Medaka Kurokami

Medaka Kurokami (黒神めだか, Kurokami Medaka) is the female protagonist of the series Medaka Box. A freshman of Class 13, she was the 98th and later 99th Student Council president of Hakoniwa Academy. She is a childhood friend of Zenkichi Hitoyoshi, who she strong-arms into joining the Student Council at the start of the series. After becoming the head of the Kurokami Group, Medaka also becomes the chairwoman of Hakoniwa Academy. She is the child of Kajiki Kurokami and Hato Tsurubami, and the younger sister of Kujira Kurokami and Maguro Kurokami.

History[]

Medaka's biological mother died from a heart attack immediately after childbirth; members of the Kurokami Group coldly said Hato existed only to give birth to Medaka. Because of her abnormal abilities, she quickly matured, and soon was surpassing even adults in all fields. While her growth was initially viewed as fascinating, many professors would retire after seeing their lifelong efforts easily outdone by a little girl, and gradually started viewing her as unsettling instead. Because of this, Medaka began to wonder why she was even born. At the age of two, Medaka was sent to Hakoniwa General Hospital, which studied atypical children; it was a starting point for the Flask Plan. While waiting to get checked, Medaka ended up sitting beside a four-year-old Misogi Kumagawa. He was sorely unimpressed by what was going on, telling Medaka that people are born for no reason. As he was called in, Kumagawa left Medaka with the parting words that there was no point in being alive. These words left a strong impact on Medaka, and she lost interest in the world. Eventually, she grew bored with the constant examinations and tried to escape. Hiding from the hospital staff, she made her way into a nursery room for children of the doctors on call. Inside, she found only one other child, a two-year-old Zenkichi struggling with a toy puzzle. Not knowing how else to introduce herself, Medaka took the toy away from him and easily solved it herself. An impressed Zenkichi asked her to solve the rest of the puzzles in the room, which she accomplished without trouble, much to Zenkichi's delight. Medaka brushed him off, insisting that life has no meaning. When Zenkichi refuted her, she asked him for what reason she was born. He then pointed out how happy she had made him, and told her: "I'm sure you were born to make the people around you happy."^[2] Medaka took these words to heart, and the two became friends from that point onwards.

Personality[]

Medaka is an excellent academic student, placing first in the national test. In addition to her academic achievements, she has excelled in various other areas, such as calligraphy and sports, and obtained seemingly inhuman results. However, she is somewhat lacking in practical knowledge, as no one expects her to have the need to understand subjects "below her". Before Mogana Kikaijima's intervention, she did not know what the Baseball Club was for, nor had she ever been to an amusement park. Zenkichi even once describes her as being "so smart she crossed back into stupid".

Medaka is known to look down on people, but despite this, she sees the good in everyone. She believes everyone who seems to be a bad person to have "strayed from the right path", and that they used to be good people. So far, she has always been right about this assumption, even if the people themselves don't know it. Her personality is one of helping others, and she is determined to finish any task placed in the suggestion box. For every task she completes, Medaka buys a vase with flowers. She one day hopes to have completed so many suggestions that she fills the entire academy with blooming flowers.

As noted by several characters, Medaka's personality is overwhelming: her approval rating is proof of her ability to convert people to her followers. This force of personality often manifests itself in Medaka's Proof of One's Worth (真骨頂, Shinkocchou), also known as her trump cards. However, this overwhelming force of presence only works on humans; animals can only sense her power, and not the personality that accompanies it. Medaka loves animals, but they are utterly terrified of her, leading her into bouts of depression when an animal rejects her.