Description

Nodoka is a first-year student at Kiyosumi High School in Nagano Prefecture and a protagonist of the manga. She has played online mahjong since a young girl and develops a eventually passion for it. Her father, who works as an attorney, disapproves of Nodoka's interest but does not prohibit it. Because of her mother's work assignment, her family usually moves to a different city every two to three years. She moves to Nara Prefecture prior to her final year in elementary school and soon enters Achiga Girls' Academy for middle school. She was the previous year's National Middle School Individual Champion.

Nodoka always carries her penguin plushie due toHisa's recommendation in their first training camp, affectionately named Etopen, to give her a sense of calmness when playing mahjong.

Nodoka plays a strictly digital style game and not does she only think about winning percentages, she factors in expected values for her winning hands as well. Nodoka's true strength in mahjong lies within her online persona. Using the pseudonym "Nodocchi", her winning record surpasses that of most professional players. Her opponents have observed that she makes makes the most complex decisions within a split second and rarely makes mistakes in her plays, if ever. While holding Etopen, she can go into "Nodocchi Mode" even outside digital Mahjong, but this is also her weakness: she views the current game as a digital game, regardless of whether or not it actually is; this allows her to completely ignore the presence of her opponents, for better or worse. She begins making decisions very quickly and can confuse players who sense their opponent's tenpai, as she seems to play like a robot, not a person.

Nodoka's personality is that of a "proper lady" as noted byMako. She is very logical but can be a bit childish as she cannot sleep without her penguin plushie. She is distant withSaki at first but over time becomes extremely close to her. Nodoka is also very stubborn and despite being logical rushes into things without thinking. She is sensitive when talking about her breasts with others. Nodoka also has a pragmatic view of mahjong: she does not believe in supernatural powers and stubbornly rejects any chance of them happening.