Yuzuru Nishimiya

Yuzuru Nishimiya (西宮 結弦(Also spelled ゆづる), Nishimiya Yudzuru) is a character introduced in Koe no Katachi. She is the younger sister of Shōko Nishimiya and a third-year middle school student (9th grade), but rarely attends.

Biography
Yuzuru became interested in photography at an early age. She was fascinated with a camera and how it worked. Yuzuru, through the years, became an excellent self-taught photographer, and was able to win a prize and award in a photography contest that was sponsored by the local newspaper.

Yuzuru, for a time, dropped out of middle school for whatever reason. She became somewhat depressed, and only had interest in her photography endeavors. Even then, Yuzuru's photography took a uneasy twist, in that she began only taking pictures of dead animals or dead insects. Later, it is shown that Yuzuru did this so as to show the gruesome pictures to Shoko, in an effort to dissuade her from committing suicide. However, about the time that Shoya had begun dating Shoko, and after Shoya had recovered from his fall from the third story balcony, Yuzuru was convinced to return to school.

Personality
At first glance, Yuzuru appears to be overprotective, blunt, straightforward, and cold towards people whom she dislikes or finds suspicious, which is shown during her first meeting with Shōya Ishida. Yuzuru seems to be the type of person who holds grudges. Despite never meeting Ishida before, she does whatever she can to keep him away from her sister, Shōko.

However, upon earning Yuzuru’s trust, her personality will change into that of a kind, sweet, and caring person. Yuzuru is very open to people whom she knows, especially around Ishida once she got to know him better.

Physical appearance
Yuzuru is a rather short girl for her age with a small build and fair skin. She wears her black hair in a short cut of which the longest part of her ends at the nape of her neck, and then goes back up to the front locks that end on the bridge of the nose. Her androgynous appearance makes her get mistaken for a boy, a trait she used to make believe she was her older sister's boyfriend, in order to keep her safe.

Hobbies

 * Photography

Friends

 * Shōya Ishida: At first, Yuzuru disliked Ishida, thinking that he was only trying to visit Shōko to amuse himself because she was deaf. Yuzuru lies to Ishida, telling him that she is Shōko's "boyfriend". Yuzuru even posts a picture of him jumping into the river online, causing him to get suspended for a week. Later on, when Ishida is picking up his niece he finds Yuzuru unconscious in the park, appearing homeless, so Ishida takes "him" home to his house for the night. At midnight Yuzuru had a flashback of her and Shōko fighting. Yuzuru leaves in the middle of the night. As she's walking home Ishida catches up and walks her home. Yuzuru then tells Ishida that she is in fact Shōko's little 'sister'. Yuzuru then is constantly hanging out with Ishida, (especially in his room) and is involved in most of the drama with his friends. Ishida also helps Yuzuru with her schoolwork and walks her home at her Grandmothers funeral. He also claims that he worries about her when he sees her crying, and Yuzuru tells him that she is scared to go to the funeral before stepping away through the gate. Yuzuru also invites Ishida to the fireworks festival with their family.After the following events of the jumping incident, she shows great concern and worry for her friend. Showcasing her regret by bowing down along with her mother in front of Miyako Ishida


 * Tomohiro Nagatsuka: When the first time the two met, Yuzuru called Tomohiro a "creepy stalker" and playfully lied to him about what Ishida and Nishimiya were talking about.

Family

 * Shōko Nishimiya: Yuzuru and Shōko have a close sisterly relationship. Yuzuru is always looking out for Shōko and constantly tries to convince her not to commit suicide. Despite their fights, Yuzuru loves Shōko to the point where she is willing to cut her own hair instead of letting Shōko cut hers. Yuzuru also (in the movie) tells Shōko to take her camera with her into the Ferris wheel so she could spy on Ueno, later taking the footage to Ishida to show him what had really happened. Yuzuru is shown having a nightmare about Shōko committing suicide and wakes up in fright. Another night, she is reading Shōko's notebook when her Grandmother tells her not to read in the dark, and she takes it into the dining room where her grandmother says she is concerned about her, saying that Yuzuru worries about Shōko so much that she doesn't care for herself. Yuzuru answers saying that her Grandmother is doing the same thing. Her Grandmother then tells her that it's different because she's doing it for herself.


 * Yaeko Nishimiya: Yaeko Nishimiya is Yuzuru and Shōko's mother. The two have a kind of love hate relationship. Yaeko is very harsh with her daughters and many times we see that she flat out shows little to no care for the two. Yet she has much care for her children showing how she would often work later to earn more money for the family. Later down the line Yaeko submits a photo Yuzuru had taken for a competition, later she is shown to win the competition in first place. Yaeko and Yuzuru are both the people trying to stop Shouko from killing herself. Then after this failed we see that the two feel like they were not able to do enough for Shouko. Yaeko sees how her children start to grown onto Shoya and after seeing Yuzuru become comfortable with him she began thinking about him differently. Further showing how Yuzuru and Yaeko can have a nice mother daughter relationship if Yaeko allows herself too.


 * Ito Nishimiya †: Yuzuru and Ito had a stable relationship with each other. Besides Shōko, Yuzuru cares dearly for her because Ito understands her more than her mother. This is evident when she says, "Unlike mom, granny praises me. Unlike mom, granny listens to me. Unlike mom, granny has fun with me." However, in Chapter 31, Yuzuru felt bitter about her feelings she wrote in the letter for her, most likely because she misunderstood her thoughts, and stopped talking about her shortly after.

Etymology

 * The name Yuzuru means "to tie" (結) (yu) and "string" (弦) (zuru).
 * Yuzuru's surname Nishimiya means "west" (西) (nishi) and "temple, shrine, palace" (宮) (miya).

Trivia

 * Yuzuru's camera looks exactly like the Nikon D3300, and the lens was Nikkor 55-250mm F3.5-5.6 VR
 * Yuzuru was deliberately given a masculine name, and was raised as a boy by their mother, so as to supposedly protect and defend their older sister, Shoko. In the Japanese language, the first name 'Yuzuru' is masculine, and means to yield to or give up possession of one's rights or heritage. Yuzuru was forced to give up her femininity, making the name so appropriate.