Kana Minami

Kana is the second and middle Minami sister, in her second year of middle school. She continues the naming pattern by having summer in her name. Outwardly, Kana is an impulsive, lively, and air-headed girl, who acts or talks impolitely, much to the annoyance of Chiaki. Like her sisters, she is prone to seemingly logical ideas lacking in common sense, but takes it to the greatest degree by doing it on a regular basis, for instance adding chili peppers to the guests' bathwater to create a sensation of "warmth". She also enjoys teasing Chiaki and pushing her buttons, and is a fairly poor student. Despite appearances, there is evidence that she is far more intelligent than she appears, and she is certainly capable of manipulating the situation and others around her to achieve her goal of maximal entertainment value, for everyone involved, an ability she uses, for instance, when turning Makoto into a cross-dresser. It is implied that she, in fact, shares the family intelligence and would be able to score well in school were she to apply herself. In fact, late in the series, she receives near-perfect on a math test and seems to take it in stride, perhaps indicating a change in habits. However, like Haruka, she seems neither experienced nor skilled romantically. She is a member of the series's only explicitly canon pairing, with Fujioka, but it is persistently unclear whether she has special feelings for him or possesses any idea of his feelings, though there are numerous hints. She is a horrific cook, partly because she is incapable of restraining her urges to "improve" a dish, by for instance adding juice to pancake mix. She does have the ability to cook basic dishes, primarily packaged curry, as long as she doesn't try to go beyond her abilities. She gets carsick as well. She cannot blow bubblegum bubbles. She is horrible at board or video games, and always loses to Chiaki in a head-to-head contest. Her nickname among fans is "Boss" or "The Boss", stemming from a set of T-shirts she wears through the first season, in turned based upon a shirt that appears in Minami-ke Chapter 0. Kana is taller than Keiko, but shorter than everyone one else of her age class. Her hair is brown in the anime but turns red in the later manga design. Similarly, her eyes are hazel in the anime and red in the manga covers. There is also this inconsistent image. It is perhaps best to use the only color chapter of the manga, where her hair is brown and her eyes hazel, as a guide. She wears her hair in two long pigtails, though of course she lets them down for the night. Initially, she is flatter than all her peers, except Keiko, but she experiences subtle growth throughout the anime seasons, starting to approach Riko by the last season. This phenomenon is much less pronounced, if indeed even present, in the manga. She is actually quite sensitive about it, and expresses jealousy towards Riko at one point. She has a big butt that is sometimes enlarged for comedic effect.