Rina Tennoji

Spoiler Alert! This article contains details about plotlines described in the anime. Do not proceed unless you want to be spoiled.

Rina Tennoji
All StarsAnime (Summer)Anime (Winter)
Kanji	高坂穂乃果
Romaji	Tennouji Rina
Statistics
Birthday	November 13th
Year	1st
Height	149cm
Blood Type	O
Three Sizes	B 71, W 52, H 75
Other
Zodiac Sign	Scorpio
Debut
Debut	Season 1 Episode 1
Japanese Voice Actress/Actor
Seiyuu Kanji	田中ちえ美
Seiyuu Romaji	Tanaka Chiemi
Other Language Voice Actor/Actress
English	Hayden Daviau
Icon and Signature
Icon	File:Rina Icon.png
Signature	File:Rina Signature.png

Rina Tennoji is a main character in Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club. She is a first-year at Nijigasaki High School. She is a member of QU4RTZ, a unit under Nijigaku. Her image color is paper white, though she is also often represented with gray.

Background

In the ALL STARS story, she was invited to become a school idol by the player character. Along with Ai Miyashita and Ayumu Uehara, she works under Famitsu App.

Personality

• Rina, unmasked. (SIFAS)
  Rina, unmasked. (SIFAS)
• Rina, unmasked (Anime)
  Rina, unmasked (Anime)

Rina is not good at conveying emotions on her face. Because of this, she makes use of the "Rina-chan Board", a sketchbook that she draws her emotions on. Rina is also friends with Mia, who met her in Chapter 22 of ALL STARS.

Despite her flaws, Rina is still trying to change herself by communicating and talking more with her friends. She admires Ai for her confidence and friendliness. Rina gets nervous easily but continues to try her best.

As a school idol, she hopes that people will cheer for her so that she can show everyone her true smile.

Clubs and Hobbies

Rina is very good with technology and "creating things". She wears the "Auto Emotion Convert Rina-chan Board" on stage and other activities that require both hands. She's often seen with gadgets such as a quadcopter or just working on a tablet or laptop. She makes and enjoys talking about apps. She has a pet robot cat named Aran (アラン).

She often shows a strong interest in science. She excels in both Science and Math but struggles with her Japanese class.

Rina is good with arcade and video games. She also seems to have a deep fondness for animals.

Appearance

Rina is very short with a slim figure. She has messy pink hair which reaches her shoulders and yellow eyes.

Other Data

Official Introduction from Website

File:PDP Character Intro - Rina Tennoji.png I’m Rina Tennoji. A very cute girl. Really! But, since I don't like showing emotions on my face, I always give off an antisocial vibe. So I thought up a solution. A secret item for communicating my feelings to everyone. It’s called the “Rina-chan Board”. On this board, I’ll draw faces to show what I feel. Yes, this is perfect. I think I can share my feelings with everyone at live shows with this. Eh? You want to see my real face? Well, then, if everyone cheers a lot for me, I’ll show it. When that happens, I’ll show you the smile of someone who’s trying their best. It’s kind of weird, but I’d be happy if everyone would let me do that.

Official Introduction from Famitsu App Website

Sorry, did I keep you waiting? Am I ready for the video? Yup, I’m ready to start whenever. Though, I’m a little curious. About you inviting me to be a school idol. Why did you ask me? Huh? Was it troublesome? No, nothing like that. If anything, I’m glad. See? Rina-chan Board: “Smiling ♪”. I’m so happy that I’m actually super fired up. Really, I wish I could convey my feelings with my own face, but I’m bad at it, so no matter what, I end up expressionless. Because of that, I was wondering why you would ask someone like me to be a school idol. What? You had a gut feeling that I like school idols? That’s why? A gut feeling... I don’t really get it. Don’t apologize. It’s not like I feel bad about it. Actually, I think it’s funny. To put it another way, you have high hopes for me, right? I’m really happy to hear that. No one has ever said anything like that to me. Now I have a little more self-confidence. Rina-chan Board: “Ahem ♪” Fufu, that’s kind of how I’m feeling right now. By drawing my face on a board like this, I want to convey my feelings to everyone, and do my best as a school idol. If I can get along with everyone like this, I’ll be very happy. Because I want to make a lot of friends. First, I’ll work hard on this introduction video, so you better ready yourself. Rina-chan Board: “Mun!” [TL note: “Mun!” is just a sound effect. If you’re not familiar with Japanese pronunciation, it sounds like “moon”. Probably a grunt of determination.]

Question & Answer Corner

Being frank, how has it been, working with Famitsu App? Have you gotten used to helping out at Famitsu App? I think I’m getting used to it, a bit at a time. But since there are a lot of people around, it’s still tough. Because I haven’t really conversed together with this many people before. But it’s really fun talking to such a variety of people. This much fun: Rina-chan Board: “Whee ♪” What are your thoughts on working with us? It’s very fun. It’s great to be able to do different things from what I do at home or at school. They mostly have tasks that I haven’t done before, so there might not be that much I can work on, but I’m still very glad that they’ve let me work on a variety of things. Perhaps the staff at Famitsu App are angels? What motivated you to work with Famitsu App? Ayumu-san and Ai-san invited me. “Let’s do this together”, they said. Hardly anyone ever asks me to do anything together like that. So I accepted their offer instantly. I wanted to make an commemorative recording of it, and when I asked them to say it again, they were kind of surprised. That’s a good memory, too. Rina-chan Board: “V ♪” [TL: as in the peace sign] When you’re working at Famitsu App, what do you talk about with Ayumu-chan and Ai-chan? With Ayumu-san, we talk about being a school idol a lot. Often, we talk about trying our best together. Also, there’s Ayumu-san’s childhood friend??, who was the one that invited me to be a school idol. Perhaps I’ve listened to her talk about them a lot as well. When she talks about them, Ayumu-san seems really happy, and I like that person as well, so I smile when I listen to her. Ai-san teaches me about a lot of things. She knows a lot, whether it’s about academics or about having fun. And she gives me things like candy and tsukemono [TL: pickled vegetables], so I love her. But listening to her belting out rapid-fire puns is honestly kind of a tough situation. How do people react to your board? As expected, everyone seemed surprised at first. But they adjusted surprisingly quickly. Humans’ ability to adapt is incredible. After they got used to it, we’ve had a lot of fun. I’m happy to be able to converse with this. Truly, the Rina-chan Board is a impressive invention. Rina-chan Board: “Ehe ♪” Would it be possible to take the board off and show your face...? I can’t. It’s embarrassing, and a little scary. Because I can’t express my true feelings with my own face... You see, I always end up looking displeased or bored. I get anxious about disappointing people because of an expression like that. So, please wait a little longer. Because someday, once I’ve worked hard enough, I’ll be able to smile with my own face. What do school idols mean to Rina-chan? Why did you start being a school idol? It really is strange how I’m a school idol, right? Yup, I think it’s really strange too. After all, you’d think that I’m the furthest thing from a school idol. But there was someone who asked me. It made me really happy, and I decided to try my best. That’s why I became a school idol. Being honest, what are your appeal points as a school idol? I think the Rina-chan Board is my unique feature. It’s a little different from an appeal point, though. But if someone remembers me because of that, that’d make me happy. And if I could do things like live shows with everyone, it’d be really fun. Rina-chan Board: “Excited—♪” What kind of school idol do you want to become? Um, it might sound weird coming from me, but I want to try to be a school idol that can make everyone smile. I’m not good at expressing my feelings on my own face, so to compensate, I’d like to make everyone smile a lot. And, if I could see that many smiles, maybe I could naturally smile as well. One day, I want to be able to smile with everyone, using my real face. That’s my dream. From now on, what activities do you want to do as a school idol? There is one thing I want to try a bit. Just thinking about it makes me nervous, but I want to try having a handshake meeting. I want to try talking directly to the people cheering me on. Oh, wait, what I do about the Rina-chan Board when I’m shaking someone’s hand? Muuun, I’ll have to improve the Rina-chan Board to prepare for that.

Monthly Rankings (July 2017)

File:PDP 1st Popularity Poll - 1st Rina Tennoji.jpg I placed 1st? I didn’t expect this development. That’s very surprising. At a time like this, what kind of face should I put on my Rina-chan Board? A joyful “Smile”? Or maybe a fighting “Mun”? Sorry, I’m just very confused. But, I’m really happy. I don’t have quite enough confidence yet to thank you with my uncovered face, but I think that if people keep cheering me on like this, one day I’ll have that confidence. Though I’m only using my board right now, have my feelings of gratitude. Rina-chan Board: “Chu ♪”

Monthly Rankings (August 2017)

File:PDP 2nd Popularity Poll - 2nd Rina Tennoji.jpg I didn’t expect at all that I’d be in the top three again. I’m truly happy to have this many people cheering me on; it feels like I’m living in a dream. Rina-chan Board: “Hyappo—♪” But, after placing second this time, a new emotion emerged within me. It was “frustration”. It didn’t even occur to me that such a feeling would come up, so the Rina-chan Board doesn’t have a face prepared for frustration. ...This is surely part of growing up, huh? Setsuna-san is an amazing person, but I’ll try my best so that I won’t lose next time. Please support me, as I’ll work really really hard. Rina-chan Board: “Bowing”

Monthly Rankings (October 2017)
File:PDP 4th Popularity Poll - 3rd Rina Tennoji.jpg

Songs

The songs featuring Rina are:

SoloNijigasakiQU4RTZQuartetCollaboration

Doki Pipo ☆ Emotion
Teletelepathy
Analog Heart
Tsunagaru Connect
First Love Again
Watashi wa Magnet

TOKIMEKI Runners
Love U my friends
Mirai Harmony
Just Believe!!!
Nijiiro Passions!
Sweet Eyes
NEO SKY, NEO MAP!
Zensoku Dreamer
Yume ga Koko Kara Hajimaru yo
Hurray Hurray
L! L! L! (Love the Life We Live)
Miracle STAY TUNE!
Colorful Dreams! Colorful Smiles!
Twilight
Yume ga Bokura no Taiyou sa
Ryouran! Victory Road
Future Parade
Level Oops! Adventures
Eien no Isshun
OUR P13CES!!!
Wachu Gonna Do
KAGAYAKI Don't forget!
Sugar Sugar Yummy Yummy Parfait
Go Our Way!
SINGING, DREAMING, NOW!
Wawawa☆What's up!
Fly with You!!
New Year's March!
Nijigasaki Gakuen Kouka
Doko ni Itemo Kimi wa Kimi
Eternalize Love!!

Sing & Smile!!
Beautiful Moonlight
Make-up session ABC
Twinkle Town
Swinging!
Not Sad
ENJOY IT!
4 SEASONS
Fuwa Fuwa Hour!
PASTEL
Michi no Saki

Waku Waku! Monday Morning

LIVE with a smile! (Featuring Aqours and Liella!)

Etymology

• The name Rina is a common female name and can be written with various kanji characters. (璃) (ri) means "glassy, lapis lazuli". (奈) (na) can have multiple meanings and can be associated with various sounds like "na."
• Rina's surname Tennoji means "heaven/heavenly, sky, imperial" (天) (ten), "king, prince, monarch, sovereign, potentate" (王) (no) and "temple" (寺) (ji). It is said to be a surname derived from the Shitenno-ji temple.

Trivia

General

• Rina fulfills the smile attribute of the NijiGaku first years.
• Rina has different nicknames from different members of Nijigaku: Kasumi Nakasu calls her Rinako (to match Shizuku Osaka's nickname Shizuko and Shioriko Mifune's nickname Shioko) and Ai calls her Rinari. In ALL STARS, Nozomi Tojo calls her Rina-chi.
• In ALL STARS, Ai credits herself with assisting Rina in coming up with the Rina-chan board, and helps her with the drawings.
  • Because Rina uses the board for the most of the time in the game, the fans created a lot of fanart illustrations to speculate what Rina's real face looked like. A tag called 素顔璃奈 (sugao rina, lit. Rina with a natural face) was created for such illustrations. The tag became irrelevant when the officials decided to reveal her true face in ALL STARS on December 1, 2019.
• Rina is the shortest out of all of the Love Live main characters at 149 cm (or 4'11").
• Most of Rina's song titles are all written in katakana. This is likely due to the fact that she isn't very good with emotional expression and how she struggles with modern Japanese.
• The auto-emotion convert Rina-chan board has hardware that senses faint electrical signals in the facial muscles to display different expressions.
  • It is implied that her auto-emotion convert board is waterproof, as she is able to swim with it.
  • A real version for Rina's auto-emotion convert board was made for Chiemi Tanaka to wear on stage. However, due to various technical problems, the camera behind the board was not made, therefore it is impossible for Chiemi to dance with the board on. According to Chiemi, she can see the light from Love Live Blades, but she is still unable to walk on her own.
• Rina is the third character to be slapped, except not by a childhood friend this time. The first two characters to be slapped by childhood friends are Honoka Kosaka and Kanan Matsuura. Rina was also not slapped on the cheek, unlike Honoka and Kanan, and was instead only slapped on the hand.
• Despite the Love Live! Virtual School Idols being announced first in early 2022, Rina is the first from the Love Live! Series to debut as a Virtual YouTuber, albeit it was very short-lived.

Media-Specific (Manga, Anime, School Idol-Diary)

• The 18th chapter of the Famitsu App 4koma shows Rina being capable of crying, though this only applied to that continuity.
• Her robot cat, Aran, was first mentioned in the radio dramas then made its way into Miyako Hito's "Nijiyon" 4komas. The design was then adapted into an illustration in Dengeki G's magazine, made a brief appearance in Rina's Tsunagaru Connect insert song MV, and finally adapted into one of the illustrations for School Idol Festival ALL-STARS.
• The Mirai Harmony PV shows that her board can instantly change her drawn expressions without flipping them, likely just for subtle/background laughs.
• In the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Anime, Rina doesn't possess the "Rina-chan board" until episode 6, The Shape of Smiles (〃＞▽＜〃).
  • Needless to say, after said episode, she tends to pull up her board at will (whenever expressing something extreme or something primary like tasting a good pancake) as she seems fine to talk without it.
  • In Shizuku, Monochrome she even had a drawn expression of Shizuku's face during an "orchestrated" capture with Kasumi, giving a call back to the Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS main story line, where she did the same for Emma and Karin.
    • Shizuku's version of the Rina-chan board also makes an appearance during Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Shuffle Festival when Kaori Maeda (as Shizuku) performed Doki Pipo ☆ Emotion.