Otome Rokudō (六道 乙女 Rokudō Otome?), now known as Ichigo (苺?), is the mother of Rinne Rokudō.
Appearance
Otome was a beautiful Shinigami with light purple short hair and purple eyes, wearing a blue kimono with flowers.
As Ichigo, she is a young girl with brown eyes and brown hair mainly seen with double buns.
Personality
She was shown to be kind and gentle during her life as a Shinigami and housewife.
By remembering her previous lives in her latest reincarnation as a human child, her old traits resurfaced including of course her adulthood and motherhood, making her a mature young girl with a strong commitment in taking responsibilities, who nevertheless keeps living her life as a child, doing things and acting in ways that are childlike.
She tends to get emotional putting her hands to her cheeks whenever she reminisces her romance.
Biography
Past
Otome was known as a beautiful young genius, having earned a Platinum license (for having purified more than 10000 spirits), and a nickname “the Legendary Shinigami Maiden”.
She met Sabato during a Shinigami flower viewing joint party, where they fell in love at first sight, and Sabato proposed to her on that same day. They seemed to have had a very wonderful courtship and marriage, spent their honeymoon at an inn in the countryside, and she was fond of Sabato's parents, especially Tamako.
Otome with her husband and son
When her newborn son Rinne was taking his first steps, he knocked over a bag of books, which Sabato got by secretly pawning her Shinigami Scythe, and one of these books was her High School Graduation book, for he wanted to see what his wife looked like back then. She got worried as this book reveals a secret about herself she hoped to keep, and so hurried out of the house to throw the book in the Sanzu River, when a herd of water buffalo suddenly stampeded through and carried her off to the Wheel of Reincarnation. No one ever knew what happened to her, and Sabato presumed her dead.
She has gone through many lives since that time, initially reincarnated as a killifish, then a canary, then an ant-eater before finally being reborn as a human girl called Ichigo.
Debut
By the time Ichigo is a young elementary school girl, she and her parents moved to a house that is haunted by a female disembodied spirit. Sakura happened to pass by that house, noticing it's being haunted and that Ichigo was also able to see the female spirit, so went to seek out Rinne to investigate. In the meantime in the afterlife, Rinne discovered a pawn shop selling Otome’s Shinigami Scythe with her Platinum license and thus learned about his mother from Tamako and Sabato, who had been searching for her Scythe.
While Rinne and Sakura meet and talk with Ichigo, after dealing with the female spirit, Sabato used a channeling doll with Otome’s picture from her Platinum license (the only picture he could have of her), to hear the truth directly from his wife's mouth, but the doll hit him with her Scythe and wandered around town. Ichigo, who was running down the street being hounded by spirits unleashed by Sabato, came upon the Otome doll and felt she knew her. As it changes back to a doll, it loses its grip on the Scythe, which falls knocking Ichigo out cold.
Ichigo with her husband and son
As a result, Ichigo remembered her previous lives, and reveals her identity to everyone. When Sabato and Sakura ask why she felt the need to go and dump her book in the Sanzu River, Ichigo seems forlorn saying she had hoped to take that secret to the grave but now feels she must confess: The day they met, Otome told Sabato that she was two years older than him, but her high school graduation book would reveal that she had lied about her age, that she's actually two years younger than Tamako, his own mother. Everyone was quite shocked by that news, especially Sabato who then appears to process this news tolerably well and tells her he will come to visit when he has time but tries to sneak away with her Scythe to pawn it once more only for Rinne to kick him out the window. Rinne and Sakura say their good nights to little Ichigo and the child hands Rinne a ¥500 coin telling him that she is still his mother and that he should come to her whenever he needs help.
History
Ichigo with Rinne and Sakura
Afterwards, she occasionally meets with Rinne and Sakura, since she is often left home alone as both of her parents work full time, and she tries to find many ways to allow her son to earn money and helps solve cases in which some had past events involving her as Otome and so reveal more of her past. Also, she formed a fellowship with Rokumon, who would sometimes give his services to her in exchange for food.
She gets to meet Shōma, when he was trying to lead the spirit of a Hippopotamus as part of an assignment, and helped him accomplish his hard work.[1] They would occasionally cross path again, and she'd volunteer to help him in his assignments since she never got the chance to support her own son during his growth and also to take the opportunity to make money for Rinne, to which Shoma accepts as he developed a crush on her, unaware that she's Rinne's mother, and he would try to impress her.[2]
Final Story
She learns from a worried Rokumon that Rinne and Sakura might break up as Rinne left her what appeared to be a farewell letter with enough money to pay all his debts to her following some misunderstandings surrounding their pair of string bracelets featuring boundary stones, then learns from Sabato that he caused Rinne to destroy Sakura’s boundary stone to not have it used on a Sanzu generator model for a diabolical Damashigami plan. She forced Sabato to make up for what he caused by getting new boundary stones for Rinne and Sakura, although he could only find dolls made of multiple boundary stones, and she gave one to Rinne and told him that he should reconcile with Sakura, which allowed him to learn the misunderstandings that he caused, while Sabato gave the other to Sakura. Little did she know that the case of the Sanzu generator was not quite over and consequently Sakura almost got directly sent to the Wheel of Reincarnation partly because of the doll, thus she apologized to Sakura. She is last seen with Sabato showing her a bounty of ¥5,000 for his capture, which is a cheap price to her and many, and as their admirers Bijin and Shōma learn the rumor that they are together, they reconfirm that they are just friends.[3]
Abilities
- Seeing Ghosts: As Ichigo, since she used to be a Shinigami, she has the power to see spirits, like Sakura.
Equipment
- Shinigami Scythe: A tool used by all Shinigami, and most likely Damashigami too, hers is decorated with flowers. She is shown in the final story to have kept it in her room.
- Haori of the Underworld (Yomi no Haori): Like her son, she owned a Haori which was plain light purple. However, it must have vanished for good when she was dragged into the Wheel of Reincarnation.
Relationships
Sabato Rokudō
As Otome, she loved her husband very much, despite knowing he was a lazy delinquent and knocking him with her scythe. Sabato himself loved her very much and never stopped trying to learn what happened to her after her disappearance. As Ichigo, she was happy to meet him again, and so was he. As their age difference makes it impossible for them to start over, they remain only on friendly terms, and both enjoy reminiscing their romantic days.[4]
Tamako
As Otome, she and Tamako got along very well, due to the fact that they were both of the same generation (Otome is 2 years younger than Tamako), and ironically both have the same trait of looking young and beautiful despite their age and are skilled in cooking. As Ichigo, she and Tamako were happy to meet again.[5]
Rinne Rokudō
As Ichigo, after remembering her previous life as a Shinigami, she apologized to Rinne for not having been able to stay by his side while growing up, and Rinne was not angry as he was relieved to learn that his mother never forsook him, and she tells him that she is still his mother and to come to her when he needs help, which touched him. As she occasionally meets with her son, she tries to act as a responsible mother, mainly by giving him some allowance and seizing any opportunity that could allow him to earn money.
Sakura Mamiya
As Ichigo, she and Sakura are on friendly terms, due to the facts that she's a friend of her son and they are both able to see spirits. She occasionally meets with her and Rinne.
Tsubasa Jūmonji
Tsubasa got to meet Ichigo at her elementary school, and learned she is Rinne’s reincarnated mother.[6] There isn't much animosity between them, although she would not allow him to interfere with Rinne's business.
Shōma
As Ichigo, she got to meet Shōma, who developed a crush on her, unaware that she is the human reincarnation of Rinne's mother. She would help him in whatever he tries to accomplish whenever they cross path, since she wishes she had supported her own son in his growth.
Trivia
- Otome (乙女) means "Maiden". Ichigo (苺) means "Strawberry".
- She looks like Akane Tendō from Ranma ½.
- She shares some similarities to Nodoka Saotome from Ranma ½: they were both introduced as the main protagonist's mother hundreds of chapters later from the first (Nodoka in chapter 225, Otome in chapter 313), and both meet their own sons again around 15 years later after being separated from them when they were babies.
- She is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara, who voiced Female Ranma Saotome from Ranma ½. Interestingly, her first name and Ranma's family name contain the same kanjis (乙女).
- She, Renge Shima and Raise Ikuzou are the only beings of the otherworld to get a last name.
Quotes
- "You good-for-nothing good-for-nothing good-for-nothing!" (このゴクツブシ ゴクツブシ ゴクツブシ) - Chapters 315 & 316, while hitting Sabato with her Scythe
- "Your allowance from your mother. If you're in trouble, come anytime. For I am your mother, even reborn." (ママからのお小遣いよ. 困ったらいつでも来なさい. 生まれかわっても私はあなたのママなんだからね) - Chapter 317, after giving 500 yen to Rinne
Gallery
References
- ↑ Chapter 326, Episode 70
- ↑ Chapters 339, 364, 377
- ↑ Chapters 396-397-398
- ↑ Chapter 345, 384
- ↑ Chapters 334-335, Episode 71
- ↑ Chapter 319, Episode 65