The MOST MISUNDERSTOOD in μ’s! | Who is Kotori Minami?

The song that signaled the beginning for the legendary nine has a lyric that is very important to understanding the journey that they would eventually embark on. As the three original members of μ’s performed the song that was the proclamation that they would continue even if failure stood in their way, a song whose title proclaimed that they needed to begin their run into the future no matter what, the following lyrics are sung at the very beginning:

Even baby birds swaddled in down

Will someday flap their wings and take to the sky

They’ll soar up high with wings that grow big and strong

Of all of the themes and symbolism throughout Love Live, those of flight, birds, sky and feathers are arguably the most prominent. I would usually recommend a video, but the one where I talk about this is currently blocked worldwide. I will eventually be remaking it, as well as making a video on symbolism in anime as a whole where you can see me discuss it more in-depth, so look forward to that. But regardless, that theme of flight and the white feather that μ’s left behind for school idols to follow after are central to the story, but the connection to the baby bird also implies another added theme of growth. For a baby bird to learn to fly, they must jump out of the nest from a great height, essentially taking a risk and having faith that they’ll be able to soar. And for no other character in Love Live is this need for growth and independence more important than in the character whose name translates to “baby bird”. And even though she is so important to the story of Love Live as a whole, Kotori’s had the same sort of reputation that Umi has on a lesser level amongst the fanbase; that being that it’s believed that she essentially has no growth beyond the first season, even some disliking the events of the end of Season 1 of School Idol Project that are entirely centered around her actions. But what I don’t think people understand is that every member of μ’s has a role they must fulfill, a journey they have to embark on along the others who pursue the goal of Love Live Champion. And for the least confident and most dependent of the trio, the theme of leaving the nest and the growth one must experience by jumping into the unknown fits no one better than her.

This is Minami Kotori, the baby bird who eventually learned to fly.

I’d say that, aside from the general misunderstanding of her character, Kotori is still one of the more popular characters in the entirety of Love Live. I mean, really it’s a no brainer as to why. She is very supportive of her friends, so much so that she’s willing to go along with anything Honoka wants and is even shown to be waking her up in the morning when she oversleeps. She also in general is just really cute from her appearance and voice, spawning iconic moments like the Kotori bomb that Love Live would replicate over and over again in the following years, as well as when she does things like this that even Umi can’t say no to.

Kotori is one of the characters that best embodies moe, the Japanese slang term that, for the sake of avoiding a history lesson, really just means the feelings of affection and cuteness one has towards a certain character, and that charisma is seen from how everyone in the show is attracted to her. Her charisma is so great that she eventually, to her dismay, became a legend in Akiba as Minalinsky when she worked a part-time job at a maid cafe. Her charisma, her kindness and her general cuteness makes her perfect for being a school idol, and as Otonokizaka was scheduled for closure, she, Umi and Honoka ended up working together to form μ’s in response to that need. 

In terms of the dynamic within μ’s, Kotori’s role of support is different from that of Sonoda Umi. As I explain in a previous video, Umi is sort of like the slap to the back that Honoka needs in order to get on the right track. She’s hard on Honoka because it’s what she needs to counteract her airheaded and fickle nature, but Kotori is sort of the opposite. She’ll go along with anything Honoka says and will do anything in her power to make what she wants happen. She already had an interest in fashion, so she ended up being the costume designer. In fact, it’s probably even more fair to say that she’s Umi’s counter, easing her into situations that are against her nature. The three of them balance each other out, a cycle of blind determination, grounded realism, and kind support. They don’t function without the other, and that trust they have as childhood friends is what makes them able to do so. It’s also notable that Kotori’s attitude as a kind and gentle support allows others to ease their way into the group. When Hanayo was uneasy about being a school idol, Kotori helped encourage her to be more confident in herself and do what she wanted. But…interestingly enough, while she wishes for others to do what they want, she herself tends to bury her own feelings if it means preventing others from being hurt.

What I find most interesting about the fact that Kotori almost embodies moe moreso than most of the cast is what moe usually entails for the characters, and that’s not just feelings of affection but also a sense of weakness that the character has. We see this being the common thread in most shows that are classified as being in the moe genre, where the cast typically has a flaw that makes them vulnerable or weak in some way, increasing the affection the audience and often the members of the cast have towards such characters. But more notably is something most moe shows tend to focus on, for if weakness is a prominent idea, we also see self-improvement and a desire for independence being the goal for the characters. Again, I could go deeper into this concept, but I’d rather save the nitty gritty details for a future video. Regardless, this is something to keep in mind when looking at Minami Kotori, because for all of her cuteness and moe, there is something lying beneath that, highlighted heavily in her relationship to her childhood friends Sonoda Umi and Kousaka Honoka. 

Whereas Honoka would charge forward towards any destination she desired without a care in the world, Kotori could only ever follow after. While yes, Umi was shy and also ended up following Honoka, as she grew up she ended up becoming more assertive, learning to speak up against Honoka’s antics and even criticizing her, but Kotori never grew out of following after her best friend. In fact, as we see in the series, she’s far more likely to take Honoka’s side in an argument, even if she might be wrong. While it is a flaw in their relationship that highlights her own insecurities and lack of assertiveness, it’s not as if her supportive nature is in and of itself a bad thing. In fact, it’s that same support that pushes Umi to be a school idol when she doesn’t feel confident in her own feelings, as it was Kotori who reminded her of what Honoka’s dreams and will were capable of and why Kotori believed in her. But in terms of how it strains her own growth, it’s seen as a bad thing. After all, it’s her steadfast reliance that Honoka would always take them somewhere incredible and that she would be able to make anything happen that created the miracle of μ’s, and they had always just followed along before. But that’s less faith in one another than what it actually is: dependence.

This is noted by Nozomi and Eli when they, after discovering her job as the Legendary Akiba Maid Minalinsky, make Kotori write the lyrics for the song they would perform in their Akiba live. Not Umi, who usually writes the lyrics, and not a decision by Honoka, but all on her own. Of course, she struggles, but it’s in her work ethic that they witness that Honoka and Umi tell Kotori that she knows Akiba better than any of them and should trust her own feelings, and thus she creates Wonder Zone. Her job as a maid was her first attempt at trying to be independent. She never had a job before, and unlike the self-driven Honoka and the more assertive Umi, she didn’t have any confidence in herself. Of the three, she is the one who looks down on herself the most. In fact, she tried her hardest to hide the fact that she was the legendary maid at all, seeing it almost as embarrassing. She doubts often and doesn’t believe in herself, so this first and tiny step was the one time she ever felt she accomplished anything on her own, and in this instance it goes perfectly because her friends saw this desire from her and synchronized their feelings. They wanted her to succeed, so they helped her and she gave a full effort. She bared her feelings out confidently and did something alongside μ’s that she couldn’t have done alone. This should have been her greatest moment of growth, had it not been for the letter that arrived from America that threatened to force a wedge between her and her friends.

As we’ve established, Kotori is willing to do and sacrifice anything if it means making Honoka’s dreams come true. To her detriment, this means that Honoka could easily take advantage of her, but it moreso means that Honoka simply doesn’t pay attention to Kotori’s feelings if her focus lies somewhere else, and in the latter half of School Idol Project, the threat of losing in the Qualifiers was all Honoka could focus on, and seeing that made Kotori hesitant to tell her that she might have to move to America. It’s not like her going to America is a bad thing either. She has a passion for costume design, as established early on, but what she cares about far more is her friends and her school. This should have been a simple conversation, but for Kotori who had no confidence in herself, let alone any assertiveness that could allow her to potentially hurt her friends, this was the highest hurdle she was up against. And for Honoka, who cared too much about failing because everyone was depending on her, she tried her hardest to do something she couldn’t do alone. And the only one who saw this was Umi.

What you need to understand when looking at the relationship between not just Kotori, Umi and Honoka but all of the members of μ’s is the difference between mutual understanding and reliance vs codependency. The difference is defined in the core belief of what they stand for. There is no one in μ’s who is more important than the other, whose decision matters more than another. They all, with nine hearts united, decide on everything together, and thus support one another where they need it. For Hanayo, she didn’t have the confidence to be a school idol, but she still desired it. Thus, Maki and Rin didn’t force her to join, but just gave her a push to do what she already wanted to do, and thus the same can be seen in the scene mirroring this action with Rin. She had no confidence in her looks, but Hanayo and Maki saw her as beautiful, and knowing that Rin wanted to be more femnine, they didn’t force her, but just gave her a little push. The point here is that this mutual understanding requires understanding. You need to see how the other person feels and be willing to hurt them if it means that you both reach that understanding. But Kotori was unwilling to hurt Honoka’s feelings, especially with the bad timing of the Love Live Qualifiers, so she saw it as just a burden. Honoka wasn’t even paying attention to Kotori’s feelings at all even though they were obvious to Umi. That disconnect changed mutual understanding to codependency, and thus stifled Kotori’s growth, crushed Honoka and caused μ’s to fail.  And all because Kotori refused to tell Honoka her feelings.

When talking about her relationship with Honoka and Umi, Kotori always says that she just went along with what they did, and while Umi felt the same, she was still making her own decisions outside of the group. Umi had a passion for traditional Japanese customs as well as archery and pursued that of her own accord, but even though Kotori had a passion for costume design, it’s not until the creation of μ’s that we really see her do anything with it. Her only action she took on her own, that being her job as the Legendary Akiba Maid, was something she tried to hide. She always just went along regardless of how she felt. But just like Nozomi and Eli when they told her to write Wonder Zone, when Kotori was struggling on whether she should leave, her mom says something interesting:

Kotori always decided what she would do based on what the others said. She wanted Umi to write the lyrics for Wonder Zone because she lacked the confidence that anything she wrote would be good enough. She always waited for others to make the decision for her because it would be easier that way. There would be no risk of failure or hurting anyone if Kotori just pushed her feelings down, but that’s ignoring the major part of a functioning relationship; of what μ’s and her friendship with Honoka and Umi was. They worked so well together because their hearts were united, even if the feelings they all faced were those of pain. If Honoka just paid attention to Kotori, maybe they wouldn’t have failed. Maybe if Kotori had told Honoka that she didn’t want to leave, she wouldn’t have had this argument. But it could be said that this dispute was needed for them both to grow. Kotori never had a moment where she openly disagreed with Honoka and always just followed after, so maybe this was the thing that they both needed, the first step towards their growth. But regardless, this moment at the end of School Idol Project is tied to that theme of one united heart that made μ’s the legends that they were. To charge into the future and make a start is to be able to express one’s feelings without regret to make the other understand what lies in your heart. Kotori’s growth couldn’t begin until she made an effort to assert what it is that she wanted. It wasn’t to go abroad, to be a legendary maid or even to pursue her passion for costume design. It was to be with her friends that she loves for as long as she can. She wants to be with Honoka and Umi, not following after but to stand together with them. She never wanted to leave, and doing so without achieving her wish of finishing out her school life with those friends who changed her world wouldn’t be worth it. And once Honoka confessed that she wanted Kotori by her side, she finally expressed her wish that she was unable to tell her before, and the reprise of the song that signalled the beginning, of the baby bird who needed to learn how to fly began to play, this time on a stage filled with lights as the nine stood together looking to the future.

The role that Kotori plays in μ’s was realized after this point. She would still be by Honoka’s side, helping where she can, but not blindly following after. Her wish was to be by her side and be a school idol because she loved being one. So her role as support was to try as hard as she can alongside the others who are also reaching for their goal. Notably, there is this moment in Season 2 where Nico remarks that making costumes is foolish and a waste of time, but Kotori responds in kind:

Nothing she does, be it failure or success, is a waste of time. If it doesn’t work out, she can always stand to learn from it. If she succeeds, that’s just another happy memory she has with that choice she made of her own volition. But what’s important is that it’s the decision she made for herself. The Kotori we see from this point on is far more assertive and is an influence where she’s needed, and this time when she stands by Honoka’s side, they support one another equally. Umi was the assertive, serious support that pointed Honoka in the right direction, but for the softer and kinder words that gently push the others to do what they need to do, there’s no one better than Kotori. This trio together is what keeps μ’s together, and even though Kotori’s lesson was to be more assertive, it was moreso the understanding that she needed to rely on the other two just as they relied on her. Because the goal of Love Live Champion the nine of them pursued was together, every person doing what they could. A role of support isn’t one who follows after, but someone who works together with those they admire. And fittingly at the end of μ’s journey, when they finally left the world of school idols, the lyrics of their song that signified their united feelings, the chorus sings these words:

The little bird’s wings have finally grown large

It’s a day to take flight

The wide sea’s warm color beckons in the distance

It’s painful, just like a painting drawn within a dream

Would you like to try winding back time?

No no no, this moment is the greatest!

A baby bird who eventually grows strong enough to fly is one who grows their own independence and decides on their own to advance into the unknown, regardless of failure or pain. And along with her friends, the baby bird soared to a place that no one else had ever been.

This is Minami Kotori, the support who flew higher than she ever could before.