Maru Mori

* Anime
* Manga
* Stage Play

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森 まる

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*Mori Maru*

* High School
* University

**Maru Mori** (森 (もり)  まる,  *Mori Maru*?) is a former art club member and Yatora Yaguchi's senior who graduated to enter Musahino Art University where she continued to pursue religious art.

## **Appearance**

Mori is a teenage pale-skinned girl of small stature with black hair styled in a short bob and light blue eyes.

She wears a Seifuku with a blue collar, skirt, and ribbon. When painting, she prefers to wear a Kappogi smock, which accentuates her femininity. She has been noted to have a scarily focused looking face when drawing.

## **Personality**

Mori is a quiet and good-natured girl, showing kindness to Yatora Yaguchi during their first meeting. She is extremely knowledge about classical art techniques and holds a philosophy that there is no such thing as talent, only skill and experience, which she brings up after Yatora expresses envy of her artistic abilities.

She specializes in oil painting and ends up pursuing it as her college major after graduating. When creating art, it is noted that she is extremely focused to the point of appearing scary.

## **Plot**

### Awakening to the Joy of Painting Arc

Mori was first seen carrying her art piece to the art club room. She and Yatora have a conversation where she reveals she doesn't believe she is talented, but does think about art more than other people. Mori becomes the first step to inspire Yatora Yaguchi to pursue art. She continued to work on her art club, planning on applying to Gendai, Tama, and Mau.

Mori went to a cram school during the following summer, and placed fifth from last. However, she still gets accepted by Musashino University for religious paintings.

Mori graduates the following spring, where she runs into Yatora again. She has a conversation with him about the origins of art, and hands him a sketch of Nike, the goddess of victory as a prayer/good luck charm. She finally graduates, being handed a sketch of herself by Yatora as her classmates wished her good luck.

### Gendai Exam Arc

Mori breifly appears as a hallucination by Yatora Yaguchi before the Second Exam begins.

She appears later again after the exams are over to visit the art club. While she just misses meeting Yatora, she does meet Masako Saeki again. Mori sees Yatora's final Gendai exam piece, and mentions that it's wonderful.

## **Relationships**

### Ryuji Ayukawa

Mori and Yuka were friends during high school, with Yuka assisting Mori with different aspects of her work. The two are seen as close classmates, and assist each other in art club. They are shown to be close, as Yuka hugs Mori when she gets into Musahino Art University.

### Yatora Yaguchi

Mori's painting inspired Yatora to dive deeper into the world of art. He finds her focus when drawing scary and considers her art to be crazy good. It is stated that Mori's painting was also the reason that Yatora decided to major in oil painting, though he is too embarrassed to admit so out loud. After Mori gets into Musahino, she asks Yatora for a favor- a graduation present from her kouhai in the form of art. Yatora says that if it wasn't for Mori, he probably would have never gotten into art and that he really likes her drawings. Mori reveals that, at the beginning, she never imagined Yatora would be applying to art school, since he seemed like a shady delinquent and had a fake smile, but now she knows that he is a hard worker. She gives him a drawing of Nike, the greek goddess of victory, as a prayer for his success. Yatora tells her that he needs a bit more time to complete his drawing for her, and that he'll give it to her after her graduation ceremony. After receiving the drawing from Yatora, Mori cries and says she'll treasure it. When struggling on what to paint on his F-100 canvas, Yatora allows Yuka to take him to visit Mori. However, when he sees Mori's new paintings, he is struck by them and is immediately inspired to draw. He leaves without meeting Mori, and leaves a note saying that he will come again to visit.

## **Etymology**

* The name **Maru** means "circle" (まる).
* Maru's surname **Mori** means "forest" (森).

## **Trivia**

* Mori appears ocassionaly on Yuka's Instagram stories