TV-Series
Description
Obaba is a supporting character in the Sun arc of the anime Phoenix. Her name is a Japanese term for an old woman or grandmother, and she lives up to that role as an elderly healer and caretaker who appears throughout the arc as a steady presence alongside the central characters.
Her background is tied directly to Harima, a prince of the Baekje dynasty who is defeated in battle against Silla forces and left with the skin of a wolf's head covering his face. Feared by the villagers in his disfigured condition, Harima is taken in by Obaba, who saves him and gives him the name Kuchiiinu. She then accompanies him on his journey, and together they travel to the land of Wa, bringing with them the wounded general Saruta. During the journey, Obaba tends to the injuries of the people they encounter, including Saruta and Marimo, a girl of the dog-tribe who has been struck by an arrow.
Her role in the story is primarily that of a healer and protector. When the man once known as Harima, later renamed Inugami, is wounded by the seven assassins sent to eliminate him as an enemy of the newly favored Buddhism, it is Obaba's nursing that restores him to health. In this way, she enables his survival through the political and religious conflicts of the arc, contributing through patient care rather than direct participation in battle.
As a person, Obaba is resourceful and compassionate, willing to shelter a stranger feared by his own village and to leave her home to travel far on his behalf. She appears motivated by care for the wounded and the outcast, applying her skills wherever they are needed. She does not seek power or influence, and she undergoes little personal change over the course of the story, remaining a dependable and consistent figure while the characters around her are swept up in shifting conflicts.
Her notable abilities lie in healing and folk knowledge. She has a working command of medicine and of mystic arts, and she is repeatedly shown successfully treating serious injuries, from arrow wounds to the consequences of an assassination attempt. She has no combat role, and her value to the story comes from her medical skill, her practical wisdom, and her willingness to devote herself to the care of others.
Her background is tied directly to Harima, a prince of the Baekje dynasty who is defeated in battle against Silla forces and left with the skin of a wolf's head covering his face. Feared by the villagers in his disfigured condition, Harima is taken in by Obaba, who saves him and gives him the name Kuchiiinu. She then accompanies him on his journey, and together they travel to the land of Wa, bringing with them the wounded general Saruta. During the journey, Obaba tends to the injuries of the people they encounter, including Saruta and Marimo, a girl of the dog-tribe who has been struck by an arrow.
Her role in the story is primarily that of a healer and protector. When the man once known as Harima, later renamed Inugami, is wounded by the seven assassins sent to eliminate him as an enemy of the newly favored Buddhism, it is Obaba's nursing that restores him to health. In this way, she enables his survival through the political and religious conflicts of the arc, contributing through patient care rather than direct participation in battle.
As a person, Obaba is resourceful and compassionate, willing to shelter a stranger feared by his own village and to leave her home to travel far on his behalf. She appears motivated by care for the wounded and the outcast, applying her skills wherever they are needed. She does not seek power or influence, and she undergoes little personal change over the course of the story, remaining a dependable and consistent figure while the characters around her are swept up in shifting conflicts.
Her notable abilities lie in healing and folk knowledge. She has a working command of medicine and of mystic arts, and she is repeatedly shown successfully treating serious injuries, from arrow wounds to the consequences of an assassination attempt. She has no combat role, and her value to the story comes from her medical skill, her practical wisdom, and her willingness to devote herself to the care of others.