Kumiko Oumae

Kumiko Oumae is the main and primary viewpoint character of Sound! Euphonium series. She is the daughter of Kentarou Oumae and Akiko Oumae, the younger sister of Mamiko Oumae and a member of the Kitauji High School Concert Band who plays the euphonium. Kumiko is a young fair-skinned teenage girl with shoulder-length light auburn hair that is curled at the bottom, amber eyes and an average height/build. Within the story of Sound! Euphonium, Kumiko is an ordinary girl to which interesting things happen. She is surrounded by characters that drive or instigate dramatic situations. Although she occasionally has a hand in the events around her, Kumiko mostly plays the role of a bystander, witnessing enough situations and exchanges that she receives both sides of a story. As a willing and nonjudgmental listener, she easily befriends everyone she meets and accepts both their flaws and strengths. However, Kumiko dislikes her own self because she knows she is a poor communicator who has difficulty making her wishes known to others, and so often listens instead of speaking. Kumiko is mostly friendly and polite, but she can be awkward and blunt sometimes due to her quirky habit of accidentally blurting out the first thing on her mind without restraint or tact. This lack of a filter is part her impulsive streak, a trait which also led her to enroll at Kitauji for a reason as trivial as its' uniform design, and also to accidentally ask Reina Kousaka to attend the Agata Festival with her. She also has a habit of dwelling on past situations to the point of obsessing over them in her head, such as her awkward encounter with Reina prior to entering high school. In addition, Kumiko sometimes compares herself to others too frequently. This is why she often puts up a "good-girl" face, but in reality, she is actually really distant. Over the course of the series, Kumiko grows more passionate about music and life in general, training hard to play the euphonium flawlessly as she finds the motivation and strength to become a better musician and better person.