CANON PERSONALITY: In a sense, Chizuru is very much a product of her time. She comes from a time and place where women were expected to keep to the background and be polite and modest - and Chizuru is both of those things, especially at first sight. She doesn't think a whole lot of herself and usually when she is giving an opinion she tries to do it in a way that won't make it seem like she thinks it's something everyone else should absolutely believe (saying "I think" and the like a lot too since it shows it's just her opinion) unless it's a matter she's really stubborn about or if she's being emotional. But usually Chizuru is mostly just a really gentle kind of young woman. Even though she's involved a lot with the Shinsengumi, she expresses her dislike of battle a few times throughout the story. When Saitou at an early part of the story tells her to try and fit him with her sword, Chizuru gets all surprised and says she'd rather not since she doesn't want to hurt him. She will always prefer the way with the least hurt people and the least bloodshed, although she knows very well that it's just not always possible. But even though Chizuru is a gentle and modest woman, it's not like she can't take care of herself if she has to - quite the contrary, she can be fairly independant if she has to be. After all, her father left her home alone by herself a lot of the time, so she's been taking care of everything there by herself for long times on end. Although the biggest example of Chizuru's independant action would have to be the fact that she decided to take a trip to Kyoto all by herself just to go look for her father. It definitely wasn't an easy feat for a woman in that day and age and it was incredibly dangerous, but even so Chizuru disguised herself as a boy and went.
Chizuru is also a really kind person. She's the type of person who absolutely believes in the good in other people no matter what, sometimes taking her idealism a little too far to the point where it becomes a fault. Humans have destroyed her clan (even though Chizuru doesn't remember it) but even so Chizuru doesn't hate humans even for a moment. She absolutely believes in them, and every single time Kazama talks to her and tries to convince her that humans are scum after all, she doesn't listen to him and instead says that she believes in humans and that they're good. Even with all the battles and cruelties she sees, Chizuru doesn't let go of this view of the world. However, when this idealism is taken too far it turns into naivity - and calling her naive certainly wouldn't be far off the mark. Chizuru can be incredibly gullible at times, a fact some of the characters in the series like to abuse in order to be able to easily tease her since she tends to take things at face value without realising the other person is just teasing. (The fact that she's gullible also really, really works against her a few times in the story, for example when Kaoru tells her in Okita's route that her blood won't drive rasetsu crazy and she believes him and gives Okita her blood only for Kaoru to later reveal that he was lying all along.) The teasing thing also shows another thing about Chizuru: the fact that she's really open with her emotions. Chizuru's not very good at hiding her feelings even when she tries, most of her feelings just show straight up on her face. Whenever she's happy she smiles, whenever she's sad she's quick to cry, whenever she's scared other people notice and when she's teased, her jaw will drop open and her eyes will widen and she'll stammer something, if not just downright blush from embarassment. When it comes to what she's feeling, Chizuru is an open book.
To call Chizuru meek because of all of this might be going a little too far though. She might not be much of a warrior and is very idealistic, but under the right circumstances she can also be incredibly stubborn or incredibly brave. Most of these circumstances have to do with other people. Chizuru is very, very loyal to the people she cares about and would do practically anything just to be able to see them happy (as evidenced by the fact that she's pretty much every guy's emotional crutch in their respective routes). She has an incredibly big heart and cares almost too much, to a point where she will even try to stand up to Kazama, a demon not even the skilled captains of the Shinsengumi could beat, despite the odds just to try and be able to save Inoue from death. It doesn't mean she's necessarily as brave as the actual warriors of the Shinsengumi since she for example notes in Hijikata's route that after offering to protect Kondou in the upcoming battle she did feel nervous and scared about whether she'd be able to protect him or not and what would happen. But she does try really hard and can show some real bravery from time to time despite the fact that she's not exactly a warrior like most people in the series are.
And when it comes to the people she cares about, Chizuru can also suddenly become really stubborn. A lot of the time when the captains tell her to run and save herself during a battle while they keep on fighting, she refuses to go and leave them alone and instead stays there, even if it might be more dangerous for her. In Chizuru's mind the wellbeing of the people she cares about comes before her own and she doesn't shy away from being stubborn about that fact. This probably also stems from something Hijikata tells her fairly early on in the game. When Chizuru tells him that she wants to continue to help the Shinsengumi and begs him to let her stay and help them and even bows, he asks her if she thinks that what she's doing is right to which she replies she does. Then he proceeds to tell her: "Then don't bow so easily. You believe you're right. Why should you bow if you think you're right? If you believe something, then don't ever bow or yield. Hold your head high and walk tall. You won't win if you don't keep your eyes on the prize." This is ultimately mirrored in the result near the end of Hijikata's route - he tries to stubbornly keep Chizuru away from him so she may live (according to him) a happy and normal life instead of being stuck with him, but after a little while she follows him all the same and refuses to back down when he tells her to leave again, standing her ground even when he seemingly gets angry with her. ("I'll come back as many times as I have to! I won't stop until you approve it!")
At the same time, her loyalty to other people and her dedication to helping them also leads into one of her major weaknesses. Chizuru is a person who actually has a lot of doubts, mostly about herself. Sometimes it's about more specific things, like how in Sano's route she worries about the fact that she's a demon and he would probably want a normal human wife instead of something like her, but in general her biggest doubt is about how helpful she can be to the people around her. Whenever she can't do a thing to help her friends, Chizuru immediately gets down and can't stop thinking about it, feeling completely useless. She often has internal monologue where she feels bad that she can't fight to help the Shinsengumi even though she is actually useful to them in a lot of other ways - but Chizuru tends to be blind to those when she's confronted with one thing she can't help with. Whenever she feels the most helpless is when she actually becomes so desperate that she begs just to be allowed to help out-- "I'm sick and tired of always being protected! I want to help out, please..." One of the moments where her sense of helplessness is the greatest is in Hijikata's route after Kondou dies. Even though Chizuru does clearly try to help console Hijikata, she realises it's impossible for her to do so and immediately blames herself for it. ("Why did words feel so powerless when I needed them most? What good were they if I couldn't comfort someone I cared for when they needed it most?") Therefore in the end, the easiest way to hurt Chizuru would be to hurt the people close to her. This is something Kaoru realises about her as well, since he goes after Okita in Okita's route instead of directly just after Chizuru since he knows that if he hurts Okita or makes him turn into a rasetsu for her sake, Chizuru will generally feel horrible about it and blame herself on top of it.
Her dedication to helping other people out also has the side effect that she tends to forget that maybe sometimes she should be thinking about herself as well. This tends to show a lot in her relationship with the various guys in the series, since she thinks of their happiness more than her own - until the very end, where she finally realises that what she wants is being with them too. Although this is present in most of the routes it's by far the most apparent in Sano's where he actually tells her that she's always so worried about other people that she doesn't see what's in front of her - what she feels and what she wants. But in Hijikata's route it's also very much present with the way Hijikata constantly tries to push Chizuru to go and leave the Shinsengumi so she can go live a happy and normal life somewhere. In the end she doesn't let him push her away anymore as described above though, since she's finally thinking of what she wants too and that's to be together with him.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a
ABILITIES: Although it might not exactly be apparent at first sight, Chizuru is actually a full-blood demon. She usually looks just like a human although technically she could assume a more demon-like form with white hair, yellow eyes and horns although she likely doesn't have enough awareness or control over her powers to consciously do this. The only time it happens in canon, in fact, is when she's turned into a fury and is forced into that form out of bloodlust - but since she normally doesn't have that problem, she's hardly ever, if at all, in her demon form.
The fact that she's a demon means she does have special abilities though. She might not have the enhanced strength and combat abilities that the other demons and the furies have, but this mostly stems from the fact that Chizuru doesn't have any real combat skills beyond some very basic sword fighting skills to defend herself to begin with. But she does demonstrate some other demon abilities - most notably her special kind of healing. Instead of tiny wounds taking a long time to heal like they would for most people, hers heal virtually instantly, a fact she tries to hide as much as she can. Bigger wounds take some more time to heal but they do heal relatively quickly - when her arm is injured badly, enough to make it permanently damaged for any normal human, it just heals overnight. This is also why Chizuru wouldn't be able to be killed through any normal means (she even offers to be a bullet shield at times since she knows she can't be killed as easily) and needs to be decapitated or stabbed through the heart to die.
Chizuru also demonstrates some other demon abilities from time to time, like the one time where she actually manages to dodge bullets since she suddenly can envision them going really slowly, but it's unlikely that she can use these powers consciously. Or rather, she just doesn't know how to use them consciously, so it's more that they might play up in a life or death situation if it would come down to it. In the end the healing is her one major ability.
INVENTORY; The clothes she's wearing and her kodachi (a short sword).
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Nothing I can think of!
no subject
Chizuru is also a really kind person. She's the type of person who absolutely believes in the good in other people no matter what, sometimes taking her idealism a little too far to the point where it becomes a fault. Humans have destroyed her clan (even though Chizuru doesn't remember it) but even so Chizuru doesn't hate humans even for a moment. She absolutely believes in them, and every single time Kazama talks to her and tries to convince her that humans are scum after all, she doesn't listen to him and instead says that she believes in humans and that they're good. Even with all the battles and cruelties she sees, Chizuru doesn't let go of this view of the world. However, when this idealism is taken too far it turns into naivity - and calling her naive certainly wouldn't be far off the mark. Chizuru can be incredibly gullible at times, a fact some of the characters in the series like to abuse in order to be able to easily tease her since she tends to take things at face value without realising the other person is just teasing. (The fact that she's gullible also really, really works against her a few times in the story, for example when Kaoru tells her in Okita's route that her blood won't drive rasetsu crazy and she believes him and gives Okita her blood only for Kaoru to later reveal that he was lying all along.) The teasing thing also shows another thing about Chizuru: the fact that she's really open with her emotions. Chizuru's not very good at hiding her feelings even when she tries, most of her feelings just show straight up on her face. Whenever she's happy she smiles, whenever she's sad she's quick to cry, whenever she's scared other people notice and when she's teased, her jaw will drop open and her eyes will widen and she'll stammer something, if not just downright blush from embarassment. When it comes to what she's feeling, Chizuru is an open book.
To call Chizuru meek because of all of this might be going a little too far though. She might not be much of a warrior and is very idealistic, but under the right circumstances she can also be incredibly stubborn or incredibly brave. Most of these circumstances have to do with other people. Chizuru is very, very loyal to the people she cares about and would do practically anything just to be able to see them happy (as evidenced by the fact that she's pretty much every guy's emotional crutch in their respective routes). She has an incredibly big heart and cares almost too much, to a point where she will even try to stand up to Kazama, a demon not even the skilled captains of the Shinsengumi could beat, despite the odds just to try and be able to save Inoue from death. It doesn't mean she's necessarily as brave as the actual warriors of the Shinsengumi since she for example notes in Hijikata's route that after offering to protect Kondou in the upcoming battle she did feel nervous and scared about whether she'd be able to protect him or not and what would happen. But she does try really hard and can show some real bravery from time to time despite the fact that she's not exactly a warrior like most people in the series are.
And when it comes to the people she cares about, Chizuru can also suddenly become really stubborn. A lot of the time when the captains tell her to run and save herself during a battle while they keep on fighting, she refuses to go and leave them alone and instead stays there, even if it might be more dangerous for her. In Chizuru's mind the wellbeing of the people she cares about comes before her own and she doesn't shy away from being stubborn about that fact. This probably also stems from something Hijikata tells her fairly early on in the game. When Chizuru tells him that she wants to continue to help the Shinsengumi and begs him to let her stay and help them and even bows, he asks her if she thinks that what she's doing is right to which she replies she does. Then he proceeds to tell her: "Then don't bow so easily. You believe you're right. Why should you bow if you think you're right? If you believe something, then don't ever bow or yield. Hold your head high and walk tall. You won't win if you don't keep your eyes on the prize." This is ultimately mirrored in the result near the end of Hijikata's route - he tries to stubbornly keep Chizuru away from him so she may live (according to him) a happy and normal life instead of being stuck with him, but after a little while she follows him all the same and refuses to back down when he tells her to leave again, standing her ground even when he seemingly gets angry with her. ("I'll come back as many times as I have to! I won't stop until you approve it!")
At the same time, her loyalty to other people and her dedication to helping them also leads into one of her major weaknesses. Chizuru is a person who actually has a lot of doubts, mostly about herself. Sometimes it's about more specific things, like how in Sano's route she worries about the fact that she's a demon and he would probably want a normal human wife instead of something like her, but in general her biggest doubt is about how helpful she can be to the people around her. Whenever she can't do a thing to help her friends, Chizuru immediately gets down and can't stop thinking about it, feeling completely useless. She often has internal monologue where she feels bad that she can't fight to help the Shinsengumi even though she is actually useful to them in a lot of other ways - but Chizuru tends to be blind to those when she's confronted with one thing she can't help with. Whenever she feels the most helpless is when she actually becomes so desperate that she begs just to be allowed to help out-- "I'm sick and tired of always being protected! I want to help out, please..." One of the moments where her sense of helplessness is the greatest is in Hijikata's route after Kondou dies. Even though Chizuru does clearly try to help console Hijikata, she realises it's impossible for her to do so and immediately blames herself for it. ("Why did words feel so powerless when I needed them most? What good were they if I couldn't comfort someone I cared for when they needed it most?") Therefore in the end, the easiest way to hurt Chizuru would be to hurt the people close to her. This is something Kaoru realises about her as well, since he goes after Okita in Okita's route instead of directly just after Chizuru since he knows that if he hurts Okita or makes him turn into a rasetsu for her sake, Chizuru will generally feel horrible about it and blame herself on top of it.
Her dedication to helping other people out also has the side effect that she tends to forget that maybe sometimes she should be thinking about herself as well. This tends to show a lot in her relationship with the various guys in the series, since she thinks of their happiness more than her own - until the very end, where she finally realises that what she wants is being with them too. Although this is present in most of the routes it's by far the most apparent in Sano's where he actually tells her that she's always so worried about other people that she doesn't see what's in front of her - what she feels and what she wants. But in Hijikata's route it's also very much present with the way Hijikata constantly tries to push Chizuru to go and leave the Shinsengumi so she can go live a happy and normal life somewhere. In the end she doesn't let him push her away anymore as described above though, since she's finally thinking of what she wants too and that's to be together with him.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a
ABILITIES: Although it might not exactly be apparent at first sight, Chizuru is actually a full-blood demon. She usually looks just like a human although technically she could assume a more demon-like form with white hair, yellow eyes and horns although she likely doesn't have enough awareness or control over her powers to consciously do this. The only time it happens in canon, in fact, is when she's turned into a fury and is forced into that form out of bloodlust - but since she normally doesn't have that problem, she's hardly ever, if at all, in her demon form.
The fact that she's a demon means she does have special abilities though. She might not have the enhanced strength and combat abilities that the other demons and the furies have, but this mostly stems from the fact that Chizuru doesn't have any real combat skills beyond some very basic sword fighting skills to defend herself to begin with. But she does demonstrate some other demon abilities - most notably her special kind of healing. Instead of tiny wounds taking a long time to heal like they would for most people, hers heal virtually instantly, a fact she tries to hide as much as she can. Bigger wounds take some more time to heal but they do heal relatively quickly - when her arm is injured badly, enough to make it permanently damaged for any normal human, it just heals overnight. This is also why Chizuru wouldn't be able to be killed through any normal means (she even offers to be a bullet shield at times since she knows she can't be killed as easily) and needs to be decapitated or stabbed through the heart to die.
Chizuru also demonstrates some other demon abilities from time to time, like the one time where she actually manages to dodge bullets since she suddenly can envision them going really slowly, but it's unlikely that she can use these powers consciously. Or rather, she just doesn't know how to use them consciously, so it's more that they might play up in a life or death situation if it would come down to it. In the end the healing is her one major ability.
INVENTORY; The clothes she's wearing and her kodachi (a short sword).
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Nothing I can think of!