just childhood friends.
 * Honoka's training outfit changes from light blue in season one to orange in season 2, and back to light blue in the movie. The shirt has the same writing on it throughout; only the color changes.

Gallery
Official Art=