Kagari Hinata
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Please refrain from reading if you are not yet familiar with all the latest media released.| Kagari Hinata | |
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| Japanese Name | 日向 華々莉 |
Kagari Hinata (日向 華々莉 Hinata Kagari) is one of the main characters in Puella Magi Suzune Magica. She is the main antagonist and mastermind of the events of the story.
General Info
| Physical Features | |
|---|---|
| Age | 13 |
| Eye colour | Red (Purple in Magia Record) |
| Hair colour | Dark purple |
| Magic | |
| Soul Gem | Tyrian purple or red gem in the center of a butterfly on her chest. The top of her soul gem, in its egg form, shows a butterfly. |
| Weapon | Sword; chakrams |
| Witch Form | Unnamed |
| Powers and Abilities | Altering memories |
| Wish | “I want Suzune to experience the same suffering that Tsubaki did.” |
| Other | |
| Japanese pronoun | Watashi (私) |
| Known relatives | Genjiro Hinata (father), Unnamed mother (deceased), Matsuri Hinata (younger twin sister), Tsubaki Mikoto (surrogate mother; deceased) |
| Origins | Hohzuki City |
| School | Not attending |
Personality
Kagari is a girl with a playfully cruel nature, taking delight in teasing and tormenting her targets, to the point of sadism. She is also downright callous, showing no remorse when torturing or murdering people nor for any of the deaths she is indirectly responsible for, and shows no empathy for others. Kagari is a force to be reckoned with when she turns angry, often lashing out violently; she is also capable of holding extreme grudges, like the one she holds towards Suzune Amano for killing her caretaker, Tsubaki Mikoto, and will do anything she can to get revenge — even turning herself into a witch, if it means she can take out her targets.
In the past, Kagari is seen as more serious and easily irritated; this might come from having to take care of her sister, Matsuri Hinata, who was blind at the time. In the present, Kagari appears to have a soft spot for her, choosing to knock her unconscious and carry her to her bedroom rather than kill her like she did with Arisa; however, Kagari doesn't hesitate to try and kill Matsuri when she gets in the way of her goals.
Story
Backstory
Not much is known of Kagari's home-life. She had a sister, Matsuri Hinata, an unnamed father, and a caretaker named Tsubaki Mikoto. Not much is given on how Kagari relates to her family before the events of Suzune. In a flashback, her father relates that Kagari was an anxious child.
Kagari is the twin sister of Matsuri. Tsubaki often visited Kagari's home, taking care of her and Matsuri, and often told them stories. Tsubaki disappeared one day (due to becoming a witch), leaving the twins saddened, and Kagari also enraged. When approached by Kyubey after the disappearance of Tsubaki, Matsuri almost immediately wished to be able to see. The three began to search the town for Tsubaki, but failed to find her; however, they did find Suzune, after following the sound of the bell on the pendant that she was wearing - a pendant that originally belonged to Tsubaki. Kagari was confused by Suzune wearing Tsubaki's pendant, and apparently went home sometime after this discovery; Matsuri, however, followed Suzune to where she was hiding in despair near a house, and asked to become friends with her.
At some point after this, Kagari, now a magical girl, confronted Matsuri and erased her memories of Suzune as a part of her revenge gambit. Despite this, Suzune would later transfer into the same school and class that Matsuri attended.
As Matsuri makes no mentions nor allusions to Kagari during the story before volume 3, it can be inferred Kagari also erased herself from Matsuri's memory; the same can be said for memories of Tsubaki. It can also be inferred that Matsuri's father had his memories erased as well.
Kagari during Suzune Magica
Kagari is not seen until the end of chapter 9 and her face is not fully revealed until the end of chapter 10 after she kills Arisa before Arisa is able to kill Suzune. Kagari laughs and snaps her fingers, showing Suzune her own past in a vision. After the truth of Kagari's memory-manipulation magic is revealed, Suzune yells at her to stop until she's in tears. Suzune then attacks at Kagari and a fight ensues. During the fight, Kagari messes with Suzune's mind, causing her to see Tsubaki being slashed rather than herself. Just as Kagari is about to kill Suzune, Matsuri appears and deflects the attack. The girls attack at Kagari but are unable to land any blows thanks to Kagari's manipulative magic. Kyubey appears and guides Matsuri into using her ability to track Kagari's true position and directs Suzune where to attack. Angered, Kagari turns her attacks on Matsuri but is blasted away by her energy beam. Together they are able to defeat Kagari, but not before Kagari manipulates her own memories and causes herself to become a witch instantly.
Kagari's witch form attacks, Suzune attempts to block the familiars but there are too many and some make it past her. They consume the crying Matsuri and Suzune is devasted. She attacks the familiars once more using Tsubaki's fire magic and slashes the witch in half. The witch regenerates and Suzune realizes her true form is the book the witch stands on. She leaps to attack the book but is consumed by the witch as well. Inside, Suzune meets the witch's true form and destroys it with what remains of her power.
Kagari during Magia Record
See Magia Record Story Memorable Flower
Powers and Abilities
Kagari's power is to alter peoples' memories and consciousnesses, as well as her own.
With this magic, she can create illusions. She uses this to change her appearance (as she used this to torment Suzune with an image of Tsubaki), turn invisible, and confuse others by using her magic to appear as someone else (as she confused Matsuri by covering Suzune with an illusion of herself).
She used her memory-altering ability to turn Suzune into a magical girl killer and erase Matsuri's memories of becoming friends with Suzune (though Matsuri's memories start to come back when Kyubey shows her a vision of Suzune's past involving Tsubaki). Kagari can also show other people visions; she uses this power to show Suzune her backstory, her wish and the reason why she became a magical girl, and the start of her revenge gambit.
Kagari also uses her mind-manipulation magic to greatly speed up her movements (being able to stab a high-speed Arisa, for example) and even turn herself into a witch by altering her own memories to speed up the despair process.
She can also knock someone unconscious temporarily, an ability she once used on Matsuri.
Observations
- Kagari has a definite butterfly motif: the back of her hairstyle vaguely resembles a butterfly, the surrounding decoration of her soul gem is a butterfly, her grief seed has butterflies on it, and the symbol that appears when Suzune briefly shows the magic she absorbed to Matsuri is a butterfly.
- Present Kagari is never seen outside of her magical girl form.
- She is never seen attending school, nor is she ever seen in a school uniform.
- The book familiars of Kagari's witch (one of which ate Matsuri) have covers that resemble the design of Tsubaki's magical girl outfit.
- The outfit of the outer body of Kagari's witch resembles younger Kagari's outfit. The body also seems to be coming out of a book resembling the picture book about a witch that Tsubaki was seen reading to the twins; the body also has long, trailing strands of hair, like the picture book witch's hair.
- The outer body also resembling a harlequin might refer to Kagari's trickster-like or insincere nature.
- Kagari is never referred to in the Japanese text by an honorific, only ever by her first or full name. This does not include Matsuri calling her "onee-chan", which means "big sister" and doesn't use Kagari's name.
- Kagari has a habit of elongating her words at the end of her sentences, and speaking with hearts (♥), especially when talking to Suzune.
Butterfly symbolism
Butterflies have many symbolic meanings in different cultures and lore.
- Butterflies are generally associated with transformation.
- Butterflies can also represent death and rebirth. This is because the greek word for 'butterfly' also means 'soul' (psyche). In Mexico, Dia de los Muertos is held at the same time of the monarch butterfly migration; they are seen as a metaphor of the souls of the dead coming back just once.
- In Japanese lore, butterflies are the personifications of souls as well; note that Kagari's soul gem is in the center of a butterfly's body, and over her chest as well.
- The ancient Greek word for butterfly means "soul" or "mind".
- Two butterflies flying together represents love.
- People in Devonshire would traditionally rush to kill the first butterfly they see in a year, or else face a year of bad luck.
- In the Philippines, a lingering black butterfly or moth in the house is taken to mean that someone in the family has died or will soon die.
- Kagari's butterfly motif might refer to the phenomenon known as the "butterfly effect", referring to how a small change in time leads to large consequences; Kagari in fact invokes the butterfly effect by altering Suzune's memories slightly and erasing Matsuri's of Suzune, changing their paths in life significantly and with disastrous consequences.
Etymology
- The first and third kanji for Kagari's name mean "flower"/"blossom"/"fabulous" (華) and "jasmine" (莉) respectively.
- In the Japanese language of flowers, jasmine represents kindness and gracefulness.[1]
- The second (々) is a character indicating that the previous kanji and sound (sometimes voiced) should be repeated. This would make Kagari's name "華華莉".
- Kagari is one of only two characters with a "々" in her name, the other being Sasa Yuuki.
- Kagari being named after a flower matches Matsuri and Tsubaki, who are also named after flowers.
- "Kagari" could also mean a cross-stitch (縢) or a basket made of bamboo (篝); more obscurely, it could be read as "deer hunter" (鹿狩) or "god hunter" (神狩).
Trivia
- According to tweets from GAN:
- Kagari was designed in the middle of the story.[2]
- Her name was taken from the "kagaribibana", or "cyclamen".[3]
- In the Japanese language of flowers, the kagaribibana can represent different things depending on the colour. Red kagaribibana represent jealousy (note that Kagari's eyes and soul gem are red-coloured, and her theme colour is purple, which is made from red) and pink kagaribibana represent shyness (note that Kagari's soul gem is also a shade of pink, and her theme colour, purple, is a colour similar to pink).[4]
- She is the only main character with only a katakana name in-story because GAN could not find an opportunity to put her kanji name in.[5]
Magia Record
- Kagari is the only major Suzune character without a character profile.
- There are notable differences in her design in Magia Record versus her design in Suzune Magica, such as her eye and Soul Gem color changing to purple and the frills on her dress from black to white.
- Her ID number was 4037.
Gallery
Official art
Volume 3 cover and bonus Kagari image.
From 「twitterまとめ」 by GAN.
Art of Kagari in a school uniform from GAN's twitter.
Art of the Hinata twins from GAN's twitter.
Solo Kagari from this official art.
Art of Suzune and Kagari in swimsuits from GAN's twitter.
Art of Kagari in a summer outfit GAN's twitter.
A drawn by Masugitune featuring Kagari with Sasa Yuuki, Minou, and Yuuri.
Kagari making a cameo in the concept art for Queen Himiko by GAN.
Manga pages
Kagari, while stabbing Arisa.
Kagari's sword. There isn't a very clear shot of it.
Kagari's chakrams.
Kagari's witch. Note how it resembles a harlequin coming from a book.
The inside of the body of Kagari's witch. The outer body seems to be a puppet of sorts, with this silhouette of Kagari being the core or true body.
Kagari's grief seed. Note the butterflies.
Kagari's first appearance. Note how her face above the nose and her twintails are not seen.
Kagari reveals herself to Matsuri in her second appearance.
Kagari murdering Arisa.
Kagari toying with Suzune.
Kagari blocking one of Matsuri's attacks.
Suzune holding Kagari at sword-point.
Suzune killing a fake Kagari...
...which changes into a fake Tsubaki to torment Suzune.
Young Kagari.
Young Kagari with her hair down.
Kagari bowing.
The back of Kagari's head. Note how the shape of her hair vaguely resembles a butterfly.
Kagari using her powers in a vision.
Games
Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record
Memoria Cards
To edit a memoria's details, click on the specific memoria
| Card | Effect | Cooldown | EN Text | JP Text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An encounter that would not be possible in the first place, a future that you should not know.
To the children who will leave it in the near future, I got the opportunity to convey my thoughts. "Even if this life is exhausted, this heart is always with you." | 本来ならばありえない邂逅、知るはずのない未来の姿
天の計らいか、近い未来に置いて行ってしまう子たちへ 伝えられなかった思いを伝える機会を得た 「例えこの命尽きたとしても、この心はいつだって貴方たちと一緒にいます」 |
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| It hurts my heart if I'm snarled with tears saying, "I want to be with you". I want to hug you right now, but my determination remains the same. Because I believe that my dear children will have a happy future. | 「一緒にいたい」と涙ながらに縋られれば心が痛む
今すぐにでも、抱きしめてあげたくなる それでも、決意は変わらない 大切な子達が幸せな未来をつかめると信じているから |
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| That child always robs something important.
That child always gets in the way where it matters most. That person doesn't always choose me ...! Hatred once born erodes the girl's heart and runs into madness. | いつだってあの子は、大切なものを奪っていく
いつだってあの子は、肝心なところで邪魔をする いつだってあの人は、私を選んでくれない…！ 一度生まれた憎悪は少女の心を蝕み、狂気へと走らせる |
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| **Unique to Chisato Shion** When a wolf disguised as a human assaulted the village, a kindly witch appeared to help. She saved the villagers, but those very same people then cast her out. Virtue overcame malice, only to be driven away by a new evil. Will the Witch do the same for another village? Or will she... | ある村を人に化けた狼が襲った時、心の優しい魔女が現れた
魔女は村の窮地を救うが、村人たちは保身からこの魔女を追放する 善意が悪意を駆逐するが、新たな悪意によって善意が駆逐された この魔女はいずこかで同じことをするのか、それとも… |
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| "Today, I'll tie a pine instead of a camellia."
"... Yes, thank you." "Oh, good morning. It's about time to go to school." "Wow... I know. I won't be late without worrying." | 「今日は、ツバキの代わりにマツリが結んであげるね」
「…ええ、ありがとう」 「あっ、おはようございます。そろそろ学校に行く時間ですよ」 「ふわぁ…わかってるよ。心配しなくても遅刻しないから」 |
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| Card | Effect | Cooldown | EN Text | JP Text |
External links
- Kagari Hinata at Pixiv image repository (Japanese) (Katakana name tag)
- Kagari Hinata at Pixiv image repository (Japanese) (Kanji name tag)