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Sumireko Usami
Sumireko Usami ɯᵝsa̠mi sɯᵝmiɺ̠e̞ko̞ | |
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![]() Sumireko Usami in Violet Detector Mystic and Troublesome Female StudentMore Character Titles | |
Species |
Human/Doppelganger |
Abilities |
Assorted psychic powers (ESP) |
Age |
Around 15-16 during Urban Legend Incident [1] |
Occupation |
High school student at Higashifukami High School, part-timer at Kourindou[2] |
Location | |
Music Themes | |
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Appearances | |
Official Games | |
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Print Works | |
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Music CDs | |
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"You shouldn't underestimate humans these days. One can find just about anything by searching on the net, after all!"— Sumireko
(Urban Legend in Limbo. Kasen's scenario)
Sumireko Usami (宇佐見 菫子 Usami Sumireko) is the main antagonist of Urban Legend in Limbo and is the main protagonist of Violet Detector. She's a human from the Outside World with psychic powers (ESP). She is the first president of the Secret Sealing Club.
General Information
Sumireko first appeared as the Final Boss of Urban Legend in Limbo, and eventually becomes a playable character of the same game.
Personality
Sumireko has shown herself to be extremely intelligent, determined, passionate, and hubristic in equal parts. At her best, she is friendly and passionate about life and learning about the world around her. At her worst, she can devolve into stubbornness and outright obstinance, going so far as to put herself in grave danger to achieve her goals. [3]
Despite her apparent superiority complex, she has grown to have a deep respect and admiration for the inhabitants of Gensokyo, referring to many of them as her friends, and looking up to them for mentorship and guidance. She describes herself as having been a bit of a loner prior to her arrival in Gensokyo, and she considers her discovery of Gensokyo to be the best thing to have happened in her life due to the friendships she's made there. [4]
She also describes herself as being chuunibyou,[5] a term usually used mockingly, with a sense of personal pride, alluding to her psychic powers and other magical abilities. In spite of that pride, she does lament that nobody in the Outside World seems to be able to understand her or her passion about the occult and Gensokyo. This may also be in part due to how highly opinionated she is, espousing her beliefs about the "phoniness" of the Outside World's dominant consumerist culture at the slightest provocation.[6]
Sumireko seems to hold several contradictory opinions, although it comes off less as hypocrisy, and more as though she hasn't been able to fully make up her mind about certain subjects due to her inexperience of being a teenager.
Abilities
- Esper
She is a strong psychic, capable of various powers associated with the occult, including but seemingly not limited to levitation, [7] pyrokinesis, hydrokinesis, telekinesis, psychokinesis, and teleportation. [8] [9]
- Doppelgänger
After the events of Urban Legend in Limbo, she unwittingly develops a doppelgänger which maintains her "permanent" presence in Gensokyo.[10] She is able to recall the memories of both the doppelgänger as well as those from her "normal" life in the Outside World, allowing her to live a double-life in both worlds.
Character Design
Name
Her full name is Sumireko Usami (宇佐見 菫子 Usami Sumireko). Usami (宇佐見) uses the same writing as Renko Usami's surname and it is known to be an actual name in Japanese. Sumireko (菫子) literally means "violet child" and is also similar to how Renko's name means "lotus child", as both take their names from flowers.
Design
Sumireko has brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair tied in pigtails. On her head is a black hat with a white bow along with red-framed glasses. She wears a purple plaid skirt and matching sleeveless top (resembling a jumper dress), over a long-sleeved white blouse and a black bolo tie with a clasp shaped like a "Quimbaya airplane". Along with this, she wears white socks with bows and black shoes. Sumireko generally carries "ESP cards" (which appear to be based on Zener cards), a tablet computer marked with a hexagram on the back, a smartphone in a white case with various blue shapes on it and a light-blue liberator. She also wears white gloves, and a black, high-collared cloak with a red interior inscribed with pinkish-white runes and a series of white lines at the bottom rim of the backside.
Her summer uniform appears nearly identical to her winter one, but with shorter and looser sleeves, no gloves, and a skull in place of the Quimbaya airplane. In Violet Detector, her hair and eyes have a dark red tone instead.
Story
Spin-offs
- Urban Legend in Limbo
Sumireko is the main antagonist of Urban Legend in Limbo and the final boss in most of the characters' scenarios in story mode.
Sumireko manages to go through the Great Hakurei Barrier by using the Occult Balls, which are special stones gathered from Mystery Spots in the Outside World. However, after a short period, she is suddenly ejected from Gensokyo. Learning from this, Sumireko starts with brief excursions into Gensokyo to learn more about it, appearing to anyone who catches sight of her as an ominous black shadow.
Sumireko soon devises a plan to spread rumors of the Occult Ball's powers and scatters them around Gensokyo for its residents to find. Once the balls are gathered, they warp back to the Outside World along with whoever gathered them all, just for enough time for Sumireko to learn about them before they are transported back. She then re-enters Gensokyo and scatters the balls again, thus beginning the incident of Urban Legend in Limbo. Her plan works for a while, and although she is baffled at why everyone who comes out of Gensokyo ends up fighting her, she enjoys it nonetheless.
Soon enough, Mamizou Futatsuiwa is made aware of the incident and devises her own plan: she claims to have Gensokyo's own Occult Ball in her possession when challenging Sumireko, claiming it would allow her limitless travel between Gensokyo and the Outside World. Mamizou instead tricks Sumireko into entering Gensokyo the proper way, which does let her stay there, but as Sumireko does not know how to get back out, she is trapped in Gensokyo.
Sumireko's story mode in Urban Legend in Limbo follows her as she is trapped in Gensokyo, whose residents attempt to scare her to teach her a lesson. In the end, she is confronted by Toyosatomimi no Miko, who reminds Sumireko that she can use the Occult Balls to escape Gensokyo temporarily. She returns to the Outside World, and believing she will eventually be killed by the youkai of Gensokyo, she decides that when her time in the Outside World runs out, she will sacrifice herself to, purportedly, unleash the full power of the Occult Balls and destroy the Great Hakurei Barrier.
Before being brought back to Gensokyo, she is confronted by Reimu in her own story mode, who realized that one of Sumireko's Occult Balls was swapped for a Lunar Capital ball, which if activated would link Gensokyo with the Lunar Capital instead. Although Reimu defeats Sumireko and saves the Great Hakurei Barrier, the Lunar Capital ball was activated, setting up the events of Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. Upon returning to Gensokyo, Sumireko is detained by Reimu, Mamizou and Kasen Ibaraki. Deciding Sumireko was no longer a threat, they return her to the Outside World through the proper method.
A few days later, Sumireko reappears at the Hakurei Shrine, as she had discovered that ever since leaving Gensokyo, she could travel back there in her dreams. No longer antagonistic, she befriends Gensokyo's residents in earnest, and her tales of the Outside World turn her into a brief celebrity.
- Antinomy of Common Flowers
Sumireko is a playable character with an unlockable story mode in Antinomy of Common Flowers. In her story mode, she visited Gensokyo at a bad time as the Dream World has been thrown into chaos by the Yorigami Sisters' incident, and she ends up trapped there as a result.
She teams up with Doremy Sweet to traverse through the Dream World and reach Gensokyo, whereupon they are tasked by Yukari Yakumo to dispatch Sumireko's own Dream Soul that has been released into the Outside World by the incident. Curiously Sumireko somehow encounters two of her own Dream Souls, but defeats them with Doremy's help. She awakes in the Outside World afterward, greeted by Doremy to confirm that she is the real Sumireko.
- Violet Detector
Sumireko is the main protagonist of Violet Detector. For some time, she has been having the same weird dream, in which she is constantly attacked by the residents of the dream world for no reason. She finally discovers that the dream dwellers hold a grudge against her for having a flesh body allowing her to go in the real world, and Doremy Sweet tells her that she can only expect the situation to worsen. After some time, she encounters and fight against Okina Matara. Okina is impressed by Sumireko who has been able to fend off the dream dwellers for quite some time. She offers her some help, in order to make the dream dwellers recognize her strength and make them stop attacking her. But in order to achieve that, she has to defeat even more powerful nightmares, so Okina lends Sumireko some powers on top of her psychic abilities, allowing her to cheat death in certain situations.
Sumireko then goes on and fights powerful nightmares, in the form of strong dream dwellers teaming up against her. After a week of fighting, she encounters another Sumireko. During that confrontation, she realizes that she was actually the Dream Soul of the real Sumireko, the other one, who is trying to get her body back. But at this point, Dream Sumireko has become stronger than the real Sumireko and is able to defeat her.
Okina, not willing to take any side in the confrontation between the two Sumirekos, decides to take back the power she lent Dream Sumireko to make things fair. The real Sumireko challenges her dream self once again and eventually defeats her.
The next day, Sumireko wakes up in the real world as if nothing happened, having no recollection of what transpired in her mind. She stopped having those nightmares, but the photos of danmaku battles still lie in the memory of her smartphone.
Literature
Sumireko makes appearances in Grimoire of Usami, Curiosities of Lotus Asia, and Wild and Horned Hermit.
- Grimoire of Usami
Sumireko is the creator and writer of this grimoire, having her surname in the title as a result. In it, imitating Marisa Kirisame, she recollects information about the danmaku of various characters who appeared at the firework festival, cataloging and critiquing their patterns. However, some of them wanted to hijack the festival to turn it into a "real danmaku festival", but at the end it ended without major inconveniences.
- Wild and Horned Hermit
In chapter 29, Sumireko appears in the Hakurei Shrine, where it also appears an strange bubble. After Reimu Hakurei tried to defend Sumireko, the bubble pops on Reimu's gohei and Reimu collapses and starts sleeping. Sumireko realizes that Marisa Kirisame did the same. Kasen Ibara appears and, after Sumireko explains the situation, she thinks they are dream souls with the dreams Sumireko had to had instead of her traveling to Gensokyo. As a result, Marisa had a dream where she was in Sumireko's school. However, Marisa's dream ended up in Reimu's.
In chapter 31, she appears in the Hakurei Shrine in the "World UFO Day," and accidentally summons a UFO, which irritated Reimu.
- Curiosities of Lotus Asia
In Curiosities of Lotus Asia, Sumireko helps Rinnosuke Morichika identifying stuff from his shop and talks with him, Reimu and Marisa about the Outside World. On the other hand, they catalog Sumireko's trials and tribulations as she integrates herself into Gensokyo life, with the development of her occult doppelganger, and her disappearance during Violet Detector. She has recently taken up a part-time job at Kourindou, helping Rinnosuke curate the store inventory in return for unwanted antiques she can resells in the outside world.
Relationships
Reimu Hakurei & Marisa Kirisame
In Urban Legend in Limbo and Curiosities of Lotus Asia, Reimu and Marisa are frequently seen doting on her, making sure she's safe and trying to keep her from getting into trouble. In an interview with Aya Shameimaru in Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia, Sumireko refers to both Reimu and Marisa as friends she's made since coming to Gensokyo. [6]
Reimu admits that although she's worried about Sumireko's appearance in Gensokyo and its implications for more Outside World humans passing through the barrier, Sumireko has made things "fun" in Gensokyo again. Marisa also tries to give advice on how to talk to the local residents.
In Violet Detector, Sumireko refers to both of them with friendly informal names like "Reimu-cchi" and "Marisa-cchi," typically used between close friends.
Rinnosuke Morichika
In Curiosities of Lotus Asia, which is primarily told through Rinnosuke's perspective, Rinnosuke and Sumireko often talk about the Outside World and the various items that filter in through the Great Hakurei Barrier. Rinnosuke shows a great deal of care towards Sumireko, worrying about her safety, while Sumireko seems to regard him as a nag, and goes so far as to criticize him for his habits, such as smoking cigarettes. [11] Despite that, they seem to be good friends, with Sumireko recently beginning to work as a "part-timer" at Kourindou.[2]
Mamizou Futatsuiwa
In Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia, Sumireko mentions that Mamizou often visits her in the Outside World. The exact details of this aren't known, but Sumireko implies that they're friends, and that Sumireko respects her as an elder. [6]
Kasen Ibaraki
In Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia, Sumireko mentions that her and Kasen are also friends, and says that they hang out a lot in Gensokyo, calling her "Kasen-chan." [6] or "Kasseny" [12]
In Urban Legend in Limbo, Kasen expresses resentment that Sumireko views youkai with such a casual and playful attitude, feeling that Sumireko should show youkai more respect. [13] Despite that, it's shown in Wild and Horned Hermit that Kasen has grown a bit softer on her in more recent times.
In Curiosities of Lotus Asia, Kasen meets Sumireko occasionally to procure items from the outside world. During Sumireko's 3 week disappearance, Kasen visited her in the outside world to confirm her safety.
Fujiwara no Mokou
Initially annoyed by Sumireko, Mokou challenged Sumireko to a duel. [14] The two were able to match each other's strength. Mokou extended an invitation to have a rematch sometime in the future, admiring the young girl's fighting spirit and passion, and thanking her for giving her a tough challenge. After fighting again, Mokou helped Sumireko getting out of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. [15] It appears the two have become friendly rivals. [16]
Doremy Sweet
In Antimony of Common Flowers, Doremy teams up with Sumireko. During the incident, Sumireko is faced with fighting both her dream-self and her occult doppelganger, who have also teamed up to take down the "real" Sumireko. Doremy expresses confusion over how there can possibly be three Sumirekos at the same time in Gensokyo, but ultimately helps Sumireko resolve her issue at the time.
Minor relationships
Due to her name, similar appearance and involvement in the creation of the Secret Sealing Club, she may have some kind of relation to Renko. However, the specifics of this connection is as yet unknown. Her profile suggests she is an ancestor of Renko, from the present time.
In Violet Detector, Okina ultimately assists Sumireko with resolving her real-self/dream-self/doppelganger mix-up situation, but not before toying with her for a little bit. As (real) Sumireko loses her memories of the incident, it's unknown if she remembers Okina at all.
Sumireko finds Shinmyoumaru adorable, claiming to want to somehow take her home as a pet, much to her annoyance. [17]
Gallery
Covers
Cover of Urban Legend in Limbo, featuring Sumireko's silhouette
Cover of Urban Legend in Limbo OST, featuring Sumireko
Cover of Violet Detector, featuring Sumireko's silhouette
Sumireko on the Vol. 6 cover of Wild and Horned Hermit
Sumireko in Curiosities of Lotus Asia
Sumireko in Curiosities of Lotus Asia
Sumireko in The Grimoire of Usami
Artworks
Sumireko's artwork from Urban Legend in Limbo and Antinomy of Common Flowers
Sumireko's pre-battle artwork from Urban Legend in Limbo and Antinomy of Common Flowers
Sprites
Illustrations
Sumireko from Who's Who of Humans & Youkai - Dusk Edition
Skills
Name | Translated | Comments | Games | Usage | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total: 12 | ||||||
アーバンサイコキネシス | Urban Psychokinesis | ULiL AoCF |
5C 5C | |||
テレポーテーション | Teleportation | ULiL AoCF VD |
6C 6C Lv2 | |||
テレキネシス 電柱 | Telekinesis: Telephone Pole | ULiL AoCF |
4C 4C | |||
テレキネシス 鉄骨 | Telekinesis: Iron Girder | ULiL AoCF |
8C 8C | |||
チェインメール | Chain Mail | ULiL AoCF |
2C (except at bottom of screen) 2C (except at bottom of screen) | |||
ハイドロキネシス マンホール | Hydrokinesis: Manhole | ULiL AoCF |
2C at bottom of screen 2C at bottom of screen | |||
オカルトボール | Occult Ball | Aided by Occult Ball | ULiL | A+B with Occult Ball | ||
サモンドッペルゲンガー | Summon Doppelganger | Aided by Occult effect | AoCF | A+B with Occult gauge | ||
バレットキャンセル | Bullet Cancel | Used by Dream Sumireko | VD | Lv1 | ||
テレフォトグラフィー | Telephotography | Used by Dream Sumireko | VD | Lv3 | ||
パイロキネシス | Pyrokinesis | VD | Lv4 | |||
デスキャンセル | Death Cancel | Used by Dream Sumireko (aided by Okina Matara) | VD | Lv5 |
Spell Cards
Name | Translated | Comments | Games | Stage | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total: 16 | ||||||
銃符「3Dプリンターガン」 | Gun Sign "3D Printer Gun" | ULiL AoCF |
Use Use | |||
念力「サイコキネシスアプリ」 | Psychokinesis "Psychokinesis App" | ULiL AoCF |
Use Use | |||
念力「テレキネシス 電波塔」 | Psychokinesis "Telekinesis: Radio Tower" | ULiL AoCF |
Use Use | |||
*幻視せよ!異世界の狂気を* | *See Visions of the Other World's Lunacy!* | ULiL AoCF |
Use-LW Use-LW | |||
念力「サイコプロージョン」 | Psychokinesis "Psychexplosion" | ULiL | Story | |||
念力「テレキネシス 不法投棄」 | Psychokinesis "Telekinesis: Illegal Dumping" | ULiL | Story | |||
*現し世のオカルティシャン* | *Occultician of the Present World* | ULiL | Story | |||
*深秘のエソテリックセブン* | *Esoteric Seven of Profound Secrets* | ULiL | Story | |||
超能力「サイコキネシスエンドレス」 | ESP "Psychokinesis Endless" | Used by Sumireko's Dream World self | AoCF | Story | ||
夢礫符「羊毛色のサイコキネシス」 | Dream Rubble Sign "Wool-Colored Psychokinesis" | Co-owner with Doremy | AoCF | Story | ||
W超能力「サイコキネシステレポーテーション」 | Double ESP "Psychokinesis Teleportation" | Co-owner with own doppelganger | AoCF | Story | ||
W超能力「絶体絶命メトロポリタン」 | Double ESP "Desperate Danger Metropolitan" | Co-owner with own doppelganger | AoCF | Story | ||
「世紀のダブルエスパー 宇佐見菫子」 | "Double ESPer of the Century, Sumireko Usami" | Co-owner with own doppelganger | AoCF | Story (Overdrive) | ||
槌礫符「大判小判ザックザクサイコキネシス」 | Mallet Rubble Sign "Rolling-in-Riches Psychokinesis" | Co-owner with Shinmyoumaru | AoCF | Story | ||
紙符「ESPカード手裏剣」 | Paper Sign "Zener Card Shuriken" | VD | Nightmare Diary - 2 | |||
紙符「結界中のESPカード手裏剣」 | Paper Sign "Barrier-Enclosed Zener Card Shuriken" | Co-owner with Yukari | VD | Nightmare Diary - 3 |
Additional Information
- Sumireko's silhouette occupies the front of Urban Legend in Limbo and Violet Detector's jewel case. Along with Cirno, she's the only character to appear as the silhouette for two games' jewel cases in the Windows games.
- Sumireko is the first final boss to be a human from outside Gensokyo since the PC-98 game Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream, who was Yumemi Okazaki. Sumireko also has similarities to Yumemi besides this; both have an interest in magic, they tried to take an inhabitant of Gensokyo and had traps provided to lure them into their area.
- She is the first fighting game final boss whose story mode scenario is not the last to be unlocked.
- The runes on her cloak do not appear to form any meaningful words, and some are even drawn from different runic alphabets (e.g. the old-form "sowilo" rune as written in Elder Futhark and the "stan" rune used by Anglo-Saxon writers hundreds of years later).
- Inside the game data for Urban Legend in Limbo, a folder named "Hanako" can be found that contains three sprites of a silhouetted Sumireko holding her cell phone. It's possible that Hanako was a working name for her, or was intended to be her name.
- The 菫 (Sumire) part of her name is the name of a flower, from which the word for flower in Japanese is 花 (Hana). It could also be a codename.
- Antinomy of Common Flowers confirms her to be a citizen of the Kantou Region. [18] Incidentally, Renko's parents also live in Tokyo. [19]
- One of her alternate color palettes in Urban Legend in Limbo resembles Kaito Kuroba from Detective Conan.
Fandom
Official Profiles
![]() |
○深秘を曝け!秘封倶楽部 初代会長 宇佐見 菫子(うさみ すみれこ) 種族:女子高生 彼女は本物の超能力者であった。 ネットで知識を深めた若者にありがちの全能感と、生まれ持った才能に 友達という物が無駄であるとは言わない。 そんなわけで友達が出来る訳も無く この頃から、彼女は独自の研究を始めた。
聡明な彼女は人を追い払う為に『あえて』人を集めた。
そこでは自分の知識は上辺だけの物であると思い知らされた。経験 そして夢の中には、彼女が見下すことの出来ない人間達がいた。 : ……しかし、最後まで不可解な事があった。 それは誰の仕業だろうか。
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Expose the Esoteric! The Secret Sealing Club's First President Sumireko Usami Species: High-school girl She was a genuine psychic. Thanks to the sense of omnipotence common to youths who furthered their knowledge via the internet, and to the talents she was born with, she began to think that "she was superior to other people," particularly around the time when she was in middle school. It wasn't to say that friends were useless or anything. Thus, unable to make any friends, (although she herself would frame it as "I didn't make any because I just didn't need any",) she lived a school life that others would view as tragic, but she herself was enriched by. It was around that time that she began research of her own. When she entered high school, her lifestyle instantly changed. However, she was convinced that she was of a different sort than the other humans around her. Other people, as far as she was concerned, may as well have been demons plotting to form regular relationships with her in order to drag her down to their level. In a smart move, she deliberately gathered people around her so as to drive them away. The Secret Sealing Club was a circle dedicated to exposing the secrets of other worlds with their own power. ---and so, various things occurred from there, There, she was made to realize that all her knowledge was only superficial. Experience is the real truth of this world, and her pursuit of factual knowledge was only something to cover for this. And in that dream, she at last met people who she couldn't look down on. .... .... .... ...however, there was one thing that remained incomprehensible in the end. Whose doing was this? Perhaps someone had been attempting to break the barrier from the inside. |
Official Sources
- 2015/05/10 Urban Legend in Limbo - Final boss and playable character
See Also
References
- ↑ In her profile in Urban Legend in Limbo, it is said she just started preparatory school, which situates her at about 15-16 years old, knowing high school is started at about that age in Japan
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Curiosities of Lotus Asia - Chapter 36
- ↑ Urban Legend in Limbo - Sumireko's Profile
- ↑ Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia - Sumireko Usami Interview "I'm so glad I started coming to Gensokyo, though. I feel like I've finally escaped from that gloomy, closed-off place!"
- ↑ The Grimoire of Usami - Section 1-9
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia - Sumireko Usami Interview
- ↑ Urban Legend in Limbo - Mamizou's Scenario "My, a human flying in the sky is pretty rare these days"
- ↑ Urban Legend in Limbo - Sumireko's Spell Cards
- ↑ Violet Detector ESP Levels
- ↑ Curiosities of Lotus Asia - Chapter 33
- ↑ Curiosities of Lotus Asia - Chapter 32
- ↑ Curiosities of Lotus Asia - Chapter 29
- ↑ Urban Legend in Limbo - Kasen's Scenario
- ↑ Urban Legend in Limbo - Mokou's Scenario
- ↑ Urban Legend in Limbo - Sumireko's Scenario
- ↑ Urban Legend in Limbo - Mokou's Ending
- ↑ Urban Legend in Limbo - Sumireko's and Shinmyoumaru's Scenario
- ↑ Urban Legend in Limbo - Sumireko's Ending
- ↑ Retrospective 53 minutes - "Renko Usami and Maribel Hearn (Merry) decided to take a trip to Tokyo where Renko's parents live during their university's vacation."
- ↑ Antinomy of Common Flowers's Official Website
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