Maehara, Shinobu

前原　しのぶ

Shinobu Maehara is an exceptionally timid young girl, although she gradually builds more self-assurance as the narrative unfolds. She is twelve years old at the beginning of the story and has short black hair, with a single strand subtly sticking out. In the anime, she makes her first appearance in episode 1. She is subsequently introduced in episode 2, where it is revealed that her parents are divorcing and she is expected to leave town with one of them; however, she prefers to become a resident at the Hinata apartments. In the manga, she is already a resident at the apartments when Keitaro arrives.
She is in the seventh grade at school, but due to her shyness, she does not know her classmates well. In the anime, even on the eve of her planned departure, she had not told them she was leaving. Later on, however, she gains more friends from her class, as shown in episode two.
She possesses remarkable culinary skills, which she may have learned from her mother, who ran a restaurant, or she may simply be naturally talented. She consistently downplays her abilities but is pleased when the Hinata residents praise her cooking—especially when Keitaro says, "My life would sure be a lot nicer if I could look forward to eating great food like this every day." She has a tendency to occasionally put clothes that were supposed to be washed into the pot, and food ingredients into the washing machine (a mishap called "wash curry"), although she has only been shown doing this twice.
She develops a crush on Keitaro after he helps her with her studies, but feels betrayed by him when she learns he misled her about being a Tokyo University student. Amends are made when Keitaro discovers her birthday is approaching, and the residents hold a surprise party. Her birthday is on November 15th.
Shinobu was apparently designed not to be cute, but that attempt failed, and her incredible lack of conventional cuteness instead made her cute in her own way.
She handles alcohol very poorly; she once accidentally drank Keitaro's white wine and instantly got drunk on merely half a glass.

Details:

First name:: Shinobu
Last name:: Maehara
Age:: 12 (Chapter 1), 13 (Chapter 2), 14 (Chapter 46), 15 (Chapter 89), 19 (Chapter 123)
Birthday:: November 15th
Blood type:: O
Height:: 152 cm (5' 0")