Haruka Kotoura (琴浦 春香 Kotōra Haruka) is the main protagonist of the anime Kotoura-san. Haruka is a girl who was born with the psychic ability to read everyone's minds. Because she didn't understand this ability as a little girl, she would often blurt out what people were thinking, which caused her to be hated by her classmates, her teachers, and her parents. The constant fear of losing those important to her had left her alone and unwilling to let anyone get close to her. That is, until the day she meets Yoshihisa Manabe. She is voiced by Hisako Kanemoto.
Appearance
Haruka is a girl with short orange hair, and light brown eyes, her high school uniform, consisted of a long-sleeved sailor shirt, a red bow on her neck, a dark purple/blue skirt, black stockings, and dark brown shoes.
When she entered in elementary school, she wore a blue long-sleeved shirt, with a white collar, a dark blue suede, white stockings and pink shoes.
When she went in kindergarten, she had her hair tied up in two pigtails, she wore a dark blue long-sleeved jacket, with a white shirt, a yellow skirt, white socks and pink shoes.
She also has a stray hair that often is seen curling up at one end on the right side of her head (from the picture at right).
Personality
During her childhood, she is portrayed as a cheerful, friendly little girl who loves to play and hang out with her friends. However, due to her naturally naive personality, she tended to blurt out the thoughts of other children which they prefer to keep a secret, causing misunderstandings between people around her. As a result, she became isolated and developed a cold personality that shuts out others, being generally rude due to her fear of being driven away again once she made friends with them. When she became friends with Yoshihisa, she started to open up again to the aspect of having friends and became more friendly, although is still prone to hurting when someone starts to bully her for her mind-reading abilities. However, as she is older, she tends to keep all the bullying to herself, irritating Manabe.
Kotoura is known for being "tone deaf" as many of her friends would describe her when it comes to singing.
Because of what happened to her she tends to blame herself for everything which annoys her friends.
History
As a little girl, Kotoura was a happy little girl for a short while until her ESP powers begin growing. She was unaware of her abilities and thought nothing of her ability to read minds. The first occasion of this was when her mother, Kumiko Kotoura, said "Guess what you're having for breakfast." with Haruka Kotoura reading her mind and saying "Over-easy eggs?" surprising the woman.
Later on, in kindergarten, Kotoura starts using her powers without realizing being able to beat her friends at rock paper scissors. Later in the same episode, she tells with her three female friends at elementary school who likes who, causing her to lose so many of her female friends out of embarrassment and anger. Many of her classmates started to call her a "monster" and other names, throwing the poor little girl into a saddened state.
The principal told Kotoura's mother about the incident and Kumiko told her husband. Her father said it was her responsibility to take care of Kotoura, not his even though he is also Kotoura's parent. Kumiko desperately tries to find help for Kotoura going to many doctors, even going as far to go to a monk for help claiming Kotoura is possessed. Later, Kotoura's father starts to come home less and less, implying that he is most likely having an affair with another woman named Akiko.
Kotoura then reads both of their minds (while they're both in the living room telling her they are busy) revealing that Kotoura's father was going to see a woman named Akiko at a hotel and her mother was going to see a man named Yoshino at a restaurant. At this moment, her parents become shocked and begin to fight with each other. Soon after, they divorce, and Kumiko was left to care for Kotoura, beginning to drink and become furious at her for the smallest things.
It didn't take long for Kumiko to leave the house (the father never came back it seemed). Kumiko dragged her to her maternal grandfather, Zenzō Kotoura's house and said she never should have given birth to her with a glare. Kotoura sank to the floor and repeated "I'm sorry" over and over. Since then Kotoura lived miserably, transforming into a staid and silent little girl. Her friends rejected her and everyone gossiped about her behind her back calling her a "monster".
One day, Kotoura, who was walking home, found a stray cat and started to feed it every day. But one rainy day, an old woman tells her she brought the cat to an animal shelter and told Kotoura not to come there anymore. Kotoura fell to the ground crying in the rain, her eyes pupil-less and devastated. Kotoura then took a sort of lifeless behavior, her eyes looking soulless. It is implied that Kotoura often transfers schools due to her ability.
After Kotoura transfers school, she meets Manabe, who seems to break her out of her misery. She reads his mind and is probably scarred for life, as she sees a bunch of purple things dancing around naked and showing off their buttocks. Manabe is apparently addicted to this purple thing as it can be seen on a poster in his room and other places. At the end of the last episode, Kotoura wins a purple thing toy from a game catcher named “Luna Catcher”, so the purple thing is apparently called a Luna. Anyways, her dismal gray world suddenly shatters and she sees the world for its true, bright color, and her eyes regain their bright orange color. Kotoura starts to hang out with Manabe more.
Kotoura then joins the ESP club with Manabe and she meets two new friends. Life seemed to be going better for Kotoura when Yuriko decides to do fortune telling with Kotoura hidden behind her, of course, this fails since Kotoura can't tell everyone's thoughts apart. So, Kotoura and Yuriko switch places.
Kotoura reads a boy’s mind about his brother, and soon the line is very long as he spread the rumor of this being the real deal. Hiyori Moritani then starts to trash talk Kotoura inside her head knowing that Kotoura can read her mind. Kotoura ends up puking earning the nickname "barfoura" from her classmates.
When Manabe finds out, he goes to defend Kotoura and even confesses his love for her not knowing Kotoura and Yuriko were listening to him. Kotoura goes back to hanging out with Manabe and is much happier. However, a day after this, somebody writes a love umbrella with Manabe and Kotoura, and Kotoura turns bright red as Manabe yells to the class that they forgot to add the heart, which is the most important part.
Later, when Manabe is walking home he gets beat up and sent to the hospital by students in the Mori Dojo, by orders of Moritani. Seeing that Manabe is getting hurt because he is around her Kotoura then decides to leave. Kotoura moves out of her house and goes to her Grandfather's (who is a pervert like Manabe). Her grandfather later proclaims as his granddaughter’s thighs and boobs are his, all his, as Kotoura corrects him that they are hers, not his.
Manabe and the rest of the ESP club then go to find Kotoura in her Grandfather's home. Moritani then visits Kotoura and apologizes to her and Manabe. Kotoura forgives her.
Moritani joins the ESP club and becomes friends with Kotoura. During summer break, Moritani is even allowed to come to Kotoura's Grandfather's home along with the rest of the ESP club.
Plot
Kotoura can read minds causing trouble for her. As a little girl, she didn't understand her ability and often ended up blurting out thoughts of other people, causing people around her to keep a distance from her to the extent of her own parents abandoning her. She then finds many friends in an ESP club and they have many adventures together.
ESP
She joined an ESP group, made to prove the existence of physic abilities.
She joined in because she has the psychic ability to read minds which have caught Yuriko's interest. Yuriko’s mother had a similar ability (clairvoyance), but was eventually called a “phony” by disbelievers and suicided. Yuriko wanted to use her but eventually didn’t.
Relationships
Yoshihisa Manabe
- Main article: Yoshihisa Manabe
Manabe was Kotoura's first true friend. He was both accepting and even excited by her ability to read minds, which was contrary to most she had met in her life until that point. Literally from the moment she read his mind, her world became brighter. He loves to tease her by imagining her in provacative positions (a sexy nurse, for example). Despite this, or perhaps partially because of this, she likes him. Over the series, the two become romantically interested in each other. Because of Kotoura's ability, their relationship is both unorthodox and adorable. Though, this does result in a slight problem for them. For the duration, Manabe never expressly said that he loved her, only thought it. During the final episode, there is a heartwarming scene where they finally say it out loud to each other. It can be presumed that they continued to have a positive relationship. However, before they confessed their love to each other, Kotoura-San practiced with Moritani and Manabe walked in the moment Kotoura said “I LOVE YOU“ to Moritani. Manabe started thinking sexy illusions and fainted while thinking that his girl was stolen by another girl.
Manabe changed Kotoura's life in many ways. She was broken and defeated before he and she became friends, but he gave her the strength to carry on. He became a sort of rock in her life, being something she could always count on. Before him, all she had was despair.
Quotes
"Manabe, you pervert!"
"Shut up, you pervert."
”hiss hiss”
"Mori Mori Mori"
"Grandpa you pervert"
Trivia
- Her birthday is on 1st September.
- She can cook.
- She can read minds.
- Her possible personality type is an INFP.
- Currently, there is a joint venture between real life Kotoura town and the producer of this series in order to promote tourism across the town.
- One of the promotional cards distributed across the town shows an adult version of Kotoura, together with an infant (the child's hair somehow resembles Manabe's).
- The name Haruka means "Spring Fragrance."
- Her religion is Catholic. We can tell that because she wears a cross or scapular in her housedress
- Likes: Spending time with her friends and making new ones
- Dislikes: Reading perverted thoughts