Mitsuru

Mitsuru plays the role of a stamen in Franxx Genista and his partner is Kokoro.

## Appearance

Mitsuru has a very clean and regular appearance with clear features. He has vertpaon (piercing dark green) eyes and is 165 cm tall, which was originally the second longest stamen between Zorome and Hiro. He wears the standard Stamen uniform. Due to being given a dangerous injection as a child, his health was fragile and briefly deteriorated after he once piloted the Strelisia, which required him to take medication. He has olive-brown hair, which he combed back.

## Personality

As a child, Mitsuru was rather reserved and shy, but seemed to be very happy when he received the name from Hiro. He respected him greatly and always followed him everywhere. His admiration for Hiro at the time made him want to someday pilot Franxx alongside Hiro if he comes back alive from a very risky injection to become strong enough to pilot. Hiro happily accepted his offer. However, Hiro forgot about their promise due to his memories being erased, and because Mitsuru didn't know about it, it shook his faith in people as well as himself.

Mitsuru is full of pride and has developed a strong arrogant, boorish and cynical personality. He hates to be pitied, and Kokoro is quoted as saying that he never liked relying on others for support. Aloof and outspoken, Mitsuru often had little to no interaction with his comrades unless fighting alongside, often looked down on his comrades, and experienced little to no benefit from Ikuno. Mitsuru has also always been portrayed as very introverted and has always dismissed any attempts by people to get to know him. He also didn't have any interest in other people, so he wasn't particularly worried about them. He also believed that the discussion of the previous human civilization was irrelevant to the point that he was not interested in why people stopped having children, and he did not need to live for the sake of others, but to fulfill his duties as a parasite. Initially, he was very cold, blunt, and despised Hiro for supposedly breaking their promise to pilot the Franxx together. He scolded Hiro and at the same time tried to outdo him, boasting that he was always better at pointing Franxx at him, to the point where he even became overconfident.

Due to a broken promise, Mitsuru made it his goal to surpass Hiro in everything, including piloting Zero Two once. However, when he was defeated by the power he felt, he succumbed to a brief moment of audacity and violence in which he brutally killed countless klaxosaurs and demonstrated that he was more suited to her as a partner than Hiro. When he was seriously injured while riding with her, he was deeply traumatized and became fearful of her, to the point of avoiding her. Despite his calm and collected appearance, he is deeply frightened, as he has convinced himself that whatever expectations he has for others, and others for him, will be deceived. He did not want to believe in anyone anymore, because he was afraid that he would be let down again. He also considered himself incompetent and had a severe lack of self-confidence due to everything that had happened to his failed attempt to ride with 02 and his general feeling of inadequacy compared to Hiro. However, after Kokoro's support, which helped him reclaim his destiny in others and himself, and helped him start relying on others, Mitsuru underwent a significant change. With Kokoro's encouragement and the realization that Hiro wasn't to blame for breaking their promise, Mitsuru began to gradually become more mature, considerate, and kind to his comrades, and he begins to smile more.

## Story

As a child, 016 named himself Hiro and 015 named himself Ichigo. Mitsuru stood with his ball. Other children started asking for names too. Although they waited for their parents, they never returned to them. Mitsuru also shyly asked for a name. Hiro smiled back at him.

Hiro sat next to Ichigo and asks if she wants a name since he gave it to himself. He gave his name and said that it would be easier for her if she had a name like his, so he named her "Ichigo". He said that having a name can make you feel different. She was amazed and asked if he could name the others. He started naming other children, including Mitsuru.

Two adults came in and said they couldn't change their designation without permission. Hiro politely asked what the problem was. The adults realized that he was one of the teenagers and simply told him not to do as he pleases before leaving. Hiro thought they never answered his questions and the other kids never asked them.

When he was 9 years old, Mitsuru left with an adult and Hiro asked if he was going to the lab and if anything was wrong. Mitsuru said he was going to inject the elixir since he couldn't stay if he didn't. Mitsuru said that he wants to become a parasite with him. He asked if he would return alive, if he would pilot with him. He gladly agreed, and they both made a pinky promise.

After that, Hiro's memories were erased. Hiro forgot about his promise to Mitsuru, who upon returning was horrified that Hiro didn't remember the promise and called him a liar..

A few years later, at the age of 14, after being discharged from the Garden, Mitsuru was assigned to Plantation 13 with Ikuno.