Ayane Mitsui

Ayane Mitsui is the main protagonist of Ayane's High Kick. She is a high school student at Misaki High School with dreams of becoming a professional wrestler, but ends up being drawn into the world of kickboxing. She is in year 2, class B at school.

Appearance
Ayane appears to be of average or slightly above-average height, with long red hair worn in a unique-looking ponytail. She is skinny but also strong, with muscular and flexible legs. She is often shown in her fighting outfit or her school uniform.

Personality
Ayane is spunky, enthusiastic, and strong-willed, full of a fighter's pride. She is confident in herself and her abilities and is very competitive, refusing to lose in a fight. She is not very smart, though, which is one of her biggest weaknesses.

Plot
After failing a wrestling audition, Ayane is walking dejectedly home when she meets Kunimitsu Tange, a kickboxing coach, who noticed her powerful and flexible legs and wants to train her. Unaware of the fact that Kunimitsu teaches kickboxing and not wrestling, Ayane agrees to begin training. Upon her return home, she is scolded by her mother, Mrs. Mitsui, and teased by her brother, Kenta, because she skipped school to go to the wrestling audition.

After school the next day, Ayane goes to Kunimitsu's training gym under the freeway. Although it looks different from what she imagined, she is ready to start training. Over the course of the next few days, she trains with Kunimitsu and tells her friend Kayoko Nakajima about the gym where she trains. Kayoko is worried that Ayane is being taken advantage of and accompanies her to the gym later and watches her train. After more practice, Ayane is entered into a kickboxing competition, unaware that it is not a wrestling competition. She fights an experienced kickboxer in the first round and realizes what sport she's actually involved in, and, despite her anger at Kunimitsu for tricking her, refuses to back down and, with her new skill "Golden High Kick," wins the fight, making her a star in the kickboxing community.

Ayane runs into school trouble soon, once her friend Kappei Inagaki comes across some kickboxing magazines with Ayane's picture in them and asks for her autograph. Violent sports outside of school, besides traditional martial arts like judo, are not allowed, so once the vice-principal finds Kappei's magazines, Ayane is in danger of expulsion. She lies to the vice-principal and says that the girl in the picture is not her, but he is not fooled. The famous kickboxer Sakurako Miyagawa then pulls up in a portable stage and extends a challenge to Ayane, saying she wants to fight her and take back her spot as the star of the kickboxing world. The vice-principal and principal then say that if she beats Sakurako, she will not be expelled, but if she loses, she will be kicked out of the school. Ayane has no choice now but to continue kickboxing training and beat Sakurako at the upcoming tournament.

After some intense training sessions with the help of Kunimitsu and Kayoko, Ayane makes it to the competition where she must fight Sakurako. Sakurako is clearly the more skilled and experienced fighter, and Ayane is having a hard time, but with encouragement from Kunimitsu, Kayoko, and the crowd, she is able to keep going and use her Golden High Kick. She is unable to knock out Sakurako, but her attacks did make her bleed, so the fight ends because of injury. Ayane realizes that it was not a complete victory and that her journey of kickboxing has just begun.

Kunimitsu Tange
Kunimitsu is Ayane's coach and the first person who noticed the power and potential her legs have. Although they argue a lot and Kunimitsu is very hard on Ayane, they both understand it is for her own good and that she must endure hard trainer in order to be tougher and better. Kunimitsu wants to bring out the best in Ayane, and every decision he makes concerning her is related to this goal. He always makes sure to push her to her limits to make her stronger. Although Ayane stopped trusting Kunimitsu when she found out he had tricked her and they argued for a whole, both of them were able to put other concerns behind them when Sakurako issued her challenge.

Sakurako Miyagawa
Ayane and Sakurako have a rival relationship with much jealousy on Sakurako's side. She was angry and jealous that Ayane got more attention than her for winning only one fight, so she challenged Ayane to a fight and trained hard, despite the fact that Ayane was new to kickboxing, because she did not want to embarass herself and prove, once and for all, that she was better than any newcomer. Neither one held back during their fight, and when Ayane won, Sakurako expressed frustration at the outcome.

Kayoko Nakajima
Kayoko is Ayane's best friend and always looks out for her. She often gets worried about what Ayane is getting into in connection to her secret life as a competitive fighter, but she supports her and is willing to take risks to help her. Kayoko begs Ayane to beat Sakurako so she won't get expelled and the two girls can graduate together, showing that their friendship is strong and close to both girls' hearts.

Kappei Inagaki
Kappei is another of Ayane's close friends and is an admirer of her career as a competitive fighter. He tries to get her interested in kickboxing, but, unaware of the fact that she is training for that exact sport, Ayane always turns down his offers to watch matches. He is very involved in the kickboxing fan community, as seen when he brought multiple magazines to school with Ayane's picture in them and when he attended her fights.

Mrs. Mitsui
Ayane's relationship with her mother is not expanded on a lot in the anime, but it is seen that Mrs. Mitsui is worried about Ayane's grades and academic performance and does not approve of her being involved in wrestling. She is not afraid to punish her for disobeying her and skipping school to go to wrestling tryouts.

Kenta Mitsui
Ayane's younger brother Kenta teases her a lot and makes jokes about how she "has to make a living with her body" because she isn't smart. Kenta enjoys getting a reaction out of his older sister and teases her to do that.