Mio Naganohara

Mio Naganohara, or Mio-chan as she is called by Yuuko, is a bright and cheerful girl sporting light blue hair and pigtails held by two small wooden cubes. She has a crush on Koujirou Sasahara. She is more 'normal' in contrast to her friends Yuuko Aioi and Mai Minakami. However, she has a very short temper and is often prone to tantrums. In Chapter 92, it is revealed that she is 16 years old.

Appearance
Mio Naganohara sports azure-blue hair tied into pigtails with two wooden cube hair clips. She is usually only seen without her cubes while at home. She has round sapphire-blue eyes and a rounded face shape. She, like all other Nichijou characters, lacks a visible nose in frontal view. She is a little shorter than Yuuko Aioi.

When she was younger, Mio attempted to grow her hair out longer. However, this was sabotaged when a bubblegum bubble she was blowing exploded in her face and caught onto her hair, forcing her to get a haircut. Shortly afterward she started using wooden cube hair clips given to her by her sister Yoshino Naganohara.

Personality
Mio is smart and excels in academics. She is also a talented manga artist who will occasionally draw ecchi yaoi in her notebooks, including dubious pictures of her crush, Koujirou Sasahara. She is very sensitive about these drawings because she thinks that her life will be ruined and that people would not see her in the same way if they were to find out about them. Her friends eventually do find out but don't mind it. Mio is easily angered when her sister or Yuuko does something weird. In the Nichijou Prototype she was originally going to be a member of the drama club alongside Ukai Mami and Sasahara.

Abilities
Warning:  The following Section contains spoilers . Art Mio is extremely skilled at drawing manga and has even spoken to manga publishers, who are interested in her work. She is able to create high-quality material very quickly, although her characters and stories are often similar.

Wooden Cubes The wooden cubes in Mio's hair were shown to be bought for 300 yen in a flashback in Part 97. However, Yuuko has created stories imagining how Mio obtained the wooden blocks in the Fey Kingdom, where the wooden cubes are keys to unlocking a sacred weapon, allowing one to become the king of the Fey Kingdom. In these stories, Mio is shown to know how to use the power of the sacred weapon, blowing people away by flicking her fingers and opening holes in steel walls.

Super Strength Mio is shown using immense amounts of physical power, taking out grown men in single hits. This strength is usually shown when she is trying to prevent her drawing habits from being discovered. Her legs are also very powerful, as shown when she accidentally launches herself into Yuuko while practicing the high jump.

SuperSpeed/Coordination/Endurance In episode 25, Mio jumps through a window at the School and runs through the town. She runs down the railroad and is able to avoid oncoming trains from both directions by sidling between them, all while maintaining speed. She eventually reaches the river and swims through it, saving a drowning child. Mio accomplishes all of this in the span of a few minutes. Boxing Mio throws a corkscrew punch on several occasions, and in Episode 25 she is scouted by a former boxer after performing some shadow boxing.

Harsh Language Mio is very easily angered and usually throws tantrums when she loses her temper. In one scene, Mio is shown quarreling with Yuuko, and she repeatedly insulted her (Yuuko).

Yuuko Aioi
Yuuko is considered to be Mio's closest friend. She is usually friendly towards Mio but most of the time she is often the source of Mio's rage. Yuuko almost always forgets to do her homework and copies Mio's. They sometimes fight like close friends do, but it always brings them closer.

Mai Minakami
Mai is in Mio's circle of friends but they don't seem to converse very often, and when they do, it's usually Mio yelling at Mai about one of her pranks.

Koujirou Sasahara
Sasahara is the target of Mio's love and is often the base for characters in her manga. Her crush didn't start when she entered high school, but earlier through common membership in a kendo dojo. Despite her feelings for Sasahara being introduced as one of her defining attributes, she is rarely shown interacting with him.

Yoshino Naganohara
Mio's older sister, the bane of her existence. Mio's flashback reveals that they used to be very close. Mio even joined Yoshino's dojo, where she met Sasahara. Mio's current indifference towards Yoshino is understandable since Yoshino rampantly pranks her, regardless of how minor or serious the situation may be to Mio.

Trivia

 * Mio is often seen reading the newspaper.
 * Despite being smart and athletic, Mio is unable to keep up in sports whenever rules (even extremely simple ones) are involved. Whether or not this applies to boxing as well has yet to be seen.
 * Mio is very passionate about art and gets upset at Yuuko's attempts at drawing. In episode 5 she loses control when Sakurai-sensei is impressed with Yuuko's terrible drawing and goes on an art rampage, almost exposing her secret after drawing a shirtless man.
 * Her pen name is Daisuke Naganohara.

Character songs

 * "Mio no Kaputte Kaputte Moe Chigire"
 * "Yukko wa Hontoni Baka Danaa"
 * "Yukko-Mio-Mai no Sucharaka San-nin Shuu"
 * "Kaijuu no Ballad"
 * "Let's Search for Tomorrow"
 * "Tabidachi no Hi ni"

Image Gallery

 * See Mio's Image Gallery