Seishuu Handa

Seishuu Handa, also known as Sei Handa, is the main protagonist on both Barakamon and Handa-kun anime and manga.

Sei is a 23-year-old calligrapher who is forced to move to the Goto Islands on the western most edge of Japan after causing a scandal by assaulting a respected art critic. In Goto, he tries to focus more on his calligraphy and to take time to understand himself and find his passion.

Appearance
Sei has black hair with an ahoge that splits in two. His eyes are black and are described as unpleasant sometimes (BUT ONLY SOMETIMES). Tall and has a slim, but muscular build. He is said to be handsome.

Personality
Seishuu is a stubborn man who is easily irked or frightened. However, after he spends some time, and really begins to open up to a person, he can be fun to be with. He is really passionate about his work, sometimes to the point of self-seclusion and exhaustion when he is inspired for a piece. This, along with his 'city-slicker' attitude, often leads to him being taken care of by the other villagers on the island who help him by bringing him food or reminding him to relax and have fun every once in a while. His friend Kawafuji even describes him as a handful who needs to be looked after from the shadows. He is also extremely prideful of his work, to the point where he punched a respected art critic who criticized his work, which was what caused him to be sent to the countryside in the first place. This aspect of him is also shown when he fell into a depression after losing to Kosuke, an 18 year old newbie. He is also enthusiastic about calligraphy in general, taking it very seriously and lecturing those who do not take it as seriously as shown when he tried to teach Naru, Miwa, and Tamako calligraphy so they could finish their homework. After some time passes, he becomes more humble in his skills and even apologized to the old director for his previous assault on him.

It is implied that this comes from his strict upbringing. It was mentioned that he and his parents didn't get along, and how his parents were so strict they didn't even let him eat candy or have a pet growing up. For quite a while, he even believed that his parents didn't like him and were being strict not out of love, but because they wanted him to become a calligrapher like his father. While on the island, he begins to realize that his parents were strict because they cared for him and his well-being.

Although he states he doesn't like children, he becomes a teacher at Naru's school and the kids grow to like him, especially Naru and Hina and to some extent Kenta (although Kenta is jealous of Seishuu since Kenta likes Naru but she pays more attention to Seishuu). In the beginning everyone thought he was a cool aloof guy since he was a calligrapher or "artist" and initially had a cold expression but they all quickly see him as silly due to his tendency to overexert himself and habit of talking to himself, along with his funny reactions to situations on the island and his interactions with the people. Nonetheless, he becomes famous throughout the island and seems to get along with everyone.

As a teenager, he was shy and socially awkward. He was under the impression that most of the school hated him and choose not to interact with them to avoid trouble. In reality, his schoolmates looked up to him as the most popular student because of his calligraphy talents and loner ways, even forming a group dedicated to worshipping him. He still had possessed love for calligraphy and when an impostor forged his signature, he was angry and later corrected it while telling the impostor to impersonate his work correctly. In fact, most of the girls in his schools were obsessed with him because of his cool exterior and even got disappointed after he temporarily lost his memories. While he tried to avoid trouble at school, he found himself in comprising positions which only solidified his misguided beliefs. When his friend Kawafuji revealed the school really loved him, Handa was left in shock and berated himself for not noticing this but was in awe at his popularity. After coming to terms with it, Handa could only keep his cool and act normal around them.

Trivia

 * He loves cats although he is allergic to them.
 * Seishuu is considered very handsome, with even Naru referring to him in the beginning as Junon boy, which refers to a male who participates in a beauty contest in Japan.
 * He seems rather clumsy as he continually slipped on rocks as he was walking down to the beach in episode 5.
 * Since episode 5, he has become hooked on eating konomon (pickled daikon radish).
 * He says he doesn't like kids but always seems to take good care of them when they need help and the kids on the island seem to like him.
 * He doesn't like ghost stories.
 * Despite being handsome, it is implied that he has never entered a romantic relationship before. He even states that because he was so focused on calligraphy he has never entered a relationship and therefore, he is the type of person who would die alone.
 * He doesn't like bugs.
 * He can't cook.
 * He was oblivious to being very popular in school and his name was well known to other schools as well.