Ruri Hoshino

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Ruri Hoshino in the TV series.

Ruri Hoshino (星野ルリ Hoshino Ruri) is a fictional character in the anime series Martian Successor Nadesico. She is responsible for running the spaceship Nadesico's computer systems.

Biography

Twelve-year old Ruri is the product of DNA engineering and nanotechnology designed to create an "operator [could] connect directly with computers" and was brought up in a school/lab educated in a manner that imparted knowledge without unnecessary information (such as emotion or communication with others). She is thought to be the only survivor from those experiments (though it is later revealed that there is another, under the guidance of Akito Tenkawa). After that, Nergal saw her ability and bought her. Aside from her trademark "Baka baka!" ("Idiots!", or more literally, "All fools, here!") remarks about the crew, she also does the pre-episode narration, and is one of the main characters in the Get to Know Nadesico in-series instruction videos produced by Inez Fressange (The original name is Naze Nani Nadesico'.)

Ruri is also the princess of a country called Peaceland, which started out as a theme park and casino, but is now a sovereign country that is neutral in all planetary politics. She was conceived artificially for the King and Queen, but the foetus went astray. When she went to Peaceland to find out about her past, she took Akito with her as her 'knight', much to Yurika's chagrin. However, after learning of her past and who her parents and 'real parents' were, she had no intention of returning and chose to return to the Nadesico and her 'complement of fools'.

She is a talented singer as well, and it is possible she has feelings for Akito Tenkawa, since he doesn't patronize her like the other members of the crew. Her best friend is Omoikane, the ship's computer, and she usually addresses 'it' if she has any questions about life in general. In the episode Those Unforgettable Days, Akito helped Ruri save Omoikane from being erased by the military, so it's little wonder she likes him.

She has platinum hair (that looks like a blue and silver hybrid), amber colored eyes (which prompts one antagonist in The Prince of Darkness to call her "Amber Fairy". That eye colour showed she is a girl who can connect to computer directly by mutation), very pale skin, and appears to be a healthy young girl for her age.

She is an orphan who was 'bought' by the Nergal corporation for the purposes of being the chief science officer for the Nadesico, which was actually to be completed six years after she had been adopted.

After the war, both Yurika and Minato entered into a custody battle over Ruri. When it became clear that the argument would never end, the Prospector decided to end it with a contest. Yurika and Minato would each grab hold of one of Ruri's arms and pull. As they pulled, Ruri cried out in pain, and Minato let her go. Prospector declared Yurika the winner, because she had proven that no matter what happened, she would never let Ruri go. Ruri was adopted by Yurika, and lived together with Yurika's new fiancee, Akito, in his restaurant, where the three lived a "happy-comfy-life".

Ruri would later be devastated by the "deaths" of Yurika and Akito, and is taken in by Minato, whom begins to realize her feelings for Akito. Eventually, she leaves to rejoin the military as a means to distract herself from her loss.

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Ruri in The Prince of Darkness.

In Martian Successor Nadesico: The Prince of Darkness, Ruri, who is now 3 years older, becomes the captain of the Nadesico-B (and later, Nadesico-C) and is the main character of the movie. She has matured a great deal in the time between the series and the movie. She is also apparently idolised by much of the navy, best illustrated by the reaction of Captain Arragi who is in charge of the escort for the Nadesico crew shuttle when it heads for the moon. Arragi (originally a Mokuren captain in the TV series) says that it is his privilege to escort the denshi no yousei the electronic spirit/fairy. He records his conversation with Ruri and announced his intention to share it with the crew. Much of the story sees Ruri gathering many of the previous crew, including the trio of pilots led by Ryoko. There are two new crew, her XO Takasugi Saburota and a young boy named Makibi Hari. Hari is said to be the result of an experiment parallel to the one that produced her. Because of this, where Ruri is deadpan and maintains firm control of her feelings, Hari is emotional and tends to let his feelings get the better of him. Ruri views hims as a sort of younger brother, while he has a (fairly obvious) crush on her. Saburota was a Mokuren commander and XO to Akiyama Genpachiro in the TV series. He serves as Ruri's XO on the Nadesico B.

Ruri encounters Akito, shocked that he is in fact still alive. Ruri would later meet Akito again at his and Yurika's "graves". However, he rejects Ruri's attempts to talk to him and make him a part of her life again, as he shows her the results of the experiments conducted upon him. It becomes clear to Ruri that the Akito Tenkawa that she once knew is dead. Akito left, giving her his secret ramen recipe, because he can never again cook it for her.

Ruri was instrumental in the final defeat of the Martian Successors, using her meld with Omoikane to seize control of all enemy computer systems. They save Yurika, but, Akito disappears, with Ruri promising that she will find him.

Although not a star character in the television series, she is very popular in moe fandom for a number of reasons including her self-amused deadpan delivery. She is thought to be a major inspiration for later cutesy-looking little girl characters (not overly stoic ones such as Rei Ayanami) who are sarcastic and jaded rather than cutesy-acting.

Voice actors

• Japanese Seiyū: Omi Minami
• English Voice Actor: Kira Vincent-Davis