Kaoru Niijima

Kaoru Niijima (新島 香, Nījima Kaoru) is a character in Hang On! Climbing Girls.

Personality
Niijima is polite and calm person who is seen almost always keeping composure and a positive attitude, who keeps trying no matter how many times she fails until she is able to send the route, believing that "when there's a will there's a way". However, when repeating a route too many times, her outwardly calm demeanor collapses, showcasing a more creeping and obsessive behavior, well befitting her zombie moniker.

Plot
Seeing that Akane Uchimura is bothering Hanamiya girls, Kaoru comes and apologizes for her, while explaining that the team motto is "climb your dreams".

She manages to pass the prelims. During the semifinals, everyone sees why she is called the Zombie Niijima, as she keeps falling, but recovers quickly and makes another attempt with each time reaching higher and higher. She manages to pass the semifinals taking the sixth place. In the finals, she continues her "zombie" climbing and ends taking the third place in the final individual rankings.

Abilities
Niijima is a rather skilled climber. Although she doesn't have any refined technique in particular, she stands out because of her mental resilience and persistence. She's able to clear routes purely through repeated trial and error, getting higher and higher the more she tries. Her ability to recover and retry earns her the moniker "Zombie Niijima" as she rises time and time again.

However, because her specialty is centered on repetition, she is at a disadvantage when performing challenges that do not allow for continuous attempts at once.

Etymology

 * The name Kaoru means "fragrance, fragrant" (香).
 * Kaoru's surname Niijima means "fresh, new" (新) (nii) and "island" (島) (shima/jima).