| “ | Rather than talking about a problem I solved, I wanted to talk about a problem I couldn't solve together with my friends. | ” |
— To Korosensei | ||
Rio Nakamura (中村 莉桜 Nakamura Rio) is a student in Korosensei's Class 3-E of Kunugigaoka Junior High School. Although she was a former prodigy in elementary school, Rio felt lonely longed to be normal. When she got to middle school, she began shirking off her studies in pursuit of this goal, which eventually landed her in Class 3-E.
Appearance[]
Nakamura is described as the “cool and gorgeous girl” of Class 3-E with long straight strawberry blonde hair (a darker blonde color in the OVA) that is parted in the middle and worn swept behind her shoulders and aqua-blue eyes (sometimes appearing as light gray) with notably long eyelashes. The colors of her hair and eyes give her the appearance of a stereotypical Caucasian girl, even though she is Japanese, although her hair does appear to be dyed as in a flashback she appears with a darker shade (black in the manga and dark yellow in the anime).[1]
She wears the Kunugigaoka Junior High School uniform with the assigned pale yellow sweater rather than the gray blazer.
Personality[]
Nakamura is a girl whose sleaziness can put even Class 3-E’s perverted genie Taiga Okajima to shame, but she also shows the keen intellect of someone known as a former child prodigy. At the same time, she also greatly enjoys teasing others, displaying a genius-level gift for it. She has a nose for finding people to mess with.
She is also a friendly and energetic girl who is somewhat of a trickster where her favorite victim, along with Karma Akabane, is Nagisa Shiota. She's playful, has a dirty mind and she has been noted to be rather intelligent. She claims she was originally a serious person, something that would prove to be true when she disagreed with Nagisa's proposition to save Korosensei and continue to kill him.
Despite her eccentric nature, she can see the bigger picture and hides how she feels, but she cares about Class E more than anyone. She also felt responsible for the bond between the class and Koro-sensei.
On one hand, she can play the role of Class 3-E's resident mischief chick. On the other hand, when the situation calls for it she can be quite straightforward. Even Ryoma Terasaka started to wonder which between the two of them is the more outrageous kid in class.
Plot[]
Nakamura smiling.
Like the majority of her classmates, Nakamura debuted in the first chapter; however, she was not spotlighted until the first Finals Arc (Chapters 51-53) when she and Nagisa Shiota were the main rivals to Tomoya Seo in English. Before that, she was officially introduced during Chapter 18 while trying to peek into Korosensei's bath.
She is spotlighted again in Chapter 111 when she reveals her past as a gifted, but lonely elementary school student. Her intellect was clearly superior for her age, resulting in other students purposefully avoiding her because of her intelligence. Since then, she decided to "be stupid", by shirking off her studies and adapting a more playful persona. In the process, she completely forgot how to study and take tests. Bad behavior like dress code violations, profanity and disrespect, and poor attendance also factored into her fall into the E Class. She expresses her gratitude to Korosensei for providing her with a place where she can both study and do "stupid things" along with her friends.
Nakamura contributes to Class 3-E's school festival in gathering the ingredients for their restaurant. She apologizes to Nagisa for teasing him for looking like a girl. However, when she sees Yuji Norita recognize Nagisa from the island arc and approach him, she swaps his slacks for her skirt, urging him to swindle money out of Yuji. When Nagisa confesses to Yuji that he is not a girl, Nakamura suggests Nagisa "show it to him".
At the end of Chapter 142, when Nagisa proposes to find a way to save Korosensei instead of assassinating him, Nakamura is the first to speak against it where she cites the bond between assassin and target the very reason why she wants to continue killing their teacher. Her disagreement eventually causes the class to split into either saving or killing Korosensei, prompting him to settle the dispute by having the two factions play a paintball match against each other. Nakamura joins the red (kill) team and acts as second-in-command to Karma Akabane.
When the strength of both sides has been cut in half, Nakamura heads to Ryoma Terasaka's position and lies in wait until the blue team attacks to capture their flag. She reiterates her resolve to kill Korosensei, earning Terasaka's subtle praise. When the surviving blue team attacks, Nakamura's group races for the flag but is ambushed by Nagisa, subsequently eliminating her from the battle. She and the others watches Nagisa and Karma's brutal fight, which Nagisa eventually wins when Karma surrenders after being caught in a chokehold. Despite her earlier disagreement, Nakamura sees how both sides fought their very best and acknowledges that Nagisa's side won fair and square. She pinches his cheek afterward, silently apologizing to him.
Nakamura makes another major appearance during Valentines' Day, conspiring with Karma to tease Kaede Kayano about her affections for Nagisa. They help Kaede build up her courage by taking her to spy on other couples throughout the mountain and watch her present chocolates to him. Afterward, Nakamura indirectly confesses to Karma that she will not act on her feelings for Nagisa for Kaede's sake.
She makes an appearance when the students try to save Korosensei from the government’s hands where Korosensei notes she moved gracefully during battle. She takes out the cake she had brought Korosensei to celebrate his birthday and the class sings him happy birthday. They are interrupted by the arrival of Shiro and the God of Death.
After the fight, while Korosensei is working to heal Kayano's wounds, he asks her to feed him the cake for energy. She says that the cake was filthy from falling on the forest floor, but gives it to him anyway.
In the end, she bravely faces Koro-sensei's impending death with a smile during his final roll call, though she crumbles in tears after he is gone for good.
Seven years after graduation, Nakamura is seen in England chatting with a friend on a bridge near Big Ben Parliament during her exchange program. She is unable to attend the reunion because of the program, but sent her regards anyway.
After graduating from college, she became a freelance interpreter and aims to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Her dirty jokes garner a lot of great reactions even when studying abroad in London and she fits in perfectly. She started working as a sharp and witty interpreter, aiming to establish her career with the personal connections she'd established.
Abilities[]
Marksmanship: Nakamura is ranked joined third for marksmanship on the girls' side, along with Kirara Hazama. She scored 79/200 in a test in June, giving her the 8th best marksmanship in Class 3-E.
English: Nakamura has mastery over this subject and the language itself, enough to surpass Tomoya Seo and attain first place in the school. She is proficient enough to study in England, shown seven years later in the timeskip.
Intelligence: Despite her whimsical personality, Nakamura is one of the smartest people in Class E, second only to Karma Akabane, scoring 3rd in the second semester finals. Although she landed herself in the E Class, she hasn't lost her wit nor genius.
Technology: Nakamura was ranked 3rd for technology in Class 3-E by Korosensei, mentioning that she could disassemble a radio within seconds, although she finds it a bore.
Night vision: Nakamura was ranked 4th by Tadaomi Karasuma in the students’ night vision abilities.
Relationships[]
Nagisa Shiota[]
Nakamura sits on Nagisa's right and enjoys messing with him and harassing him. She gets a kick out of playing on his androgynous appearance and according to the tankobon extra, this is one of her hobbies. Despite that, the two are good friends and Nagisa doesn't pay much mind to her teasing.
In Chapter 116, Nakamura apologizes to Nagisa when she finds out his reasons for keeping his hair long, and promises to never touch upon it again. Not a minute later, she breaks her promise and discreetly puts a skirt on him, encouraging him to swindle money out of an admirer.
It is hinted that she has a crush on Nagisa, which is indicated when she made an indirect confession in front of Karma Akabane, but gave up as soon as Kaede Kayano made her move.
Karma Akabane[]
Although they are not featured together often, Nakamura and Karma get along devilishly well that it can be deduced from their closeness with each other that they are good friends. Their first well-known interaction was during the civil war when the two shared a common ground in opposing Nagisa Shiota's suggestion to save him. During that time, she acted as Karma's second-in-command.
As the two most intelligent students of Class 3-E, they are of the same mind and know each other very well. They share the same love for mischief, tormenting the rest of Class E with their antics. Since they both have a wide range of knowledge, the conversation can jump from candy to world economics in an instant. It is possible that she had a crush on Karma, although it has never been confirmed.
Kaede Kayano[]
Although they are rarely seen together, Nakamura and Kayano sometimes interact together in the background. At some points, Nakamura teases Kayano, which is mostly about Nagisa Shiota.
On Valentine's Day, Nakamura and Karma Akabane helped Kayano to get her courage to deliver her feelings towards Nagisa.
Hinano Kurahashi[]
Although they aren’t often seen together, the two of them have bonded over bejeweling their knife sheaths. The two of them also seem to have their airheaded moments together as they casually were showing them off during a school assembly, much to Tadaomi Karasuma’s dismay.
When Hinano tells the girls that she has a crush on Karasuma, Nakamura remarks by telling her no girl in Class 3-E does not have a thing for him. The two are also shown battling each other with knives during one of 3-E’s PE lessons before Akira Takaoka’s arrival.
Yuzuki Fuwa[]
Nakamura frequently peeks at the shonen manga over Fuwa’s shoulder and often feels the progress of the characters are moving towards a sloppy direction. The character relationships that Fuwa favors run in complete counter to Nakamura’s, so Nakamura feels flustered when they become ruined to her.
Sumire Hara[]
At a glance, the two have completely different styles yet the quick-thinking Nakamura and the considerably mature Hara have a lot of common topics which they often discuss, their relationship has a joyful atmosphere to it. Nakamura refers to her as "Hara-chan".
Ryunosuke Chiba[]
Because Nakamura often listens to Western songs, she has some differences in opinion with Chiba who prefers Japanese Punk. Rather than European, she favors the more exciting nature of American music.
Taiga Okajima[]
Since Nakamura has a lot of guy friends, she is not repulsed by dirty talk to the point that she and Okajima together may set the mood even more sleazy. Okajima comments that she's the first girl to make him feel like he might lose to her in terms of sleaziness.
Toka Yada[]
- Main article: Toka Yada
The two of them are sometimes seen together and are usually together in a group where Nakamura refers to her as “Yada-chan”.
In one of the tankobon extras, Nakamura is seen trolling Yada and Kaede Kayano in the Class 3-E girl group chat by telling Yada her breasts have grown bigger to which the the latter denies.
Quotes[]
- (To Korosensei, Chapter 111) "Rather than talking about a problem I solved, I wanted to talk about a problem I couldn't solve together with my friends"
- (About Class A, Chapter 123) "You can't keep the bloodlust (hatred) going for that long"
Etymology[]
- The name Rio means "white jasmine" (莉) (ri) and "cherry blossom" (桜) (o).
- Rio's surname Nakamura means "middle" (中) (naka) and "town, village" (村) (mura).
Trivia[]
- Nakamura is fond of music.
- Nakamura's favorite subject is English while her worst is Civics.
- Irina Jelavić notes that unlike Nakamura's school uniform, she favors wearing pants for streetwear. Also, her skill at dressing down so that her clothes are fashionable without being particularly casual was something to be noted.
- Nakamura's past club before joining the Class 3-E was Amateur Radio Club. Back when she was still in the club, toying with the boring men who turn up before going home was a daily lesson for her.
- Nakamura's favorite food is Pizza.
- Nakamura hates boring men.
- Nakamura prefers snacks over Bentos.
- Nakamura's older brother is in university; he has a lot of refined interests, but he has a sister complex.
- Nakamura's father is a translator and her mother formerly was an advertisement model.
- Nakamura wants to be a diplomat or an interpreter (presumably due to her English skills) in the future.
- In the tankobon extras, it was revealed that Nakamura's current nickname is "Old Mannish Middle Schooler" while her past one was "Elementary School Genius."
- Nakamura was paired with Sosuke Sugaya in Nuru-Nuru Test of Courage in Chapter 74.
- Nakamura is seen trolling Toka Yada and Kaede Kayano on the girls’ group chat in one of the tankobon extras.
- Nakamura's profile photo online is Nagisa Shiota wearing a skirt.
- Nakamura's current hair color was revealed to be dyed as shown in a flashback in Chapter 111.
- When Nakamura was in first grade, she got 100% on 6th-grade tests.
- Contrary to her status as a "gifted girl" when she was in kindergarten, Nakamura even got reported on TV.
- Despite the way she acts, whenever a perverted situation happens, Nakamura is shown to be completely disgusted. However, she playfully notes that Taiga Okajima has a small penis while all the other girls were enraged at his flashing at the beach during Summer Camp.
- Nakamura says she hates looking at pictures of herself because she doesn't like her small eyes.
- Nakamura placed 11th overall during the first-semester final exams.
- Nakamura is named one of the prettiest girls in the class.
- Nakamura was ranked 3rd overall in the final semester exams with a score of 469 after Karma Akabane (500) and Gakushu Asano (497).
- Nakamura is known as the 2nd smartest student in Class 3-E.
- In Tadaomi Karasuma's Assassination Aptitude (out of 6), Nakamura's statistics were:
- Strategy/Planning: 5
- Commanding/Leadership: 3
- Execution (Ability to carry out plans): 4
- Technique (Traps, weapons, preparations, etc): 3
- Scouting/Intelligence Gathering: 4
- Politics/Negotiations: 4
- In the tankobon extras, Nakamura's statistics were listed as:
- Physical strength: 3
- Mobility: 3.5
- Close-range assassination: 3.5
- Long-range assassination: 3
- Academic ability: 5
- Characteristic skill: 4.5 (wasting talent)
Miscellaneous[]
- Apphia Yu (Nakamura's English voice actress) and Micah Solusod (Gakushu Asano's English voice actor) are married in real life.
- As of 2019, Nakamura and Yuma Isogai's Japanese voice actors are married in real life.
References[]
- ↑ Assassination Classroom manga; Chapter 111: Career Time
[]
| e - d - vKunugigaoka Junior High School | ||
|---|---|---|
| Class 3-E | ||
| Faculty | Korosensei • Tadaomi Karasuma • Irina Jelavić • Aguri Yukimura | |
| Students | Masayoshi Kimura • Hinano Kurahashi • Yuma Isogai • Hinata Okano • Hiroto Maehara • Meg Kataoka • Kotaro Takebayashi • Toka Yada • Koki Mimura • Rio Nakamura • Nagisa Shiota • Kaede Kayano • Taisei Yoshida • Yukiko Kanzaki • Taiga Okajima • Rinka Hayami • Tomohito Sugino • Yuzuki Fuwa • Takuya Muramatsu • Kirara Hazama • Ryunosuke Chiba • Manami Okuda • Sosuke Sugaya • Sumire Hara • Ryōma Terasaka • Karma Akabane • Itona Horibe • Ritsu | |
| Main School | ||
| Faculty | Gakuho Asano • Kiyoshi Terai | |
| Students | Tomoya Seo • Teppei Araki • Natsuhiko Koyama • Ren Sakakibara • Gakushu Asano • Kaho Tsuchiya • Kazutaka Shindō • Kokona Tagawa • Nobuta Tanaka • Chousuke Takada | |