Mutsumi Sidepanel
Mutsumi Otohime (Otohime Mutsumi) is a very gentle, very frail, clumsy and soft-spoken 21 year old girl
who lives in Okinawa. Keitaro and Naru meet her while taking some time off for a brief vacation after
flunking their entrance exams. (In the anime, Keitaro has a brief and near-fatal encounter with her on his way to the entrance exam.)
Like Keitaro and Naru, Mutsumi had just flunked her entrance exam for Tokyo U, and was also taking a trip to
get a hold of herself again. And like Keitaro, she too is a third year Ronin.
The young Mutsumi played matchmaker to Naru and Keitaro after it became clear that
Naru wanted to go to Tokyo University with Keitaro. She deliberately lost a game of Janken
(rock-paper-scissors) which was to decide who out of Naru and Mutsumi would become Keitaro's wife.
She then made a promise with Naru that both she and Naru would later go to Tokyo University, so that
Naru would remember the promise (she was too young to be able to remember when Keitaro made the promise).
Despite being clumsy in small things and anemic, Mutsumi generally has good luck when it comes to life-changing
matters and always seems to come out all right, even if she gets a few bruises along the way.
Even more than Keitaro, Mutsumi has the tendency to fall down, run into things, and generally get
into injurous situations while recovering quite quickly. She also frequently has near-death experiences.
Her outlook on life is somewhat disconnected with reality, a point reinforced by her worldly
goods consisting of watermelons, her test study techniques consisting of random chance guessing,
and her almost unrealistically optimistic outlook on life. As something of a counterbalance to her
inability to do things anyone could do, she has a number of unusual qualities.
She can speak "turtlese" (though she claims she can't), and her guessing method for test taking,
involving the sides of a pencil, actually got her through the Tokyo U entrance exams.
Her surname, Otohime, comes from the legend of Urashima Taro, where Otohime is the beautiful daughter
of the Sea King and the eventual wife of Urashima. Otohime first appears in the legend as
a beautiful five colored sea turtle, providing the basis for Mutsumi's association with supernatural turtles.
Her character design was supposedly modelled on Aeris of Final Fantasy fame.
The portrayal of the Naru/Keitaro/Mutsumi relationship is somewhat different and more bluntly depicted in the anime.
She gave Narusegawa her Liddo-kun doll when she left Hinata when she was young.
It's a strange way how things turn out. If you were to put Keitaro and Mutsumi face to face, it'd almost be
like putting a mirror in their face. As Naru pointed out once, Mutsumi is practically a female version
of Keitaro. Like he, she's generally good natured, if clumsy and funny at times, and having a lot of Keitaro's habits.
Also like Keitaro, she seems to have made a childhood promise to someone to get into Tokyo University...and again
like Keitaro, she's a two-time Ronin, though not because she has trouble with the test persay. She could easily pass...
if she didn't faint the day of the test...or forget to write her name on the thing...you get the problem.
Her big failing is her tendency to choke when it really counts. She's anemic and prone
to fainting (the first time she and Keitaro met, they literally ran into each other, and she ended up catatonic for several minutes),
and she forgets things now and then.
Mutsumi has a tendency to kiss friends and acquaintances she happens to run into (friendly ones only, mind you).
She also has a pet turtle named Onsen Tamago (Tama for short), who she eventually gives to the Hinata residents as
a pet. She seems to be able to communicate with it.
.chronicles
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.want to leave a message for Mutsumi?
The Diary of
Mutsumi Otohime
Saturday, January 30, 2010
like time stands still
Have you ever tried doing nothing? You know, just, one day, or one moment, you'd just sit on your bed or relax while you forget the world. I find it funny how people these days couldn't separate themselves from the internet and their friends. They always have their cellphones with them, their laptops always open, always connected to the internet... how is it fun when it feels like an obligation to keep yourself updated and update others about what's up. Go to your room, turn off the cellphone, turn off everything and just enjoy the peace and quiet, lay down in bed, no music, no nothing, just relax. It's fun. When I think back of the past with no extension from the outside world, I often smile at myself. I'm not saying that we should be lazy, it's almost like a camping experience when we get away from the media and electronics. I don't do well with electronics, sorry. But I'm fine with a phone. Get away once in a while. Everybody's awfully in a hurry. It's like people these days are in a race to get noticed by others.
stamped at 4:46 PM
- otohime mutsumi
