Emile Elman

A dirty blond bowl cut sits atop Emile's squarish head. His body is rounded, his nose tips upward, and buckteeth show when he grins; the small irises of his slanted eyes read as black in the manga and green in the anime.

Like the rest of Eden's younger boys he wears the school uniform with shorts, adding crew socks in white and black footwear.

Energy and loyalty define Emile. He idolizes Damian, showers him with praise, and happily joins Ewen in needling Anya Forger and Becky Blackbell, yet the bond runs far deeper than flattery of a powerful name; he jokes with Damian freely, even chasing him with earthworms after discovering his fear of them. Every feeling shows on his face, whether excitement, envy, fright, or worry, and although he scares easily and panics often, courage takes over whenever his friends are threatened.

Like most Eden students he competes hard for Stella Stars and dreams of Imperial Scholar rank, but his personal ambitions stay modest: asked about his future, he answers that he mostly wants to eat a great deal of candy, and food and creature comforts delight him. Toward Anya he plays the snob, mocking her supposed peasant status and doubting her abilities, though her repeated successes, from surprise Stellas to shockingly high test scores, keep catching him flat-footed without ever quite changing his mind. He also stays oblivious to Damian's growing soft spot for her, reading the pair as simple rivals.

Emile has known Damian since their nursery school days and Ewen since before either enrolled at Eden, and the trio move through Cecile Hall as a unit, with Emile and Ewen so in sync that they claim their hearts beat together with Damian's. His devotion keeps proving physical: he takes a dodgeball to shield Damian during the interclass tournament, leaps into a river he cannot swim in when he believes Damian is drowning on a field trip, and stays put when the Red Circus hijacks the class buses, too worried about Damian to escape.

At the start of the second term, a misunderstanding convinces him and Ewen that Damian has found a more important friend. Where Ewen wavers, Emile insists they prove themselves the companions Damian can count on most, and counsel from Mr. Green about facing jealousy through an imaginary "Mr. Buzz" steadies both boys until Damian sets the record straight about their friendship. Later, Emile helps hold off the teacher Gambitz so his classmates can gather the proof that clears Henry Henderson's name, and the exposure of Murdoch Swan's illegal admissions scheme earns him his first Stella Star, an honor shared with Damian, Ewen, Anya, Becky, and several other classmates.