Yumi Ishiyama

Yumi is one year older than the rest of Team Lyoko; her age gives her the title of the "mature" one of the group, who looks after the younger members, in a way. Although sometimes a bit short-tempered, she is very clever. Just remember to stay on her good side, though, because she doesn't take rudeness from anyone. She deals with a few personal conflicts, most notably the fact that her parents have been known to have a somewhat unstable relationship, which makes her very sad (as seen in the episode Laughing Fit). She also seems to have a few mutual "feelings" for Ulrich, though neither of them seem to have the guts to admit anything to the other (at least not in the present, anyway).

Their reluctance in regards to their relationship has led to strife and jealousy between them in several episodes. In the episode Routine, however, Yumi and Ulrich almost kiss in the Desert sector (complete with unexplained wind and romantic music in the background), shortly before a time reversion. The time reversion takes place just before they are able to kiss. The romantic music occurs shortly after Ulrich saves her from falling into the digital void. Despite the near-kiss, they still have reluctance when it comes to admitting their feelings for each other, though they do seem to have a better understanding of them.

When William shows up in the second season, their feelings for each other are again thrown into doubt. Several episodes have both Ulrich and William competing for her affection. Yumi is still more interested in Ulrich, though. In the episode The Key, it seems as if Ulrich is about to admit his feelings to her, but a phone call from Jeremie prevents him from saying anything.

In the real world, she wears a black turtleneck sweater that has long sleeves and exposes her navel. She also wears black pants, and a pair of boots that look like they'd really hurt if you got kicked by them. In Lyoko, she sports a Geisha-like outfit. It comes with a short flowered dress (kimono) over red tights, black, heeled boots that go up past her knees, red blush on her cheeks, a white, painted face, and some red lipstick on her lips to complete the look. She wields two tessen fans that she can throw at enemies much like boomerangs, and like boomerangs, they recoil back to her hand. The tessen fans also double as shields. Coincedentally enough, Ulrich's outfit is somewhat modeled after a Japanese samurai.

She makes important decisions in the heat of things. Younger members often turn to her for advice. She is the first female in Team Lyoko; Aelita being the second (Sissi being a possible third).

She comes from Japan, but speaks perfect English (French in the French version). For some reason, Yumi receives the brunt of XANA's abuse, having been trapped by him twice, replaced with a fake version of herself by XANA another time, and even been robbed of her digital genetic code by the Scyphozoa (in the same manner as Aelita's memories are stolen), preventing her rematerialization on Earth until Aelita extracted the information from XANA's data store in Carthage. She is also the only one of the group ever dropped into the digital void, and has nearly done so again on two other occasions. In the first season, one week of episodes had Yumi attacked almost exclusively. The week has since been dubbed "Pick on Yumi Week."

Because she is from Japan, Yumi is very proud of her homeland and its culture, as seen in the episode The Girl of the Dreams. This is especially true in her dialogue, when she gets very touchy-feely about her being confused for a Chinese girl.

Yumi's name might originate from Yumi (?, ??) which is the Japanese term for bows used in the practice of Kyudo (??, Japanese archery). The yumi is exceptionally tall (standing over two meters), surpassing the height of the archer. Coincidentally, Yumi happens to be the tallest character in Team Lyoko, which consists of all boys save Aelita.

Ishiyama might originate from the Ishiyama Honganji, which was the primary Buddhist cathedral-fortress of the Ikko-ikki, mobs of warrior monks and peasants who opposed samurai rule in feudal Japan.

Yumi's name translates from Japanese as "beauty of the stone mountain."

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