Otoha Okakura

General information

Otoha Okakura is part of the Main Cast of in Lessons In Love. She lives in room 8 in the dormitory with Nodoka Nagasawa. Birthday (Age): September 19th (15) Hair Color : Light Brown, Red End Eye Color : Green Height: 5′ 7′′ (169cm) Hobby(s) : Songwriting, Singing Like(s): Music, Playing Guitar Dislike(s): Perversion, Feeling tied down Family: Unnamed Parents

Background

Otoha was supposedly born and raised in Kumon-mi. Although her parents are unknown, it can be assumed that they have a more traditional outlook, as they want Otoha to follow a more traditional role for a woman instead of pursuing a music career, require her presence during holidays, and have negative opinions about sexual relationships. They financially support her singing lessons, but tightly control everything she does, won't hesitate to take away all her freedoms if she doesn't follow their rules, and control most of her life without giving her almost any freedom. Assuming that he did not betray Rin, Sensei first meets Otoha while walking in the park after Rin's heartbreak and helps Rin get Otoha's attention. He later learned that both had become close and were constantly texting each other. He himself had no contact with her until Nodoka wanted to transfer to his class on the condition that he convince Otoha to enroll too. The reason is that she was also a student at Kumon-mi Academy, but unlike everyone else, she was not transferred to Kumon-mi High School because her parents decided to homeschool her instead. As her grades decline due to a suffocating home life, she will be forced to retire as a musician if nothing changes, and Nodoka wants to use the sensei's "training methods" to prevent this. He managed to reach her and after her parents agreed, she joined a few days later.

Characteristics

Otoha is perceived as a cool and interesting girl, which makes her popular with almost everyone she meets. She’s easily approachable and friendly during her interactions. She also has a serious personality and is one of the more normal and levelheaded girls in class. Unlike most of the other girls, she has no tolerance for perversions and gets quickly annoyed by it. When this happens, she makes her displeasure known, something that happens often during her interactions with Nodoka and Sensei. This, combined with her more traditional world view, is a major reason why she sees Sensei’s more personal interactions with his students and her peers open interest in him as kinda creepy and wrong on some level, but the few times she brought this up the others either shut her up or didn’t agree with her. Otoha never had a romantic interest in anyone and is even more hesitant to start something with a girl, something that’s partly influenced by her parents. As a result, she has no real idea how to show romantic affection after entering a relationship with Rin and treated their relationship more as an advanced form of friendship during the early days. She similarly awkward with discussing her own insecurities or issues, typically talking around them or trying to ignore them entirely. While Otoha enjoys more freedom due to Sensei giving her good grades, she is still aware of how fragile her freedom is and fears that one wrong step will result in her losing everything she has. This is why she reprimanded Sensei for his actions during one of his visits and still keeps her relationship with Rin a secret. She also has a bit of a temper when it comes to her music, snapping at Sensei for suggesting she change her habits, or getting passive-aggressive with Chika when she offered help with Sana. Otoha also has a fear of the dark.

Phopia

Otoha also has nyctophobia. Because of this, an awkward incident happened between her, Sensei and Niki. Otoha is very afraid of the dark and tries to avoid it in every possible way, this does not mean that she hates walking at night, she is only afraid of pitch darkness, for example a locked room without a light source. In the darkness, Otoha is weak and helpless.

Relationship: Sensei

Otoha has mixed feelings about Sensei. On the one hand, she thinks that a teacher who is too close with his students, especially one who's significantly older than them, is unorthodox and she hates his perverted attitude and comments. On the other hand, she doesn’t mind his presence overall, can hold a friendly conversation with him when he decides to behave himself and even confides in him with her problems, which mostly revolve around her relationship with Rin. This reliance on him as a confidant becomes more cemented as they spend time together, with Otoha confiding in him about her cheating on Rin and seeking his advice for how to handle the situation. She had a suspicion that he has ulterior motives, but she apparently didn’t know how deep he is with the others, only learning a fraction of it when Rin accidentally told her about his relationship with Chika. While she promised Rin that she won’t tell anyone, it still left her with some resentment towards him, though not because she hated him, but because she was confused and couldn’t accept it. Otoha views Sensei as an older brother.

Relationship: Rin

Otoha and Rin became friends some time after their first meeting. They spend a lot of time together, especially after she joined Sensei's class, and bond over their shared interest in music. She immediately noticed that Rin had romantic feelings for her, but was initially reluctant to confront them, wanting to preserve their friendship and integrity after learning about the incident with Chika, concerned that Rin was simply using her as a rebound. In the end, she still accepted her confession on the condition that Rin could promise her that she was the only one she wanted. Although both are happy to start dating, their differences in personalities, values, and personal lives almost immediately cause some disagreements that eventually escalate into two public conflicts. The first occurred during the second Christmas party when Rin found out that Otoha had not told her parents that they were dating, a conflict that arose due to the fact that Rin was already sure of her feelings and grew up with a lesbian couple, giving her the impression that same-sex relationships are completely normal, while Otoha is still trying to come to terms with her feelings and comes from a more traditional family that is not as open to such relationships. The second occurred during the second Dorm War, when Rin felt that Otoha's jealousy caused her to be controlling and disrespectful of her feelings for other friends, while Otoha felt that Rin was too impulsive to be trusted and too close to your other friends. These conflicts, while both resolved on the surface, provide insight into underlying insecurities, especially in Otoha's case after she cheats on Rin and continues to secretly yearn for someone else.

Relationship: Nodoka

Nodoka is Otoha's roommate. The two have known each other since their days at Kumon-mi Academy and have a casual friendship despite their clear differences in personality and Nodoka's harsh and perverted behavior. Although Otoha admits that they are not very close, they both respect each other's abilities as artists and try to help in any way they can. Otoha seems to actively want to avoid delving too deeply into Nodoka's personal problems, avoiding learning about her latest book and feeling uncomfortable when Futaba confronts her about her lack of privacy.

Relationship: Niki

Otoha's voice coach. Both have a very good student-teacher relationship as Otoha respects and appreciates her and Niki is willing to give her all the support she can offer. Secretly, Otoha is deeply in love with her, imagining a picturesque life between the two of them that would be free of the expectations of both individuals in their daily lives. Signs of this are initially subtle, but are dramatically revealed on Niki and Otoha's faces after she cheats on Rin. Otoha's fantasies seem to be shattered after an encounter with Niki during the fourth class Halloween party.

Relationship: Futaba

Since she is very close to her girlfriend and roommate, Otoha also spends a lot of time with Futaba and the two of them seem to have a friendly relationship.