Name: Misumaru Yurika
The captain of the Nadesico, Yurika is somewhat of a dizt.  Well, what else can you say about a girl who greeted her crew for the first time with a peace sign?  Who claims herself to be a "cute girl"?

The daughter of an important admiral in the Earth Forces and brilliant when it came to simulation tests, she's fresh out of school and ready to do what she needs to do.  And she sure does it.  Despite the fact she acts spaced-out and love-crazy, she always comes up with a plan and it comes through for them.

She is extremely caring of others (especially Akito, but who notices that?) and her duty on board.  She belongs there, she told Jun once.  She is herself on board.

As if she didn't show it already, she loves Akito very much, but she has yet to say it out loud (last episode).  She, however, is extremely clingy to her beloved Akito and does anything to make him happy/keep all the other girls away.  On Mars as a child, she followed him everywhere, and sometimes got him into trouble.  Now-a-days, she pretty much does the same thing.

She is, however, pretty much engaged to Jun.  She just doesn't get it though.  Whenever Jun does something for her, she always says he does it because he is her special friend.  Everyone else on board sees what's going on.  Yurika, however, is a tad dense when it comes to things like what her "gentleman callers" feel.

As all true captains should be, she is as much a symbol of the Nadesico as the ship itself.  Whenever she wears a kimono (whether in an illustration or in the show), the kimono is in a flower pattern that consists of the petals of the Sweet William plant (nadeshico).  Almost all stylized illustrations of her include these petals (as opposed the more traditional sakura/cherry blossoms) around her.

Her problems tend to stem off of the fact that Akito is really shy and pushes her away.  That, and her dad tends to be very, very proud of her physical development.  What's more, although she has the skills to be a great captain, every once in a while, she loses confidence in herself and wants to back away from it all  Otherwise, she just does her thang!