Asuna Watase
Asuna Watase (渡瀬 明日菜, Watase Asuna) is a main character in Children Who Chase Lost Voices. She is an elementary schoolgirl living in a rural area in the 1970s.
Appearance[]
Asuna had a black hair and brown eyes. She wears a school uniform included a orange vest, red tie, white top and blue-green skirt.
Background[]
As young girl, Asuna has been forced to grow up quickly ever since her father had died, while her mother, a nurse, works long shifts at a hospital. Asuna spends her solitary days listening to the mysterious music emanating from the cat's-whisker receiver her father gave to her as a memento, accompanied by pet cat Mimi.
In Children Who Chase Lost Voices[]
In the afternoon of July 12, Asuna is attacked by a strange creature, but was saved by a mysterious boy named Shun. A day later, she skips class to meet him on the mountain. In July 14, her mother returns home. At school, a new teacher named Ryuji Morisaki is introduced to her class. After class, she hears the news of a young boy's corpse from her mother, but refuses to believe that is Shun.
More than a month later, in August 18, Asuna listen to Morisaki's lesson about the afterworld, which is sometimes called Agartha and recognizes it is the name of Shun's country. After visiting his house to ask for more information, she leaves and runs to her hideout, where she sees a boy identical to Shun. As they talk, they are attacked by a group of armed men and a helicopter. The mysterious boy hides in the underground entrance with Asuna, and the two proceed further into the cave when the cave's entrance is bombed. The two meet a Quetzacoatl who has apparently lost its physical senses and attacks the boy. He refuses to kill the gatekeeper, giving Asuna his clavis, a crystal, and fights back. The Arch Angels interfere, killing the gatekeeper. The Arch Angel commander captures Asuna and uses the clavis to open a gateway to Agartha. The commander and Asuna enter the gateway followed by the boy. Once inside the commander reveals himself to be Morisaki and the boy also reveals himself to be Shin, Shun's younger brother. Morisaki tells Shin that all he wants is to bring back his late wife from the dead. Shin leaves Asuna and Morisaki.
Morisaki tells Asuna that she can go back but she decides to accompany him. They both go into the realm via an underwater entrance. Once inside, they journey to the Gate of Life and Death which can bring the souls of people back from the dead, along with Mimi (who had snuck inside Asuna's backpack).
long the way, Asuna is kidnapped by a race of monsters called the Izoku. She awakens in a closed area and meets a young girl named Manna; they both try to escape but are not able to. The day begins to darken and the Izoku begin to appear, but they can only move in the shadows. In their escape attempt they encounter Shin, who helps them but is wounded by an Izoku during the escape. Morisaki finds Asuna and Manna down the river as well as Shin with the help of Mimi. After Shin collapses, Asuna convinces Morisaki to take him with them while Manna leads them to her village. Once there, the villagers are at first reluctant to help the "top-dwellers" but the village elder convinces the guards to let them in. The elder allows them to stay one night at the village because they have brought Manna back but they cannot stay more than that due to past history in that top-dwellers always bring bad luck to Agartha. Meanwhile, Asuna checks up on Shin but he yells at her to leave him alone.
The next morning, Asuna and Morisaki depart from Amaurot by boat, but Mimi no longer wants to accompany them. Morisaki and Asuna are walking towards a steep cliff when they are attacked by the villagers but they are saved by Shin. Asuna tries to climb down but is too scared, while Morisaki continues on, after trading his gun for her clavis shard and telling her to go back to the surface. Asuna, following Morisaki's instructions to stay in the water during nighttime because of the Izoku, walks aimlessly and asks herself why she came to Agartha; she finally accepts that she came to Agartha because she was feeling lonely. When the water dries up, she is attacked by the Izoku but is saved by Shin again. The two return to the cliff after seeing the Ark of Life descending. They encounter a Quetzalcoatl who is about to die. Before he dies, the Quetzalcoatl sings its song to send all its memories into the world; Asuna now understands that the last song she heard in her world was Shun's song before he was to die. The Quetzacoatl offers to take them to the bottom of the cliff.
At the bottom of the cliff, they both find the Gate of Life and Death and enter it. Morisaki has already made a wish for his late wife Lisa to return, however, her soul requires a vessel. Asuna and Shin find Morisaki, who tells Asuna she shouldn't have come; she is soon possessed by the soul of Morisaki’s wife. To undo Asuna’s possession, Shin destroys the clavis crystal, despite Morisaki having a knife to his throat. Asuna is now back to her normal self. Asuna heads back to the surface and is seen making her farewell to Shin and Morisaki, who chose to stay behind. The film ends with an older Asuna looking out her window at the cliff side where she had met Shun and Shin. She then says her goodbyes to her mother as she hurries to her graduation ceremony.