Karibuchi Hikari

Karibuchi Hikari
Kanji Name	雁淵ひかり
Age	14 (As of July 1944)
Birth Date	26 May
Height	156cm
Affiliation(s)	Fuso Imperial Navy Sasebo Aviation Preparatory School Fuso Imperial Navy 377th Air Corps Special European Branch
Team	502nd Joint Fighter Wing
Rank	Sergeant
Striker Unit(s)	Miyabishi Heavy Industries Type 0 Model 11 trainer Kawanishi N1K4-A Shiden Kai 4 Prototype
Weapon(s)	Type 99-2 Model 2 Kai Solothurn S-18/100 FP-45 "Liberator"
Familiar	Fuso Squirrel
Seiyuu (Japanese)	Kakuma Ai
Seiyuu (English)	Madeleine Morris

The protagonist of the Brave Witches anime, Karibuchi Hikari is a witch from Fuso and the younger sister of Fuso Navy's Karibuchi Takami. She is a member of the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing

Background

Hikari entered Sasebo navy military school to become an aerial witch like her sister. When a replacement witch was needed in Europe, she volunteered and was sent to Europe as a sergeant for a logistics mission at Suomus's Kauhava base. At the same time, her sister Takami was assigned to the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing and sent on the same carrier as Hikari.

Due to a Neuroi attack, Takami was gravely injured and unable to join the 502nd. Hikari was later disguised as Takami by Gundula Rall and incorporated into 502nd.

Personality

Hikari is a determined and good-hearted individual who wants to prove herself to her team. She is slightly clumsy, especially when it comes to flying her striker unit, and is impulsive. She feels like she is in her sister's shadow, but also wants to prove to everyone that she has what it takes to be a witch.

She is also extremely optimistic, and tries to cheer people up when they're down, and Hikari is easily impressed by her colleagues. She is a quick thinker, and sometimes has creative solutions to solving problems.

As a consequence of her desire to follow in her sister's footsteps, to come out of her big sister's shadow and wishing to prove she is a capable witch; Hikari tends to be very stubborn and on occasion fool-hearty, sometimes to the point of being a bit bullheaded. Whenever she is told she can't do something or if given critique about her ability and capability's or lack thereof she does tend to feel challenged and in a bid to prove herself pushes herself hard, sometimes to the point of exceeding and even overextending her limits, at times to her detriment. That said, at times it's thanks to that stubborn pluck that she is able to turn the tables into her favor and that of her comrades, or even snatching victory from defeat or otherwise dubious odds.

Abilities

One of her most prominent skills at the beginning of the season is her large stamina, managing to outrun even trained adult naval soldiers and her fellow witches. Hikari also has the ability to see a Neuroi's core, but must make direct contact in order to see it, which is why she is banned from using this ability, as it is extremely dangerous. The name of her special magical ability is called "Contact Eye." The time Contact Eye was used she was able to directly see and accurately pinpoint a Neuroi core upon activating her magic eye and touching the Neuroi in question.

However, what she has in physical stamina, she lacked in magical ability, as she was unable to even fly a striker unit with ease, as she lacked enough magic. She was also unable to walk across water without falling into it. This problem was addressed in episode 3, when she started training her magical capabilities by climbing up an obelisk using only her powers to retrieve a Military peaked cap. In the end, she managed to get to the top with the encouragement of a fellow witch, and was able to fly her striker unit fluidly.

Though despite her incremental, commendable improvements in her magic proficiency and strike operation, compared to her peers she is still somewhat below average; though thankfully she was taught how to work within her limitations somewhat to slowly and better compensate.

Appearances

Anime

• Brave Witches

Manga

• Brave Witches: Dai 502 Butai Hasshin shimasu!
• World Witches: Contrail of Witches
• Brave Witches: 502nd Joint Fighter Wing

Video Games

• Strike Witches: Kiseki no Rondo
• Brave Witches VR: Operation Baba-Yaga - Counter attack in the snow

Trivia

• She is based on the younger sister of Oshibuchi Takashi (鴛淵孝) with the same name pronunciation (鴛淵光子).
• When she learned that Misumi Miya was dispatched to the 507th JFW in Suomus, she was happy and said "Maybe we will be able to fly together again!".

Gallery

Cover of Brave Witches OP Theme Collection - Ashita no Tsubasa

Cover of Brave Witches ED Theme Collection - LITTLE WING ～Spirit of LINDBERG～

Cover of Brave Witches Himeuta Collection Volume 1

Cover of Brave Witches Himeuta Collection Volume 6

Brave Witches volume 1 art

Brave Witches volume 1 art

Brave Witches volume 2 art