Nene Kinokuni

Nene Kinokuni is a 91st Generation alumna of Tōtsuki Academy, the previous Ninth Seat of the Elite Ten Council, and formerly one of the Senior Officers of Central. Originally introduced as the Sixth Seat, she helped in ousting Senzaemon Nakiri in favor of Azami Nakiri for the position of Tōtsuki Culinary Academy Director, thus retaining her rank. She then serves as one of the major antagonists of the series for the Central storyline. At the end of Regimental Shokugeki, Nene lost her seat. In her third year however, she managed to re-enter the Elite Ten Council in which she received her current rank. Nene is a girl with pink eyes and large, circular glasses. She has shoulder-length green hair that is held behind her ears and her bangs slightly frames her face. She also has two short and thin braids, the both side ending just on her shoulders. She wears a standard Tōtsuki uniform during school. Nene is extremely taciturn, speaking very bluntly if she even speaks at all. Her personality directly conflicts with Terunori Kuga, who is much more loud and brash, often leading to her to vocally tell him to die or ridiculing his height. Like most of the other Elite Ten members, Nene does not see any of the first year students as a threat due to the confidence her superior abilities that got her the seat. Hence, she does not accept challenges from non-seated Elite Ten members. She is a stickler for protocol and managed to scold Rindō Kobayashi into wearing her Central badge despite the latter's initial defiant attitude about it. However, this adherence to protocol has led to her own downfall as her own self-belief that the Kinokuni style of making soba has no flaws, causing her to disregard any sort of possible environment conditions that may cause her dishes to lose potency. Despite having a very serious appearance for most of the time, Nene herself can lose her composure at some situation, like her laughing at Eizan being unconsciously mocked by Eishi, or her threats against Sōma Yukihira in Regimental Shokugeki completely backfiring, making things awkward for herself. Nene is a very competitive chef with a goal to prove that she is the best chef of her generation, and despite being highest seated in the Elite Ten amongst second-years, she does not recognize it as she knows that her rival, Isshiki Satoshi, is holding back. After her defeat to Sōma Yukihira in the First Round of Regimental Shokugeki, Nene's hidden insecurities have surfaced, most of which targeted her childhood friend, Satoshi Isshiki. Nene has a negative on herself, being just an average girl, not comparable to the genius that is Satoshi. She felt that all her hard work is meaningless and she herself is very incompetent because Satoshi can do everything she can do seamlessly. However, before she could truly fall into depression, Satoshi managed to talk to her and told her that she should take pride in her devotion to her craft. Her diligence in continuous practice to further evolve her cooking is something that is beautiful and deserved respect. Despite this, Nene honestly enjoyed cooking and the laborious task involved, which caused Satoshi to hope that Nene would find fun once again in cooking.