Minami Hokutozai

* Anime
* Manga

**Minami Hokutozai** (北 (ほく) 東 (とう) 西 (ざい)  南 (みなみ) , *Hokutōzai Minami*) is a pre-petrification human and was a reporter before the petrification event. She was revived by Tsukasa, someone she heavily admires, to help locate strong and capable people for increasing the power of the Tsukasa Empire. After the collapse of the Empire, she joins and helps the Kingdom of Science with her information gathering and documentation skills.

## Appearance

Minami is a curvy young woman of moderate height with very long, slightly wavy, blonde hair that reaches her hips. She wears a short grey headband that has two cone-shaped protrusions at the ends which are hollow, allowing her to hide small items within it. She has large brown eyes, slightly pointed at the ends, and soft facial features. Her lips are thin and darkened. Minami is exceptionally well-endowed.

She wears a short paneled burgundy dress with short splits at the top of her thighs. It is both shoulderless and sleeveless, with a ragged top hem. A tan-colored ribbon is wrapped around her upper body, just below her breasts, with no visible knot. She does not wear shoes.

## Personality

She seems to prefer strong, handsome men with strong conviction as she is enamored with Tsukasa and is heartbroken when he is cryogenically frozen in order to save him. Despite this, she has great confidence in her abilities as a former reporter to determine who will be the best to revive, whether working for the Tsukasa Empire or for the Kingdom of Science.

It seems she is particular with the kind of man she likes and doesn't just focus on looks or strength, as Ryusui's proclamations of her as being beautiful did not move her at all (she even seemed confused but not disgusted)  though she did get embarrassed and blush heavily when he was first revived and fully naked. She also reacted with comical disgust and exasperation at Moz's antics, particularly due to his desire to protect the "cute girls".

She was initially a firm believer in Tsukasa's philosophy of not reviving greedy or rich people, fearing they would plunge the new era in chaos. This was best seen when she did not want to revive Ryusui, though admitted her views of him changed after she got to know him. From this, it is seen that she can alter her perspective of a person after getting to know them as an individual.

She is so passionate about being a reporter and photography that she agrees to exchange her last bit of revival fluid in exchange for the tool of her trade, a camera. Once she gains the equipment, Minami wastes no time in reporting Perseus' voyage for America.

On a side note, she seems to love clothing, becoming quite happy when the Kingdom of Science manages to create cloth and being one of the first to purchase a set of clothes for herself. Though oddly enough, she continues to wear the same primitive outfit despite having new attire, not even bothering to wear shoes.

She seems to be emotional, developing a strong attachment to Tsukasa and crying when he is cryogenically frozen for a long time before Senku snaps her out of it with a job. Similarly, she cries when Senku gives her a camera and when a good portion of the Kingdom of Science goes on their voyage, she wants to take a picture to commemorate it, crying because she understands that it may be a long time before everyone meets each other again. She is in tears of joy at Tsukasa's revival and nervously states how happy she is to see him okay.

Minami likes to pry into people's relationships, as she questions Kirisame and Kinro on their status, leaving them flustered. She was excited at the thought of Ruri and Chrome's obvious attraction.

## Abilities and Skills

* **Acute Senses**: She has good eyesight being able to see from a distance that Senku was holding a machine gun, despite him being in the air in a plane.

* **Linguistic Proficiency**: She states as a reporter that she had to learn other languages. Therefore she is fluent in both Japanese and English. She was able to understand and communicate with Brody during their negotiations for the establishment of Corn City.

* **Researching Abilities**: In her worker file, it is stated she is able to hunt down every last detail of the story through her extensive network of connections. Minami herself calls these skills her weapons. She uses the knowledge she's gathered over the years well as the one in charge of selecting who to revive during her time in the Tsukasa Empire.

* **Knowledge of Others**: In her years as a reporter, Minami has come to interview and research all sorts of people. In her time in the Tsukasa Empire, she is the one who selected Yo and Ukyo to be revived, as well as most of the revived Tsukasa Empire members, and once she joins the Kingdom of Science, she is the one who finds the sailor they needed, Ryusui.

* **Photography**: In her years of being a reporter, Minami has picked up photography as a skill. Minami is seen setting up photo shoots for Senku, trying to find the perfect pose and angle to capture a photo. Minami would continue to take group photos of the Kingdom of Science, as a record. She would organize poses and photo shooting areas for the perfect shot. Minami is often able to capture the moment perfectly within her photos, and built up a large record of photos for the Kingdom of Science.

## Trivia

* Minami's name contains the kanji for "North" (北, *hoku*), "East" (東, *tō*), "West" (西, *zai*), and "South" (南, *minami*), which, when translated to English, spells out "NEWS".
* When remembering to the old world, Minami remembers newspaper names such YoHoo and Gooble, which she could have perhaps written for.

## References

1. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Volume 22 — Extras
2. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Volume 9 — Extras
3. ↑ Dr. Stone: Kingdom of Science Encyclopedia, Page 98
4. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Volume 19 — Extras
5. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 1, Page 15, Minami Hokutozai is petrified along with all of Earth's human population.
6. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 50, Page 4
7. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 191, Page 19, Minami Hokutozai is petrified along with the rest of Corn City.
8. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 206, Page 5, Minami Hokutozai is revived in Corn City.
9. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 92, Page 6
10. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 142, Page 14
11. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 166, Page 7
12. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 141
13. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 169, Page 3
14. ↑ Dr. Stone Anime: Episode 30
15. ↑ Dr. Stone Anime: Episode 31
16. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 85, Page 7
17. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 92, Page 4
18. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 85, Page 4