Nobuko Kadoya

Nobuko Kadoya is a minor character in When Marnie Was There. She lives in the same rural town Anna Sasaki stays in for the summer and tries to befriend Anna.

History
Nobuko helps the adults to keep the younger kids in check while they do the trash clean-up in their town. While she talks to her mother about how the kids drive her crazy, she spots Anna drawing near the river and the latter runs away when she notices she is being watched as Nobuko watches as in confusion since her hometown is small and seeing strangers around seems to be rare for her.

Nobuko's mother and Anna's aunt later arrange for the girls to go together at the Tanabata Fastival.

The following night, Nobuko attends the Tanabata Festival with Anna, some of Nobuko's friends and several other children. Nobuko initially attempts to befriend her although Anna is reluctant to talk to her or any of the other girls. When Nobuko snatches Anna's card in which Anna wrote that she wanted to have a normal life everyday Nobuko questions her about it but Anna is embarrassed by her reading Anna's card out loud, gets mad at Nobuko and calls her a "fat pig". Nobuko is offended and states that Anna won't be able to live a normal life due to her "looking the way she does" but she still tries to be nice to Anna and tries to invite her to hang out with her and friends but Anna slaps the card from Nobuko's hand and runs away.

After that, Nobuko goes home crying and tells her mother about the incident and lies about Anna threatening Nobuko with a blade and her angry mother immediately goes to Anna's aunt and uncle's house to tell them about Anna's behavior.

When Anna's adoptive mother comes to take her home, Anna apologizes to Nobuko for being rude to her but Nobuko simply tells her to join in on trash clean-up next summer and walks away. This could imply that while Nobuko is still mad at Anna she still hopes for Anna to come back.

Appearance
Nobuko Kadoya is an overweight girl with black hair and dark eyes.

Relatives

 * Mrs. Kadoya (mother)