Umi Sonoda

Umi Sonoda is one of the main characters from the ''Love Live! School Idol Project'' franchise.

Umi is the lyricist and choreographer for μ's, as well as the current Student Council Vice-President. She is the center of her idol unit, Lily White.

Appearance
Umi has long blue hair along with light brown eyes.

Personality
Umi is normally a shy girl, but she has a strong will and some qualities of a leader. Despite this, she is content to stay reserved and always thinks logically. Umi is uncomfortable with wearing short skirts but gets used to it after their first live. Although Umi tends to be hard on others, as seen in Season 2 Episode 7when she forces Honoka and Hanayo to do long training hours after they gain a bit of weight, she is especially hard on herself. She doesn't do anything criminal and despises laziness.

Umi gets angry when her sleep is disrupted, as seen in Season 1 Episode 10. However, despite her calm and collected appearance, when it comes to playing Old Maid or something that requires the player to stay calm, she cannot hold back emotions: Umi panics out when her opponent takes the non-Joker, according to Season 2 Episode 5.

Clubs and Hobbies
As the daughter of an Iemoto (Head of Music & Arts School) mother and a Shihan (Martial Arts Inspector) father, Umi excels in Kendo, Nagauta, archery, calligraphy, and traditional dance. Starting in the second season, she becomes Otonokizaka High School's new student-council vice president, taking the role from Nozomi Tojo. She likes reading as well.

Umi becomes the group's main lyricist, and writes the song "START:DASH!!", along with most of the rest of their songs. She also trains the members of the group before Eli Ayase takes over the role. She either created the dance steps for START:DASH!! or aided Kotori in coming up with the choreography.

Trivia

 * Umi originally had an additional younger brother before it was written off.
 * "Umi" is also the Japanese word for sea. Whenever Honoka mentions the sea and calls out "Umi", Umi thinks Honoka is calling her name out instead.
 * In the manga, which was published prior to the anime, both Umi and Honoka were portrayed to be members of the kendo club.
 * The various media in the project disagree on the relationships between the second-years. In the manga which was published earlier, Honoka is closer to Umi as the two of them are childhood friends and not Kotori, but in the anime and other newer media, the three of them are all childhood friends.
 * She wears her summer uniform's vest under her blazer. However, this is not shown in Season 2's ending credits.
 * She didn't like to eat sticky food when she was in elementary school.
 * In early PVs, Umi and Eli were often shown together, implying they seemed closer before the story for the anime was established.
 * Because of this (prior to the announcements of year placements) many theorised that Umi was originally planned to be a third year, with Nozomi replacing her as second year, as early art had placed Honoka/Kotori and Nozomi close together and suggested a closeness.