Momoyo Kawakami (百代 川神) is the main heroine and the primary female protagonist in Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai! series. She is also one of the main love interests to Yamato Naoe in the Majikoi!, and his main love interest in the anime and the manga being published by Comp Ace.
She is accepted as the most beautiful girl in both Kawakami Academy and Kawakami City, but due to her abilities as a fighter, every male is too intimidated to talk to her. Momoyo is also a regular guest on the Kawakami Academy Radio Show, as many people request her appearance on it. She is terrible when it comes to money, which results in her constantly borrowing it from other people. Sometimes she forgets to repay debts by the deadline, and she gets Yamato to extend it for her. In the end, she is always able to pay back what she owes.
She is bisexually flirtatious (Reminiscent of Shinra Kuonji from Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de) and will make a pass at girls, as she considers no males to be men due to her high standards. However, if a man defeats her in a fight, she will think otherwise. She represents Makoto (誠, Honesty), one of the seven virtues of Bushido.
Appearance[]
Momoyo has red eyes, waist-long black hair, and by Gakuto and Moro's description, a "megalopolis-style" bust. She is normally seen wearing the winter uniform of the Kawakami High School with her jacket covering her shoulders in a cape-like style.
Personality[]
Momoyo has a tomboyish, tough going and confident personality. She hardly blushes or stutters and is completely up front with people. This, along with her powerful strength, her love of fighting, and her straight up honesty, has made her the most wonderful and admirable woman to her girl fans, while making her the most beautiful but intimidating woman to her male fans which makes the latter too scared to talk to her.
Momoyo has a great love for fighting and for just having fun in general. Her love for fighting however, has proven to be dangerous since she is so skilled in the art, she constantly defeats her opponents without exertion and real effort, which leads to her frustrations. This sort of behavior did not go unnoticed by Tesshin, Lu, Yamato, the Prime Minister of Japan and even certain skilled opponents such as Margit and Ageha. Winning a fight that makes her use her full effort though, will always put her in a good mood and make her more relaxed afterwards. Even Momoyo realized at one point that she may develop a problem in the future, but admits that fighting is ingrained in her and she just can't bring herself to better her mind as she has no interest to do so. Both Tesshin and Lu constantly preach to Momoyo to find other interests besides fighting or to go training in the mountains to train her mind, but Momoyo in turn brushes them off, saying she does not want or need to go to the mountains as long as she has her friends. This comment as well as her smile because of it, tends to make both Tesshin and Lu feel that the answer to her problem is among her friends. In truth, Momoyo constantly seeks out Yamato out of all her friends because her being with him constantly makes her feel 'refreshed' and helps to clear her mind.
Momoyo shows a side that is completely softer to her friends in the Kazama family, and is not as tough around them. However, she still displays her aura of confidence and strength, and tends to help Shouichi makes decisions as the second in command of the Kazama Family.
Ever since they made their promise, Momoyo and Yamato have been attached to each other. Momoyo has always shown a more caring, softer side to Yamato that she shows to no one else. But she still roughs him up from time to time, feeling he can be used as a stress relief. These sorts of acts tend to range from hugs, massages, pouncing on top of him, holding his arm and pressing her breasts against him, all the way to putting him in a headlock. She is also a real tease to Yamato, and tends to show off sexy poses and exposes parts of her underwear and cleavage and even slyly mentions her sexual interests in him. Momoyo feels that Yamato is the only person in the world she can do this to as doing it to anyone else would be useless and never have the same effect. She claims this is because Yamato is her underling, but usually she makes hints that she is more interested in him than that.
Momoyo is terrible when it comes to money, as she is always spending it carelessly or losing it while gambling. Whenever she is in a pinch, her immediate action is to go to Yamato, who sometimes helps out with her bill. But for the most part, he scolds her for it and tells her to get a job. She also borrows money from the Kazama family, and if need be, from her fans and other students at Kawakami Academy. Momoyo always pays back what she owes in the end, but ends up having little money for herself afterwards, which leads her to borrow more money again.
Back when she was a child, Momoyo got along with Shakadou Gyoubu, an assistant instructor who was almost as strong as Ru Shihandai. Gyoubu personally felt that might was always right and he himself was a bit of a battle maniac, fighting for the sheer fun of it. This would have an influential effect on Momoyo, as well as her fighting style to dominate and defeat her opponent hands down, despite the fact that Gyoubu was exiled from the Kawakami Temple because of these values. Due to Gyoubu's influence on Momoyo, Ru has taken it upon himself to personally oversee Kazuko's training so that she doesn’t follow a similar path.
Despite being a flirt towards females only, Momoyo is straight but claims to only flirt with girls as there are no males that catch her attention. Due to her confidence, her strength, and continuously defeating strong males, Momoyo has developed a strong standard on which she would acknowledge any male as an actual man or interest in general. While saying that she does not know what she exactly looks for in a man, she also says that if a man wanted to catch her attention, then he would have to be a man who was serious about his promises and talks of ambitions, meaning he had to at least work hard to try and achieve them. When Yamato confessed, Momoyo claimed that it was partly because she could not see him as a man that lead to her rejection of him, while the other part was his lack of seriousness to uphold his promise to her to become someone who could move the country as well as become her equal with his mind. However, Momoyo also admits that she might of accepted Yamato if he had confessed earlier, regardless of her standards.
Momoyo tends to acknowledge someone as a man when they have managed to best her or leave her with a sense of defeat in one way or another. When Momoyo acknowledges someone as a man she is slightly more respectful to them and sees them on a different level from everyone else. Due to Momoyo's standards, she feels like she needs to acknowledge someone as a man first before even considering going out with them. However, even acknowledging a man does not guarantee success or even her likings and love towards them as one at all. Despite acknowledging Shouichi as a man, Momoyo has never shown any interest in him and even flirts with girls in his presence, showing that he doesn’t catch her attention despite her acknowledgement of him. This proves that there is a distinct difference between Momoyo liking or loving someone as a man and acknowledging them as one. This is further elaborated in Yamato's case as even before he was acknowledged by Momoyo as a man, she always teased him with her sex appeal and her actions towards him lead many to believe they were closer than childhood friends. When Yamato was able to make Momoyo acknowledge him as a man, their relationship instantly got stronger with Momoyo becoming more attached to him, constantly calling him and looking for him to be around him a lot more than she did before. With Shouichi on the other hand, when he fell for Momoyo he got instantly rejected and was soon knocked out by Momoyo when he persisted.
Despite all her strength, she is terrified of ghosts and spirits, as she feels that nothing she can do will affect them. She admits she would rather be shot at by thousands of missiles instead of having to confront a spirit.
Momoyo finds that flirting and teasing other girls is fun and helps her to relax at times. She is constantly flirting with them but is never serious about it. She claims to do so since there are no guys around who catch her attention, with the majority of them being too intimidated to talk to her, too childish, or just not on her level. This has lead to many people thinking she was a lesbian, even though she admits she's straight. When she starts getting closer to Yamato though, she admits that hanging out with girls was annoying and even mentions giving it up. Momoyo even teases the girls of the Kazama family such as Miyako who plays along, but this tends to make other people such as Chris uncomfortable. She doesn’t tease her sister Kazuko though, and even tries to protect Kazuko's innocence from sexual material.
Momoyo completely adores her adopted sister Kazuko who in turn admires and loves Momoyo. The two get along just like real sisters, and tend to show off the same habits and personality traits, such as their eating methods and their dislike of studying. The two tend to train with each other in exercises, but they don't spar against one another due to Momoyo's strength. Momoyo deeply wishes for Kazuko to achieve her dream of becoming a Kawakami Temple assistant instructor, but tends to have doubts as she feels that natural talent is sometimes needed to achieve such a goal, talent that she feels Kazuko doesn't have, and that hard work and training will only get a person so far. Despite this, Momoyo still encourages Kazuko to do her best, and strongly hopes for Kazuko to achieve her goal.
Many people consider her and Yamato's relationship as something deeper and even describe it as interesting and special. As such, girl fans of Momoyo get envious of the time and affection she shows Yamato, while others prompt Yamato to take a chance and ask her out. She is deeply affectionate, in her own way, towards Yamato as she considers him someone very important to her and is extremely possessive of him to the point that she gets jealous when other girls pay Yamato too much attention. She always feels relaxed around Yamato, and will only do the things she does to him only because she feels it's useless to do them to anyone else. She takes the promise Yamato made to be her underling seriously as well as Yamato's promise to become her equal and to stay with her forever. She realizes that she is in love with Yamato, but is unable to admit it to anyone, not even herself, until Yamato proves to her that he is becoming the man she is waiting for him to be by showing his seriousness to their promise and by making her acknowledge him as a man.
Momoyo is shown to be a decent student academically, but only when she puts her mind to it. For the most part, she gets very low grades, but ends up making up for it by earning a decent passing grade if things get too close. When it comes to studying, Momoyo rarely does so and even during the exams when the rest of the Kazama family is studying, both Momoyo and Shouichi don't even bother, leaving them on their side of the hideout which ends up being boring for the both of them.
Momoyo is completely honest and straightforward, and is not hesitant to say things that are on her mind or need to be said. She does not downplay with her words and says what she feels needs to be said when confronted. However she does tease her words up now and then and sometimes mentions childish thoughts with a serious face. Her honesty is further shown when Yamato took her on a date in Nanahama, when she said that while she was having fun and felt refreshed, she wanted to see Yamato's manliness so she could fall for him. Even though Yamato felt Momoyo was being too honest with him, Momoyo stated that she was always honest and that she would be 'Moe' for Yamato which simply made him more nervous. When Yamato mentioned this the males of the Kazama family and Minamoto Tadakatsu, Tadakatsu wondered if the two were really just friends since most girls would try to make guys keep guessing about what it would take to make them fall in love instead of telling them upfront what they want.
Abilities and Skills[]
She has boasted great supernatural level abilities multiple times throughout the series. Having at least S+ in all statistics due to this level of ability. Being inhuman the amount of challengers she got decreased since she got known as the battle goddess during the prequel Majikoi! Her abilities and power are so great that even when her powers got sealed as shown in the agave route, she is still as strong as Christiane Friedrich(unarmed). Which makes her a really strong piece in the kazama family even when sealed.
In the sequel Majikoi! S, her challengers increased due to the Bushido plan. Her fighting abilities are so great that only people who are equally inhuman like Hume, her grandfather (Tesshin) and Seiso (in her other form; Haou) have a chance to beat her. Since she also recently learned Instant Recovery, it also almost impossible to outlast her in battle as she can recover from damage, although there are people who can counter her Instant recovery skill. Despite being so great in fighting and martial arts she hates studying to the point of having similar behavior like Shoichi. Because her school marks aren't that great she was placed in class 3-F instead of 3-S. Although her school-marks are low it is stated by Yamato that she can get good marks if she really tries but because she lacks the interest she doesn't do much about it. Some of her other skills include.
Godlike Speed: Throughout the series she has shown on numerous occasions that she has some amazing speed, like sexually harassing Chris when she first met her despite her being on guard. With her speed she can defeat most people in one blow due to most aren't able to see her movements. Even Miyako who is known to have great eyes sometimes has trouble seeing through her movements.
Inhuman Strength: One of her most notable skill is her monster strength. Her strength is great enough to easily shatter rocks with her bare hands. Her normal punches and kicks can send a normal adults flying away from several meters to quite a few hundreds meters depending how her mood is. Other examples of her strength are, when she was playing kickball (when you have to keep the ball in the air) with the Kazama family she had to restrain her strength or else she could hit and probably damage a plane. Also during Sayaka's route she could overpower Benkei by a bit which is quite impressive since Benkei herself also has monster strength.
Endless Stamina: Even before learning her skill instant recovery, she already had a lot of stamina thanks to her martial arts training. After she learned the instant recovery skill she can almost fight for a infinite amount.
Shounen-manga like Fighting Techniques: Next to her normal martial arts technique she has shown that she can do tricks and skills that are like shounen-manga. Like creating a black mass with her aura only, having a microwave like technique that could roast everything in a 1 km- radius and in the route "where you get acquaintance with Tachibana Takae" she has shown that she could stop time within a 20 meter radius, although this technique and the black hole technique are both using a lot energy and are not really suited for actual combat. During Sayaka's route, she can also transform like Ishida but her technique is considered a level above him and also she doesn't have the cons from the technique like he does.
Expert Ki-perception: On multiple occasions, she has been seen to be able to sense Ki of fighters and other people. Her ability with Ki sensing is great enough to spot anyone within a few 2 km radius. She can also sense Ki from multiply people and can also guess how strong they are depending on their Ki. Only a few people that have mastered their Ki like Hume are able to hide from her as she was unable to detect any Ki from him during their first meeting.
Momoyo's Techniques[]
The fighting techniques that she has been using so far in the Majikoi!, Majikoi! S and Majikoi! A stories and also in the manga and anime adaption.
Kawakami Style, Musou Seikenzuki (Dynasty Warriors Punch): Momoyo's signature technique, It is actually a simple straight punch with so much concentrated power that it is considered a technique. Momoyo defeated many opponents with it and it's strength is said to be like a battleship canon.
Kawakami Style, Musou Seikenzuki Midareuchi: The same as the above technique except that she uses both her arms to rapid fire this technique. It is used on Hachiya when he used hist clone technique to blow all 8 clones away at the same time and sending the real person flying like a star.
Kawakami Style, Ningen Bakudan (Human Bomb): It is considered a suicide technique, a technique in which one lets his or her body explode on contact with the use of Ki. The damage done to the opponent is really high but the damage to the ones who used the technique is even higher, which is why it is a really risky technique. Momoyo could use this technique as a real one since she also learned to use instant recovery to heal the injuries of this technique.
Kawakami Style, Star-Destroyer: A beam attack which is said to be strong enough to destroy a planet. It's true strength is unknown but it is strong enough to overpower Hume's beam attack as shown during Koyuki's route.
Kawakami Ha: The user will use her/his Ki to send out a strong energy wave to the opponent.
Kawakami Driver (anime only): The user grasps the opponent and hold the persons legs while have the opponents shoulder being locked by the users shoulder and slam it into the ground. Momoyo used this move as a counter against her Izuna Drop counter.
Forbidden Move Fuji Smasher: A powerful punch covered with ones Ki to enhance it's power and speed. The true strength of this technique is unknown, but it was strong enough to overpower Ageha's Kuki Thunder God Lightning Fist technique.
Secret Technique, Kawakami Style Forehead Flick (anime only move): It's similar to a normal forehead flick except that his has much more force and power behind it. It can be use on people to inflict great pain or in Momoyo's case it's strong enough to repel a bullet.
Kawakami Style, Diversion (anime only): A technique probably made on a whim by Momoyo. The user claps in her/his hands and releases a big amount of Ki at the same time to surprise the opponent making them off-guard.
Kawakami Style, Earth Splitter (anime only): The user hits the ground with such force that the ground will split open in a direct line.
Kawakami Style, Izuna Drop (anime only): The user runs up a building or wall and when the opponent starts chasing you the user will then drop his/her body to the opponent and grabbing them at the same time. Because of the height of the fall and weight the opponent will fly into the ground with such force that it will leaves a crater that would possibly injure the opponent severely. It is also considered a finisher move.
Kawakami Style, Killer Fireflies: A technique in which the user will send balls of energy to his/her opponent. It can be fired at a distance and can also be used as a diversion since the explosions causes great smokes.
Kawakami Style, Snowman: A technique in which she can freeze someone with her aura/Ki, but for this technique she has to come in contact with the opponent. So as long as you don't get caught by her you won't freeze. Momoyo used this technique on Yukie in her route during Kawakami War.
Kawakami Style, Roasted Meat: A technique which can roast a person, has the same drawback as Kawakami style snowman. Momoyo used this technique on Ageha during Kawakami War.
1-km-radius Momoyo Microwave: Only shown during Sayaka's route. A technique that can roast anything within a 1 km radius, but since it's a indiscriminate attack allies could get burned too if they are within a radius so this technique is not suited in group battles.
Kawakami Style, Hidden Technique (Kaleidoscope Genma Fist): Only shown during Sayaka's route, a technique which can send someone into a terrible nightmare for a few hours similar to Genjutsu.
Kawakami Style, Form of Existence, Type Awakening of the Dragon 2: Only shown during Sayaka's route. A technique which is both similar and a level above Ishida's Awakening of the Dragon technique, with a few difference. Her power goes beyond Ishida's first dragon form so she gets a bigger power-up then Ishida's technique. She takes on the form of the dragon of the legends, which means she also becomes bigger. Momoyo also doesn't shown to have the drawbacks of the technique which Ishida does have. And she becomes immune to physical attacks and can shoot beams of lightning in this form.
Instant Recovery: A technique which is more used for defense, the user focuses his life force energy, to speed up ones metabolism so the body cells will regenerate at an amazing speed. The amount of times you can use it depends on the person body. In Momoyo's case she can use it 30 times max.
Unnamed Black Hole Technique: First shown in Majikoi! S, The user creates a black hole with it's Ki/aura and it won't disappear unless the black hole absorbs something. Momoyo noted that it is not suited for battle and also that it is tiring to make something like that. But during Cookie 4IS route she has improved to the point that she can freely use it in battle as shown when she use it to absorb a laser from Cookie 108IS that was aimed at Kawakami City.
Unnamed Time Manipulation Technique: By using this technique, Momoyo could stop the time within a 20 meter radius but this technique using a lot of energy and not suited for actual battle. This technique is first shown in the route "where you're an acquaintance of Tachibana Takae" (Majikoi S).
Unnamed Mini Size Sun Technique: In Sayaka route, Momoyo offers to create a mini size sun to dry off Gakuto's clothes but he refuse her help, so this technique is never actually shown.
Kawakami Style Secret Technique, Hoshi Kudaki: Momoyo used this technique to destroy a meteor aimed at her by Tesshin in Kazuko route.
Kawakami Style, Daibakuhatsu: Momoyo used this technique by blowing herself up to blow away the heat haze formed by Tesshin's Kengen no Ichi, Marishiten and Zero no Kengen, Amenominakanushi in Kazuko's route.
Kawakami style, Flowing Quicksand: Momoyo can use her ki to change the structure of sand, which in this case it turns to quick sand to let an opponent sink in the sand and restrict his/her movements. Even when she held this technique back, she can still quickly turn sand into a dangerous quicksand, which can swallow a person whole.
The Big Four[]
Known as Kawakami Momoyo of the North, she is the strongest of the Big Four after post battle of Kuki Ageha of the South, Kurogane Otome of the East and Tachibana Takae of the West.
As of 2009, Momoyo has yet to officially fight the two new members of The Big Four (Kurogane Otome of the East and Mayuzumi Yukie of the West). However, in both the Visual Novel and manga, she fights against Ageha, Otome (Tsubame in the anime), and Yukie in a 3 on 1 battle in the Kawakami war, and it is proven that Momoyo is by far the strongest.
Trivia[]
- Momoyo's name is inspired after Momotarō, the hero from Japanese folklore. According to Momoyo, her parents used to buy her peaches as a child, her favourite drink is peach juice and she basically loves anything peach flavored.
- According to Momoyo, her hobbies are annihilating enemies, reading manga, 'observing' Yamato and playing video games.
- Despite Momoyo's incredible strength, she hates to study and usually gets poor grades for it. Due to this she is unable to join S-class as the requirements include being in the top fifty of the exams ranking. It is shown though that she can get good grades when she tries, but she seldom does as she has no interest.
- Although Minatosoft has not officially declared her route canon, the Manga, Anime and Visual Novel all follow her route with slight differences, making her the most focused heroine in all the Majikoi! creations.
- Momoyo is considered to be the strongest fighter in the world, second only to her grandfather. She is friends and rivals with Kuki Ageha from Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de.
- She named the blue Ornada she received from Yamato at a summer festival, Takeru, in recognition ofPrince Yamatotakeru (日本武尊, Yamato-takeru-no-mikoto) who was originally named Prince Ōsu (小碓命 Ōsu-no-mikoto). Yamatotakeru was a legendary prince of the Yamato Dynasty, and son of Emperor Keiko who was the 12th emperor of Japan. One of Yamatotakeru's sons would later become the 14th emperor of Japan.
- The title Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai! or Seriously Love Me Please! refers to Momoyo's route. When Momoyo first rejects Yamato she asks if he seriously loved her as his feelings as a child seemed more real. This is further elaborated on when Yamato realizes Momoyo is waiting for him to become just as serious as she is to their childhood promise, and again when Yamato confesses to Momoyo the second time and he admits his feeling for her before where not as strong as they should of been and that he has become more seriously in love with Momoyo. Also the last line of Yamato's inner monologue in Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai! S 'for Momoyo is I am seriously in love with this woman. In the official manga adaptation of the original Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai! Visual Novel, the story ends with Momoyo accepting Yamato as a man, claiming he is the only on who can make her happy, and asks him to, from that point onwards to "Love me seriously please!/Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!" as per the namesake of the story.
- In the latest popularity poll on Minatosoft's website for Majikoi! A, of the current female characters in the series, Momoyo is ranked #9. In the Majikoi! S poll, she was ranked #8. And in the original Majikoi!popularity poll, she was ranked #4.
- She is afraid of ghosts, as she cannot hit them.
- According to Cookie 4IS data, Kawakami Momoyo doesn't belong in the martial artist list, but rather than that she seems to be placed in the lists of natural disasters.
- She considers her crossed bangs to be her charm point and gets fidgety if anyone tries to touch them.
- In the original Majikoi! visual novel, Momoyo route has some differences from other routes such as no epilogue after the ending song, different visual in the early scene of the ending song and Agave's route is never hinted by Shakadou in her route (even though it is hinted in other heroines routes).