| “ | Now, let our date (battle) begin. | ” |
—Kotori Itsuka | ||
| Kotori Itsuka | |
|---|---|
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| Profile | |
| Kanji | 五河 琴里 |
| Romaji | Itsuka Kotori |
| Age | 14 |
| Gender | Female |
| Species | Human Spirit |
| Hair Color | Red |
| Eye Color | Red |
| Nicknames | Efreet |
| Personal Status | |
| Relatives | Shido Itsuka (Adopted Older Brother) Unnamed Parents |
| Affiliations | Ratatoskr (Commander) |
| Occupation | Middle School Student Fraxinus Commander |
| Media | |
| Portrayal | |
Summary
Kotori Itsuka is Shido's adopted little sister; she is also a middle school student as well as a commander to a secret organization known as <Ratatoskr> that deals with extraordinary beings known as Spirits through peaceful means.
5 years prior to the beginning of "Date a Live," the young naive Kotori was tricked by a mysterious being that turned her into a Spirit. Not long afterwards, she was told about the method of how to seal her power by the same being that had given her that power; when all was said and done and her power was sealed, Kotori and Shido, who seems to have the ability to seal Kotori's power, have their memories of that event suppressed. It was not until during the present time, 5 years later, that Kotori personally for the 2nd time in her life uses her Spirit powers to save Shido; this time from Kurumi when he was battling it out in a sense on his school rooftop. It was not until Shido resealed Kotori's Spirit powers that they finally remembered that event, and soon afterward they later dub the mysterious “being” unofficially with the code name "Phantom."
Kotori, being a commander of <Ratatoskr>, would know certain information that only selective <Ratatoskr> members would know, while the rest would not.
Appearance
A middle school girl with twintails. Kotori has red eyes and very long, light coral-colored hair that is usually tied by ribbons in three variety of colors of both hair and is separated by each side, called a twintail hair. Also, a tiny piece of her hair is seen.
Having a white ribbon, she wears a white uniform with a black tie, short teal-colored skirt and has long stockings that reach the half of her thigh. But when she wears a black ribbon, her clothes, including her personality changes, as she now wearing maid-like sleeve clothe, with black skirt and stockings.
In 'commander mode', she uses black ribbons. She also wears a red coat, black tie with red sidelines, a red skirt with white cloth-like sticking out and a pair of black boots. The most noticeable part of her appearance falls under how she's constantly occupied with a lollipop in her mouth. Her height is stated to be 145 cm in the anime.
In her "spirit form," she wears a white kimono and has a pair of horns sticking out from her ribbons.
Personality
Kotori has three different personalities depending on the situation at hand. As a human, her personality changes according to the color of the ribbons she's wearing: while wearing white ribbons she is that of her "weak self", a delicate little sister who is very dependent upon her big brother; and when wearing black ribbons, she becomes her "strong self", a charismatic and sometimes cynical leader able to successfully command the airship, Fraxinus. According to Reine, the Kotori with white ribbons is the one that can honestly say how she feels, which would mean that the Kotori with black ribbons is simply putting a strong front because the situation requires so.
In her spirit form, Kotori acts the same as her ribbons' current color indicates. But if she stays in her spirit form for too long, her third, "Spirit personality," takes over and she becomes an aggressive and merciless killing machine, who only cares about battling enemies to death. It could be said that battling strong opponents (and utterly destroying them) is her only interest.
In all three cases, Kotori seems to have a 'S' side. Also, her deep feelings for Shido are always present, regardless of her current personality and, furthermore, they even help her remember who she truly is, no matter what the situation is: Shido's little sister.
History
Kotori was born in the Itsuka household as the only child until her parents adopted Shido when she was still very little; 5 years ago (before the main story) Kotori somehow became a spirit while, at the same time, her brother somehow gained the ability to seal the Spirits' powers, but neither of them could remember about that incident. Not long after that incident, Kotori was invited to join <Ratatoskr>, unknown to anyone in her family at the time.
Plot
Light Novel
Appearances: Volume 1-10
Anime
Appearances: Episode 1-13 (S1), 1-2, 4-10(S2)
Date A Live: Rinne Utopia
Date A Live: Ars Install
Powers and Abilities
Weapon: Halberd
Cannon Mode: Megiddo
Astral Dress: Elohim Gibor
Kotori Itsuka is born as a human and still is a human per se. However, she receives the powers of a Spirit during an incident five years before the main story of the novels started. Her powers are centered on the manipulation of flames that erupt from her body and can be used in close or ranged combat.
In her Spirit form, Kotori's clothes change into her Astral Dress Elohim Gibor, which resembles a goddess's robes from Japanese folklore, with a revealing neckline, a translucent sash, and black ribbons tied around a pair of horns. Her angel Camael comes in the form of a large red halberd, but can be dismantled into Megiddo, a cannon powered by Kotori's own flames. Megiddo fires powerful energy beams that can overwhelm even the defenses of other Spirits. Kotori also has a powerful regeneration ability, which Shido uses/borrows on many occasions when he is trying to make spirits fall for him. Basically, it is an ability that protects the user from certain death as long as the user has enough "mana." It also reverses all physical damage done on the person as if it never happened but only covers the recipient's body.
The nature of Kotori's powers makes her prone to losing control over the urge of defeating another Spirit, and has caused widespread damage during the two times it was unleashed. For this reason, Kotori sees her Spirit powers as a last resort that she only chooses to use when desperate times come.
Trivia
- Kotori has the character for "5" 「五」(「いつ・ゴ」, itsu/go) in her name (even though it is in her family name), referring to the fifth Sephira on Kabbalah's Tree of Life, "Power and Judgment." It is shown by her position as Ratatoskr's commander and her destructive spirit power.
- Kotori is the only one who's managed to fight evenly against Kurumi so far.
- "Itsuka" can mean "some time" (an unknown point in time) or "the fifth day of the month", depending on how it is written.
- Her spirit codename is Efreet. Efreet (or in several cases, "Ifrit") are a class of Infernal Jinn in Arabic and Islamic folklore.
- Her angel, Camael's, name means "The severity of God."
- Camael was claimed to be the leader of the forces that expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden holding a flaming sword.
- Kotori was the first Spirit that Shido sealed, however he didn't remember this until she took back her spirit powers to fight Kurumi.
- Shido sealed her powers because <Phantom> told Kotori she could save Shido by kissing him, this is how Kotori knew Shido had the power to seal spirits.
- Kotori's astral dress's name is "Elohim Gibor" which means "God of Battles", "Almighty God," or "God is a hero" in Hebrew.
- Kotori is weak towards the horror genre.
- Sometimes Kotori may sneak into Shido's school during lunchtime, reporting recent information gathered or to keep an eye on him.
- Kotori's favorite candy is the well-known lollipop Chupa Chups.
- She loves bath bombs and finds it difficult to resist them (even when in commander mode).
- Hiroto Tonomachi plays a girl's game which is known as "Fall in Love: My Little Seed" on his mobile phone and has a girlfriend with a striking resemblance to Kotori, with the only difference being that both her hair and eyes are pink in color (anime-only).
- Her birthday is August 3rd, which means her Zodiac sign is Leo and the sign of Leo is generally associated the element of fire because it is in the group of the fire elements of the zodiac signs. This connection with her zodiac to the element fire could be a reference to her spirit power of fire.
- She has an unique merit: her catchphrase (the quote shown at the beginning of this article) can be considered the trademark phrase of the whole series.
- It is hinted that Kotori is fond of dating sims, as she used one in Shido's training. Also, whenever her brother needed something to do, the choices are displayed as if she's playing a dating sim herself.
- Kotori's favorite light novel is Date A Live, according to a short story.