Mako

Mako is a little girl around Ten's age who has a crush on him.

Biography

What little we know of Mako is that she lived a normal life in Tomobiki. She has a mother, who seems to be a home-maker, and a father, who works to support his family. Her life changed when the oni youth Ten moved into the Moroboshi household; evidently spotting him from afar as he would make his daily flights over Tomobiki, Mako developed a crush on him, despite never having actually spoken to him. When the first Valentine's Day since the onis had moved into Tomobiki came to pass, Mako seized her opportunity; with some encouragement from two of her female friends, she gave him a box of Valentine's Day chocolates. She had to knock him from the sky with her purse first, but she achieved her goal, then ran away in a fit of shyness. A confused Ten would try to seek her out, with Mako using a bamboo pole to knock him from the sky so they could talk face to face first. Full of the confidence of a kindergartener, Mako asserted that because Ten had accepted her chocolate, they were now married, and if he tried to break up with her, the police would execute him. When Ten tried to give her the chocolate back, she jumped on her tricycle and rode away, declaring that the only way the relationship would be voided was if she accepted the returned chocolates. Ten pursued her all the way back to her home, where the sight of her beautiful mother momentarily made him stop fighting their "engagement" so hard. Mako would try to get Ten to eat the chocolate she had bought him to cement their "relationship", but failed, largely due to Ataru Moroboshi and Lum bursting onto the scene and making a fuss.

On her first day at school after Valentine's Day, Mako stopped by to give Ten a dramatic goodbye, her oni swain flying off before she clarified she was just going to school for the day and would be back that afternoon. Ten would be very shocked when they ran into each other that afternoon, and would try desperately to escape her and her surprisingly good throwing arm. Unable to catch him, Mako instead would go to the Moroboshi household and make friends with Lum, who took quite a shine to her little cousin's would-be suitor, and arranged for Ten to drop over for a playdate the next afternoon. Mako happily used this as an opportunity to play house, much to Ten's disgruntlement, as she tried to serve him tap water, mud and grass, insisted on treating her favorite doll as their daughter, and even tried to force Ten to take off his diaper and go take a bath. Eventually, the two would just sit down sulkily, playing the roles of a disgruntled and unhappy couple, only to be distracted by the sight of Ataru dropping by and flirting with Mako's mother, earning the wrath of Lum for his behavior.

Mako largely vanished from the series after that. She would make a brief appearance when Ataru and Ten brought Kintaro and his class of alien toddlers to visit her school, where she would be the one called upon by her teacher to answer the question of who Kintaro was. She faded into the rest of her classmates during the subsequent chaos, and would never been seen directly again, though it's possible she was continuing to try and pursue Ten's heart off-screen.

Personality

Mako has a strong will, an abundance of confidence, and a fiery temper, very similar to Ten or Lum. Having decided she is in love with Ten, she refuses to take no for an answer from him on the subject of their relationship. She claims to be bashful and reserved, but in reality she is extremely aggressive, quick to literally bring Ten down to earth with a well-aimed handbag or a blow from a piece of dried bamboo. Like Ten, she is bright, but still quite clueless about the way the world works - as seen by her belief that giving Valentine's Chocolate to a boy makes them husband and wife, and that refusal to accept this could see a boy executed by the police. This lack of awareness in no way shakes her confidence in her own beliefs, as wrong as they may be.

Appearance

Mako is a very young girl, always seen in a knee-high dress with thigh-high socks and sensible shoes. Her hair is short, but is styled into the beginnings of twin tails, one to either side of her head, and secured with ornamental hair-clips that resemble paired pearls. She usually has a purse or schoolbag of the type that is worn with a sash slung over her shoulder, and she is adept at using this as a projectile weapon. In the 1981 anime, she has brown hair, whilst her dress is green and her bag is yellow.

Trivia

• Mako and Ten's relationship strongly resembles that of Ataru and Lum. This is further highlighted by how well Mako and Lum get on, with the teenage oni encouraging Mako in her juvenile crush on Ten and promising she will help her if Ten tries to avoid her or run away.
• Mako only has major speaking appearances in two chapters (and their animated adaptations), despite entering the series whilst being set up as Ten's unwanted suitor, a role that would normally earn her some prominence. It's possible that Rumiko Takahashi decided to drop Mako due to feeling it would be repetitive with how much her and Ten's antics resembled a juvenile equivalent to Ataru and Lum's relationship.

Media Appearances