Toshiyuki Karasawa

Toshiyuki Karasawa (唐沢 としゆき, Karasawa Toshiyuki) is a member of Sanada North High’s student council and a friend of the main trio. He is well-known for being a bit aloof and having the mysterious habit of always wearing a grey cap. He lives next door to Habara and a few houses away from Takahiro.

As a child, he attended East Yada Elementary. His childhood was marked by several instances of injury and trauma at the hands of various people, most notably the Archdemon.

History
Karasawa attended East Yada Elementary, during which he became a target of bullying. Most of his bullies seem to be girls, and he obtained many bodily scars due to them on his chest, arms and lower back. However, his most traumatic experience was at the hands of the Archdemon. History has it that she struck him in the middle of his forehead with a stick, leaving him bleeding profusely. Karasawa developed the habit of wearing a cap to cover the large scar left behind as a result.

Appearance
Karasawa is lean and rather tall, with brown eyes and hair. His hair is spiked and untidy, but is barely visible due to him constantly wearing a grey, wide-brimmed cap. Many of his friends haven’t seen him without the cap, and he wears it even when sleeping and taking a dip in a hot spring. The cap hides a large scar between his eyes that he received as a result of being attacked by the Archdemon. He also has scars on his right arm, his chest and his lower back, which seem to be due to other girls (however, these are absent from his early depictions in the manga and anime, such as when the boys go to the beach).

Karasawa is almost always seen in North High uniform, usually with an un-tucked shirt. His resting stern expression, and the fact that his face is always half-hidden by the cap, makes his appearance rather intimidating much like his Student Council colleagues.

Personality
Karasawa comes off as being rather stiff and serious, being a stickler for rules and very diligent with his work. However, this is only when in school; he loosens up outside and likes having fun, even indulging in role-plays with Motoharu. Albeit rarely, he does go too far at times, like trying out a move from Kinnikuman in real life with disastrous consequences.

He is also polite, courteous and of a helpful nature, to the extent that Motoharu chastises him for being ‘too helpful’. Karasawa is a very quick thinker as well; his presence of mind helped maintain the flow of proceedings at the school festival even when a fight broke out in the middle. He is generally brave and level-headed and was the only one keeping calm when the guys explored the woods at night.

When he was a child, he was timid and lacked the stern demeanor that he possesses in high school. He reacts strongly when confronted with traumatic memories, sweating profusely and often trying to prevent himself from throwing up. Karasawa is usually extra-stern when interacting with those who’ve made him suffer in the past, and sometimes successfully blackmails them with his scars to make them listen to him.

Unlike most of his friends, he seems to have a way with girls. On the occasions when he’s being harassed by girls, he tends to use chocolates (usually expired ones) as a means to distract them. It was hinted that he was the only one to successfully pick up a date when the guys went to the beach.

Trivia

 * With 30 appearances across 139 chapters (including extras), Karasawa is the 5th-most featured character in the manga behind the main trio and Motoharu.
 * Karasawa is a very popular character. He placed first in the popularity poll with 48,806 votes, securing the lead by a huge margin.
 * His cap has its own place on the poll chart, coming in at the 64th place with 5 votes.
 * Karasawa's hair color is brown in the anime, but the manga has shown him with brown and black hair at different instances.
 * The characters in the main series typically refer to him as 'Karasawa', whereas those in High School Girls are Funky refer to him as 'Toshiyuki'.
 * Despite featuring in the class 2-A picture, Karasawa is never actually shown in class in either the manga or anime.
 * Name etymology: The name Toshiyuki is written in hiragana (ゆきりん), which has no special meaning. However, when part of the names Toshi (とし) and Yuki (ゆき) are written in kanji (, Toshi) - (幸, 雪, 由貴, 由紀, Yuki), it could possibly mean:
 * Toshi (利, 敏, 俊, 慧, 淑, 年, 歳, 才, 寿, 登志, 登士)
 * 敏 - "quick, clever, sharp".
 * 俊 - "talented, handsome".
 * 慧 - "intelligent".
 * 登士 - "rise, ascend" (登) (to) and "samurai, warrior, gentleman" (士) (shi).
 * Yuki (幸, 雪, 由貴, 由紀)
 * 幸 - "happiness, good luck".
 * 雪 - "snow".
 * 由貴 - "reason, case, cause" (由) (yu) and "valuable" (貴) (ki).
 * Toshiyuki's surname Karasawa means "T'ang/Tang, China" (唐) (kara) and "marsh" (沢) (sawa).