"Onee-sama (Momoyo) is suffering because she doesn't have a rival. I want to take that suffering away!"
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Kawakami Kazuko (川神 一子) | |||||||
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Gender: Female | |||||||
| Species: Human | |||||||
| Blood Type: B | |||||||
| Birthday: February 26 | |||||||
Kazuko Kawakami (川神 一子) is a fictional character in Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai! She is the younger sister of Momoyo Kawakami and wants to be an Assistant Instructor in the Kawakami Temple. | |||||||
Kawakami Kazuko (川神 一子) is one of the main heroines in Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai!. She is the younger sister of Kawakami Momoyo and wants to be an Assistant Instructor of the Kawakami Temple. She is one of the love interests to Naoe Yamato in Majikoi!, and a main character in both the anime and the manga being published by Comp Ace.
Kazuko is also one of the founders of the Kazama Family along with Yamato and Shouichi during their childhood. She represents Yūki (勇, Courage), one of the seven virtues of Bushido.
Story
CHILDHOOD BEFORE JOINING KAZAMA FAMILY
Originally named Okamoto Kazuko, she was raised in an orphanage after being abandoned by her parents. During her time there, she met and befriended Minamoto Tadakatsu.
JOINING THE KAZAMA FAMILY
Kazuko is the third to join the Kazama family and considered to be a founding member, which originally started out with Kazama Shouichi, also known as Capt, and Naoe Yamato. In their early life, Shouichi invited Kazuko to play with them which she cheerfully agreed to, saying it was more fun to play with Shouichi and Yamato than anyone else. With both her and Shouichi being childish and energetic, it was up to the more mature and responsible Yamato to look out for them. The three would do everything together, with both Shouichi and Yamato comforted Kazuko whenever she cried from incidents such as not getting a free ice cream prize stick, to being sick with chicken pox, and not being able to go to the festival with Yamato and Shouichi, despite both of them staying with her the whole time.
Kazuko was frightened when Shouichi was confronted by Shimazu Gakuto, who challenged Shouichi to a fight. The fight ended in a draw and Kazuko became confused as to why Shouichi and Gakuto where laughing at the end, with Yamato calling it "The Man's World." When both Gakuto and his best friend Morooka Takuya joined the group, she then became aggressive towards them, barking at them like a dog when they joined. This simply entertained the two new members of the Kazama Family, with Gakuto calling Kazuko an interesting creature.
During their fourth year of primary school, a huge field was used as the Kazama Family's secret base. The base was also the prize for the strongest kids in Kawakami City; as a result, there were several fights for who would claim it. With Yamato's tactics, Gakuto and Shouichi's strength and Takuya being used as a diversion or bait, the Kazama Family would constantly win, with Kazuko always sitting on the sidelines. One day, when the fifth and sixth graders ganged together to fight the Kazama Family, Kazuko decided to help and got was turned into a hostage as a result. Crying, Kazuko apologized to Yamato and the others. Unable to bear the thought of Kazuko being harmed, the Kazama family surrendered and where beaten, with Shouichi having his ear pierced by a compass. Still crying, Kazuko apologized for being weak, stating she only wanted to help. This prompted Yamato to hire Kawakami Momoyo to be the Kazama Family's bodyguard. Kazuko was thrilled at the idea, as she admired Momoyo for her strength. Not long after Momoyo defeated the fifth and sixth graders, she joined the Kazama family. Kazuko and Momoyo have been close ever since.
CENTURY PLANT
On their open field, the Kazama family came across a weird plant, which Yamato noticed to be a century plant. The group then decided to see the flower when it bloomed, but not before noticing they were being watched by Shiina Miyako who quickly ran away when Shouichi confronted her. Yamato immediately thought that Miyako had a crush on Shouichi, to which Shouichi rejected. The next day, Shouichi called the members of the Kazama family in order to stabilize the plant during a heavy storm. Going into the rain, the Kazama family tied cloths and ropes to the plant in order to stabilize it. Noticing Shiina Miyako was there, Yamato was ordered by Shouichi to look after her. Taking Miyako’s hand, Yamato kept her close as they and the rest of the family stabilize the plant. Not long after, they arrived at the field to see the plant bloom, with Kazuko riding on top of Gakuto's shoulders. Shimazu Reiko turned up with a camera and the group, including Miyako, took their photo in front of the plant, promising to witness its next blossoming in fifty years. The plant would later be relocated to the back of the Kazama hideout building in later years.
FROM OKAMOTO TO KAWAKAMI KAZUKO
Kazuko's foster parents soon died due to natural causes, leaving Kazuko without a guardian or parents once again. While the idea of her being sent back to the orphanage was tossed around, Kazuko did not want to be separated from the Kazama family. However, the only other option was for her to be adopted by a relative. While this did not seem like a bad idea, the few members of the Kazama family who did meet the relative could tell he had a sly and deceptive personality. They thought that they could not trust him to take care of Kazuko. At the funeral of Kazuko's foster mother, the entire Kazama family was able to confirm their suspicions about the relative as he chuckled about making Kazuko work around his house. Momoyo ended up talking to her parents, her grandpa, Kawakami Tesshin, and an assistant instructor at the time, Shakadou Gyoubu, about adopting Kazuko into the Kawakami family. They agreed, with Gyoubu willing to beat up the relative if he came up to them to demand Kazuko back. Momoyo talked with Kazuko. Kazuko was emotionally overjoyed to have a new family and to have Momoyo as a new sister. Their bond, along with her admiration for Momoyo, gave Kazuko motivation to become a Kawakami Assistant Instructor in order to support Momoyo and help the Kawakami temple, along with its entire people.
However, before being accepted as a student in Kawakami temple, Kazuko had to undergo a trial first to see if she was capable. This test included traveling a great distance on foot to a certain location. The test even made her help a struggling bystander on the way, and then she had to come back to the temple. This was all was forced to be done within a few hours. While Gyoubu had his doubts, feeling that Kazuko had no natural talent which he felt was a necessity, a fellow Assistant Master, Ru Shihandai, felt that Kazuko's determination and hard work could make up for her lack of talent. Kazuko was able to complete the trial, and was allowed to train in Kawakami style, with Ru taking it upon himself to help Kazuko in her training, as well as being a mentor for her as well.
Kazuko would continue to train diligently in order to get stronger over the years, and along with her strength, came her self confidence leading her to stop crying over every little thing. Over time she would also start to study nutrition and healthy eating in order to assist with the Kawakami temple in any way she could.
During her training, she received lots of praise and support from onlookers who admired her hard work ethic. One of these people was Kuki Hideo, who cheered her on in good humor. However, he soon began to admire Kazuko's hard work ethic, and soon he felt like he was captivated by her beauty, and that seeing her boosted up his spirits and energy. Hideo, being bold and brash, soon came to the conclusion that he was in love with Kazuko and he would eventually confess only to be reject by an awkward Kazuko who had yet to understand things like dating and love. At some point in time, Hideo gave the robotic servant Cookie to Kazuko as a present, making her Cookie's first master. Since then however, Cookie has come to serve all member of the Kazama family, referring Shouichi as his 'Master'.
At some point, The Kazama family would be unable to use their field as a hideout and looked elsewhere for a Kazama family hideout. Fortunately, Gakuto's family had a building near the industrial bay area of Kawakami city that was no longer in use as it became vacant when the financial bubble burst. Even though the building was not in use, it was still owned property and the Kazama family would be hired to look after the place, especially since Momoyo was among then, as a part time job. The building would end up being their hideout and the even brought furniture over as well as games, manga among other material. The family would then start a routine for them all to meet at the hideout every Friday. They would even dig up the century plant, and re-plant it at the back of the building in order to keep their life long promise.
KAWAKAMI ACADEMY, NEW FRIENDS AND RIVALS
In the year 2009, Kazuko became a second year student in Kawakami academy and was placed in Class-F alongside the majority of the Kazama family, while Momoyo, being the senior, was in Class-F for third years. Kazuko continued to train diligently to become a Kawakami Assistant instructor. Due to this, Kazuko would hardly study and during class she would constantly fall asleep. This would lead to either the teachers yelling at her or to Yamato tugging on her pony tail to wake her up. Kazuko would end up making good friends with Ogasawara Chika, Amakasu Mayo and Haguro Kuroko of the same class. Early during the year, Christine Friedrich was introduced into Kawakami Academy as a German exchange student. Chris would be placed into second year Class-F, along with the rest of the Kazama family. It did not take long for Kazuko to see an opportunity to gain a new rival, and quickly challenge Chris to a duel. The fight ended with Chris's victory, and acceptance into the school. Kazuko took the defeat in good spirits, and gave Chris the nickname 'Kri', which sounded indecent to Chris, due to it sounding a lot like the beginning of cliterous. This similarity was lost on Kazuko who took issue to the 'Dog' nickname Chris made for her. The two would start a strong rivalry and begin challenging each other to several matches, such a squatting, running and even eating. When Mayuzumi Yukie asked the Kazama family to let her join them as a friend, Kazuko did not object to it. Kazuko was surprised to hear that Yukie was the daughter of the sword saint Mayuzumi and that she was also strong. She was very impressed by Yukie when she was able to block the punches of Momoyo who knew of Yukie's strength.
When both Yukie and Chris were first introduced to the Kazama family hideout, Chris caused tension by saying the place should be destroyed since it was abandoned and served no purpose, while Yukie begged everyone to calm down. While Yamato was able to make Chris realize the error of her words by revealing different people value different things, and make Yukie realize that friends are equals and do not beg for things, Kazuko simply stayed quiet since she didn't know what to say. When the situation calmed down, Yukie found the picture of the Kazama family in front of the century plant. When told about the century plant and the promise to witness the next blossoming, both Chris and Yukie were invited to see the century plant in several years time, to which they accepted. A month after Chris and Yukie became members of the Kazama family, Kazuko and Chris would continually duel one another in slight competitions with Chris being the victor more often. Kazuko would continue to train hard everyday in order to make her dreams a reality.
Abilities and Skills
Kazuko has been proven to be a possibly capable student, and is capable of studying just as well as she trains. Due to her dream of becoming an Assistant Instructor at Kawakami Temple, she seldom does so. While both she and Gakuto help each other train, they also have a competition with school exams, where the one with the highest marks gets a free meal from the loser. Whenever she needs to study, Kazuko always goes to Yamato. However, there are times when Yamato forces Kazuko to study as she lacks the interest to do so. Even though she has low school-marks and low interest to study Yamato stated that she has a amazing concentration when she puts her mind to it and could get good marks if she wanted. At school, Kazuko would still rather train than pay attention in class, and even has a tendency to doze off, which prompts Yamato, who sits behind her, to pull her pony tail to wake her up.
While being weaker than her older sister in martial arts, she is still very athletic, and is quite eager to challenge others for fun. She has high speed and agility, and knows many techniques in Kawakami Style Martial Arts.
In Tsubame's Route, she is revealed to be a potential candidate for the Big Four in the future after reaching the Top 4 teams in the Tag Tournament with Tadakatsu Minamoto, receiving praise from even Hyumu Hellsing himself.
Kazuko's Techniques
The fighting techniques that she has been using so far in the Majikoi! story and in the anime adaption.
Kawakami Style, Sasori-Uchi (Scorpion Strike): A punch from an acrobatic posture. Used multiple times, such as when Kazuko first encountered Kokoro during Kawakami Ball in Kazuko's route in the original VN.
Kawakami Style, Daisharin (Big Swing): A horizontal swing after gathering power into her naginata via spinning with up to 40 revolutions. Used multiple times, such as when Kazuko fought Angel in the anime.
Kawakami Style, Agito: A double attack consisting of two swings to parry the enemy's attack with the first ascending blow and then attacking with the second descending blow. Used against Chris during the tournament in Kazuko's route in the original VN.
Kawakami Style, Mozu-otoshi: A jumping German Suplex in which Kazuko jumps with her enemy to plant them headfirst in the ground. Used against a Class S student during Kawakami Ball in the original VN.
Kawakami Kazuko Original Technique, Ishitsubute: An attack with the weight of a chain sickle after spinning the weight overhead. Used against Koyuki during the athletic festival in Chris' route in the original VN.
Kawakami Style, Hebi-hofuri: Used against Momoyo during her test in Kazuko's route in the original VN against Oomura during a spar in Majikoi A-4.
Kawakami Style, Chi no Ken: Used against Momoyo during her test in Kazuko's route in the original VN and against Oomura during a spar in Majikoi A-4.
Kawakami Style, Water Pierce: After dragging her naginata against the ground, Kazuko pierces thorugh a small opening in her target's defenses. Used against Shima in the East-West Exchange War in Majikoi! S' common route.
Appearance
Kazuko has amber eyes with waist-length, red hair that is normally tied into a ponytail. Wearing her uniform on schooldays, she tends to adorn herself with sweats or other clothing that is easy to train in otherwise. In her own route after she became Yamato's girlfriend she sometimes let her hair loose and also has become more conscious of her appearance like sometime wearing a bit of make-up which she didn't in the past.
During Majikoi! S, after the following events of her own route, she switches between letting her hair loose and wearing a ponytail. She also wears glasses sometimes because she studies a lot and read a lot of books.
As an adult, her hair isn't as long as it was before growing till shoulder length instead of waist length. She also doesn't wear her trait-mark ponytail hair. She has grown a lot more and having a more adult-like figure.
Personality
Kazuko is known for her cheerful demeanor and never-give-up attitude despite being known as a cry-baby when she was young girl. But despite being very determined and strong willed, she is surprisingly sensitive.
In contrast to Momoyo, Kazuko is naturally competitive and bears an attitude to never-give-up at anything, to the point where she is called the "Genius of Hard Work."
She is a healthy eater, but likes to go all out during festivals. She also likes action movies, but hates horror ones. She is always very enthusiastic when they go out with the Kazama family.
She has a good relationship with everyone at the Kawakami temple, including her mentor, Ru Shihandai and her adoptive grandfather Tesshin Kawakami. Shihandai in particular, trains with Kazuko and looks out of Kazuko's well-being as he does not want Kazuko to develop a sole interest and desire in fighting as Momoyo had.
She has a close relationship with Minamoto Tadakatsu, who was the first friend she ever made. She is quite friendly to Tadakatsu who she calls "Ta-chan," a name he won't allow anyone else to call him. During their childhood, she would always go to where Tadakatsu was in the orphanage and the two have been close ever since. Despite Tadakatsu originally finding Kazuko to be annoying and a cry-baby, he genuinely cares for her well-being and is always looking out for her.
She is the target of both admiration and affection from Kuki Hideo, however, she is very uneasy around Hideo due to his boisterous personality and her lack of interest in dating. As a result, she tries to put distance between her and Hideo despite his constant advances.
Kazuko wants to have the same figure as her older sister, but everyone in the Kazama Family laughs at it playfully, saying that is something impossible for her.
In her after route upon the sequel Majikoi! S, she has becoming more serious in her attitude towards life. Also after getting her dream getting shattered in her route in the original Majikoi! She also learned a lot of things from it getting stronger from it mentally then she was before. Also her personality becomes more mature in a lot of things. Making feel people like those in the Kazama family feel lonely since she is growing up so fast and is not the naive little girl she was before. She still retains a lot of her old personality despite having growing up a bit.
Gallery
Trivia
- Kazuko uses a naginata (Japanese spear) with her unquestionable speed and has developed a rivalry with Chris who usually called her "Inu" (Dog in Japanese). More than anything, she hopes to grow strong enough in order to one day look at Momoyo as an equal. But she always gets scolded because she never starts a fight with all her power until she is in a pinch or is already defeated.
- Kazuko is nicknamed "Wanko" by the Kazama Family members. This is a pun, since the Kanji used for Kazu is "Ichi", which means 1. Wan is also the Japanese equivalent to "woof", which is the sound a dog makes. Since 1 and Wan have the same pronunciation, Kazuko is almost always compared to a dog. This is also due to her having dog-like tendencies, such as responding to a whistle that each member of the Kazama family uses in order to call her, even if she doesn't want to.
- Kazuko is very bad at English. This is seen during her route when she asks Yamato to kiss her "one again" instead of "once again".
- Before becoming a member of the Kawakami Family, her original name was Okamoto.
- In the latest popularity poll on Minatosoft's website for Majikoi! A, of the current female characters in the series, Kazuko is ranked #5. In the Majikoi! S poll, she was ranked #10. And in the the original Majikoi! popularity poll, she was ranked #2.
- She is the target of admiration and affection from both Kuki Hideo and Minamoto Tadakatsu which leads to conflict between the two which only happened in her route
- Kazuko often gets treated as the child of Yamato and Miyako (as a joke), but it's mostly about her needing to do her best in studying.
- Even though Kazuko and Momoyo are not blood-related sisters, they share some funny similarities. For example, they both hate studying and they will try to do anything not to study and they both can make unique entrances when meeting with the Kazama family.
- Yamato has mentioned in her route that she was his first-timer for a number of things, like seeing her naked, receiving valentine chocolates and sleeping in the same bed during their childhood.
- Her tarot arcana is the Sun.