Hoshikawa, Hotaru
Summary
Hotaru Hoshikawa is a nineteen-year-old character born on July 7th in Tokyo. She stands at 157cm tall with blood type O. Hotaru is a close high school friend of Aoba Suzukaze and Nene Sakura, a bond formed when the pair discovered her feeling unwell in the art club room. She suffers from anemia, which causes frequent fatigue and fainting spells, but Aoba and Nene’s assistance helped them become fast friends. After graduating together in their final year, Hotaru pursued a degree at a fine arts college to become a professional illustrator, including a period of study in France before returning to Japan. Visually, Hotaru has short gray-blonde hair and purple eyes, typically adorned with two small flower pins on the left side. In the anime adaptation, she is depicted wearing a yellow shirt, a blue cardigan, and navy jeans, while the manga features her in various outfits. Her personality is defined by her kindness, politeness, and gentle nature, as she is rarely angered. She has a quirky sense of humor, enjoying puns and often laughing at her own jokes. Although she is a diligent worker, she tends to overexert herself and struggles with peer pressure, making her easily influenced. Despite her poor athletic ability, she enjoys sports, and her health condition means she is prone to collapsing. The name Hotaru is written in hiragana (ほたる), which lacks a specific meaning, though the kanji (蛍) can mean "firefly." Her surname Hoshikawa translates to "star" (星) and "river, stream" (川). Additionally, Hotaru bears a resemblance to Colette Ehle from Shotaro Tokuno’s earlier work, Komorebi no Kuni.
