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.
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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