Noto Kanazawa

Noto Kanazawa (金沢のと, Kanazawa Noto) is the main character of the series Advance! Kitakou Broadcasting Club, created by Hidekaz Himaruya (at the time credited as Kazuyoshi Himaruya). He was also the original mascot of the website Kitayume, which was named after the series. However, both Noto and Kitakou would later take a backseat to Barjona Bombers, and later to Himaruya's best-known series, Axis Powers Hetalia.

Appearance

Noto is a petite young man, described as looking and sounding very feminine. This has caused him to be mistaken for a girl to comedic effect, further exploited when he is depicted crossdressing as a female in the series or in other pieces of official artwork. His neck-length hair is generally colored a dark or medium brown, while his eyes are green.

His early school uniform in the series consists of a short-sleeved white uniform shirt and dark blue slacks, later colored black. However, the dress code changes at some point in the Kitakou series and Noto starts to wear a different uniform, consisting of a brown vest worn over the white shirt and burgundy slacks with a matching tie.

In the period in which he snaps and becomes "Black Noto", he begins to wear the second girls' uniform as well, which consists of a red sailor-style dress with a black necktie and trim. In addition to the dress, he wears a red ribbon on his hair (attached to a detachable ponytail extension).

Profile

Noto debuts at the start of the series as the new student at Kitakou High, having longed to enroll at the school ever since he was seven years old due to it having been first place in the broadcasting club competition, and him having won a broadcasting tournament in junior high. However, when he arrives at the school, he finds that the club has been abolished and a strange ninja student has attempted to comment suicide due to it. Though they manage to convince the president of the student council to bring the club back, Noto soon discovers that running the broadcasting club is harder than it seems.

He is a first year student in the Chemical Engineering department, and his favorite food is Mamador, a type of bean paste snack food.

As the series progresses, there comes to be two different "types" of Noto:

White Noto

Early in the series, Noto is generally characterized as an easygoing, yet timid and pitiful character who finds himself unable to utilize his talents in the broadcasting club. He also winds up constantly bullied by the students around him, and forced into going along with what others think due to his meek nature.

He crossdresses for the first time in chapter 6, due to playing the lead in a drama that the club planned to film. However, this winds up gaining him many unexpected followers (combined with his already feminine appearance).

Black Noto

At some point due to a certain incident, Noto's darker side emerged, causing a complete change in his personality.

He debuts in Barjona in this incarnation, having become tired of being bullied and treated as weak. Noto proceeds to enact his revenge by stripping others and committing various indecent acts. Compared to his earlier personality, this Noto is much more arrogant and short-tempered, making sure to make his points known and taking advantage of others when he can. He is also initially drawn to look older and more masculine to emphasize his changed nature, but soon becomes simply harsher-looking.

It is at this point in time that he starts to wear the red girls' school uniform and dub himself "Noto-sama".

Noto eventually became toned down over time with his cruelty, and it appears that he might have fully reverted back to his original personality and look in the 2007 Kitakou strips (as the "Black Noto" era has been removed from the site). However, this version of Noto seems to have become the best-known due to his crossover appearances in Hetalia and the Noto-sama series of games.