- Gender: Female
- Age: 13
- Hair: Brown
- Eyes: Brown
- Nationality: Japanese
- From the anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena, property of Central Park Media.
- First Appearance: Chapter 16
When Keiko Sonoda first met Nanami Kiryuu, it was to invite the other girl to join Keiko and her two friends as one of Ohtori Academy’s cliques. However, almost immediately after, Keiko discovered that Nanami was the younger sister of Touga Kiryuu, the student council president and most eligible bachelor on campus. With their social positions thus properly revealed, Nanami moved in as the head of the little group of girls, and so it has remained since.
Keiko is the unofficial leader of Nanami’s henchwomen, and generally takes the lead when they’re carrying out whatever tasks have been assigned to them. On the surface, she appears quite happy in this role, eagerly slapping around girls Nanami doesn’t like, planning parties Nanami wants to throw, or doing paperwork Nanami can’t be bothered with. In fact, this is all a facade. Keiko despises Nanami, envies her social position, and resents taking orders from her. But she is willing to hide all of that deep inside, because serving Nanami accomplishes the most important thing to Keiko: letting her be close to Touga.
Keiko adores Touga more than is usual, or possibly even healthy, for a school crush. Though she does not believe she is worthy of being his love – and is unwilling to settle for a brief fling with him as many other girls do – she nonetheless holds her forbidden hope in her heart at all times, and is willing to endure any task or humiliation to stay near him. She has kept this fact carefully hidden from Nanami, whose jealous protectiveness of her brother’s affection would undoubtedly lead to unpleasant consequences for Keiko if the truth were known.
Keiko has essentially no combat ability whatsoever – in fact, even compared to a normal schoolgirl of her age, she’s clearly unused to actually fighting.