Riko Saikawa

Riko Saikawa (才川 リコ Saikawa Riko) is one of the supporting characters in Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon and one of the main characters of Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon: Kanna no Nichijou. She is Kanna Kamui's friend and classmate.

Appearance
Riko has wavy shoulder-length brown hair that has bangs hanging on the left side, dark green eyes and she appears to have an especially shiny forehead as it gleams with a flash of light in many scenes of the anime.

She usually dons a light-green, long-sleeved shirt with a rounded yellow neckline fronted by a bunny motif, a pale orange skirt, white high socks and green shoes. She sports a yellow-rimmed tag clipped to her shirt and an orange daisy pin in her hair.

Much like some other characters, her outfit is prone to change per her environment, situation, and surroundings.

Personality
At first glance, Riko seems bossy and mean, but over time, she seems nicer as shown with Kanna and very polite around people like Kobayashi. She has a crush on Kanna and enjoys being around her. When being touched by Kanna or receives praise from her, Riko tends to grin goofily and get red in the face, becoming overwhelmed with excitement.

Season 1
Riko first appears at the end of Kanna's first day of school. She tries to pick a fight with Kanna, who reacts by crying. Riko apologizes, and tries to reconcile by giving Kanna candy. A few days later, Riko walks with Kanna for the first time after school. She leads Kanna to the playground. After Kanna saves Riko from being hit by a stray dodgeball, Riko challenges the older dodgeball players to a game. Kanna leads Riko to her home, and Kobayashi agrees to go with Tohru, Fafnir and Quetzalcoatl to the playground on that day. Riko trembles when the dragons play dodgeball among themselves and destroy the playground as a result.

During the summer, Riko invites Kanna to her home. Kanna also brings Tohru and Kobayashi over. In the former's room, Riko and Kanna play a game of Twister together. Then, Kanna sits on Riko's lap while playing a video game on Riko's console. When Riko expresses feelings towards Kanna, Kanna turns around and pins her to the floor, but is interrupted when Tohru bursts in from the other room. After Kanna, Tohru and Kobayashi leave, Riko lies on her bed wondering what Kanna was going to do to her.

Riko and Kanna participate in the Sports Festival later in the year. They are paired together for several events in their year group. Riko and Kanna come last in the three-legged race due to the former's uncontrollable squealing. However, Riko's infatuation with Kanna helps their class win the tug of war. In the last event, the girls' relay, Riko and Kanna are the third and fourth runners in their class-representative team. Riko takes the baton while her team are in second place, and overtakes for first, but drops the baton shortly afterwards. She retrieves the baton and passes to Kanna while in last place, apologizing as she does so. Riko continues to be apologetic even after Kanna wins the race for her class, but Kanna calms her down and expresses her gratitude for being a good team-mate.

In the run-up to Christmas, Riko comes up with the idea of performing The Little Match Girl for Tohru's show at the retirement home. She is third to audition for the title role, but runs away before she can start due to being scared of Fafnir. Riko is eventually cast as the play's narrator.

Riko wears a yellow kimono for her First Shrine Visit at New Year's Eve. She sees the first sunrise of the year with Kanna at the rooftop of Kobayashi's apartment block.

Some time in January, Riko shows Kanna a book about flowers, and after looking up Shepherd's Purse, plucks one of them and makes a tearful vow in front of Kanna.

On Valentine's Day, Riko feeds Kanna chocolate before their class starts. She later visits a spa town resort with Kanna, and offers to wash Kanna's back while at the hot springs.

Season 2
In episode 17, Riko visits Kobayashi's apartment by herself to play with Kanna while Kobayashi and Tohru go out shopping. Initially she thinks she and Kanna have the apartment to themselves, but after seeing Ilulu in the bathroom, she complains to Kanna. Nevertheless, Riko and Kanna play card games together. Quetzalcoatl then visits, kindly giving sweet treats to Kanna and Riko before consulting with Ilulu. Quetzalcoatl eventually sets Riko up to use the bathroom again, this time leaning against the bathroom door so that Riko doesn't escape. After talking for a bit, Ilulu opens up and eventually leaves the bathroom to play with Kanna and Riko until they fall asleep. On another day, Riko is invited to Kobayashi's apartment again, and plays board games with Shouta Magatsuchi, Kanna and Ilulu.

In episode 18, Riko joins Kanna and Ilulu at an amusement park. They board the last ride, a ferris wheel, with Kobayashi and Tohru at the end of the day.

In episode 19, Riko and Kanna are at the candy shop that Ilulu eventually finds a job at.

In episode 20, Riko is challenged to a dare by one of her classmates at school. Kanna offers to go along with her to a confluence of two rivers, where she happens to spot "a monster" - Elma in her dragon form. Kanna blocks Riko's view when she tries to photograph evidence of the monster. When Riko talks about it the following day, Kanna passes it off as computer-generated imagery.

In episode 21, during a class assignment, Riko and Kanna's group agree to investigate ghosts. After an impromptu soccer match goes wrong, the group hide in an abandoned classroom, where they hear a scream from the art room. Eventually they conclude their investigations without seeing a ghost.

In episode 23/chapter 59, Elma takes Riko, Kanna and Shouta on a camping trip after agreeing to look after them while Kobayashi and Tohru are busy with their jobs. When Shouta goes off to investigate the nearby hill, Kanna and Riko follow. Eventually, Elma ends up having to look for them. Riko momentarily sees Elma's dragon form again before being put to sleep by Shouta's magic spell. The children are later reprimanded by Elma; Kanna offers a flower in apology, and also gives one to Riko when she complains.

In episode 26, Riko joins Kanna at the summer festival wearing a blue yukata.

Kanna Kamui
Though she initially tries to pick a fight with Kanna for her sudden popularity on the first day of her transfer to the school, she quickly becomes good friends with her. Riko develops a crush on Kanna for her cuteness and company and gets overly excited when she touches or compliments her. Sometime later, she states that she would like to marry Kanna, an idea that Kanna seems to reciprocate. They often spend time with each other, walking home together from school and picking the other as their partner during school activities.

Tohru
Riko appears to acknowledge Tohru as Kanna and Kobayashi's maid and feels comfortable enough around her to ask questions.

Kobayashi
Riko treats Kobayashi with respect and refers to her as Kanna's mother, much to Kobayashi's dismay.

Fafnir
She is fearful of Fafnir after coming face to face with him the first time in Kobayashi's apartment, flinching and trembling under his stare.

Etymology

 * The name Riko is written in katakana (リコ), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (莉子 or 理子), it could possibly mean:
 * 莉子 - "white jasmine" (莉) (ri) and "child" (子) (ko).
 * 理子 - "reason, logic" (理) (ri) and "child" (子) (ko).
 * Riko's surname Saikawa means "talent, aged, genius, years old, cubic shaku" (才) (sai) and "river, stream" (川) (kawa).

Trivia

 * In the manga, Riko is only ever referred to as "Saikawa" as her first name is never revealed until chapter 41 of Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon: Kanna no Nichijou, when introducing herself to Chloe.