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[nevermagica]

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Hitomi is one of Madoka's two best friends at the start of the series. She is introduced as a proper young lady who speaks with fairly formal Japanese and takes various "lady-like" classes after school. In contrast to Madoka and Sayaka, who run around playing at the start of the first episode, Hitomi is shown to be quite refined and controlled. She takes on the observer's role in her circle of friends and does not get directly involved in their affairs.

This part of Hitomi's personality makes her seem like a third wheel. Even before Sayaka and Madoka begin going off on Magical Girl Fun Times without her, Hitomi shows herself to be a bit distant from her friends. As previously mentioned, she isn't running around with Madoka and Sayaka at the start of the episode. At the end, she excuses herself from their company early and they both go off to continue hanging out together. Sayaka comments that Hitomi is of a higher social class than them. It is mentioned that Hitomi is quite popular at school and gets many love letters, which just seems to put up another wall between her and her friends. Hitomi and her two friends may be very close friends but it cannot be overlooked that Hitomi is something of a third wheel.

She recognizes this. Hitomi loves her friends dearly but she herself cannot ignore how she is accidentally a third wheel. She seems to acknowledge that what separates her from Sayaka and Madoka is that she is not as energetic and silly as they are as her attempts to remedy her situation are all rather silly. For example, when she notices Sayaka and Madoka have suddenly gotten very close she teasingly accuses them of being in a lesbian relationship and runs off, then gives them a childish cold shoulder for a bit. Her outbursts are aimed to accomplish two things; include herself in their friendly silliness and to break tension.

Part of this can be seen as selfish, but most of Hitomi's appearances show her as being a good friend. She is very observant of her behavior of those around her and very sensitive to her friends' moods. Hitomi is able to deduct that Sayaka has a crush on Kyousuke, for example, because she's very aware of the subtle changes in Sayaka's mood. It was because she observed a tense mood between Madoka and Sayaka that Hitomi decided to have an emotional outburst to distract them both. She is typically seen to quietly watch her two friends and almost allow herself to take on a third wheel role. Hitomi may not entirely want to be a third wheel but she is happy to use her position to quietly protect them through whatever means she can and keep them happy. Hitomi views herself as a protector to her two best friends.

This is because Hitomi is very passive. This fact is tossed around all throughout canon. In the very first episode, Hitomi mentions that she wishes she was more assertive like Madoka's mother. The morning conversation implied that Hitomi really doesn't know what to do about the love letters she receives. Her passive personality is what keeps Hitomi rooted into her accidental third wheel role and keeps her from making any attempt to fix it permanently. It's only near the very end of the series, when Hitomi confronts Sayaka about their love triangle, that Hitomi seems to be becoming an assertive person.

Assertiveness, however, would be a trait that Hitomi is still experimenting with. It would be something she would display in outbursts and in particular situations but certainly does not define her character. Overall, Hitomi is happy to be a supporting character and nothing more than a supportive friend. She is even willing to put herself on the back bench for her friends' happiness, as evidenced by how she wanted Sayaka to have a chance with Kyousuke first. Even if that meant Hitomi would be broken hearted. Her desire to be like Madoka's mother gives the impression that Hitomi has struggled with this part of herself for a very long time and really does want to change it. Even if it meant hurting Sayaka a bit if her friend wasn't as forward as she was about confessing.

Hitomi is a model young lady, therefore, with enough confidence to stand straight and hold her head high but a bit too used to being submissive, a trait she wishes to change. And as much as Hitomi seems to be wanting to become a strong and dependent young woman like Madoka's mother, there is one thing that gets in her way; canon has officially made Hitomi weak.

In episode four, Hitomi falls victim to a witch's kiss. Kyouko says weak humans on the bottom of the food chain get "eaten" by witches. Kyuubey never once approaches Hitomi to make a contract. This means that she has a very small fate on her shoulders, at this time anyway, even if Hitomi may be hoping to do great things. In Oriko Magica, Hitomi is so horrified by the witch's lair that she even admits that she would rather die than continue on after what she's seen. Hitomi has zero to no tolerance for terrible things, unlike her two best friends who jump head first into Magical Girl Business.

Overall, Hitomi is on the weak end of normal girl types. She could not become a magical girl because she simply cannot live that sort of lifestyle. Though Hitomi is able to grace through a "normal life" as a popular, smart, and talented young lady she is not fit for things like saving the world and cannot stay strong in a tough situation. She is the model young lady as she observes and acts politely to everyone and is not very authoritative. However, Hitomi longs to be a stronger and more independent girl who can take charge and help herself rather than being dependent.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
+++ Hitomi has taken many classes since she was young in things such as piano, tea ceremony, and classical Japanese dance; things that take a lot of time and patience to learn. So she's used to self-discipline and patiently practicing things. This will probably help her in Pokemon training as she'll likely make a schedule to follow and be able to follow through with it.
+++ She's observant and should catch on to things very quickly. So learning about and taking advantage of Pokemon types and abilities would be within her character. Hitomi will probably even enjoy studying and learning about them, maybe more than level-grinding, resulting in less physical training and more strategy.
--- It's Canon; Hitomi is a weak person. She cannot tolerate "terrible things" and is likely to completely lose her nerve in a bad situation. It will take Hitomi a long time to feel like a person who could stand up in a terrible situation and change it; she’s more likely to lose hope, crumble, and focus on wishing it was all a bad dream.
+++ It's also Canon that Hitomi wants to change this. I intend to have her grow as a character and begin making her way towards being the type of person she wants to be; independent, decisive, brave and able to speak her herself. This may be a rocky road for Hitomi but I do foresee her making some sort of progress, at least enough to where she will attempt to collect gym badges.
--- Hitomi is an upper class girl who has probably never gone camping or hiking, to the extremes of Pokemon anyway. She may end up traveling slowly at first as a result and struggle with her new trainer lifestyle. Her stamina will be very pitiful until she's had time to build it up.
--- She's not used to having to take care of herself. She's never really had to do her own groceries, clean her own clothes, etc. Hitomi will also need some time to adjust to taking care of her Pokemon properly, even if her intentions are always good.