Komaki Asako

Komaki Asako
Japanese Name	浅古小巻 (Asako Komaki)

Komaki Asako (浅古小巻, Asako Komaki) is a supporting character appearing in Puella Magi Oriko Magica: Sadness Prayer. She also appears in Extra Story as a cameo. She is a magical girl that goes to the same school as Oriko Mikuni.

General Info

Physical Features
Age	15
Eye colour	Blue
Hair colour	Blue
Magic
Soul Gem	Unknown, possibly the circular blue gem worn over her chest
Weapon	Axe with a shield
Witch Form	Unknown
Powers and Abilities	Barriers
Wish	“Please save us!” (referring to herself and her friends caught in a building fire)
Other
Japanese pronoun	Watashi (私)
Known relatives	Unnamed parents, Koito Asako (younger sister)
Origins	Possibly Mitakihara City
School	Shirome Middle School

Personality

Komaki has a rather upfront, abrasive and aggressive attitude towards others. She also has a short-temper and easily becomes angered when insulted or when she/others are subjected to injustice. Because of this she's very prone to starting arguments and getting into fights with her peers, often forcing her friends Akira Namekata and Miyuki Nagatsuki to intervene. Despite acting like a bully and occasionally teasing others herself, she isn't heartless and has been shown to care about others such as when she saved her friends from a building fire in the past and expressed concern for them such as worrying over Oriko not standing up for herself or when she believed Akira was ill. Her sister reveals that the reason for Komaki's behavior towards Oriko is because she sees her as her rival.

Story

Backstory

Not much is known of Komaki's home life, though Sadness Prayer revealed that she has a little sister named Koito and her family had recently become more wealthier as other students had mocked her for being new money compared to themselves.

At some point in time there was a fire at school where Komaki became a magical girl by wishing to save herself and her friends Akira and Miyuki from it.

Komaki during Extra Story

Komaki only appears in chapter 2 of Symmetry Diamond where she and her friends tease Oriko. Oriko then warns her not to keep going out at night, lest she run into trouble, causing her to panic and wonder how Oriko knows about it.. Komaki is not seen in any other chapters of Extra Story.

Presumably Komaki and Kirika never fought or crossed paths in this timeline, though Komaki and Oriko never seem to become friends in this timeline either. It is ambiguous on whether or not Komaki is a magical girl in this timeline; her "going out at night" seemed to suggest she was.

Komaki during Sadness Prayer

During Sadness Prayer Komaki slowly becomes friends with Oriko. She is first seen in the beginning of the story alongside her friends Akira and Miyuki, scolding two other students for making fun of Oriko behind her back over her fallen reputation and later rants to her friends about their classmates bringing their classism into their school. Despite picking on Oriko herself, she shows concern for her when she witnessed other students bullying her and wonders why she won't stand up for herself. Later on after school, Oriko gets caught up in a Witch's labyrinth and is saved by Komaki, who turns out to be a magical girl.

After defeating the Witch, Komaki reveals to the other girl what that creature was and that she became a magical girl to fight them as the price for her wish. Oriko asks her what her wish was, and Komaki almost tells her when she stops and wonders if Oriko is thinking of becoming a magical girl as well, and warns her of the dangers that Witches and other magical girls could bring. However Komaki doesn't realize that Oriko is already a magical girl as Oriko feigns ignorance and pretends to not see Kyubey, making the other girl believe she simply doesn't have the potential to become one. Komaki decides to leave, but tells Oriko to keep the conversation about magical girls and Witches between themselves.

She appears in another chapter getting into an argument with another student over their family status before Oriko arrives and breaks up the conversation, and Komaki decides to chat with Oriko elsewhere about their families. After their talk Komaki leaves to patrol the city for Witches despite being tired. In the following chapter, Komaki regularly sneaks out of home at night to hunt Witches, though it doesn't go unnoticed by her younger sister Koito, who suspects Komaki has a nightlife, and expressed her concerns to Akira. Out of concern for her well-being, Koito asks for Akira's help in investigating Komaki. Akira and Koito are unable to find anything that points to Komaki partying at night as her behavior remained the same throughout the day and both believe she isn't the type of person who would be doing that sort of thing. However Komaki raises her friend's suspicions again when their group crosses paths with Oriko and Komaki doesn't even acknowledge her; Komaki's thoughts reveal that she wants to prevent her friends finding out that she's a magical girl and avoided Oriko as she knew this.

During a Witch hunt, Komaki is attacked by Kirika, both unaware of their relation to Oriko and begin fighting. Akira, who had followed Komaki to find out what she was up to, ran out in the midst of the fight and got hit by one of Kirika's attacks meant for Komaki, resulting in her death. This caused Komaki to fly into a rage and to try to avenge her fallen friend. Kirika, already shocked by Akira's death and frightened by Komaki's rage, lashed out in a desperate attack and stabbed Komaki through the head, killing her.

Powers and Abilities

Komaki possesses shielding powers because of her wish. She can create barriers to protect herself or trap her opponents in them using and detacthing the shield on her axe.

Observations

Since Oriko and Komaki do not share a class, the two usually meet up at break. Akira and Miyuki appear not to hang around when Komaki is with Oriko.

Etymology

Komaki's first name, "小巻", means "small book" or "small roll of cloth". The latter would fit thematically with her sister's first name, Koito (小糸), which means "small thread".
Komaki's last name, "浅古", means "shallow and old" or "superficially old".