Mishima
Akiko, President of Mishima Heavy Industries,
estranged wife of Natsume Kyusaku, mother of
Ryunosuke. Another loon.
Akiko
is almost childishly spoilt. She wears what look
like party dresses in the office (her clothes get
more sensible toward the end of the series) and has
the most incredible outbursts of tears when
crossed. Her world revolves around Ryunosuke, and
she believes the rest of the world revolves around
her.
To
say that Arisa and Kyoko are the Office Ladies from
Hell leaves no snappy expression with which to
describe what kind of boss Akiko is. She yells. She
is incredibly and unreasonably demanding. She cuts
her employees' pay without notice, in one case for
doing what she had told them to do without her
grandfather's permission. Bizarrely, she thinks of
Arisa and Kyoko as her only friends, and, much as
she abuses them, really depends on them.
Akiko's
mental instability is further indicated by the fact
that she had a boat called the Sun
Cauliflower.
But
I'm being too mean to her. Akiko may get very buggy
and overprotective about Ryunosuke but this is
because she loves him to bits and it is very hard
for her to be separated from him. She is also still
in love with Kyusaku (although her preferred method
of expressing this love is by blowing stuff up) and
furiously jealous of Nuku Nuku to begin
with.
Kyoko:
Perhaps she's Kyusaku's girlfriend? *Akiko glares
at her* Oh, excuse me, I meant your husband's
mistress!
A
major reason why Akiko and Kyusaku can't live with
each other is that being a businesswoman is very
important to Akiko. She takes pride in her work -
and really, she must be pretty good at it, because
MHI is an undeniably successful company. Kyusaku
would like her to be more domestic-minded, but she
just doesn't have the temperament for it. Nor does
she have any domestic skills; she once washed rice
before cooking it in lemon-scented dish soap, and
has been known to put ketchup on natto.
Nuku
Nuku's attitude to Akiko could be summed up quite
logically. 'I love my Papa-san. Akiko is married to
Papa-san; therefore she is my Mama-san; therefore I
love her too.' (Yeah, it's catgirl logic. What did
you expect?) Nuku Nuku wants everyone she loves to
be happy, and although Akiko would be the first to
say she's her enemy, in Phase OIII Nuku Nuku sticks
up for her to Kyusaku, and in Phase OVI tries to
save her life. Akiko is eventually won over by Nuku
Nuku's kind heart.
Akiko
has a mysterious gift for inspiring loyalty and
love. In spite of everything, Arisa and Kyoko are
devoted to her. She's childish, irrational and, in
Kyoko's diplomatic words, 'a character,' but they'd
do anything for her. (Reminds me of a certain very
famous moon-bunny. Or Dilandau Albatou, for that
matter.)
Akiko
wants Ryunosuke to be President of MHI after her.
Like Kyusaku, she expects a lot from him, but it's
doubtful whether he could achieve it if she were
able to mollycoddle him the way she wants to. Deep
down, Akiko is a rather courageous woman. If she
could grow out of her manipulative behaviour she'd
be pretty cool.
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