Nagi Kirima

Nagi Kirima (霧間凪) is a fictional character in the Boogiepop series by Kouhei Kadono.

Character introduction
Kirima is gifted with intelligence, as well as physical and mental strength, which she uses to try to protect the world.

Explanation of the character's name
Nagi means "calm" or "lull." "After a storm comes a calm," is a Japanese proverb, which can also be translated as, "After a storm comes Nagi," referring to how she tends to resolve certain situations. The "kiri" in Kirima means "mist," and the "ma" means "space," "room," "time," or "pause."

Motivation
Kirima lost her father and her first love when she was quite young: now she seemingly lives both their lives in place of her own.

Goals
In Boogiepop and Others, Kirima seeks Manticore, and wishes to stop it from killing further students at Shinyo Academy. In Boogiepop Phantom, she is investigating the nature of the electromagnetic interference around the city, and seeks to stop the events that it causes.

Conflicts
In Boogiepop and Others, Kirima is hunting Manticore; this also brings her up against Masami Saotome. In Boogiepop Phantom, Kirima attempts to stop the residual apects of Manticore, and finds herself in conflict with Poom Poom.

Minor irritations
In Boogiepop and Others Kazuko Suema attempts to draw herself close to Kirima, despite her best attempts to distance herself from everyone. This develops into an awkward friendship by the time of Boogiepop Phantom. Kirima also holds a strong dislike towards Boogiepop, though they are both fighting for the same goals.

Prior story
The backstory, where Kirima becomes a self-styled "hero of justice", is described in full detail in Boogiepop at Dawn.

Actions in Boogiepop series
In Boogiepop and Others, Kirima's friend Naoko Kamikashiro requests her assistance with helping Echoes find Manticore. Following this, she intentionally gets herself suspended from school, so as to gain the freedom to investigate. Following the trail of the drug, Type-S, Kirima eventually comes to suspect that Manticore had taken the form of Niitoki Kei, Saotome Masami or Tanaka Shiro, however, Echoes indicates that they are all normal humans. When Manticore makes its move and attacks Echoes, Saotome takes the opportunity to slash Kirima's throat, killing her. When Echoes turned into light to kill Manticore, he used some of his power and resurrected Kirima.

Boogiepop Phantom sees Kirima investigating the aftermath of the 'pillar of light' incident. Realising that the unusual happenings were linked to an electromagnetic field around the city, she follows indications of particularly strong disturbances to attempt to discover what is happening. Her investigations bring her to discover that Manticore was still alive, thanks to the electromagnetic field, so she attempted to finish things with electromagnetic pulse blasts; Boogiepop Phantom intervened to stop this plan. Her investigations ultimately led her to Paisley Park, where Poom Poom and Manaka attempted to bring her to their side, but proved hostile when she resisted – in the end, Boogiepop's intervention saved her.

Relationship with other characters in Boogiepop series
Kirima tries to keep her distance from other characters as much as possible, but is unable to avoid many of them. Up until her death in Boogiepop and Others, Kamikishiro Naoko is Kirima's only friend, though in Boogiepop Phantom she seems to have developed something of a friendship with Suema Kazuko. She works with Echoes in his search for Manticore, but does so somewhat begrudgingly, especially after Kamikishiro is killed as a result of her friendship with Echoes. Saotome Masami had once confessed his love to her too, but she never felt anything towards him. She also lives with her stepbrother, Taniguchi Masaki, though he is unaware of her actions or lifestyle.

Major themes
How a childhood trauma can influence the growth of an individual.

Film or TV portraits
Kirima has been depicted in film and anime. In the movie, Boogiepop and Others (March 11, 2000), she was played by Maya Kurosu. In Boogiepop Phantom (January 6, 2000), was voiced in Japanese by Yuu Asakawa, and in English by Rachael Lillis.