Ichirō Komaba

is a former student of Yezo Agricultural High School. Once his family's farm has to sell all their cows and close down from debt, he quits school to work part-time jobs.

One of Yugo's close friends and a skilled baseball player who dreamed of becoming a professional so he can use the money earned to pay off his family's debt. He is also Aki's childhood friend and neighbor, and their closeness is a source of jealousy for Yugo.

Personality & Character
Somewhat rough and surly face, but with polite, honest, and chivalrous side to his personality.

Skills & Abilities
Ichiro excels in anything athletically based. He is a skilled baseball player, quickly becoming the team's ace pitcher in his first year, and has high strength and endurance. He is a decent player in ping pong, shown to play an intense game during free time with Tamako.

He also academically has some strong subjects, shown to be top of his class in produce (even above Yugo), and is not too far behind in animal husbandry and farm machinery.

Image & Appearance
Has sharp eyes with tall physique and a very muscular body. While already muscular at the beginning, he almost doubles in mass by the end.

History
Komaba's family owns a small dairy farm, which he manages with his mother and younger twin sisters. For years, he dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player so he could use the money he makes to pay off his family's debt. He believed if he could lead his team to Koshien and win, he could be scouted and make his dream come true.

After losing that chance in his first year, the Komaba family farm had to file for bankruptcy and sell all their dairy cows for meat. Ichiro took it upon himself to help pay off the rest of the debt by dropping out of school and working part-time jobs. He refused to allow this financial burden affect his family or the Mikage family, as they had cosigned when Komaba's family tried to expand their farm.

Yugo Hachiken
Ichiro and Yugo have a rough to start to their friendship due to a large difference in perspective when growing up. Early on this is a point of contention, but they change their attitudes and seek to understand each other afterwards, helping them to become closer.

Their friendship slowly starts to resemble almost siblings as they get closer. Ichiro would often hit Yugo whether it was just for no reason, or in one occasion when Yugo made something delicious and offered it to him. This would never stop them from arguing once in a while, but as it started, it was usually due to a difference in perspectives.

After Ichiro had to drop out of school, he was emotionally lost and socially distant for a while especially with Yugo, likely seeing him as an outsider still when repressing his emotions and trying to focus solely on work. It took time, but eventually Ichiro was willing to message more regularly with Yugo, and trusting him to help him on multiple occasions. He came to Yugo for help with getting a new computer (Yugo had Hajime Nishikawa help him pick one out) and to get in contact with Shingo Hachiken so he could resume his studies.

In the end Ichiro has Yugo visit Russia, where he is currently working, to propose working together and having Yugo raise pigs in Russia. He also takes the time to check in on the relationship between Yugo and Aki.

Aki Mikage
A childhood friend of Aki's, they get along nicely and are comfortable around each other. Aki asked Ichiro if he would like to inherit her family's farm (because her dream was to work with horses, not inherit the farm), but Ichiro declined; he said he would rather have a farm that was a "Komaba farm".

Aki and Ichiro are a more realistic take on the cliché that is "childhood friends" in manga/anime stories. Rather than being instant love interests for each other, growing up near each other allows them to be very close with each other like best friends or siblings. Multiple times throughout the story they actively are there for each other emotionally, like when Ichiro found out his farm was going bankrupt and only told Aki. To an extent it was because he knew it would affect her family too, but also she was who he felt comfortable talking to about it. Everyone else in the school only found out because Ayame Minamikujō was attempting to take his vacant spot in the Department of Dairy Science.

Their families are also shown to be close with each other: helping each other out when needed, sharing fresh food they're proud of, being competitive about who's milk tastes better, etc.

Notes & Trivia

 * Ichiro's name roughly translates to "The First Son"