NameAsuka Ehime
Vigilante NameN/A
Age22 (December 8 1996)
SpeciesMutant
GenderFemale
EthnicityJapanese
NationalityJapanese (aiming to switch to American)
OccupationUnemployed Ex-Actress
AlignmentGood
AppearanceMany describe Asuka as “elegant”, at 1.70cm with a thin frame with sharp facial features. Due to her powers, her weight changes a lot, so does her hair and even how pale/tanned her skin is, though she does like to keep her hair on a down to earth short cut, perhaps to dissociate her with characters she played in the past.
PersonalityUnlike many of her characters, Asuka is a reserved and good-natured person, intelligent but lacking self-discipline (as seen in her often messy room and problems with keeping a proper schedule.) She had trouble dealing with fame and yet felt jealous and inadequate in comparison to her more popular friends, and while that has stayed in the past, her issue continues the same, she is just happy when she is living in a simple environment but is too ambitious to not aim for something greater.
As a mutant, she is a romantic thanks to the influence of her mother and friends. She thinks mutants should act as paragons, first as a symbol of good, setting the bar and drawing lines in the sand even if other more ruthless paths seem more efficient, second on an aesthetic level, thinking mutants should be like the living version of the ancient paintings of deities.
Origin► Early Life
Born in 1996 in a small Japanese fishing village to a family that had ties to ancient mutant lines, often called ‘kami’ in the past, albeit none to a truly relevant line. She lived a simple life with her mother and father in a temple, many mutants had had trouble with the cultural and scientific changes brought in the 50s and 60s to Japan, but Asuka’s family always had developed a modest and sincere relationship with the village, thus maintaining their status, and even increasing it, as they often used their powers to help the locals on a more clear way.
To Asuka, however, there was a desire for shinier things than the life in a humble village, she had always been interested in pop culture and media, in particular, hero stories that used real mutant actors. Of course, studios in Tokyo were always ready to take in a new potential mutant actress, especially a young one, so when producers caught wind of Asuka, the opportunities started to rain.
► Cute Combat
At the age of 8, in 2004, Asuka finally got her first role. She had to move away from her home but thankfully had an aunt in the metropolitan area that took her in. She was to play a minor villain in the magical girl show Cute Combat, albeit a recurrent one, this was due to her powers being unclear, even if it was obvious she was a mutant. This was when she was introduced to the thriving culture of mutant pop culture of Japan that had started in the 60s. Jun Uramoto, the actress who played the protagonist of the show, Cherry Pink, was, in particular, a strong influence, since despite only being 10, the girl had a clear fascination with the history of the media.
Asuka’s role, Princess Saikuron, was popular with watchers thanks to her smug and often over the top reactions, this popularity only increased when she finally developed her powers, around season three of the show, especially since it was so versatile and useful for a weekly format show. It was no surprise that when the format got a bit stale, around season seven, she joined the good girls team as Cloud White, though while a useful asset to the team in the last two seasons, she ended up being good at helping the other girls stand out, but was somewhat overshadowed herself.
► Career issues and America
As a mutant actress, Asuka would keep trying to get other roles even as Cute Combat continued, in particular, she sought roles that felt calmer and ‘good’ in comparison to Saikuron’s outlandishness, in particular, because she did not want to be a one trick pony. She got a few lead roles, and many minor roles in romantic comedies, but nothing that really stood out the test of time like Cute Combat, this situation became particularly problematic starting 2015, when Cute Combat ended, while the finale was loved, most agreed it was time to end it.
While many of the CuteCom actresses would land important roles in society, Asuka was definitely not someone who did that, her powers were not useful for anything but combat, yet not exactly of the interest of the Japanese police force. Life in Tokyo was also made not too nice by the constant gossiping and requests to go to talk shows merely to talk about her struggling career and what was her opinion on her friend’s latest actions.
In 2017 she had had enough and decided to move away back home, but that did not work out well either, it was still too slow for her. It was then that she considered leaving to the US. Cute Combat had never got popular there despite the love for Japanese media due to a preference for darker shows, meaning she wouldn’t need to deal with no one’s shadow.
And that leads to now. An ex-child-actress with more than enough money living in Azure City. She still doesn’t know what to do with her life, but at least its quiet now.
Notable Relations-Jun Uramoto
The lead actress of Cute Combat under Cherry Pink. A mutant with strenght powers. Took the role of some sort of mentor and political influencer when Asuka was new in the big city. Spends most of her time curating museums and leading groups that fight to keep the relative freedom and autonomy of mutant pop culture back in Japan.
-Gin Maekawa
Actress who played Cobalt Blue in Cute Combat. A cold person to talk to, but still someone caring, who will have others’ back. After CuteCom she focused on joining the police as her powers are all related to observation and deduction.
-Irisa
Actress who played Carmine Red, a mutant with blinking powers. Has since focused on fashion, and was the one who suggest Azure City to Isuga, even if she had lived in Italy for a while.
ResourcesPretty well off due to years of acting on a popular show with no habit of overspending, but not exactly swimming in cash.
Everyday SkillsShe is actually a pretty good cook, able to tell apart each aspect of a meal.
CombatFighting StyleWith a mix of a strong tradition in martial arts and a booming mutant culture, Japan developed quite a few new philosophies of combat, many quite extravagant. Asuka’s preferred methods are mix of “Overwhelm” style, which is all about field control and incessant response to actions to mess with an enemy’s mind and “Elegant” style, which focuses on a few decisive ‘finisher’ blows.
StrengthsIn the middle range, she is a very hard foe to overcome, making it hard to approach her but too dangerous to disengage and run. The training she had received for the shows were not just theatrics and she has a good response time.
WeaknessesLong range has been a known issue for her, she can move fast when using certain absorbed matter, but that also means leaving behind the defenses. Her style is very front focused, attacks from the sides or the back are an issue. If the range is too close, one can deny the use of her powers by simply holding her arms, she is not untrained but far from strong enough to avoid a grapple. All of these are natural weaknesses but also a result of all her training being based on group combat for a TV show, she is simply not trained to be a lone fighter.
EquipmentMost of her equipment was studio property, so as useful as they were, she hasn’t seen it in years. The one exceptions are sets of clothes, gifts from Irisa, who are resistant to most elements, saving her from the awkwardness of returning home in the nude.
Power - Absorption
Simply put, Asuka absorbs matter which is then used to change her body. When she places her arms in a parallel position a space-bending vortex appears in the empty space between both wrists, this creates a sucking vacuum in front of her that will absorb any loose matter. This matter is then deconstructed and used by her body, one at a time.
Known forms, from most common to least commonAir: Makes her lighter and faster, able to blow out gusts of winds.
Earth/Rock: Makes her heavy and stronger, forms a great combo with Air.
Water: Makes her slippery, enables water breathing, she can blow out water but it burns her matter fast.
Ice: Makes her very cold, leaving a trail of ice behind. Also slippery.
Metal: Resistance and armor, not as strong as earth but still strong.
Glass: Makes her body hard to grasp thanks to the sharp blades of glass covering it. Also really sparkly.
Dew/Honey: Makes her body sticky and somewhat gooey.
Fire: Giver her an aura of fire, she cannot throw fireballs or any projectiles. Will consume other types of matter such as air and plant.
Thunder/Electricity: Increases speed and enables stunning electric attacks.
Chitin: Armor with decent speed, basically impossible to attain right now due to the nature of her powers.
Feather: Speed and gliding, basically impossible to attain right now due to the nature of her powers.
Know things that when consumed will not result in a form:Vegetable organic matter: Is simply consumed as if it was food, produces some heat but that is it.
Dead animal organic matter: The same as plants, is merely consumed as food, even if it contains Chitin.
Metals: Mercury, Uranium, Lead, Gold, all of that if consumed produces no special effect but feed the metal form.
Carbon-related materials in general: From coal to diamonds to plastic.
Know things that cannot be consumed:Living animals: Of course, many small animals and even people if they happened to try to dive kick right into the vortex can be taken into Asuka, but cannot be fully deconstructed. Without medical aid, Asuka cannot keep anything living “in her” for more than a minute before her ‘gag reflex’ forces her to spit it out and burn all of her matter.
Light: It will immediately escape her body in a flash when the vortex is closed.
Any sort of mammal, reptile or fish life produces no effect, insect life produces the chitin form and bird life produces the feather form. During the show days, she would be given sedated and bound animals, which would make it possible for her to hold them for an hour or two before the gag reflex kicked in (all animals being brought back safely.) however, as an independent person without studio help, there is no way she could get 30 kilograms of sedated animals in time for combat.
The mutant question: What happens if a mutant falls in? Nothing. She does not gain or copy a power from the mutant, if they had some sort of matter considered external to them (such as summoned ice armor, for example) then that matter would be consumed, but it does not matter since she cannot possibly hold a living entity for more than one minute without medicine, and forcefully creating a vortex to expell things she consumed (the gag reflex) causes her to be unable to absorb or use matter for hours.
The strength and limits of the vortex-Asuka can create a vortex to absorb matter between arms (or by pressing her cheeks, this was how she did it on the tv show days, but its very embarrassing).
-The vortex will suck in a cone-shaped range in front of it.
-It has space bending properties so objects that near it distort so they can fit into the marble-sized black sphere.
-It can only consume loose objects that are caught in its vacuum, pressing the vortex against a wall or a chain does no damage.
-Most persons are able to resist the vortex’s pull simply by standing up with sure footing. Taking steps forward or firing projectiles however are not good ideas.
-It is unknown where the vortex leads to, it is typically referred to as being ‘within Usage’ as it does look like she is eating things, however, there is no signal of the consumed matter in her body. The few who fell into the vortex have no memory of after the fall. Recent experiments have shown the ‘flash’ her body produces when she closes the vortex are indeed the photons she consumed escaping from within her body, but this has not done much to explain the mystery.
Matter absorption’s and form shift limits and rules-Matter absorbed (with exceptions) is deconstructed, meaning it loses many of the proprieties it once had. A bullet, for example, just becomes ‘metal’, and cannot be recovered.
-Asuka can only use one type of matter enhancement at a time. This is known as taking a form (see list above)
-Matter doesn’t interact, having consumed thunder and fire won’t make them manifest while in the metal form.
-Once a form is taken, it cannot be reversed until all of the related matter is consumed.
-She cannot hold matter for later, all matter must be consumed before she goes back to normal and can open the vortex. Consuming anything with the vortex forces her to take a form.
-Different actions consume matter at different speeds, just swimming around with water is a low-cost action, but spitting out a torrent of water is something she can only do once or twice before she runs out of the water.
-There is a minimum of matter before she can take a stable form, eating a pot of honey won’t enable the honey form, it takes a barrel or a whole supermarket shelf. If usable material does not reach the threshold when she starts to take form, it is lost.
Average power and combat usage-Individually, the forms cannot beat a hero of the same area, obviously. It would take hours for Asuka to be able to consume enough air to produce a whirlwind, for example, and that would be a one time use of the matter.
-Its strength is in combos. From something as simple as going up in the air with wind and falling down like a meteor with earth to using electricity to set a place ablaze and then taking a fire form so she is immune to the heat.
The “Gag reflex” and the limits of consumption-Asuka can consume up to 100kg of matter. Size and density not mattering.
-There is matter that won’t result in a form and matter that cannot be consumed, see the list in the forms section.
-If she eats something that she cannot digest, the ‘gag reflex’ which is a forced vortex to spell that matter, will be open.
-She is very resistant to things she absorbs, but she cannot simply slurp toxic sludge forever, the gag reflex will kick in.
-Once the gag reflex kicks in, not only she will expel all unabsorbable matter, she will also consume all absorbable matter she is holding, leaving her ‘empty’. This generates a very small explosion of energy, not an issue unless you are within arms reach of her.
-She will be sick after such an event and unable to open the vortex to absorb matter for a few hours to a couple of days.
Extra
-Unlike Jun, who focuses only on the heritage of mutants in Japan, Asuka is interested in it as a whole, this is in part why Azure City interests her.
-Is very susperticious.
-Taking forms doesn't change her looks that much and has not effect on her personality, but, due to all the acting, she has a habit of changing her tone.
-In fact, she is far less shy when using her powers.
-Is incredibly embarassed of all that appears if you search for fanart and fanfic on the web.
Maksim Lyaksandro Lowe
