Tomie Kawakami debuted as a high school student whose extraordinary beauty provoked extreme jealousy and obsession in those around her. Initially portrayed with a blend of kindness and manipulation, she engaged in a romantic affair with her teacher, Satoru Takagi. This relationship culminated in her murder by classmates, who dismembered her body to hide the crime. After death, her cells developed regenerative capabilities, transforming her into a supernatural being. Following her resurrection, Tomie shed any trace of humanity, becoming wholly manipulative, narcissistic, and overtly malicious. She now thrives on exploiting others for amusement, material benefit, or revenge. People are mere instruments to her; she harbors special disdain for women while ensnaring men through seduction. Merely being near her can induce obsessive fixation, frequently driving individuals to madness, violence, or self-annihilation. She strategically isolates victims by destroying family ties or provoking conflicts. Tomie's biology defines her existence. She regenerates from any severed fragment—blood, organs, or even a single cell—into a complete, independent clone. Each clone shares her memories and personality but believes itself the only true version, sparking violent clashes between duplicates. Regeneration slows with acid and halts with incineration, though incomplete burning permits revival. Her cells can infect hosts through transplantation or physical contact, gradually converting them into new Tomie clones and erasing their original identities. Strands of her hair act as parasites, tunneling into victims' skulls to cause hallucinations and eventual death. Intense emotional distress sometimes triggers spontaneous physical division, such as a second head emerging from her body. Aging presents an anomaly. Tomie clones typically remain ageless unless originating from infection; host-derived clones can mature naturally, as one narrative showed an infant Tomie aging into an elderly woman. But standard regenerated clones stay perpetually youthful. Fire stands as her only confirmed weakness, capable of permanent destruction if every trace of tissue is carbonized. Tomie perpetuates cycles of violence. She fixates on individuals resistant to her influence, pursuing them until compliance or ruin. Her dynamic with Takagi evolved into a recurring partnership where he assists her schemes despite her manipulations. In one story, she infected an ailing patient, Yukiko, via a kidney transplant; even after the organ's removal, residual cells overwrote Yukiko's identity. Another tale depicted her psychologically and sexually manipulating a child, driving him to murder and insanity before discarding him for his father. Her origins are shrouded in mystery, with contradictory reports. Some accounts place her in 1860s Japan, while Tomie herself asserts French descent—though her pathological lying casts doubt. Regardless, she embodies primal human terrors: insatiable desire, the erasure of self, and obsession's corrupting force. She epitomizes an "unappeasable id," mirroring Freudian notions of primal urges devouring societal order. Across adaptations, including the *Junji Ito Collection* OVAs and live-action films, Tomie's core endures. Portrayals may adjust her sexual ambiguity or relational tactics—such as depicting bisexual manipulation—but her essence as an immortal, self-replicating entity fueled by malice remains constant. Temporary resolutions, like her entombment in concrete, always fail; she escapes or regenerates, continuing her cycle of manipulation and rebirth.