Hotaru

SCIV

Soulcalibur VI

Hotaru is a prominent character that appears in the *Soul series*of fighting games. He made his debut in Soulcalibur IV and again appeared in Soulcalibur V. Later this year, he will be making his new timeline debut in Soulcalibur VI.

## Appearance

### Soul Calibur IV

Hotaru is pale and has faded, light-green hair and icy blue eyes. His outfit usually consist of reds, golds, and black. He wears a bright red top with gold symbolism on the chest. His pants are black and baggy and he wears a hood to match.

### Soul Calibur V

In Soulcalibur V, his skin is even paler than it was before, making him appear dead. A black steak is on the right side of his face and the whites of his eys are now black due to the completion of his malfestation. His hair is longer and thicker and he wears it in a messy, upwards hairstyle; that or in a ponytail. He still continues to wear black, red and gold, but he has abandoned his obessions with hoods and is seen to be a lot less conservative in clothing. His player one attire, he is dressed quite conservatively, however his story-mode unlockable 2p attire consists of pieces of his player one attire. The outfit shows his bare thighs, arms and shoulders.

## Personality

### Soulcalibur IV

In his first appearance, Hotaru is shown to switch moods drastically during a fight. Depending on whether he is selected as player 1 or player 2 will determine what mood he goes into a match. Cocky and Enraged were the names given to his moods, however they are not separate personalities. Due to his merging with Charade, Hotaru's emotions are extremely volatile, meaning he can become angered at the flick of a wrist. There is no visual indicators in-game for when he switches moods, but his voice tone does change significantly. Hotaru's typical attitude is one of an overly-confident, disrespectful teenage boy. He has no problem tossing insults at someone, as seen by the quote: "Not bad, for trash."

### Soulcalibur V

During his time asleep, he and Charade had merged better. Hotaru is now in control of himself once more, and his personality is a better reflection of his "cocky" attitude in Soulcalibur IV. He is, however, just as malicious and sadistic as his "angry" mood. He also seems more strategic and calmer, as he makes plans and goals instead of running into some half-tilt.

## Fighting Style

Hotaru mixes typical martial arts with dancing and grace. He spins and twirls about while dealing huge damage with strong yet casual strikes. He is a trickster, faking out his opponent with dancing or poses. He is extremely flexible as show with many of his attacks using a split or arching backwards in many ways. Hotaru is high energy, flowing around the stage like an angel, in high contrast to his personality.

## Weapons

In all of Hotaru's appearances, he uses a Jian (Chinese Straight Blade) that he recieved from his older sister. The blade will sometimes change appearance if Hotaru wills it enough, and he has been able to briefly trick people into thinking he wielded Soul Calibur.

## Trivia

* Hotaru means "Lightning Bug" or "Firefly"
* Hotaru was one of the most conservatively dressed characters until Soulcalibur V.
* Hotaru's "natural colourations" can be viewed as Perfect KO bonus-- he sports freckles and pale lavendar hair like his mother.
* Hotaru is a mix of Japanese and Chinese; his name is Japanese while his outfit sports elements of both, and his weapon and fighting style are Chinese-based.