Magical Girls Explained By Silver~Chan

#46: Rika Ayano

Today we learn about the Magical girl into the latest trends of fashion and make-up; Rika Ayano. So let's begin.

(General Info)

Rika Ayano is a 14 year old Magia type Magical Girl, she is 153 cm in height, her eyes are Red and her hair is blonde, and comes from Chou Ward in Kamihama City.

Her soul gem is a Red flower located beneath her neck and her weapon is a Mirror Compact, which is a compact that has a built-in mirror and this is used for make-up.

The exact wording for her wish to become a magical girl is unknown but her wish is stated to be for a person she likes to fall in love with her.

She attends Chuo Academy in the 9th grade.

Rika has no witch or Doppel released at the time of this information.

Rika's Magical girl element is the fire element, and her ability is Change of Mind, Changing the subjects she is interested in.

(Summary)

A Magical Girl who is into the latest fashion and make-up. Rika appears to be a typical girly girl, but she is actually very seriously in love. She has been secretly admiring the same person for years. A genuine person, she gets along with everyone.

(Side Story)

Rika is invited to a blind date by Emiri Kisaki. Emiri brings along Hinano Miyako, who just had her heart broken. During the blind date, the boys make fun of Hinano's youthful appearance and odd speech patterns. Rika sticks up for Hinano, much to the latter's surprise. (It's also revealed Hinano is actually a third year high school student). After the blind date Rika leaves with Emiri and Hinano.

Rika admits that like Hinano she also has a broken heart. Hinano realizes she didn't say anything about that and that Emiri told Rika. Hinano then yells at Emiri for telling people embarrassing things about herself. Emiri and Rika reassure Hinano, and Rika adds that Hinano is cool for being able to confess to her crush. In Rika's case, she never confessed and her crush already has someone.

Emiri then suggests that Rika should make a wish. Emiri reveals that herself and Hinano are magical girls, and that they get one wish. She also tells Rika that magical girls have to fight monsters, but brushes it off as a walk in a park. Rika wonders if this is some sort of game, while Hinano chastises Emiri for speaking about magical girls. Rika wonders if she could wish to change a person's feelings, to which Emiri agrees. Hinano warns Rika against becoming a magical girl, but after some prompting from Emiri, suggests that Rika should wish for something that seems impossible and also to think about the price. After Rika leaves Emiri and Hinano, Kyubey appears before her and offers her a contract. Rika thinks about what Hinano and Emiri said to her. She then flashes back to how her crush is dating someone. She elects to become a magical girl, mentally apologizing to Hinano.

Rika muses that her wish was granted and is going out with her crush. Yet she still feels unhappy. Kyubey appears and asks Rika if she can explain what's wrong. Rika admits that even though she's happy, every time the person she loves smiles at her, her chest tightens. Later, Rika fights a witch and meets two other magical girls Ria Ami and Manaka Kurumi. Ria initially thinks Rika has gone berserk, and tells Rika that her fighting style is both dangerous and inelegant. Manaka then points out that Ria didn't have an elegant fighting style either, to Ria's protests. Rika then compares them to a comedy duo and explains she fights witches as a form of stress relief.

Later, Kyubey contacts Rika as she fights another witch and tells her that she's fighting dangerously. Rika is annoyed by this, but then sees Hinano is in the barrier. After the battle Rika praises Hinano, who is shocked to find Rika is a magical girl. Hinano also tells Rika her fighting style is too dangerous, and Rika explains again that it's stress relief. Hinano tells Rika to try something else, but Rika says she can't. Hinano then asks Rika why she's unhappy. Rika explains that while she wished for her love to be fulfilled, she thinks it's all fake. She says that if her crush only likes her because of a magical compulsion, then it might as well be a lie. Hinano then asks why Rika became a magical girl in the first place. Rika explains that if she didn't make a wish she would never have a chance in the first place. When Hinano asks for an explanation, Rika reveals that the person she likes is a girl. Rika asks Hinano if what she said is gross and weird, but Hinano says it's not. Rika wonders how it was so easy to reveal this truth to Hinano.

Rika and Hinano fight together against a witch. Hinano says that Rika is still fighting dangerously, but Rika says she's planning to stop after this. Rika then explains she broke up with her crush. Hinano asks if it was because it was fake love. Rika says that was part of it. She said that for four years she loved her childhood friend, but she remained friends with her. When Kyubey came, Rika admits she should have rejected his contract. She explains that she accepted the contract because when she saw her childhood friend with her new boyfriend, Rika realized that she could never give her friend the same feelings that her boyfriend did. Rika then says that if she breaks up with her friend, then the boyfriend would have a chance.

Rika tells Hinano that her wish caused the girl she liked and her boyfriend to completely forget about each other, as if they never met in the first place. Rika then explains how the boyfriend helped find Rika's lost ticket at a train station. When this happened, Rika realized the girl she likes and her boyfriend were perfect for each other. Rika explains that she's the one who broke them up, so breaking up with her girlfriend is a way of setting things right. Hinano is impressed that Rika had enough willpower to make that decision. Rika says there's one more thing she needs to do. She brings Hinano to her school, and together plants the notebook of Rika's ex-girlfriend in the bag of her ex-boyfriend. They do the same with the boy's notebook and the girl's bag. Seeing the boy and girl meet each other again, Rika says everything is great.

Afterward, Rika tells Hinano that the girl and the boy were like the prince and princess of a fairy tale, and therefore destined to be together. Rika isn't sure what that makes her, but then decides she's like her friend's love Cupid. Rika is surprised to see that Hinano is crying - unaware she's crying herself. Rika asks Hinano to laugh again, but Hinano says that no-one could laugh at what happened. Finally, Rika tells Hinano she loves her....but then says it's not that way, as Hinano isn't really her type. Rika then starts laughing, Hinano stops crying, and the two affirm their friendship.

(Abilities)

Rika has gained the ability to change what her target is interested in as a result of her wish. This ability can be used to re-direct the attention of her enemies onto another person or object or to simply make others interested in her if she desires to get their attention. The limits of this ability aren't exactly known but it seems Rika is able to use this ability to keep any number of people interested with her at any one time.

Within combat, Rika possesses a magical compact mirror that can fire concentrated blasts of energy. She can do these as small energy balls or as a large concentrated beam during her Magia attack, though one can primarily say her primary form of offense is by manipulating amounts of light energy to harm her enemies.

(Etymology)

Her First name; "Rika" means "pear" and "Flower" and her last name "Ayano" means "a kind of Chinese traditional silk fabric,which normally has a diagonal texture on" or "Plain" respectively.

(3 Facts About Rika Ayano)

Fact #1: Her illustrator is Mashimasaki.

Fact #2: Rika is the first confirmed Magical Girl to have a crush on someone of the same gender (So she's LGBTQ, Yes! Yuri!).

Fact #3: Rika's Voice Actor is a Kanae Ito, who you may know as the voice of Amu Hinamori in Shugo Chara!, Airi in Queen's Blade, Sanae Nagatsuki in Squid Girl, Yui in Sword Art Online, Suzuka Kurihara in Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya and Amethyst in Land of the Lustrous.

(Ending)

And that's Rika Ayano next time, I'll be talking about another artist magical girl like Alina Gray, Mayu Kozue, so see you next time.