Kanna Hijiri

Kanna Hijiri
Japanese Name	聖　カンナ (Hijiri Kanna)

Kanna Hijiri (聖　カンナ, Hijiri Kanna) is a character in Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice.

She is a girl created as a result of Niko Kanna's wish. She is a duplicate of Niko, with several key differences. Her life and personality were what Niko's would have been like, were it not for the shooting incident that killed her friends when she was a child.

She started off as a regular girl. Upon finding out she was a duplicate, she made her wish to have the power to "connect" to other people without them knowing, in order to take revenge on Niko and the other Pleiades Saints, and became a magical girl herself.

General info

Physical features

• Eye colour: Yellow
• Hair colour: Yellow / blonde

Other

• Soul Gem: A pair of hexagons, identical to the one hexagon present on Niko's Gem
• Weapon: Magical strings / Evil Nuts
• Wish: "I want the power to connect to others without drawing attention. I'll watch (Niko) and burn her death into my eyes!!"
• Known relatives: Unnamed mother, father and two younger twin brothers.

Personality

Kanna is highly vengeful and manipulative, and will stop at nothing to crush the Pleiades. She deeply resents the fact that she is an artificial being, and feels a degree of camaraderie towards Kazumi, who is similarily artificial. She plans to wipe out humanity with the magical girls stored in the Freezer, as once all the real humans are gone, her artifical magical girls will be the "real" ones. But, inside, she is only a girl who is hurt for the cruel truth. After Kazumi says to her that she was created to have the happy life that Niko never had, she regrets all her actions, as she finally understands that she is real, even if she is not really human.

History

Kanna was created as the result of Niko's wish. Her life was perfectly normal, with no knowledge of Niko or the Pleiades Saints, until she witnessed them fighting Yuuri Asuka's witch. She met Juubey soon after, and was enraged to discover that her life and memories were fabricated. She made a contract with Juubey, wishing to "connect" to the Pleiades without their knowledge and take revenge on them. In doing so, she gained Niko's knowledge of Kazumi and the Freezer, as well as the Pleiades' abilities. She used the Pleiades' magic to create Evil Nuts, distributed them to Yuuri and Ayase, and sent the two girls to attack the Pleiades and kidnap Kazumi. Kanna asked Yuuri to bring Kazumi to her before the start of the story, but the accidental suitcase swap with Tachibana delayed her plans.

In Chapter 9, she introduces herself to the Pleiades as Niko after the real Niko turns into a witch, and is believed to be Niko throughout the following chapters. Juubey, a disturbing grin on his face, says that the body was Niko's "spare" and "compensation for Niko's contract". Kaoru asks why Niko didn't tell them. Niko says that to deceive an enemy, you have to deceive your allies. Kaoru punches her, then gives her a hug. Niko then says they should cut to the chase. Kaoru tells Saki Kazumi can handle it and Umika implants her altered memories into Kazumi. Kanna then takes out a container that has the Soujus, their Soul Gems, and the Soul Gem and body of another magical girl. The bodies of the magical girls have been shrunken to the point where they can be picked up by one hand. She puts the two girls into two new containers, saying they "will keep on waiting for the prince's kiss."

Kanna reveals the history of the Evil Nuts.

After Satomi reveals Kazumi the truth of Michiru and her clones, Niko is seen along Juubey, commenting that Satomi finally told it to Kazumi, revealing that she knew Satomi's plans all along. Niko collects Satomi's body and Grief Seed after Kazumi kills her witch and flees.

The Pleiades reconvene at Umika's house. Niko attempts to locate the runaway Kazumi and fails, as she is unconsciously using cloaking magic. Niko asks the others what to do about Satomi's remains and Kazumi. The consensus is that they'll kill Kazumi before she becomes a witch, and revive her and Satomi as many times as necessary. Kaoru alone objects.

Later on, Niko arrives with the other Pleiades at the Freezer, in response to Kazumi's ultimatum. Kazumi begins to transform into a monster and engulfs the room in a barrier. Niko is struck with energy blasts almost immediately and incapacitated. As Umika, Mirai and Saki battle Kazumi, Kaoru realizes that she has not actually become a witch, and is simply creating an illusion so that they'd have no choice but to kill her. As the other Pleiades stand before Kazumi in shock, Mirai cleaves her in two.

Surprisingly, Kazumi's corpse turns into a balloon-like doll of Niko, as does the Niko that she incapacitated. The real Niko steps into view, with the real Kazumi safely stowed in her collection tube. As Mirai stares, shocked, Niko directs her attention to Saki, whose Soul Gem is about to break open. Niko creates a clone of herself, which then generates an Evil Nut and presses it into her forehead. The clone is vaporized as a beam of lightning shoots up around Saki. The remaining Niko says that she can't allow "you humans" to kill Kazumi. She reveals herself to them later, taking Kazumi hostage and turning Saki into a witch with an Evil Nut, before preparing to attack them directly. At the end of the story, she creates Dawn of Hyades to destroy humans. After seeing that Kazumi become a real human, she feels betrayed by her and tries to kill her, but fails. When she is about to become a witch, Kazumi clears her Soul Gem partially, as she explains that Niko never wanted to harm her, as she gave her everything to have a happy life. Also, Kazumi promise to her that she will protect her beloved ones as long as she lives. Kanna, moved by Kazumi's words, regrets all she did and commits suicide after kissing her corrupted Soul Gem. Kazumi, with Umika and Kaoru, cries for her death.

Powers, Weapons & Abilities

Kanna can tap into the powers of each Pleiades Saint and "connect" them to make new effects. One example is her ability to create Evil Nuts, which are a combination of Umika's analysis magic and Niko's regeneration magic. She can also use Niko's magic even after Niko herself dies; it is unknown whether this extends to others as well or is unique to Niko.

She can also create lengths of magical string from her hands, to directly attack and restrain enemies. They are somewhat reminiscent of a puppeteer's strings.

• She has a false soul gem in the same spot as Niko's soul gem.

Etymology

• The character in her last name means "聖" (saint)

Trivia

• Kanna refers to artificial magical girls like herself as "Hyades" (ヒューアデス), as they are the half-sisters of the Pleiades (プレイアデス) and will take over from the humans (ヒューマン).
• The marking on her Soul Gem is a pair of hexagons, identical to the one hexagon present on Niko's Gem. It also resembles the figure-eight markings on the Evil Nuts. It can also be thought of as a symbol of mitosis, pointing to her nature as a clone derived from Niko.
• For all Kanna's origins angst, the fact that Niko called herself ニ子 (possibly "Second Child") could mean that she viewed her clone as the original, as in "how it should have been", and herself as the "fake" or "second one"

Gallery

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  Kazumi Magica volume 5 full cover

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  Kanna's magical girl form.

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  It would be troublesome if you "humans" killed Kazumi!

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  Kanna prepares to implant Saki with an Evil Nut.

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  Kanna Hijiri and Niko Kanna.

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  Kanna ready to exact revenge.

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  Kanna's Soul Gem.

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  Kanna's magical strings.

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  Kanna with her family and friends.

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  "The "reality" self, and the "fantasy" self... Two selves came to coexist, and she became "Niko" (Niko as in ニ子, meaning "Two Children" or "Second Child")

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  Kanna views herself as a doll made for Niko's amusement. This is her motive for revenge.

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  Kanna with Niko's family.