the series, she accepts Kominato's feelings and they begin dating. (anime), portrayed by: Ryo Yoshizawa (film) Kominato is an outgoing boy who befriends Kou. He is love with Shuko since their first year in school, and dislikes Mr. Tanaka as the rival in love. (anime); portrayed by Yū Koyanagi (film) Mr. Tanaka is Kou's older brother by eight years and an English teacher. Unlike Kou, he behaves childishly. His family name is different from Kou's due to their parents divorce, and he tries to look over Kou, much to the latter's reluctance. Mr. Tanaka is aware of Shuko's feelings for him, but he constantly rejects her advances due to his position as her teacher. (anime); Yudai Chiba (film) Toma is a boy in Futaba's class year, who initially has a bad impression from her accidentally groping him. However, he eventually softens up to her. He falls for Futaba's good nature and constantly gives her advice. Portrayed by: Mitsuki Takahata (film) Yui is a classmate of Kou's from junior high in Nagasaki. Her father was in the same hospital as Kou's mother. Yui's father has recently died causing Kou to keep in touch with her more frequently. Development Io Sakisaka wanted to draw a story about growing up, and for Ao Haru Ride, she wanted to focus on the characters' self-journey and discovering who they truly were. Futaba and Kou's accidental kiss was based on a real-life experience Sakisaka had in the past. The title consisted of individual readings for the characters used for the word , which were and . The phrase was then followed by the word "ride" because Sakisaka envisioned the image of "riding on youth." Sakisaka had decided to have the title read "Aoharide" instead of "Ao Haru Ride" because the sounds flowed better. The logo was designed by Yasuhisa Kawatani. The bottom of the original Japanese logo contained the English text, "The scent of air after the rain. I heard your pulse. I saw the light." Kawatani drew inspiration from the song "I Saw the Light" by Todd Rundgren while designing the logo. In Viz Media's English translation, the subtitle was reworded into, "The scent of air after the rain... In the light around us, I felt your heartbeat." Characters Out of all the characters, Sakisaka felt that Shuko was the most "manga-like." She also wrote Yui as a contrast to Futaba's personality, where Yui is