Asuka Ootorii

Anime depiction

**Asuka Ootorii** (大鳥居 あすか, *Ōtorii Asuka*) is a Magical Girl with the designation of *"**Rapture**"* (***ラプチャー***) and the Titular Main Protagonist character of Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka. She is a magical war hero who now seeks to live a normal life but ended up being dragged back in and currently serves a member of Japan's anti-magical terrorism squad, M-Squad.

## Personality

Contrasting the other Magical Girls save for Lau Peipei, Asuka had a desire to leave her life as a Magical Girl behind her as the Distonian War had caused her much suffering. She lost various friends and her own parents during the war. Because of this, Asuka now prefers to maintain a civilian identity, only donning her Magical Girl identity when others were in danger beforehand- something that shows she still maintained the very traits that made her a great magical girl remain a deep part of her, such as a desire to protect others from harm which was initially the only occasions when Asuka would return to the battlefield. She only agreed to join M-Squad when things became clear that she was needed once again.

At first, Asuka seems cold and withdrawn, but she is friendly, loyal and protective to her friends and determined to make the world a better place. Asuka also struggles with PTSD, which sometimes gets in the way of her battles and everyday life.

## Relationships

### Magical Girls

#### Chevalier Francine

Asuka and Francine didn't often see eye to eye; Asuka had many problems with Francine's perversion towards her and the other magical girls and refused her "orders" to meet her in private. Nevertheless while Asuka had problems with Francine as a person, she had none with her skills as a Magical Girl and as a leader. When Francine died Asuka comforted her dying friend and agreed to her dying wish of taking on leadership in her stead.

### War Nurse Kurumi

While Asuka is oblivious to Kurumi's crush on her, she cares a lot for Kurumi, saving her on many occasions, such as during the Disas attack in episode 2/chapter 3 and when she gets hurt in the Ukraine arc. Asuka has called Kurumi "someone close to [her] that she can count on".

Kurumi takes on the role of the torture interrogator, so Asuka does not have to. When Asuka finds out about Kurumi's actions, Kurumi fears that Asuka will hate her, and she considers the possibility of ending her life. However, Asuka was angry at herself for not realizing what Kurumi was doing for her sake, and she accepts Kurumi's actions and assures her that she does not hate her.

At the end of the manga, Kurumi confesses her romantic feelings for Asuka, which Asuka accepts. They share a kiss and officially become a couple.

## Abilities & Powers

As an Magical Girl, Asuka possesses magical perception blocking that allows no one she knows in real life to recognize her, a reactive magical shield to protect herself from attacks, and the finishing move 'Magical Calorie Roll-Up'.

Asuka is the best martial artist out of the Magical Five, easily defeating Chisato Yonamine in chapter 48.1. She also is skilled in close combat, which the Babel Brigade uses to their advantage as they attack Asuka with a Cenobite-class in the Okinawa Arc, and is a skilled user of her karambit.

Her special move is 'Rapture Talon', which turns her karambit into a katana.

## Chronology

### Distonian War

Asuka's childhood dream was to become a Magical Girl. When the Disas arrived to Earth, Asuka was apparently an early recipient of the Magical Girl powers and also convinced her friend Kurumi Mugen to take up the mantle as well. One day, Asuka came to her home to find her parents missing and two Disas present. Demanding to know what they wanted in exchange for her parents' safety, the Disas replied that they would be sending them back without her doing anything. When the Disas left, a box appeared, and to her horror, she saw her parents' hands in it. From then onwards, the Disas sent Asuka pieces of her parents.

When Francine died Asuka became the leader of the surviving Magical Girls and participated in the battle to defeat the Disas King. After the battle Asuka opted to retire from being a Magical Girl and attempted to return to civilian life. A Japanese member of the military, Yoshiaki Iizuka, who had also survived the attack on the Disas, became her legal guardian on paper, although Asuka distanced herself from military affairs and lived alone. She cut off contact from her previous Magical Girl friends, including Kurumi, as she attempted to return to living a normal life. Unfortunately, she would soon find out doing that was easier said than done.

### Babel Brigade Arc

In this first arc, Asuka starts school, meets Nozomi Makino and Sayako Hata, and reunites with Kurumi Mugen. She also transforms for the first time since the war to save Sayako from Kim Kanthe's terrorist attack, and after Nozomi is tortured and she's unsuccessful in her attempt to bring down Abigail and her 'Queen', she joins M-Squad. Later in the arc, she captures Nazani from Oboroten in an attempt to save Kurumi and Shima.

### Okinawa Arc

Asuka's field trip plans are flipped on their head once Iizuka demands Asuka and Kurumi to guard the 6th Naha alongside Mia Cyrus and Tamara Volkova. This turns into a battle between Rapture Asuka and Giess, who she ends up defeating.

### Ukraine Arc

In this arc, Asuka is forced to fight her friends Tamara and Peipei once they're brainwashed by the Babel Brigade, and ends up fighting head-on against a magical dragon robot, Zmey.

### Saving Phoenix Arc

In this arc, Asuka fights to save Tamara from the hands of the Russian army, which is forcing and brainwashing Tamara to fight until she dies. She eventually manages to succeed in saving Tamara from the brainwashing and returning her to normal.

### New York Arc

In this arc, Asuka's time meeting with the 2nd generation magical girls turns into an all-out battle on the streets of New York, where she fights duplicates of Zmey with Kurumi and Mia.

Later in the arc, she fights the Distonian general Leyla and finds out that the Brigadier is Francine- and that they turned her friend Sayako into the Girl of Mass Destruction.

### Epilogue

Following the defeat of Francine and the deaths of Mia and Sayako, Asuka once again becomes depressed at the outcome.

Kurumi finally decides to confess her feelings for Asuka. While Asuka is surprised at first, she accepts, and she forms a romantic relationship with Kurumi, but she still remains depressed regarding Sayako's death.

Asuka comes across a recording that Francine left to her which revealed that Asuka's power accidentally revived her, and she believes Asuka can revive others. Knowing this, she successfully manages to resurrect Sayako, and the series ends with her smiling.

## Kill Count

* Numerous Disas during the Disas Crisis
* King of the Disas
* Two Magical Russian Mercenaries
* Giess

## Trivia

* Rapture has also been translated to 'Rupture' and 'Raptor'.
* Asuka is 5'5.
* She is voiced by Aya Suzaki in the original and Trina Nishimura in the English dub.
* Aya Suzaki has called Asuka one of the more difficult characters she had to play, as she's "more monotone, more somber and less energetic" than Suzaki's other characters.
* Her name means "large flying bird" in Japanese.
* Her personality and backstory is similar to Koyuki Himekawa from Magical Girl Raising Project, both being girls who wanted to become Magical Girls during their childhood and suffering from PTSD as a result of losing their friends.
* Asuka seems to enjoy anime. She watched a magical girl anime as a child, and as an adolescent, is a fan of Revolutionary Girl Utena along with Sayako. She also likes slice-of-life and comedy manga.
* According to Makoto Fukami, Asuka is a practitioner of silat, an indigenous Southeast Asian martial art, and Vovinam, a Vietnamese style of martial arts.