Minami Yoichi

Youichi Minami (南 陽一 Minami Yōichi) is one of the five main boys in the series. He attends Shirokin Academy. He is arguably one of the most important of the four friends of Shin Sawada. Minami is known for his tough guy attitude and his bad temper. Minami is also well known in the anime and manga as being the least attractive of all the boys, though it's only really referred to once or twice. His most outstanding feature is his big lips.

Appearance
Minami has short blond hair in a pompadour style and black eyes. He is usually seen wearing the Shirokin High School uniform especially its summer version.

Minami's live-action appearance is different than his anime counterpart, he had shoulder-length black hair dyed in auburn and was parted in the middle to show his forehead and has expressive brown eyes. When wearing the Shirokin High School uniform, he wore a white long sleeve button shirt which would later shared with Shin in the middle episodes.

Manga
Minami in the manga first appears as a 16 year old second year student. In the manga Minami first appears as hostile towards Yankumi and even threatens her a few times. He makes poor grades and even lacks aspirations for college. Minami can be described as envious of his friends on several occasions. Considering that he has no plans for the future, makes some of the worst marks in class and is the least attractive of the boys, one could understand why he is that way. He is very loyal to his friends, and often leans on them for help, but often times he refuses help due to his pride. He is described as Class 2-4's class clown. He'll often make cracks to amuse his friends, but is mostly serious when it comes to fighting and his friends. He often makes jokes about joining the Yakuza, much to Yankumi's annoyance. He gets himself into trouble a few times, his most famous being when he was caught in a Yakuza scheme and held hostage in "Tenshoukai's True Form". Minami has changed his hair style a couple of times in an attempt to pick up girls. He even has shown that he has a fashion sense, he just doesn't really use it at school. Minami's relationship with Yankumi is shaky, he appreciates Yankumi and accepts her as his teacher. But often times Yankumi embarrasses him more than the other boys, and he gets annoyed with her when she interfers in his business. He's the most hostile towards her, but in the end he fears her more than anything. When Shin is absent he'll often times nominate himself as the leader and make it known to everyone. But usually his plans fail and he screws up, usually resulting in Yankumi having to come to their rescue.

Anime


Minami in the anime is very close to his manga self, but tends to get into more trouble than his manga self. Except he's more involved in the anime. He'll get into more trouble and is much more hostile than his manga self. He's infamous for his outbursts and wanting to fight constantly. Him and Uchi switch places in a few situations in the Anime in contrast to the Manga.

For example in episode 4: "Ojou goes blonde! Whodunnit?!" He is caught with Noda by the police and is taken to the police station, while Uchi called Shin and Yankumi, in the manga it was the other way around.

Also, in episode 9: "Schoolground Battle Without Honor Or Humanity!?" He gets into a fight with Tsuruta and is beaten up by him, he gets drunk and fights "drunken style". Minami in the anime is known to speak his mind openly and without regrets, though often times that gets him into trouble. He's usually the first one to start in practically everything. He's the first one to speak his mind in almost any situation, he's also the first boy to confront Yankumi in the final episode, and the one to lead the charge to Yankumi's rescue.

Relationships
Not much is known about his family except that he has a father and two younger brothers. He only speaks of them once and is never heard of again. As for friends, his best friends are Noda, Kuma, Uchi and Shin.

Shin
His relationship with Shin isn't very well indicated, he's always seen with Shin and often does whatever he says  yet when Shin is gone he tries to be the leader and often gets mad when people compare them together.

Kuma
Minami often criticizes Kuma and sometimes gets annoyed by him. When Kuma does something foolish, Minami is the first to point it out. But despite that, they seem close as friends, and will help each other out whenever they can.

Uchi
Minami gets annoyed by Uchi's constant need for attention. When Uchi gets a girlfriend, he feels offended and annoyed that she chose someone like Uchi. Uchi often mocks Minami, but usually playfully.

Noda
Noda and Minami seem to be the closest as far as friendships go. They often do everything together, and are seen together more often than the other boys. He seems to always spend time alone with him and will be seen walking home from school with him, indicating that they're close friends.

Other Relationships
Minami unfortunately doesn't have much luck with romance. The closest he got to getting a girlfriend was in the chapter: "School Erupts into Violence over girls." Where he and the other boys fight over a Junior High student by the name of Ryouko. As he leads her through the school, he learns that he is a Senpai to her as she attended the same Junior High School he had attended. As they continue the tour, they are confronted by gang members from the Black Cross gang. He runs into some trouble as he tries to prevent fighting to happen on school grounds, and even defends the girls. He gets beaten up and refuses to fight back. Yankumi interrupts and fights the Black Cross gang to save Minami, unfortunately it scares off the girls, making Minami's chances crumble.