Katase, Shima

片瀬志麻

The story's protagonist is Shima (nicknamed "Shipon (しーぽん)" by Arisa), who enrolls in the Stellvia foundation's space program to "see the stars while looking forward, rather than having to look up." Initially, her self-assurance swings between absolute confidence in her skills and the conviction that she is incapable of anything. The series portrays her as highly diligent, despite her being a natural genius.
As the narrative unfolds, she learns to accept her errors and stops believing that imperfection equates to failure. For example, following a difficult start to her training where she ranked last in her class for piloting, she heeds Kouta Otoyama's advice and realizes she was attempting to monitor excessive data on her ship's displays. Consequently, her piloting skills improve significantly. Although she faced early difficulties as a pilot, her programming talents were exceptional from the outset, and she eventually merges these abilities to become even more formidable in the cockpit. She earns the nickname Shipon because, during her first flight in a Bianca, she maneuvered the ship like a ping-pong ball.