View source for Tsubaki Mikoto

{{spoilers}}
{{Infobox_character
|name=Tsubaki Mikoto
|image=[[File:1446468546437 Tsubaki Mikoto.png|250px]]
|jname=美琴 椿<br>Mikoto Tsubaki
|designer=[[GAN]]
|voices= Japanese: [[wikipedia:ja:%E6%97%A5%E7%AC%A0%E9%99%BD%E5%AD%90|Yoko Hikasa]]
}}

{{nihongo|'''Tsubaki Mikoto'''|美琴 椿|Mikoto Tsubaki}} is a supporting character in ''[[Puella Magi Suzune Magica]]''. She only appears in flashbacks, but has a major impact regarding the events of the story.

==General Info==
{{Magical Girl Details
|age=22
|eyes=Purple/violet (original manga)<br />Red (Magia Record)
|hair=Black
|height=165cm
|origin=Yorugao City, moved to Sazanka City then [[Hohzuki City]]
|soulgem=Circular red gem (back of her left hand)
|weapon=Katana "Shiranui (不知火)"
|wish={{Q|I want the power to defeat [witches].}}
|pronoun={{nihongo|''Watashi''|私|}}
|witch=Carmen
|relatives=Unnamed parents (deceased), Miyuki (aunt; deceased), [[Yoriko Yanagi]] (distant relative; guardian; deceased), [[Suzune Amano]] (adoptive daughter), [[Matsuri Hinata]] (younger surrogate daughter), [[Kagari Hinata]] (older surrogate daughter)
|school= Seishin School Junior High School (graduated)
|powers=Fire Manipulation
|job=Caretaker
}}

==Personality==
A kind and caring woman who adored and took good care of the girls she was responsible for. She was a maternal figure to [[Suzune Amano]], [[Matsuri Hinata]], and [[Kagari Hinata]].

Tsubaki took care of Suzune after the her parents' death at the hands of a witch, and treated her like her own daughter. She is also seen encouraging Matsuri to be a kind person and listen to her father and Kagari. She often told the Hinata twins stories.

==Story==
Tsubaki only appears in the backstory of ''Suzune Magica'', as she is dead before the story begins. Nothing is currently known about her past aside from Kyubey mentioning she was left alone in the world due to witches and that this caused her to use her powers for the first and last time to hurt another person. 

Tsubaki was originally the caretaker for Matsuri and Kagari. She would often read to them the same bedtime story of a kind-hearted witch who was cast out of her village. After some time, she had to resign due to her having to care for Suzune who she first met after Suzune's parents were killed by a witch in front of her. She asks Matsuri to be a good girl and look out for Kagari and then leaves without saying goodbye. 

After some time, she became a witch because she put Suzune's welfare before her own, always battling her hardest to keep Suzune safe and giving grief seeds to her first. Once she couldn't handle the state of her own corruption anymore, she transformed into a witch and was defeated by Suzune who absorbed her fire-elemental magic.

===Tsubaki in [[Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story|Magia Record]]===
See [[Tsubaki Mikoto in Magia Record]]

==Powers and Abilities==
Tsubaki had fire-elemental powers. As Suzune absorbed her powers after her death, it can be assumed that Tsubaki had all the same spells that Suzune uses. Tsubaki is at least seen using one of Suzune's spells, {{nihongo|"Flame Dance"|舞炎|Maien}}.

==Observations==
* Tsubaki's hairstyle is the same as the infamous "doomed anime mom" hairstyle, named because mothers with such a side-tie ponytail tended to die sometime in the story, usually early on or in the backstory.
* Tsubaki's appearance may have been reused from one of GAN's original characters, [http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?id=1294530&tag=%E7%B4%97%E5%A5%88%E6%B1%9F Sanae].
* Tsubaki's magical girl outfit has a rather "traditional" Japanese motif: the outfit itself resembles a kimono, and she wields a katana, a type of Japanese sword.
* Tsubaki having fire powers could reference how, back in the old days, people used to burn supposed witches at the stakes.

==Etymology==
* Tsubaki's first name is spelled with the kanji for "camellia".
** Tsubaki is named after a flower, along with Matsuri and Kagari.
** In the [[wikipedia:Hanakotoba|Japanese language of flowers]], camellia represent different things depending on the colour. They can represent love, perishing with grace, longing, and waiting.
** Camellia can also represent femininity, unpretentious grace, and unassuming elegance.<ref>http://hanakotoba.mimoza.jp/name-t/tsubaki.html</ref>
* Tsubaki's last name, Mikoto, is spelt with the kanji for "beautiful harp". "Mikoto" could also mean noble, precious, or revered.

==Trivia==
* According to tweets by GAN:
** At first, GAN planned for Tsubaki to be someone roughly around Suzune's age who grew up in the same town as her. After some thought GAN wanted someone to act as guardian figure for the story, reworking Tsubaki to her current state. <ref>https://twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/563989729813614592</ref>
** A rather ambiguous tweet saying that "[Tsubaki's] appearance is just a hobby".<ref>https://twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/563990060198944770</ref> This tweet ''might'' be referring to the art GAN did of Tsubaki in a maid outfit, but whether it is or isn't is unknown.
** Tsubaki's age is not clearly decided, but can be assumed to be around 20 or so.<ref>https://twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/563990907276382209</ref>
* [[wikipedia:Carmen|Carmen]] is novel by Prosper Mérimée, which was later adapted into an opera of the same name by Georges Bizet. The story focuses on the titular Carmen, a woman who uses her beauty to charm and deceive men into doing what she wants. In the end, when a man who became enamored with her that she no longer loved insisted she marry him, she refused despite knowing he would kill her, stating that even in death, she would always be free from the influence or claims of others. The name has since become synonymous with beguiling women and femme fatales.
** Carmen worked in a cigar factory, which may also be a connection to Tsubaki's fire magic.
** It may also be a reference to ''[[wikipedia:Carmen_(verse)|carmen]]'', a Latin term for a verse of poetry or, more specifically, a spell or prayer. This form of the word comes from the Latin root ''canere'', meaning "to sing"; thus, ''carmen'' means "a thing sung".

==Gallery==
===Official art===
<gallery>
File:Gantwitter tsubakimikotopic.png|Art of Tsubaki doing her hair, from [https://twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/598154105576554496 GAN's twitter.]
File:1446468546437 Tsubaki Mikoto.png|From [https://twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/661123838793519104 GAN's twitter.]
File:14465489594 Tsubaki Mikoto full art.png|Full body art of Tsubaki from [https://twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/661458792744259584 GAN's twitter.]
File:Tsubakireference.png|Reference of Tsubaki from [https://mobile.twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/705071025461993472 GAN's twitter.]
File:Tsuakifightingreference.png|Reference of Tsubaki's fighting style from [https://mobile.twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/705056605176377344 GAN's twitter.]
File:EJFLjq8UwAAvbrw.jpg|[https://twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/1193818460335140866?fbclid=IwAR2DKBPB5YesMoZJlOZsTsYTI0haXoMEnF1LTx-C-QGBmXhaweT-_AcUJDw Art of Tsubaki from GAN's twitter.]
File:1611586476346.jpg|[https://twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/1353636188024836097 Source]
File:Es4fCCLU4AE5Cva.jpg|[https://twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/1355054692167012353 Source]
File:E-F5w6jUUAcmGzE.jpg|[https://twitter.com/oshirase_gan/status/1432560065253298179/ Art of Tsubaki and Suzune from GAN's twitter.]
File:Fz2sx3ragAAQg9s.jpeg|Tsubaki making a cameo in the concept art for [[Queen Himiko]] by GAN.
</gallery>

{|class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" style="width:100%;"
|-
!style="text-align:left; padding:10px;"|Warning, this section contains art from the official designer that may not be suitable for children under 13.
|-
|style="padding:10px; background:#fff;"|
<gallery>
File:Tsubakimaidgan.jpg|From [http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=48608783 「twitterまとめ」] by [http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=1294530 GAN]
File:Tsubaki Mikoto Swimsuit 2.jpg
File:Tsubaki Mikoto Swimsuit 3.jpg
</gallery>
|}

===Manga pages===
<gallery>
File:Tsuzunecolour.jpg|Volume 2 bonus colour page of Tsubaki with Suzune.
File:Tsubakiback.png|Tsubaki's magical girl outfit as seen from the back.
File:Tsubakivswitch.png|Tsubaki versus a witch. Note the katana.
File:Magicatsubaki.png|Tsubaki attacking.
File:Tsubakicasual.png|Tsubaki in casual clothing.
File:Tsuzunemeeting.png|Tsubaki retrospects on the fate of Suzune's family.
File:Tsubakiwitch.png|Tsubaki's witch, Carmen.
File:Tsuzune.png|Young Suzune with Tsubaki.
File:Picturebookwitch.png|The storybook Tsubaki reads to the Hinata twins.
File:Tsubakiandtwins.png|The Hinata twins begging Tsubaki to read more stories.
File:Tsuzune2.jpg|Colour page of Tsubaki with Suzune.
</gallery>

===[[Tsubaki Mikoto in Magia Record|Magia Record]]===
<gallery>
File:Card 40364 l.png|Tsubaki's Magia Record profile
File:Tsubaki PM.png|Character talk sprite
File:Mini 403600 s.png|In-Battle sprite
File:Doppel 403600 l.png|Doppel sprite
File:Tsubaki 01.png|Magia Archive
File:Tsubaki 02.png
</gallery>

==External links==
* {{pixiv_tag|美琴椿}}
* {{booru_tag|danbooru|mikoto_tsubaki}}

==References==
<references></references>

{{Character Categories|Mikoto|magicalgirl=yes|deceased=yes}}
[[Category:Magical girls with Witches]]