Morihito Otogi (
He's an ogre belonging to the Otogi clan, which were one of the surviving Ogre clans. He's Nico's childhood friend and main familiar along with Kanshi, Keigo, Miharu and Ban.
Etymology[]
- The name Morihito means "guard/protect/defend" (守) (mori) and "compassionate" (仁) (hito).
- Morihito's surname Otogi means "witty/chic/quaint" (乙) (oto) and "tree/wood" (木) (gi).
Appearance[]
Morihito has dark colored hair, with one strand sticking up resembling a horn, and black eyes. He often wears a striped shirt and dark colored pants.
He is also often seen wearing a Kan'Nico Channel shirt. After training with the ogre masters, Morihito has developed large muscles, which he hides under his appearance.
Personality[]
Morihito is usually a very serious person, and remains calm and coolheaded in any situation he is in. He is usually expressionless, unfazed by any moves that people make on him, especially Nico. However, he does show emotions many times, like when watching comedy shows or talking about vintage clothing.
His inexpressiveness was caused by his training since he was a child, as he follows the idea that your enemy should not be able to read you during battles. This training has helped him to be extremely positive most of the time, since he is usually attentive to everything around him, so things like bad luck do not usually affect him.
Due to his personality and being an ogre, he is unable to make friends on his own since he doesn't usually trust people and doesn't know how to get along with them. However, this attitude has been decreasing due to the intervention of the Otogi Household in his life, coming to consider them as his best friends and second family. Since then, he has been more open and friendly with people, even becoming popular at school.
He usually takes his responsibilities very seriously, like taking care of Nico, doing housework or cooking. His personal hobbies are often considered weird as he is obsessed with things like denim clothes and marbles, and he is usually very meticulous about them. He usually doesn't care about popular trends or use social networks as he considers them stupid.
History[]
Morihito was born as a member of the Ogre clan on his father's side and human on his mother's side. In his childhood, he entered into a fight where he would find out about his special strength as an ogre. Convinced that this was his duty, he would focus all his talents on protecting his sick mother, hoping for her to recover. After a while, his mother would die due to the disease, causing Morihito to be enraged by this death and curse fate for giving him these ogre powers. A bit later he would meet Nico, a girl descended from a witch who could not control her magic. From that moment,, Morihito would try to protect her using his ogre powers.
A few years later, due to her training as a witch, Nico would leave the city promising Morihito that she would return when she could control her magic. This would encourage Morihito to undergo further ogre training under his father's guidance to ensure that he could protect Nico in the future.
Some time later, his father would bring another ogre, Ran. This would make Morihito very happy since he was able to train and improve his skills by fighting another Ogre. This would only last two weeks.
6 years later, he would find out that Nico would return to the city and he would become her familiar, using the pretext of him being an ogre, and that that was his duty. Although at first he refused, he decides to protect her and become her familiar after knowing that some people would try to harm Nico.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Reiji Otogi[]
Morihito has a good relationship with his father. His father would teach him Ogre Qigong Fighting Arts and control his emotions. His father was the one who set up his role as Nico's familiar, and had lied to Morihito at first about his job overseas, which is later revealed to be him travelling around the world, sealing the sources of magic from the earth.
Unnamed Mother[]
Morihito loved his mother. He was always worried about her even though she was bedridden most of the time. His mother was the reason why Morihito would learn to cook, do his chores and do exercise, since he didn't want her to worry about Morihito. Morihito took care of his mother until her death, lamenting the fact that he could not do anything to protect her. She, together with Nico, would be one of the reasons Morihito decided to become stronger.
Friends[]
Nico Wakatsuki[]
Moi met Nico after helping her out of a situation caused by her magic, immediately becoming friends. Nico, due to her being unable to pronounce Morihito's name correctly, started calling him by the nickname Moi. Since then, they would both hang out and play together. Nico would be Morihito's motivation to train his Ogre skills, as he transferred the duty to protect onto Nico. A few years later, Nico would start her witch training over in the mountains, leading her to say goodbye to Morihito. Since then, Morihito would try to polish his skills to protect Nico in the future when she came back.
Nico is a special person to Morihito, being his first and best friend as a child. Moi tends to be overprotective when it comes to Nico, behaving like her father or her older brother. Over time and with the help of his friends, Morihito would realize his romantic feelings towards Nico, which he had been unaware of due to Nico's unintentional "friendship" curse, his training as an ogre, and his duty as his familiar.
After Nico became a child in Part 2, Morihito put aside his romantic feelings for her and began to treat her like a daughter, teaching her basic concepts such as manners, responsibility, etc., which caused him to form a father-daughter bond with her. As Nico returned to her teenage years, Morihito began to become an overprotective father, seemingly forgetting about his romantic feelings for her.
During the Santa Claus Fantasy Arc, Morihito broke down when Nico accidentally drank the New Grow old! 10, as he saw Nico at her original age again, indicating how much he missed her.
Kanshi Kazamatsuri[]
At first there was a rivalry between the two, due to the hate the tengus and the ogres shared in the past. However, due to Kanshi's sociable personality,, their problems were quickly resolved. Although they usually have some arguments, due to their very different personalities, they usually get along well and have a great friendship.
Keigo Magami[]
Keigo used to be just a classmate for Morihito, so he didn't usually have contact with him until Keigo's status as a werewolf was revealed. Due to this, Morihito had to fight his alternate personality, Wolf, during the Dogs and Raindrops Arc. After saving Keigo from death, he let Keigo become Nico's familiar along with him and Kanshi. Currently, both usually have discussions about movies, actors or directors, although, according to them, these discussions usually makes neither of them to speak for a few weeks. Despite fighting over trivial things, they get along trusting each other, and overall have a good friendship.
Wolf[]
After discovering that Keigo is a werewolf, Morihito had to fight with his counterpart: Wolf. After the battle, Keigo becomes Nico's familiar, leading to Wolf to also become Nico's familiar. Due to Morihito winning his fight against Wolf, he becomes obedient to Morihito until Wolf is able to win him in battle. Currently, both usually fight as a form of training.
Nemu Miyao[]
Morihito used to pet Nemu in her cat form, albeit unknowingly. Upon formally meeting Nemu, Morihito didn't trust her for being an unknown witch, however thanks to Nemu's help during the Dogs and Raindrops arc and her friendship with Nico, Morihito began to trust her, even letting her come to his house. Currently both are good friends.
Miharu Kiryu[]
During the Otogi family's trip to Kanhachiya Mountain, they met Miharu, who they later discover is a vampire. Upon discovering the truth and seeing Miharu's state as an antisocial due to his ability, which he related to, he invites him to move in with them so that he could become a Nico's familiar. Morihito usually considers Miharu as a younger brother.
Momo Kuramochi[]
Morihito has a good relationship with Momo due to her being a witch and Nico's friend.
Tenryu Kiyomiya[]
Morihito finds Tenryu to be a strange person, so he tries not to run into him during class. Although Morihito tries to ignore him, Tenryu always manages to find him and try tp talk him into entering the student council. After seeing Tenryu as president of the council, Morihito would begin to respect him a little due to his concentration and his seriousness when he does things. Although Morihito does not admit it, he feels that Tenryu and he are similar to being the parents of their respective friend group.
Neutrals[]
Ran Otake[]
Ran and Morihito meet when Ran goes to Reiji Otogi's house to challenge him. Reiji decides to have Morihito face Ran due to his abilities. Ran and Morihito would spend two weeks training in which both would strengthen a bond of brotherhood leaading to Morihito to consider Ran as his older brother. After Ran left, Morihito would continue training to face him again one day. Years later, both would meet again, so they decide to fight. During this fight, Morihito discovers Ran's true intentions, which makes Morihito break his friendship with Ran. During a talk with Nico, Morihito admitted to being disappointed by Ran's betrayal, but that he would confront him if necessary. During The Day of the Disaster Arc, both would face each other in a battle. During this, Ran would admit to seeing Morihito as a younger brother before his deal with Shikimi to help him capture Nico. When Morihito won the battle between them, he told him that he also sees him as an older brother. Thanks to these revelations, Ran went against Shikimi to save Nico's life, earning the respect of several members of the Otogi family. Seeing this action, Morihito would ask Ran to stay, to which he tells him that they will face each other again one day,, but for now they remain on good terms.
Abilities[]
Ogre Qigong Fighting Arts[]
- Metal Club
- Ogre Wisp
- Kaigoku Muscle Tail: It's a technique developed by Tsunotora. This technique allows the user to control their muscles as well as when and how to show their true strength. If the user keep their strength hidden, they can reduce the energy they use, however when they release their true strength it can be given as a great explosion of power.[4]
- Cloud Wave: It's a technique developed by Yumejiro Asuka. It's a technique that combines ninja techniques with the quick step technique. It consists of taking steps that serve to disorient the enemy, however the user must constantly change direction to confuse them. This allows creating residual images of the user to go unnoticed.[5]
- Brighteyes: It's a technique developed by Mogari Otake. It's a technique that uses experience as a strong point. It allows you to see through the target, showing all its weak points and attacks through blind spots, it also allows you to see hidden enemies. The technique depends on the user's skills as well as speed and decision-making ability. The more experienced the user is in combat, the better the technique will be used.[6][7]
- Chu In Ga Imu: It's a technique developed by Zanjinsai Otogi. It allows it to concentrate the smallest amount of magic that flows through the user's body, allowing it to be released with an explosion.[8]
Trivia[]
- Morihito is a fan of the idol group Coan Loafer Babies.[9]
- In celebration of the six years of Manga Plus, an interview was conducted with the author Kenta Shinohara where he stated that his favorite character is Morihito, due to the difficulty required to write and understand him, saying that those are the reasons why he feels a connection with him.[10]
References[]
- ↑ Witch Watch Manga: Volume 21 Omake
- ↑ Witch Watch Manga: Chapter 71, Page 2
- ↑ Witch Watch Manga: Volume 9 Omake
- ↑ Witch Watch Manga: Chapter 125, Page 7
- ↑ Witch Watch Manga: Chapter 125, Page 9
- ↑ Witch Watch Manga: Chapter 125, Page 10
- ↑ Witch Watch Manga: Chapter 125, Page 12
- ↑ Witch Watch Manga: Chapter 125, Page 11
- ↑ Witch Watch Manga: Chapter 106, Page 12
- ↑ Kenta Shinohara Interview