Characters/Wakana Watabe

Wakana Watabe

Personal Information
Surname Name	Watabe Wakana
Birthday (Age)	October 10th (28)
Type of Character	Side
Additional Information
Hair Color	Purple
Eye Color	Fuchsia
Height	5′ 6′′ (169cm)
Job(s)	Teacher at Kumon-Mi High
Hobby(s)	unknown
Like(s)	Quiet and serious students Teasing her “kitten” Gothic themes Tea
Dislike(s)	“Misfit” students Nodoka Nagasawa
Family	unknown
Affiliation	unknown
First Appearance	Suicide Pact
Notes	unknown

Wakana Watabe is part of the Side Cast of in Lessons In Love. She is Osako’s girlfriend and the teacher of Class-B at Kumon-Mi High.

Background

Not a lot is known about Wakana’s past. She attended college with Osako and both became friends until Osako finally managed to confess to her. After this, the two became a couple, rented an apartment in Kumon-mi, and have lived together ever since. At some point, she became a teacher at Kumon-mi High, where she teaches Class-B.

According to Osako, both her worldview and catchphrase were already a core part of her identity when they met in college. It’s still unknown if these traits slowly developed through her youth or if they’re the result of an event that occurred during her childhood or teenage years.

Characteristics

At first glance, Wakana seems to be a pessimistic or even nihilistic person. She’s usually exhausted by everything, gets easily annoyed, has a somber view on life and announces her desire to die during most interactions. Most of these seem to be a result of her exhaustion, her past, and her love for Gothic themes rather then a completely nihilistic worldview as she has no real desire to die and is still able to find some pleasures in life, like drinking, spending time with her friends or being intimate with her girlfriend. She can also be kind and supportive to certain people, like Osako, Makoto, Sana, Imani and, to a degree, Sensei.

While she complains a lot about her job, she’s actually a dedicated teacher and puts a lot of effort into her work and lessons. Her negative attitude stems from a lack of feeling rewarded for doing it, but she cant explain why this is. After hearing her explanation, Sensei theorizes that this lack of satisfaction is a result of Kumon-mi's time loop, as the continuously looping school year keeps Wakana from ever seeing the fruits of her labor.

Wakana is also very passionate about literature and poetry, even organizing a school poetry contest after multiple girls showed interest in doing one and forcing Sensei to submit something anonymously, especially since she wants to see what he can come up with.

Wakana’s biggest flaw is her unpredictability. Despite being rational in almost everything she does, she is prone to impulsive actions, which was the reason she gave herself an overdose at the beach that almost ended in her death. Osako thinks that her impulsiveness could also influence her feelings towards others as she fears that she will “wake up” one day and abandon her.

Relationships

Sensei

Sensei met her for the first time during her visit in his office in Suicide Pact. While she sees him as a completely incompetent and perverted teacher, she somehow manages to form a friendly relationship with him. She still insults him a lot, though according to Osako, this is how she acts towards people she feels close to. Despite their apparent closeness, Wakana already gave Sensei two "strikes" – the first for not checking on her during her hospitalization and the second for his stunt at the library - and threatens to reevaluate their friendship if he makes one more equally bad decision. She’s also aware of how close Sensei is with his students, but doesn’t report him, claiming that it would be too much effort.

She’s one of the few women Sensei doesn’t try to be intimate with, though others get the impression that Wakana has some feelings of that nature towards him. Both Ayane and Osako recognize how close they are and while they don’t think that Wakana wants to do something with him, they’re still intimidated by the fast development of their friendship. Two people who do think that she wants something with him are Imani and Rika, who came to that conclusion during their first night at the Dive Bar. Both noticed a strong tension between them and interpret her attitude towards him as an indirect affirmation of her desires. So far, Sensei has no intention to test this claim as he himself doesn’t think that she sees him that way and, considering Osako’s threats, he most likely won't make a move even if she does.

Osako

Osako is Wakana’s girlfriend. Both met each other during college and became a couple before they graduated, though Wakana implied that they probably would’ve been a couple earlier if Osako confessed sooner. She cares deeply about her and tries her best to be a good partner for her, even trying to cook during their anniversaries despite her inexperience.

Wakana is the dominant one in their relationship and while this power dynamic works perfectly fine during most of their romantic interactions, Wakana still enjoys humiliating her in front of others, which Osako isn’t fond of.

Imani

Imani was Wakana’s substitute during her recovery. Both met for the first time in Sensei’s office during Three Amigos and, like Sensei, she became her friend almost immediately. Imani’s optimistic and energetic attitude annoys her at times, but she still values her as a friend and spends time with her outside of school.

Sensei’s Class

Wakana has interacted with a few of Sensei’s students in a meaningful way. She was the teacher for Molly, Tsuneyo, Io, Noriko and Nodoka, but used every opportunity to have them transferred into Sensei’s class, because she sees most of them as misfits that annoy her, especially Nodoka who constantly harasses her. On the other hand, she likes Makoto, considering her an excellent and intelligent student, even trying to poach her for her class multiple times. She also has a positive opinion of Sana as she reminds Wakana of herself during her teenage years and likes her quiet nature to the point where she even offered her a place in her class as well.

Memorable Quotes

• "I want to fucking die"
• “The list of things I enjoy is rather short … so if I am able to make your life the slightest bit better by staring at lights with you, I will happily blind myself.”

Trivia

• Wakana has absolutely no experience in cooking, apparently even failing to turn on the stove when she tried to cook for her last anniversary.
• Wakana’s favorite poet is Edgar Allen Poe, but her favorite poem is “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron.
  • She dislikes Robert Frost and his focus on nature.

Gallery

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  Wakana's summer outfit

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  Wakana's winter outfit

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  An outfit Wakana first wears during Soup, or Another Year With You, later one of her work uniforms

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  One of Wakana's work uniforms

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  Wakana's pajamas

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  Wakana as a wizard, seen in Dark White (Pretty Joy)

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  Wakana as a teen, seen in Dark White (Pretty Joy)