TV-Series
Description
Haru Kitajima is the mother of the protagonist, Maya Kitajima. She is a widow, as her husband is not mentioned and presumed deceased. At the start of the story, Haru works as a clerk at a Chinese restaurant while raising her young daughter.
Haru has a difficult and often harsh personality, particularly in her interactions with Maya. She frequently scolds her daughter, berating her for being clumsy or for failing at simple tasks. When Maya becomes interested in acting, Haru is openly embarrassed by her efforts, such as when Maya performs the role of a fool in a school play. She feels shame rather than pride, and breaks a promise to attend Maya's first theatrical performance, an absence that causes Maya great sorrow on stage.
Her motivations are rooted in a practical and somewhat pessimistic view of life. Haru does not see acting as a viable path and actively opposes Maya's dream. When Maya decides to leave home to join Tsukikage Chigusa's theatrical company, Haru adamantly refuses to allow it. This conflict is so severe that it leads Maya to run away from home.
Following Maya’s departure, Haru goes to the Tsukikage troupe to retrieve her daughter, confronting Tsukikage Chigusa in anger. During this encounter, Tsukikage shields Maya from a pot of boiling water, declaring that an actress’s face is her life. Struck by this act, Haru leaves without Maya. She later sends a parcel containing Maya’s belongings along with a letter expressing her own perceived failings as a mother and asking Tsukikage to care for her daughter. After this, Haru is left alone, living in a small room attached to the Chinese restaurant.
As the story progresses, Haru contracts a lung disease, loses her job, and must leave the restaurant. Unable to find steady work, her health deteriorates. She eventually becomes malnourished and loses her eyesight, ending up in a remote nursing home. Unbeknownst to her, her placement there is orchestrated by Masumi Hayami, who seeks to manipulate Maya’s career by manufacturing a dramatic reunion with her long-lost mother.
Despite her blindness and weakened state, Haru overhears the staff discussing her situation and realizes she is being imprisoned. She manages a desperate escape, fleeing the facility during a rainstorm. Traveling alone and unable to see, she loses her wallet, is hit by a car, but still manages to make her way to Tokyo after hearing passersby talk about a movie starring Maya. She arrives at a cinema playing Maya’s film White Jungle and, listening to her daughter’s voice acting on screen, feels a deep sense of joy and pride. Shortly after this, she dies in a guest house from a cerebral hemorrhage, combined with her physical weakness from the car accident and illness.
Haru’s role in the story is crucial as a source of both deep personal conflict and profound sorrow for Maya. Her death becomes a traumatic event that temporarily shatters Maya’s ability to act, representing the one instance where Maya cannot perform at all. It also creates a major rift between Maya and Masumi Hayami, as Maya blames him for her mother’s lonely death, turning him into an object of hatred and complicating any potential romantic feelings between them.
Her key relationship is, of course, with her daughter, Maya. While their interactions are frequently harsh, it is noted that Maya also has fond memories of going to amusement parks with her mother, indicating the relationship was not without moments of affection. The period of the story is one of separation and misunderstanding, as Maya believes her mother is simply angry with her and has lost contact, unaware of her mother’s true, tragic fate. Haru is also connected to Sugiko, the owner’s daughter at the Chinese restaurant, who is a minor antagonist that causes misunderstandings between mother and daughter and later delivers the news of Haru’s disappearance to Maya.
In terms of development, Haru’s character arc is a tragic one, moving from a struggling, bitter, and overworked single mother to a woman who is physically and spiritually broken. Her final act of defying her imprisonment to hear her daughter’s success transforms her into a sympathetic martyr figure. Her notable abilities are not in acting or any special skill, but rather in her sheer, desperate willpower. Despite being blind, ill, and physically broken, she manages to escape a facility and travel across the country to Tokyo, all driven by her love for her daughter and her desire to hear her perform.
Haru has a difficult and often harsh personality, particularly in her interactions with Maya. She frequently scolds her daughter, berating her for being clumsy or for failing at simple tasks. When Maya becomes interested in acting, Haru is openly embarrassed by her efforts, such as when Maya performs the role of a fool in a school play. She feels shame rather than pride, and breaks a promise to attend Maya's first theatrical performance, an absence that causes Maya great sorrow on stage.
Her motivations are rooted in a practical and somewhat pessimistic view of life. Haru does not see acting as a viable path and actively opposes Maya's dream. When Maya decides to leave home to join Tsukikage Chigusa's theatrical company, Haru adamantly refuses to allow it. This conflict is so severe that it leads Maya to run away from home.
Following Maya’s departure, Haru goes to the Tsukikage troupe to retrieve her daughter, confronting Tsukikage Chigusa in anger. During this encounter, Tsukikage shields Maya from a pot of boiling water, declaring that an actress’s face is her life. Struck by this act, Haru leaves without Maya. She later sends a parcel containing Maya’s belongings along with a letter expressing her own perceived failings as a mother and asking Tsukikage to care for her daughter. After this, Haru is left alone, living in a small room attached to the Chinese restaurant.
As the story progresses, Haru contracts a lung disease, loses her job, and must leave the restaurant. Unable to find steady work, her health deteriorates. She eventually becomes malnourished and loses her eyesight, ending up in a remote nursing home. Unbeknownst to her, her placement there is orchestrated by Masumi Hayami, who seeks to manipulate Maya’s career by manufacturing a dramatic reunion with her long-lost mother.
Despite her blindness and weakened state, Haru overhears the staff discussing her situation and realizes she is being imprisoned. She manages a desperate escape, fleeing the facility during a rainstorm. Traveling alone and unable to see, she loses her wallet, is hit by a car, but still manages to make her way to Tokyo after hearing passersby talk about a movie starring Maya. She arrives at a cinema playing Maya’s film White Jungle and, listening to her daughter’s voice acting on screen, feels a deep sense of joy and pride. Shortly after this, she dies in a guest house from a cerebral hemorrhage, combined with her physical weakness from the car accident and illness.
Haru’s role in the story is crucial as a source of both deep personal conflict and profound sorrow for Maya. Her death becomes a traumatic event that temporarily shatters Maya’s ability to act, representing the one instance where Maya cannot perform at all. It also creates a major rift between Maya and Masumi Hayami, as Maya blames him for her mother’s lonely death, turning him into an object of hatred and complicating any potential romantic feelings between them.
Her key relationship is, of course, with her daughter, Maya. While their interactions are frequently harsh, it is noted that Maya also has fond memories of going to amusement parks with her mother, indicating the relationship was not without moments of affection. The period of the story is one of separation and misunderstanding, as Maya believes her mother is simply angry with her and has lost contact, unaware of her mother’s true, tragic fate. Haru is also connected to Sugiko, the owner’s daughter at the Chinese restaurant, who is a minor antagonist that causes misunderstandings between mother and daughter and later delivers the news of Haru’s disappearance to Maya.
In terms of development, Haru’s character arc is a tragic one, moving from a struggling, bitter, and overworked single mother to a woman who is physically and spiritually broken. Her final act of defying her imprisonment to hear her daughter’s success transforms her into a sympathetic martyr figure. Her notable abilities are not in acting or any special skill, but rather in her sheer, desperate willpower. Despite being blind, ill, and physically broken, she manages to escape a facility and travel across the country to Tokyo, all driven by her love for her daughter and her desire to hear her perform.