Komi Can't Communicate is a popular slice-of-life shonen anime with some shojo elements to it, giving it broad appeal in the community. This series has a diverse cast of characters any of those viewers can identify with. Interestingly, these characters' names have hidden meanings.
It's a common Japanese naming convention to be very intentional when choosing kanji for names. The same names can have different meanings depending on the kanji used. For Komi Can't Communicate, most characters have a meaningful name that describes their personality or doubles as a pun or gag. These names are representative of how the author wanted audiences to view their characters.
10 Hitohito Tadano Is Truly Ordinary
Hitohito Tadano is the male lead, an ordinary but kind boy who became Shoko Komi's first-ever friend. Other characters gently tease Hitohito for being so unremarkable and plain, but Hitohito makes up for it with his remarkable empathy and ability to understand exactly what Shoko is thinking.
Hitohito's name has the kanji for "tada no hito," which is a play on a similar-sounding phrase meaning "just some ordinary guy." His name describes his archetype in the story very clearly, but Hitohito doesn't seem to feel bad about it. He's just some plain guy, but he's still one of the most important people in Shoko's life.
9 Najimi Osana Is Everyone's Good Friend
Najimi Osama is one of the liveliest and most talkative characters in Komi Can't Communicate. Najimi is a total extrovert who claims to have thousands of friends all over Japan. They're popular and well-liked at Itan high school, and they're also a childhood friend of Hitohito Tadano. Najimi soon became Shoko's friend as well.
As expected, Najimi Osana's name reflects their personality, though this name includes the phonetic hiragana system as well as kanji. It means "childhood friend," but notably, "najimu" is a verb describing being acquainted with someone or even adopting them.
8 Shuko Komi Has Many Viewpoints
Shoko Komi's mother, Shuko, quickly established herself as one of the most likable and fun-loving anime moms out there. It's clear that Shoko got her good looks from her mother, but their personalities are completely different.
Shuko's maiden name is Niimi, which means "new view." In her youth, Shuko got a new view on love and relationships when met the quiet but kind Masayoshi Komi and learned that there's more to him than his silent exterior would suggest. By contrast, "Komi" means "old view."
7 Rumiko Manbagi Is A Trendy Girl
Rumiko Manbagi is a stylish student who's part of the gyaru (or "gal") fashion trend. She favors artificial tans, vivid hair colors, and a plethora of accessories and flashy clothes. She was initially a bit standoffish in Komi Can't Communicate, but she soon befriended both Shoko and Hitohito. She eventually toned down her wild gyaru aesthetic as well.
Rumiko's last name, Manbagi, is meaningful to this character. It clearly refers to the Manba fashion trend from Ganguro. Her first name is more ordinary and ends with the character "ko," or "child," a common suffix for girls' names.
6 Ren Yamai Is Truly Lovesick
Ren Yamai was introduced early in Komi Can't Communicate. She's a hotheaded yandere who ferociously seeks Komi's approval while trying to keep rivals away. Her possessiveness is classic yandere behavior that worries Hitohito and Shoko's other friends. Even Komi will gently but firmly scold Ren for it sometimes. Fortunately, Ren will listen to Komi.
Ren Yamai's first name is an alternate way to pronounce the character for love, usually pronounced as "ai." The surname Yamai can be written with the character for "mountain," but it can also be written with the character for "illness." After all, the "yan" in "yandere" stands for "yanderu," which means "to be sick."
5 Himiko Agari Is Frightened And Likes Getting Hit
Himiko Agari fits the shy library girl archetype. She's a modest yet self-deprecating student who positively idolizes her new friend Shoko Komi. Himiko has social anxiety as well and she rarely asserts herself. Despite her social anxiety, however, she enjoys visiting ramen shops and takes pride in writing insightful reviews online.
The surname Agari sounds similar to "agari-shou," or "stage fright," alluding to her nervous behavior around others and general lack of confidence. Other characters in her name mean "lowly, vulgar" and "gluttonous," referring to her mild masochistic streak and her hobby of reviewing ramen shops.
4 Omoharu Nakanaka Is A Dreaming Otaku
Omoharu Nakanaka is one of the most intense characters in Shoko's class. She's an eyepatch-wearing girl with a flair for the dramatic. She also enjoys playing video games, such as off-brand Super Smash Bros. Her name fits her traits and behavior perfectly.
The name "Omoharu" has characters for "believe, dream" and "adolescence," which likely refers to the concept of an adolescent's dreams of grandeur. "Naka" also sounds similar to a certain otaku lexicon term, since Nakanaka is known for her geeky habits and imagination.
3 Otori Kaede Is Peculiar But Harmless & Sweet
Kaede Otori is a gentle and kind girl who may seem a bit odd or scatterbrained to her classmates, but everyone likes her regardless, and they wouldn't ever make fun of her for it. Kaede is simply a charming friend who has a whimsical lifestyle, and it seems as if nothing can upset her.
Kaede's name is fairly straightforward in its meaning. Her surname, "Otori," means "ladylike" or "quiet and gentle," which is a reasonably accurate way to describe her. Notably, Kaede was one of the first few characters to get Shoko Komi to speak out loud.
2 Makeru Yadano Has Intense Feelings Of Rivalry
Very few people feel the need to compare themselves to Shoko Komi or compete with her, but Makeru Yadano is an exception. Makeru is Shoko's one-sided, shonen-style rival. She inexplicably turns everything into a contest with Shoko, which usually takes Shoko by surprise.
When read in first name-surname order, this character's name sound similar to the phrase "makeru yada no," which means "I hate losing." Sure enough, Makeru tends to throw a tantrum anytime she falls short of Komi. Her tantrums occur quite often.
1 Nokoko Inaka Is A Country Girl Through & Through
Nokoko Inaka is one of several Komi Can't Communicate characters who simply needs a confidence boost. For Nokoko, she'll feel more confident when she integrates fully into city life since she's from the countryside. At first, Nokoko was certain that everyone would mock her and her country accent. Fortunately, that never happened.
Nokoko's last name, Inaka, means "the countryside," alluding to Nokoko's rural origins. It can be joked that Komi's story can take Nokoko out of the countryside, but it can't take the countryside out of her.