Yuan Iwadate

Yuan Iwadate (岩馆 摇杏 Iwadate Yuan) is a second year student at Usuzan High School.

Appearance
Yuan is a tall girl with long black hair tied into a ponytail with a white hairbow and has brown eyes. She wears the standard Usuzan uniform, except that the jacket is open and the tie is loose. Yuan also wears dark pantyhose.

Final Eight Arc
As Chikako Himori leaves for her match, tells her to do her best out there. Sawaya Shishihara then asks her if she has finished with Yukiko Maya clothes and Yuan says that she has. While everyone is amazed at the clothes, Yuan sits and laughs. She then says that because of Yukiko's personality, it's very rewarding to make clothes for her. Before leaving for her match,  she leaves early because she needs to use the bathroom and "let the fighting spirit enter" her body.

At the start of her match, Yuan loses her first hand to Choe Myeonghwa and her second toHiroe Atago. She then says that things are getting real bad and that in the second round they at least had Rinkai concentrating on onther team and that Sawaya won't be able to get second that easy. She then decides that Kiyosumi can't let her go under and smiles. On the next hand, Yuan declares riichi and wants Hisa Takei to play into her hand but Hiroe quickly wins off of her. When Hisa wins off of Yuan, the girl wonders if Hisa isn't going to protect her at all. She sees Hisa smile and calls her creepy. Yuan says that she has lost a lot of points and that its funny that she wasn't able to win at all and keeps losing. She decides that she is going to get dealer repeats now but is quickly defeated by Choe once more to end the first half.

When Hiroe wins off of Hisa at the beginning of the second half, Yuan says that this is the first time she didn't lose any points and that the flow might be turning in her favor, but is defeated again by Hisa. Choe soon after begins to sing and Yuan notes that she has seen a tape of this before and that Saway says that she invites luck in by singing. After a few more hands, she then says that everyone looks like they had fun but that it wasn't very fun for her because she didn't win even once. However she ended her win-less streak on the last hand but wonders if she was handed that win. Yuan then says that she was just starting to have fun but things weren't going her way before leaving the table. Out in the hall she is seen cursing and wiping tears from her eyes. When she returns she apologizes and then helps Yukiko change.

Yuan appears in Yukiko's flashback. Here she is shown getting groceries with her teammates when Yukiko fell on her face. After they help her out, they all go to the mahjong club and play cards. After Yukiko says she has a table they could have, Yuan and the others go fetch it. Later the club decides to give Yukiko a make over and Yuan is seen working on her clothes. While walking with Naruka and Yukiko, Yukiko asks the girls if she is getting in the way as a newcomer. Yuan then tells her that she's only known Naruka for half a year and that she shouldn't worry about those things. She then tries to give Yukiko advice but to no avail. After the prefectural tournament, she hands the rest of the team a mahjong magazine.

After Yukiko's match, Yuan reaffirms that the road to making Yukiko stand out is now completed. While watching Sawaya do great in the captain's match, Yuan and Chikako tell the others about her past.

National Championship Arc
That night, Yuan has Yukiko Maya model her new outfit which she remodeled from the previous one. The next day she arrives at the arena with her team where she does better during her match than previously, but she is still beaten badly.

In a flashback, the night before the tournament the girls get together to discuss their opponents. Sawaya Shishihara warns that the Shindouji captain and vice captain are interconnected in some ways. They come to the conclusion to try and stop Mairu Shirouzu from winning at all costs.

Yukiko and Yuan are walking and run into Nodoka Haramura. They ask for her autograph but were interrupted by Mihoko Fukuji searching for Hisa Takei. They all decide to look around but are stopped by a guard. Since Yukiko and Yuan played earlier in the day they could pass into the playing area.

Playing Style/Abilities
Yuan appears to be a sub-par player (at least on the Nationals' stage), playing into Choe's, Hiroe's, and Hisa's individual hands many times, and not winning once (though not for lack of trying). It is also noted by Hiroko Funakubo that Uzusan's Vanguard, Sergeant, and Lieutenant aren't great players anyways, but their Vice-Captain and Captain make up for it.

Etymology

 * The name Yuan means "apricot" (揺杏) (yu).
 * Yuan's surname Iwadate means "rock" (岩) (iwa) and "mansion" (館) (date).

Trivia

 * Yuan appears to have a knack for sewing.