Eli Ayase

Eli Ayase is one of the nine main characters in Love Live!. She is a third year in Otonokizaka High School. Her image color is ice-blue. She is the leader of BiBi, a sub-unit under μ's.

Background
Eli is partly Russian from her grandmother. Because of this, she is known to say the Russian word "хорошо" (pronounced as "Harasho"), which means "Good" or "Okay." Eli first says it in Season 1 Episode 10 when Umi Sonoda was awoken by the girls' pillow fight and she threw "supersonic pillows" in her rage.

She has a younger sister named Alisa Ayase. She told Umi that her family has been living abroad since they were little and haven't really adapted to the lifestyle in Japan yet. Her grandmother is also an alumni of Otonokizaka High School, which furthered her urge to defend her school from getting shut down.

In Season 1 Episode 7, it is shown that her mother and grandmother did ballet through the glimpse of the photos in her room, and it's a legacy passed down to Eli as she was also a ballet dancer herself when she was younger. However, later it is revealed that Eli was actually at the bottom of the list in ballet compared to the other dancers and could barely pass the auditions. Due to her constant failures, she gave up her dream of becoming a ballet dancer and gradually tried to close her heart and distance herself from her dream to shine and dance again.

Personality
Eli is shown to be a perfect role model to the students in Otonokizaka High School. As the former student council president, she is often portrayed as a cold and strict character due to her responsibilities, and being against the idea of Honoka Kosaka and her friends forming an idol group to get more attention from the public. However, ironically, Nozomi Tojo reveals that Eli was also trying to save the school, but was denied permission to take action by the chairwoman.

Eli is highly respected and well-known among the students, especially among her juniors, which call her 'Eli-senpai'. Unlike Nozomi, she appears rather stoic and skeptical in the early episodes, but it is shown that Eli is actually very kind and caring towards people who are close to her, like her little sister. She is also dependable as her grandmother entrusted her the responsibility of preventing the school from being shut down. Other than being admirable, Eli also has a lot of fans in the school. After she joined the group, their popularity rose and their ranking among the school idols increased, achieving more fame.

Honoka also complimented her beauty, saying that she is beautiful, tall, and has a great body shape. On top of that, she is also very mature and level-headed and acts as a strategist in promoting their group, as she planned to introduce μ's in Akihabara by having a street performance.

Despite being portrayed as level-headed, Eli can sometimes have an unexpected side to her and it was revealed by Nozomi that she almost ate a plastic chocolate once, thinking it was real. Other source material such as the Love Live! School idol diary and animated shorts also show her with a more playful personality. She is also afraid of the dark and haunted-house monsters, as seen in Season 2 Episode 12.

Clubs and Hobbies
Eli was Otonokizaka High School's student council president before Honoka succeeded the position. Eli's specialty is quilting and crafts, and her experience with ballet qualifies her as the group's choreographer. One of her hobbies is making accessories such as earrings and necklaces from scratch.

Trivia

 * Eli fulfills the cool attribute of the µ's third years.
 * The name Eli means "picture, painting" (絵) (e) and "village" (里) (ri).
 * Eli's surname Ayase means "brilliant fabric design, kimono design" (絢) (aya) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (se).
 * In early PVs, Eli and Umi were often shown together, implying they seemed closer before the story for the anime was established.
 * Early illustrations of Eli show her being able to play guitar, suggesting her potential role as composer for μ's.
 * According to Love Live! School idol diary, Eli studied in Otonokizaka Middle School, while the anime mentioned that she was admitted mid-semester.
 * Eli originally had 2 little brothers before they were eventually replaced with Alisa.
 * In the manga, Eli grew up in Japan rather than in Russia and was already familiar with the second years, especially Honoka. In addition to this, she was a lot more carefree and outspoken than in the anime.
 * One of the artworks for the School Idol Quest story in the February 2017 issue of the Dengeki G's Magazine had Eli and Nozomi wearing traditional wedding attires. Whether they're wearing it for their costume photoshoot or they're actually married is still debatable.

Gallery
Eli Ayase/Image Gallery