Nozomi (Elfen Lied)

Nozomi is a recurring key character of the Elfen Lied manga series, a young woman of high school age. She is gifted with a beautiful singing voice, but because of her father, she can't practice singing at home. She is aided and encouraged to pursue her dream by her senpai Yuka, and all the residents of Maple House, where she eventually moves in. Nozomi is a manga-only character.

Biography
Nozomi is a friend of Yuka's, who met her in high school where Yuka served as Senpai to the nervous Nozomi's Kohai. While possessing a beautiful singing voice, she is forbidden from using it to pursue a career by her family, most especially her father, whose efforts reach abusive extremes. Both Nozomi and her mother possess the Dramatic Soprano (called "Soprano Dramatico" in-series) a voice type supposedly uncommon for Japanese people. Nozomi's mother committed suicide after her voice was ruined presumably by her oversinging and putting constant stress on her vocal chords, and Nozomi's father sought to stop her interest in opera, thus keeping her from suffering the same fate as her mother, through this abuse, which was at least once physical in the form of severe spanking.

The childhood trauma from her father abusing her lead to her wetting herself whenever she becomes too nervous, and therefore wearing a diaper for her overactive bladder, even up to the time she is invited by a now college-age Yuka to practice at Maple House. This in turn leads to several awkward encounters with Kouta, whom she develops a secret crush on, and Nyu, who gropes and nearly sexually assaults her (along with everyone else she gropes). Kouta discourages her from thinking herself a coward, and the 'family' of Maple House delights in her singing, bringing her joy as well, and slowly increasing her confidence. Nozomi plays a pivotal role in the series, being the one who introduces the cast to the song and poem for which it is named, Elfenlied.

Liking the people and atmosphere of Maple House, Nozomi often chose to stay there instead of at her father's home. Presumably, it is the knowledge that Nozomi is staying with her responsible Senpai that allows her controlling father to permit this. It is Nozomi who teaches Nyu how to sing the song Elfenlied. Sometime after the events involving Mariko Kurama, Nozomi moved in to Maple House on a full-time basis, at last having reconciled her father to the dream she refused to give up. Nozomi also showed herself to be a fair seamstress, repairing housemate Nana's torn dress.

The End
When Maple House is assaulted by forces seeking to recapture Lucy, Nozomi is among those injured when a soldier forcefully seizes her by the throat. The rest of the series makes unclear whether or not this permanently affected her singing voice. During the climactic events of the series, she openly defies her father's wishes to remain in her sick bed and instead rushes to be by the side of Kouta, Yuka and their friends as Lucy/Nyu is dying. It is possible that this new strength of character is more important than fully regaining her voice, but since it is never stated that her ability to sing was destroyed, it is not unreasonable to speculate that she regained this as well. In fact, in the final chapter, she was able to talk with Yuka, proving her throat healed and at least her speaking voice returned. Given her closeness to Yuka and the others, it can be speculated that she was close to any children her friends later had.

'This article was originally developed for the Elfen Lied Wiki, and is posted here with the full and active permission of its admins. - User Gojirob, Admin/Bureaucrat, Elfen Lied Wiki'