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
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
November 2006
April 2007
May 2007
July 2008
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
February 2011
March 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
November 2011
January 2012
February 2012
March 2012
April 2012
July 2012
October 2012
March 2013
February 2014
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Saturday, March 26, 2011
dear diary,
I didn't see Keitaro-san at Naru's birthday. When I heard that he was sick, I paused for a moment recollecting he did all this birthday preparation for Naru-san. I felt sad. But most of all, I think Naru-san was most affected. She really wanted Keitaro-san to come; Naru-san whispered to me that she doesn't care if she gets sick as well.
"Keitaro is in his room right now. The doctor said he needs to stay put. It's also for Keitaro's wellness, so he could become healthy again fast." she explained.
Think about it, Keitaro-san planned all of this, yet he couldn't enjoy the party with us even if he could help it. Everybody knew who was missing in the party but they couldn't do anything about it. Still everyone celebrated Naru-san's birthday. We were all dancing, playing games, karaoke. It was really fun. I had a blast, thanks to Naru-san and Keitaro-kun.
I'll bring him oranges tomorrow. I hope he gets well soon.
stamped at 7:54 PM
- otohime mutsumi
Thursday, March 24, 2011
dear diary,
It's Naru-san's birthday tomorrow. I didn't know what to get her at first and so I tried to ask Keitaro-san for help. I thought that maybe we could buy Naru-san a present together. But I couldn't reach his cellphone. I tried leaving a message but the lady in the phone said that the inbox is full. Maybe Keitaro-san is busy.
In the end, I had to do my best. It was a must, as a friend, for me to get Naru-san the best birthday gift. If not the best, then the best birthday gift from Mutsumi-chin this year. I always try the gift shop near Toudai because they have a lot of nice gifts there.
When I asked the lady in the shop for help, I told her that Naru-san loves stuffed toys, she loves to study and she's like a raging river.
"... ano... a raging river, you say?" she clarified.
"Hai!" I think me and the clerk were connecting.
"Might I suggest uhm... a liddo-kun doll? They're the new liddo-kun doll. We have them over here."
"OH WOW! Sugoi desu! Mitte mitte! This one's got a do your best headband on it!" Kawaii! "Oh oh! This little guy is carrying a watermelon!" The clerk smiled. "Hm... it's hard to choose, they're all cute!"
After having the present wrapped. I headed home. I didn't notice that the sky was already dark. I'm sure I left the house at noon. Wow, they say that when you're having fun, the day goes by fast. Then today was fun. Or maybe it took me really long to make a decision.
stamped at 6:16 PM
- otohime mutsumi
Thursday, March 03, 2011
It's silly. I'll tell you why later.
"Who could it be?" I heard the doorbell. When I opened the door, I found Keitaro-san, Motoko-san, Kanako-chan, Shinobu-chan, Kaolla-kun and Sara-chan all lined up on my front door. "Ara ara. How nice. Can I help you guys with something?"
They looked at each other a bit puzzled. "Why yes!!" then Kitsune-san popped out from behind Shinobu-chan. "It looks like our-- uhh... kitchen burned down thanks to Kaolla. The repairmen said it'll take one day to fix everything. And we really need a place to cook. Shinobu insisted that we use your-- uhh-- kitchen for a moment because we haven't eaten breakfast... or lunch yet. Ahaha."
"Oh my. That's terrible. All right, you can use my kitchen. Come in everyone and make yourself comfortable." still they kept looking at each other while Kitsune and Keitaro-san were just in grin. Did I miss anything?
"Ano, Mutsumi-san, can you help me go buy something downtown? We won't take long." asked Keitaro-san.
"Sure."
"Oh, don't worry about us! We'll take care of everything for you. And to show we mean business of taking care of your home, we'll tie Kaolla-chan with a mooring rope over there." I looked at Kaolla and she shook her head because it was unpleasant.
"Ano... you don't have to do that. I insist. Just be comfortable. Neh?" I said.
I was wondering what happened to them. I'm flattered they asked for my help. But they always help me with things, so it's only right to help back... right? When we got to downtown, Keitaro-san entered a gift shop. Oh, how nice. He's buying a gift. He asked me what he should get for his friend.
"What's the occasion?" I asked.
"... I think it's her birthday."
"Uwaa. Okay, Keitaro-san. I'll help you! We'll pick the best present!" I was determined to help. We picked lots of stuff. But we settled for a stuffed toy. "I think this would be great." I said.
"Then I'll take that."
When we left the gift shop, we happened to pass by Narusegawa-san. She ran to meet us.
"Mutsumi-san! Happy- GEH!" then Keitaro quickly covered her mouth.
"Ara? Hmm... what's going on?-- I know! Perhaps we're playing a game? A guessing game?"
"Sou sou!" Keitaro-san nervously laughed. "Try to guess what she was about to say."
"Happy--"
"Oh no." uttered Keitaro-san.
"No? Oh okay. Is it Haaa-- hopscotch?" they shook their head. "Is it the word haa- heavy?" still no. "haa- hello?" I was still wrong. "I give up."
"I think she was just going to say good afternoon, neh Narusegawa?"
"Huh?" then Naru-san nodded her head. "Oh my! That was very tricky. Nice play!"
"Dessho? Let's go everyone!" said Kei-san. So we went back into my apartment while still playing a guessing game. I wanted to make sure I win.
When I came home, the place was really quiet. I thought that maybe the kitchen in the Hinata Sou got fixed earlier than expected; so everyone left. I got a bit sad because I wanted to spend some time with everybody for a while. It can get really lonely sometimes when you're all by yourself.
But when I opened the door.
"SURPRISE!" I almost tripped backwards but Keitaro-san caught me.
"Surprised?" Naru-san asked.
"H- hai. Is this a party? A party for whom?" I was confused.
"Here's your present." I turned around. It was the present I picked!
"Oh? For me?"
"It's your birthday party. Happy birthday, silly!" laughed Kitsune-san, and she's right. How can I forget my own birthday? Like Kitsune-san said. It's silly.
stamped at 11:41 PM
- otohime mutsumi
