We can identify with Takemoto. Play is more fun than studying. Who wouldn’t want to go play instead of studying? The energetic, athletic girl is a natural in any sport and even more skilled at swimming. She has near-Olympic-level talent in the pool and finds the water more her natural habitat than land. Takemoto understands hard work and is willing to do what it takes to achieve the results she wants, like success in athletics. She is also willing to buckle down at the study table if it means getting closer to the bespectacled boy she has a crush on. We’d want Takemoto as our study buddy because she is just like the most of us, average in academics, and would rather be out having fun. We’d be able to sit down at the library with her and focus on the work in front of us. That is until she decides she’s had enough and drags us off to have some fun in the pool. We go with her because, hey, we’re only young once and all work and no play is just boring.

The ability to understand others doesn’t come easy for some of us. The visual cues, tone of voice, and the situation still might not be enough for some of us to understand human behavior. You take away those cues and it becomes even more difficult. Rizu Ogata understands that she doesn’t understand, and really wants to. She is challenging herself to make sense of the illogical aspects of the human condition evoked in art and literature despite the fact it doesn’t follow the clear path of a + b=c. Her academic life would be easy if she just focused on math and science, but she wants to focus on liberal arts. Rizu Ogata is a hard worker, too. She helps out in her family’s restaurant and can often be found studying on her breaks. We’d like to be study buddies with Ogata because she is up for a challenge. She also admits that she just doesn’t know or understand but wants to learn. The most important thing when taking on any new challenge is the desire to learn. We’d also get the perk of studying with the daughter of a restaurateur, which comes with free food to help keep us going during our study sessions.

We all have dreams and understand that we need to work hard to pursue those dreams. And we don’t just mean academically. Asumi wants to be a doctor and take over her father’s clinic but has never been a good science student. She graduated and took the exam to get into medical school and failed. She wasn’t deterred. Asumi found a job that made good money and devoted herself to saving money for exam fees and school as she continued to study. The challenge of working a near full-time schedule and going to school is a daunting one. You get an appreciation of the value of your time and money when you do both and realize neither is worth wasting. We’d like her to be a study buddy because the commitment she’d made to her goal is evident. You wouldn’t be wasting your time on a study date with her, you’d actually get a lot of studying done. She isn’t all business either, her impish attitude and her willingness to tease others makes time with her fun but never too distracting.

Kirisu-sensei is pretty but has a stern look about her as if she is always disapproving of you. She is a smart woman whose job is to help direct students to success as a guidance counselor. Kirisu-sensei takes that task of drawing out a student’s potential and setting them on the path to success very seriously. She doesn’t want to see students fail and pushes gifted students like Ogata and Fumino not to pursue their interests but only their strengths. Kirisu-sensei feels like she is doing her students a favor by tracking them into academic paths that play to their strengths, never wanting them to face the disappointment she once faced. She devoted her young life to figure skating, forsaking friends, clubs, and even at times her academics. She felt if she just worked harder, she’d be good enough to be considered an elite, something that never happened. The experience left her bitter and thinking the support she got going after her dream set her up for disappointment. She vowed as a counselor not to make the same mistake. We want her as a study buddy because she understands what it is like to try and come up short. She is also a teacher. She already has a sound knowledge base in a variety of subjects and can lead you on the way to academic success.

The first thing you’d think when looking at Fumino is how beautiful she is, the second thing you’d learn about her is she is a genius in literature and the arts, the third thing you realize is she loves math, and the fourth thing you discover is she is downright awful at math. We’d love her to be our study buddy because of her optimistic attitude. She is passionate about literature and art and even math. She wants to learn. The most important thing to have in a study buddy is someone who is willing to do the work. The second thing is the snacks. She is a firm believer that your brain needs sugar to work and lives by the idea of study snacking. The third reason is that there is nothing like sitting next to a beautiful girl. Yes, a beautiful girl is distracting, but each time you look over at her your heart will skip a beat, some endorphins will be released and that will counteract the pain of hitting the books.

Yeah, you’d think that one of the girls would be the number one on this list but that would mean you’ve already forgotten the topic: Top 6 Characters We’d Want to Study with in Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai. Nariyuki is an amazing teacher. He is patient, considerate, and willing to create lessons and study material that is tailored to your needs. Nariyuki probably understands that everyone learns differently because he used to hate studying, dislike school, and not care about being anything more than average. The death of his father really impacted him and his family and it was then that he took his father’s words to heart, “The useless man should strive to be useful.” He knew that he didn’t have natural academic talent. He would have to claw his way to success. We’d simply want to study with him because if we have to study with an amazing teacher and make the time we spend learning to count.