Kotori Minami

Minami Kotori is one of nine main characters in Love Live!. She is 16 years old and a second year. She is also known as "Legendary Maid Minalinsky" while working in Akihabara. Kotori was born on the 12th of September and is a Virgo. She has grayish-brown hair, normally styled in some way, and orange eyes. Her main color is a teal-like color. She is 159 centimeters tall, and her blood type is O. She is part of Printemps, a mini idol unit, and her solo album is called "Kotori, Lovin' You". Kotori is voiced by Aya Uchida.

Background
Since she was young, Kotori has been friends with Kousaka Honoka and Sonoda Umi. Her mother is chairwoman of the school board.

Personality
Minami Kotori is known for having her head in the clouds, despite this she is the group's designer along with Yazawa Niko. Kotori has a very huge aptitude for fashion, and is very good at drawing the costumes for the group. Kotori is shown to be very kind to her friends, and does genuinely care about them, especially about their feelings.

Kotori is also shown as the most indecisive person among all nine members, and tends to have Sonoda Umi and Kousaka Honoka, her childhood friends, make decisions for her. She also has a hard time expressing her feelings, since she always takes other people's feelings into consideration.

Clubs and Hobbies
She is μ's wardrobe supervisor and helps with the choreography. It was discovered in episode 9 that Kotori works in a maid café in Akihabara, under the name "Minalinsky". She is known as a Legendary Maid in Akihabara due to her kindness, cuteness and soft voice.

Chronology
In Episode 1, after discovering the closing of their school, student council president Ayase Eri and her friend Toujou Nozomi approach Kotori and her friends. Kotori is asked if she 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. 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 they book the school's auditorium for a concert, Kotori shows the two a design for the outfit they are going to wear and she is going to make it herself. Kotori is the first to mention that they need to come up with a name for their idol group. They also do not have a song to perform yet, so Kotori and Honoka convince Umi to takes the job of writing lyrics. In return, Umi has Kotori and Honoka exercise to get more stamina.

In Episode 3, it is the day before μ's first concert. Umi starts to get more nervous about performing. So, in order to get Umi more self-confident, Honoka and Kotori hand out fliers. When Kotori reveals the costumes μ's would be performing in, Umi gets more worried 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. Despite there barely being an audience, μ's performs their song Start:Dash!! which attracts a small crowd. After the song, Eri appears, asking them what they plan on doing, to which Honoka replies that μ's will keep on performing until they can fill up the whole auditorium.

In Episode 4, the girl, Hanayo, from the previous episode debates with herself to join the idol club. Some time 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 Hanayo's best friend Hoshizora 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.

In Episode 5, a girl named Yazawa Niko threatens Honoka and Kotori to disband μ's. While in fast food joint, trying to think of a place to practice during the rainy season, Honoka suddenly realizes that there's enough members to form an official club. However, the girls learn that there's already another an Idol Research Club. It ends up, however, that Niko is the only member of the club. The girls ask her if they can merge their groups together, Niko flat out rejects them, based on the fact that they don't have personas. Nozomi explains to μ's that Niko once tried to start a school idol group, however, the group's members quit one by one, because Niko set the bar too high for them, which eventually led the group to fall apart. After some thinking, Honoka comes up with the idea to join the Idol Research Club to have Niko teach them how to be proper idols. After asking, Niko accepts, happily.

In Episode 7, Hanayo tells μ's about the Love Live, a concert where the top 20 school idol groups compete in. The girls then go over to the chairwoman to ask permission to be able to enter the Love Live. Despite Eri's objection, the chairwoman allows them to enter, but only if they all pass the upcoming exams. The members that need to study the most is Honoka, Rin, and Niko, who presumably have bad grades. Umi and Kotori help Honoka study, while Hanayo and Maki help Rin, and Nozomi with Niko.

In Episode 8, μ's barge into her office, demanding an explanation. She clarifies to them that if the school's upcoming open day doesn't go well, the school will be closed. While Eri tries to think of a way to attract students, Umi suggests to μ's that Eri should be their choreographer. Eri soon agrees and puts the group through intense training. Later on, Nozomi informs μ's that Eri wants to join, but believes she can't because of the way she used to treat them. The group then asks her to join μ's. Eri becomes honest with herself and feelings, and joins μ's with Nozomi. Nozomi then reveals to the group that she came up with the name; μ's meaning the nine goddesses of music. The now nine members of μ's performs at the open day and successfully pleases them.

In Episode 9, Eri finds Akiba to be the perfect spot to have a concert, so she assigns Kotori to write lyrics for a new song based on Akiba culture, because she works at a maid café there and knows Akiba best. However, Kotori struggles with writing the lyrics, which eventually has an impact on her studies from stress. 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. The next morning, however, an air mail arrives in Kotori's mailbox with her name written on it.

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, a pillow hits 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. On the day of the concert, it's raining, but the group decides to perform, anyway.

Kotori apparently read the mail she received in her mailbox, but seemed hesitant on telling her friends the news. When warming up on the rooftop, Umi was telling Honoka that she shouldn't be working herself too hard, but Honoka said that it's all right. When Umi asked Kotori to tell Honoka to stop, Kotori didn't respond because she was thinking about the letter. After Umi snapped Kotori out of her daze, Kotori said that Honoka should do whatever she want, disappointing Umi and making Honoka happy.

Later on, Umi calls Kotori. Kotori then explains her situation 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. They perform "No Brand Girls", but as the song finished, Honoka faints.

In Episode 12, 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. 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 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'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. Niko disagrees with Eri, saying that she wants to continue being a school idol. Umi visits Kotori and tells her if she really is going to study aboard. But Kotori tells her that there's nothing they can do about it at this point which really makes Umi sad.

At the airport, Kotori's mother drops her off and Kotori tells her that she can walk by herself at this point. While waiting for her flight, Kotori sings the third verse of Susume→Tomorrow, coincidentally with Honoka and Umi singing the first and second.

Before Kotori could get on her plane, Honoka manages to get to the airport and grabs Kotori's arm. She tells her that she wants to be school idols with her, and hugs her, telling her not to go. Kotori then cries and that she's the one to say sorry.

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.