With Ayano's mom leaving her at a young age to go train another girl, Ayano started working hard to become the best Badminton player around. However, after seeing that all of her hard work wasn't going to bring her mom back, Ayano started hiding her emotions and gave up badminton forever. Seeing how Ayano’s past affected her makes you truly feel sorry for her and makes you sympathize with her. When you start looking at the pain Ayano feels and how she reacts later in the series to her mother, you can understand why she ends up reacting the way she does.

Ayano starts out as a shy and quiet girl that has thrown badminton away for good. We get to see her grow, as she comes out of her shell and reclaiming her passion for badminton. With the help of her friends, Ayano starts to change a little, but it isn't until her rivals show up that she changes the most. Although some Ayano's traits didn't change for the better, the changes she has made to become happier in life are positive for her.

Ayano is at her cutest when she shows of her love of the whale shark mascot Wei-Wei. Serving as a nice contrast to her usual quite personality and her intense badminton personality, the cute side of Ayano doesn't get many opportunities to come out, but when it does you are in for a treat. Watching her enjoying something as simple as a mascot character and seeing how much happiness she gets from it, makes you want to protect Ayano no matter what.

The badminton skills shown off by Ayano are otherworldly. Having a talented mother like Uchika helped Ayano cultivate her talent into the amazing badminton player we see today, but Ayano has skills that transcend what the average person can obtain through hard work alone. Her great hand-eye coordination and her ability to hit with power and precision make her stand out amongst her peers. With so much talent, you just want to root for her to succeed and defeat all of the foes she faces on the court.

Ayano's dark side comes from the resentment she has for her mother leaving her when she was her child. After she decides to move on mentally from her mother, Ayano unleashes a cold and scary version of herself whenever she is on the court. While her more intense side isn't the nicest and she can be blunt to her friends and teammates, Ayano’s dark side makes her a much more interesting character. You can understand where the anger and intensity come from and you truly feel for the pain Ayano is going through.