Minotori Ema「実鳥恵真」is one of the protagonists of the Guardian Angels Of The Sky series. Ema, sometimes considered as a prodigy in sports and ballet, is a smart and very gentle young girl. Ema appears to be the older sister type of friend. Ema is a very reliable person, who does her tasks assiduously and also cares for her friends very well. She always tries to understand their problems even if she doesn't understand the matter. Ema is part of the girls‘ soccer team at her school. She is one of her team’s goal keepers.
In the 5th episode of season one, she encountered a Bijousha, a spirit of light who dwells inside the necklace Ema wears. The Bijousha Linden granted Ema the powers of the green colored rainbow and allowed her to transform into the warrior of nature, the brave Guardian Angel Clover.
Basic Information
- Full name: Minotori, Ema
- In Japanese: 実鳥恵真 (みのとり えま)
- Alias: N/A
- Nickname: Alice
- Birthdate: May 1st
- Birthplace: Hisakata, Toyama (Japan)
- Zodiac: Taurus
- Height: 1.64 m (5″5)
- Weight: 63 kg
- Blood Type: AB
Fears and Dreams
Throughout her childhood and some parts of her teenage hood, Ema has been raised with sports and ballet. During her early childhood, she had been a ballet dancer, but one day she quit dancing and started to play for her school’s soccer team. Even though she truly enjoyed being part of a team, Ema could never imagine to become a professional soccer player one day. To her, playing soccer was nothing more than a hobby to have fun with. Thus, Ema didn’t have any plans for her future. Until her first year in high school, Ema hadn’t even made up her mind about what job she would like to have after graduating. However, one day she had started to develop an interest in plants and specifically their special meanings. Ema then looked into the matter more and cared for her own plants. After a while, in her second year in high school, Ema finally decided to study how to become a professional florist after school.
Even though Ema does her best to hide the side of herself, Ema has a phobia of narrow rooms and small spaces. The fear is commonly known as Claustrophobia: the fear of being enclosed in a small space or room and having no escape. It can be triggered by many situations or stimuli, including elevators crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, small cars and even tight-necked clothing.[1]
Skills
- Athletic skills: Known as a prodigy, Ema apparently has always been excellent at any kind of sport or dances. During her childhood, she had been practicing ballet with her sister and thus has skills at ballet. Her other dancing skills are unknown. Yet, it is known that Ema is a very good soccer player, and rumors say that she could play on any position. Ema, however, prefers to be the goal keeper, and is hardly seen playing elsewhere on field. Due to that, it is known how well she plays in another position. In addition, her athletic skills, beside dancing and soccer, are unknown as well.
- Academic skills: Even though Ema is obviously the sports person, her grades aren’t as bad as someone might expect. Though being among the average, Ema tends to surprise people who have just met her with her ways of studying. Her favorite subject is maths.
History
- Main article: Minotori Ema / History
Ema is the second born child of a former figure skater and a very popular sports reporter. During her childhood, Ema was taught how to dance ballet along with her older sister Hima. The two had performed together on various concerts until Ema graduated from primary school. After that, Ema slowly stopped to show interest in dancing. After a few weeks in her new school, Ema confessed to her parents that she wanted to stop being a ballet dancer and instead wanted to play soccer along with her friends in school.
Physical Appearance
Appearance
Ema has deep green colored hair, that ends right above her chest. She has parts of her hair braided to the back of her head. The braids to together and are hold by a silver barrette. Ema has side swept bangs and green colored eyes. During her soccer exercises or matches, Ema usually wears her hair in a braided ponytail. Starting with the third season of the series, Ema has the shortest hair of her team. She now wears them opened all day long and is hardly seen wearing any accessories. With being about 1.64 m tall, Ema is among the average of the group.
Clothing Style
Ema is a very opened and confident young girl, who likes to wear whatever she prefers, despite different styles of clothing. Thus being a sports person, she is usually seen wearing comfortable clothes like shorts in summer or sweaters in winter. In addition, she likes to wear sneakers as she considers them as very comfortable and practical. However, Ema is also seen wearing more “girly” clothes, such as dresses, boots or heels. Despite being open to almost everything, Ema can’t see her wearing any of the “scene” clothes like Lolita or Keys.
Outfits
In the first two seasons, Ema wore a bright green, short sleeved top during summer. Over the top, she wore a short, dark green colored vest with puff sleeves. She wore a grey colored, pleated skirt and black colored boots with black laces. She kept her way as described above. During winter, she wore a blue colored top underneath an army-pattern jacket. The jacket had brown fur attached to its collar. She wore greyish blue colored jeans and dark brown ankle boots with white laces.
In the later two seasons, Ema wore a grey colored, short sleeved top underneath which she wore a forest green colored top, which didn’t seem to have sleeves and apparently only covered her chest. She wore dark blue colored jeans hot pants in vintage look. In addition to that, Ema wore simple, black colored sneakers. During winter, she wore a greyish green colored sweater that didn’t cover her shoulders. She wore it along with a deep blue colored skirt and grey colored sport shoes.
While attending middle school, Ema wore the official uniform for girls of the Great Castle Memorial Academy. The uniform consisted of a yellow sweater that is worn over a short sleeved, white colored shirt, in summer. In winter, she wore a dark yellow colored blazer above the sweater. The uniform also comes with a dark yellow checked skirt, white stockings and brown shoes. As a part of its soccer team, Ema wore the light blue, short sleeved top and the dark blue shorts which any of the members wore. The shorts showed two light blue stripes on their left sides. She also wore light blue shoes and black socks.
General Information
Personality
Minotori Ema is generally a kind and opened girl, who acts like the older sister type of friend. Ema is a very mature and reliable person, who tries to be someone others can rely on. She does her friend to understand her friends’ worries even if she isn’t familiar with the matter. She tends to have a calm nature, as she only says something when necessary and doesn’t seem to care too much about herself. She might talk high about others, and forget that she is something great herself. However, while it might seem like Ema doesn’t have a good view of herself, she is actually very confident and trusts in her skills and abilities. Ema is a rather brave person, and has always liked the idea of “going on adventures”.
The only time when Ema seems to lose her confidence and courage, is when people confront her with the future. Once being asked what she wishes to be, Ema backs down and avoids to answer the question. She might give them a neutral answer, like assuring them that she will study well to get a good job. Due to high expectations, Ema is not sure about her dreams. A lot of people expect her to become like her mother, a former figure skater, or like her sister, who is quite young, yet already very famous. In addition to that, Ema doesn’t consider her hobbies as possible jobs for the future. She could never imagine herself as a professional goal keeper or a ballerina, like her sister. Due to that, Ema’s vision of the future remains empty and Ema appears to be afraid thinking about it.
Whenever Ema feels insecure or is afraid of something, she goes to leave the house and look for symbols of luck. Even though hardly anyone knows about her tick, Ema truly believes in symbols like the four leaved clover. She believes that finding one and keeping them with her, will turn a bad situation into a better one. In addition, she always feels better once she found a clover, or after just looking at it. Ema herself knows that a clover won’t bring luck to anyone, but she holds onto that thought as she likes the secret, dreamy and maybe a little childish side of herself.
Relationships
- Main article: Minotori Ema / Relationships
Despite having a rather famous family, Ema’s relationship with her family doesn’t suffer from their fame. Ema has a very good relationship with her parents and her sister. She usually spends more time with Hima as her parents are usually very busy. Ema only feels insecure towards her family, when it comes to her future. Unlike every other member, Ema has yet to find her dream and thus feels a little lonely at home. But else than that, Ema feels very welcomed and does not hesitate to talk with them if she has a problem.
Even though the jump from primary school to middle school was rather hard for Ema, she managed to make good friends in her new school. Most of her friends are part of her soccer team and know Ema very well. Due to being an opened person, she loves meeting new people and forming new friendships.
Etymology
Minotori – Minotori is a Japanese surname, which comes from Mino (実?) meaning “fruit”, combined with Tori (鳥?) meaning “bird”. In conclusion, Minotori means “bird of fruit”. “Mino” can also be separated into Mi (美?) meaning “beautiful” or “beauty”, and No (の?) meaning “of”. Then, Minotori would mean “beauty of birds”. Either way, her name is a reference to her alter ego, Guardian Angel Clover, who is the Guardian Angel of winds. Yet, Minotori bears a second reference to Guardian Angel Clover. If the kanjis of Minotori are read slightly different, it becomes “Mitori” or “Midori”. Midori (みどり or 緑?) is the Japanese translation for “green”. Angel Clover’s theme color is green and guarded rainbow is the green rainbow.
Ema – Ema’s name is a combination of the Japanese characters 恵 meaning “grace” or “blessing” and 真 meaning “real” or “true”. In other words, in Japanese, the name means “real grace” or “true blessing”. Ema, however, can also come from the Western name Emma, which means “whole” or “universal”.[2]
Alice – The only person to call Ema Alice is Voide, who most likely got that “nickname” from the times when Ema transformed into Alice, the main character of Alice in Wonderland. The name itself is an Old French name which means “of nobility”.[3]
Minotori Ema: Discography
The character Minotori Ema is voiced by the Japanese voice actress Hanazawa Kana, who has provided several image and character songs for her. These songs either appear in Ema’s featured episodes or are released within the vocal albums of the series. The songs provided for Ema are either solos, sung by Hanazawa Kana alone, or are duets/group songs along with other characters.
Solo Songs
- lucky lucky!!「lucky lucky!!」: Ema's first character song produced for the first season of the series. It is the 7th track of the first vocal album released for the season.
- Butterfly of May「さつきのバタフライ」: Ema's second character song, produced for the first season of the series. It is the 5th track of the second vocal album released for the season.
- Take Courage Diamante「ゆうきをだすディアマンテ」: Ema's third character song, yet first song produced for the second season. It's the fifth track of the first vocal album released for the season.
- One Time ℂhance「One Time ℂhance」: Ema's fourth character song, yet second song produced for the second season. It's the fifth track of the second vocal album released for the season.
- Always「いつも」: Ema's fifth character song, yet first song produced for the third season. It's the 7th track of the first vocal album released for the season.
- happiness is a journey「幸せは旅です」: Ema's sixth character song, yet first song produced for the fourth season. It's the 7th track of the first vocal album released for the season.
Duets & Group Songs
- ♪ magical ♫「♪ magical ♫」: A duet of Ema's voice actress Hanazawa Kana and Taneda Risa, the voice actress of Tachibana Amber.
- Expand Our Horizon「ふたつの空際を広げる」: A duet of Ema's voice actress Hanazawa Kana and Iida Riho, the voice actress of Yuuki Ririan.
- Chudapp「チューダップ」: A group song of Ema's voice actress Hanazawa Kana, Otsubo Yuka, Aoba Sapphie's voice actress, and Uchida Maaya, Itou Ami's voice actress.
- Essence of Smiles and Courage「笑顔とゆうきのEssence」: A group song performed by the voice actresses of the main characters of the first season.
- living my dream「living my dream」: A group song performed by the voice actresses of the main characters of the first season. It appears in the second vocal album.
- My Future, Hope and Destiny!「みらい、きぼう、Destiny！」: A group song performed by the voice actresses of the eight protagonists of the Guardian Angels Of The Sky series.
- P R I S M「プ・リ・ズ・ム」: A group song performed by the voice actresses of the eight protagonists of the Guardian Angels Of The Sky series.
- Crossing・Mirage「クロシング・ミラージュ」: A group song performed by the voice actresses of the eight protagonists of the Guardian Angels Of The Sky series.
- Wächter des Himmels#Angels Ver.「天空の守り神#エンジェル Ver.」: Cover of the opening song of the fourth season provided by the voice actresses of the eight protagonists.
Trivia
- Ema is left-handed.
- Ema's symbols of luck are four leaved clovers.
- Ema could be represented by the honeysuckle, which means "generous" in the language of flowers.