Hanako

Face-up artist(s):

Crash Panda (cthenotherapy on IG)

Date of acquisition:

September 2022

Provenance:

Ordered via ACBJD

Reason for choice:

I thought she'd make a great match for my DF-H Takumi Kazama (and she was!)

Best Points:

Great posing, graceful silhouette, adorable face

Worst Points:

Her head is petite for her size and her heavily lidded eyes are tricky to find eyeballs for, but they're no big deal!

Eyes:

12mm SOULinAboxDOLLS Old Spice (I think?)

Wig:

7-8in Brown Chouette from Leekeworld

Favourite colours:

Whites and the occasional yellow (but she borrows a lot of blacks from her partner)

Fashion style(s):

Mix of modern casuals and East Asian traditional -- but nothing too fancy!

Name story:

花子 ("flower, girl-child"); it was chosen semi-randomly with no special reason as the character was originally not supposed to be an important one, but the name stayed even after the story changed.

Character age:

Late teens in the Edo timeline, early twenties in the L5R timeline

Character gender:

Female

Offsite roleplay:

This doll's character is not available for offsite roleplay.

EDO PERIOD TIMELINE
Relationship tree here.

Arima Hanako was wedded to Takashima Jinsuke (born Zhèng Guórén) in an arranged marriage. Even though they did not love each other romantically, they supported each other because of sympathy for their difficult circumstances (his foreign lineage was viewed as an impediment, while she was seen as an omen of ill luck by her family). The man Hanako truly loved was Kuniyuki Isamu, who was also coincidentally the trusted right-hand man of the woman her husband loved, Adhara.

Even though husband and wife engaged in their separate extramarital affairs that either party happily ignored (even encouraged), they continued to try to fulfil the purpose of their marriage: produce an heir. Unfortunately, their persistent efforts did not produce any children. Instead, Hanako became the stepmother of Guórén's children by Adhara, Kokiden (Takashima Koyuri), Kokichi (Takashima Koremitsu), Aijiro, and Airinko (actually the daughter of Okuni).

L5R RPG TIMELINE
Relationship tree here.

Matsu Hanako of the Lion Clan was the first woman Ikoma Jinsuke seriously tried to court. They were classmates in the Matsu Berserker School, and while Hanako secretly liked him as well, she kept bowing to peer pressure to treat him with disdain because of his foreign appearance. Jinsuke eventually tired of her rejections and moved on to Bayushi Kaguya, a Scorpion woman who was also his work partner during magisterial missions.

Her unresolved feelings for Jinsuke, coupled with an increasing envy for his progression up the ranks of the land's top magistrates, caused Hanako to let her emotions get the better of her. During a training match with him, she irreparably injured his right leg in her unbridled fury -- something she was infinitely sorry for, and caused her dismissal from the Berserkers. Jinsuke henceforth refused to have anything to do with Hanako until his lord and adoptive father, Ikoma Tarōzaemon, managed to mend their bridges enough for them to be friends again.

Hanako met Bayushi Isamu (Kaguya's ex-husband and now adoptive brother) during the preparations for Jinsuke's marriage to Kaguya. She fell for the austere but handsome Scorpion man on the spot, and to her joy, discovers that her affection was mutual. He arranges for her to stay with him in the Scorpion Lands, where their relationship continued to flourish despite the difficulties of living together as an unmarried couple.

Chemistry by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr


Double Trouble by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr


Hanako 03 by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr​