Jintaro Shima

**Jintaro Shima** (志磨 仁太郎, *Shima Jintarō*) is one of the main characters of Shōwa Otome Otogi Banashi. A member of the Shima family, he is adopted by Tamayo Shima. Three years later, he flees the terror of his foster mother, reuniting with his childhood love.

## Appearance

Jintaro is a tall young man with black hair and grey eyes. He is bored to have a scary face, even when he tries to smile.

## Personality

As a child, Jintaro was interested in cameras due to his grandfather's influence, and enjoyed watching films at the Shima Cinema. He was fond of his grandfather but had no such bond with his parents, who neglected him. Even as a child, his rage could be easily set off and he was not afraid to get violent if pushed to the edge. At times, he exhibits a humorous expression when angry. He can be polite one minute and extremely harsh another.

Due to Tamayo's abuse, he develops a dark and uncaring side. He would be acrimonious towards anyone he couldn't rely on or deems a threat. Because of the darkness within him, Jintaro often questions whether he deserves to live or experience happiness. However, Tokoyo is able to restore light in him, allowing him to smile again and begin pursuing happiness for his and Tokoyo's sake.

Jintaro has mixed feelings towards his foster mother after seeing her true nature. Even though he despises her and expresses a desire to kill her, he is also too afraid of her to rebel. However, when he does resolve to be free of her, he is able to express some forgiveness before finally escaping.

With Tokoyo, his cold exterior began to crumble as his previous feelings for her began to re-emerge. Before long, he became a doting husband towards her, always smiling and teasing her.

## Background

Jintaro is a distant relative in the Shima family. He was the grandson of the owner of Shima Cinema in Kobe. He was never close with his parents -his mother preferring to meet with and entertain men whereas his father rarely visited him and couldn't even remember how old Jintaro was- and spent all his time with his grandfather who showed him films and taught him to use a camera. Before he died, his grandfather gave him an old Kovak camera and asked him to use it to take a picture of the girl he loved, hoping he would find a companion that way.

Since his earliest days, Jintaro was best friends with his neighbor Tokoyo Kurosaki, whom he knew was being abused by her stepmother for not being perfect at everything. Some time after his grandfather passed, Jintaro came down with a severe fever. When his parents ignored his calls for help, he would suffer alone until Tokoyo found him and nursed him back to health. During that time, she said she would die if he did, and Jintaro realized he was falling in love with her.

At age 13, Jintaro and Tokoyo planned their first suicide pact together. They went to an amusement park to have fun before the deed but were undecided on how to commit suicide. During a boat ride, Tokoyo admitted her desire to kiss him and have a baby with him. Their lack of knowledge on how babies are made made them cancel the pact. When Jintaro learned about reproduction, he was too embarrassed to tell it to Tokoyo.

Shortly after his 14th birthday, he found her walking in the rain after she had been brutally beaten by her stepmother. He took a samurai sword and confronted her stepmother before running away with Tokoyo to the cinema. There he confessed his love to her and she kissed him, saying she felt the same way. However, the police arrived to arrest Jintaro and returned Tokoyo to her mother. He was sent to live with a distant relatives in Tokyo. However, the person who adopted him turned out to be Tamayo Shima, who - unable to have kids of her own - sought to use him to cure her loneliness. In the beginning, she treated him well, meeting his basic needs and providing a servant who later became his friend. Jintaro would learn of his foster mother's true nature when he tried to send a letter to Tokoyo. He entrusted it to Seiji, who was slain by Tamayo before he could mail the letter. Tamayo then threatened Tokoyo's life, which spurred Jintaro to threaten her with a knife. Before he could use it, Tamayo gleefully threw herself at the knife and smeared his face with her blood, declaring the act to be Jintaro's "rebirth" as a child as evil as her.

After she recovered from the knife injury, Tamayo returned and forced her true, distorted form of love onto Jintaro, starting with isolating him to raping him. Traumatized by her words and actions that day, he was powerless to resist her emotional manipulation and sexual abuse. He was unable to have any friends because Tamayo murdered any that tried to bond with him, leaving him in total isolation. After three years of this, 16-year-old Jintaro felt he was too corrupt by his foster mother to continue existing. Under the pretext of honoring his birth mother's passing and attending a new school, he returned to Kobe to see Tokoyo one last time before cutting ties with her and ending his life.

## Plot

After fleeing from Tamayo, Jintaro revisits a row of Trifoliate shrubs, spot where he and Tokoyo used to meet as children, finding her there crying the way she used to. Although he wanted to comfort her, he hoped to sever ties with her and have her forget about him. He pretends to be cold and heartless towards her to the point of sexually harassing her. This devastates Tokoyo, who can’t understand how the Jintaro she knew has become so cruel. She does attempt to move in from him but when she falls into a river to save a photo of her and Jintaro, he witnesses this and jumps in to save her. His adoptive aunt, Tamako, resuscitates her and Jintaro immediately recognizes Tamako as his adoptive aunt. As Tokoyo recovers, he suggests to Tamako that marry him but she criticizes him for this joke. Jintaro moves into the Shima Cinema and works several jobs, including a pharmacy owned by his sponsor, whose daughter, Liselotte, is infatuated with him.

Jintaro later sees Tokoyo being abused by her younger half-brother, whom he locks in a cabinet closet as punishment. When her stepmother intervenes and further insults Tokoyo, Jintaro admits he came back to protect the person he likes (Tokoyo) from people like her stepmother. Tokoyo finally stands up to her stepmother and runs away from home, Jintaro invites her to live with him at the cinema. He also attempts to repay Tamako for saving Tokoyo and accompanies Tamako to visit her grandmother and the two are forced to seek shelter in a shrine during a thunderstorm. Tamako gets scared from the thunder, and Jintaro comforts her. Jintaro later falls ill with a fever, prompting Tokoyo, Tamako, and Liselotte to take care of him. During his recovery, he finally tells Tokoyo about the hardships he endured after he was taken away and adopted by Tamayo, including that he had returned to Kobe to take his own life but wanted to see Tokoyo one more time before he did so. Tokoyo offers to commit suicide with him as she would have no reason to live without him but he stops her. He tries once more to push her away by saying her feelings are not his problem but she comforts him. Following this, Jintaro realizes he is still in love with Tokoyo.

Jintaro becomes jealous when Tokoyo begins staying away from home longer than usual, suspecting she has met a new lover. But when he learns she was actually learning household chores from Yuzuki (his adoptive aunt), he longs to show his affection for Tokoyo by getting her a gift. He makes a Karatachi flower hair pin as a gift for Tokoyo, which she never takes off. Before long, Jintaro begins taking pictures again, mostly of Tokoyo. While walking together, Tokoyo tells him that they are old enough to marry and, although he wants to marry her, her parents would never approve. He goes to his apartment and is horrified to find Tamayo there, as she snuck in to wish him a late happy 17th birthday. She informs him that she has decided to have him marry Tamako and father children with her in order to restore the Shima family, much to Jintaro's disgust as this would be incestuous. She also tells him of her idea to marry Tokoyo to her older brother, but Jintaro knows Tamaki died after the Great Kanto Earthquake years ago: she is actually planning to kill Tokoyo. He goes to Tamako to alert her of Tamayo’s plot and she agrees to help him and Tokoyo escape while she and her brothers go to the police. Jintaro gives his camera to Tamako (as it contains evidence of Tamayo's crimes, including of her raping him). He also gives her his passbook and tells her to wait for further instructions. Armed with a sword, Jintaro goes to confront Tamayo. Having made up his mind, he tries to kill her but is stopped by Tokoyo. Tamayo tries to kill them with the sword instead and the two flee. Tamayo quickly puts a bounty on them, so the two try to seek shelter at his grandfather's cinema, only to find Tamayo has set it on fire. The fire is put out before the building is completely destroyed, and they flee in the chaos.

Despairing that he will never be free of Tamayo, Jintaro hints that he will commit suicide. Tokoyo offers to join him as she can't find happiness without him. Jintaro leaves a suicide letter, giving the police the whereabouts of the evidence linking Tamayo to her crimes and forgiving her for her abusive parenting although he considers her to be the devil, before jumping off a bridge with Tokoyo. They meet with his relatives who help them seek shelter at the Arima Onsen inn, where they are given a room and jobs. Although they want to get married and Jintaro has taken the surname Kurosaki, they are unable to register without revealing they are alive to Tamayo. Instead, they live together and consider each other as husband and wife. While content, they fail to consummate their relationship due to Jintaro's reluctance (likely due to the sexual abuse he endured). After meeting an elderly, dying lady whose husband resembled Jintaro, he feels sympathy for her loneliness due to her grief over her late husband, as it reminds him of how lonely Tokoyo was after was taken away. He uses his savings to pay off her debt and convinces her to move to her late husband’s hometown with her daughters before she dies. She then offers him and Tokoyo to live in her lodge house. Jintaro suggests to Tokoyo they turn it into their own guest and parlor house, which has been her dream since childhood and she accepts.

As they set up their parlor and guest house, they have their first major fight over their differences on how to operate the house but then the fight becomes more about their lack of intimacy. Tokoyo storms out after both refuse to apologize. Jintaro later feel guilty for fighting with her and, when she comes back, they apologize and reconcile. He worries for Tokoyo as she battles a fever due to her running in a rainstorm to make up with him. When she seems to be getting better, Tokoyo begins coughing up blood and is diagnosed with tuberculosis, worrying Jintaro that she will likely die like her mother did from the same disease. He is deeply grateful when Tamako and Hakaru step in to take care of her. To keep moving forward, they continue with their plan to open a parlor and guest house but Tokoyo is forced to reside in a house in the mountains as part of her treatment, and Jintaro works at the parlor and guesthouse and visits her every day.

Two years later, Jintaro learns that Tamayo has died in prison from tuberculosis (she got from Tokoyo after kidnapping her) and he feels a mixture of relief and sadness of finally being free from her but losing the woman who was his adoptive mother. Tokoyo fails to improve and her dreams of death deeply worry him. After reading *Romeo & Juliet* with her, she tells him to keep living after she dies because there are people who need him and she doesn’t have much time left. He later leaves but gets a bad feeling and rushes back to the house to find her on the floor, having failed to take poison to commit suicide. She accepts she is going to die and pleads for Jintaro to let her die so won’t suffer anymore. Jintaro breaks down into tears and says he will die with her because he can’t be happy without her and would rather die if he can’t be with her. Both resolve to continue living. He later takes her to the guest and parlor house to show her the row of Trifoliate shrubs he planted as a surprise for her. When he is accepted into the army for the Second Sino-Japanese War, she encourages him to go to war and do his duties, and she will wait for him no matter what. He asks Tamako and Hakaru to take care of her while he goes to war. He finally asks her to officially marry him and she says yes. On November 11, 1934, they have a wedding ceremony with Tamako and Hakaru as witnesses. However, rather than consummating their marriage, they fall asleep in each other's arms as Jintaro apologizes that he will have to leave her. Shortly after, Jintaro leaves for war.

Due to the war, Jintaro isn't able to write to Tokoyo very often; she gets her first letter from him two years after he left. Five years after he left, Jintaro tries to help a fellow soldier who was injured when the latter spots a grenade. He pushes Jintaro to save himself, causing Jintaro to be hit by the grenade. Later, it is reported that Jintaro was killed in action, though no body is found. This conclusion was based on a small bone fragment and a letter addressed from him to Tokoyo found with his blood. Everyone is grief stricken. After his funeral, Tokoyo contemplates suicide by overdosing on the same poison from before but she realizes that Jintaro suspected she would attempt suicide if he died so he switched the poison bottle with sugary water. Tokoyo decides against suicide as she believes Jintaro would want her to live on.

Five years later, the Pacific War ends. Tokoyo visits the Trifoliate shrubs and begins mourning Jintaro once again and breaks down crying when he suddenly appears in front of her. Missing his left eye and arm, he is embraced by Tokoyo. As he readjusts to normal life, Jintaro refuses to talk about his experience in the war, even with Tokoyo. They resume operating their parlor house and host Tamako and Hakaru. While bathing, Tokoyo drunkenly tries to kiss him but Jintaro says they should go to bed.

Shortly after, they finally consummate their relationship and he is shocked when he learns Tokoyo is pregnant. She gives birth to their son and they are shown to be living happily as a family.

## Relationships

### Tokoyo Kurosaki

Jintaro has been in love with Tokoyo since childhood to the point he would rather die with her than be apart from her. After a 3 year separation, he treats her with coldness to make her hate him but when this fails and her love for him prevails, he begins showing her affection. They entertained running away together to escape their abusive backgrounds and families but found that it would be almost impossible. Both decided to fake committing suicide by jumping off a bridge. After the scheme worked, they eloped and settled in Kobe. Despite her illness, him being drafted into war and being presumed dead, and his miraculous return, they never stop loving each other. Following his return, they have their first child together.

### Tamayo Shima

Jintaro despises his adoptive mother, Tamayo, who has no familial affection for him and manipulates him to turn him into someone as twisted as her. Despite claiming to act out of love, she physically, emotionally, and sexually abuses him constantly, and refuses to let him make connections with anyone but her. She went as far as to dare him to stab her, only to thrust herself onto the blade when he hesitated. Tamayo hopes to force him to restart the Shima family, another factor that causes him to fake his death in order to escape from her.

### Liselotte Meggendorfer

The daughter of a patron Tamayo set Jintaro up with. She is infatuated with him, but he has no romantic feelings for her.

### Tamako Shima

Jintaro's adoptive aunt. She worries about him due to the trauma of what he endured at Tamayo's hands and is very supportive of him. He tries to distance himself from her but lets her help him when he needs it. They become closer to where he goes to her for help when Tokoyo becomes ill, she is present for his wedding ceremony and mourns him when he is presumed dead.

## Etymology

* The name **Jintaro** means "compassionate" (仁) (**jin**), "thick, big, great" (太) (**ta**) and "son, man" (郎) (**ro**).

## Trivia

* Jintaro loves sweets and hates dried plums.
* In addition to photography and films, Jintaro has a fondness for poetry and Shakespeare.
* Jintaro can speak fluent German and was an honor student in school.
* Jintaro is skilled in crafts, as he made a flower pin for Tokoyo and taught her how to make perfume.
* According to Sana Kirioka's Twitter:
	+ He is born in the year of the Tiger.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 39
2. ↑ Chapter 42
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/sana\_kirioka/status/1477189313532153857