Umika Misaki

""What I wanted was not talent, but only to be famous.""

- - Umika Misaki

Umika Misaki is a major character in Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice.

An accomplished novelist, she lives in her family's house with her two friends Kazumi and Kaoru, while their parents are working overseas. She provides for them financially with the money earned from her books. She is a magical girl, and a member of the Pleiades Saints. She wished for the chance to meet an editor that would recognize her works.

Personality
Umika is the brains of the Pleiades. Although a rather cheery person and far from cold, she keeps her cool most of the time and analyzes situations with care.

As a writer, she often has episodes of writer's block. When this happens, her personality changes dramatically: she becomes extremely frustrated and grows visible horns, going on a cooking frenzy. Her cooking is rather good, and eating it generally solves her block. When this does not work, she goes on a shopping spree with her friends: given her wealth, money is not an issue. Still, she can be quite stingy: it is said she will go anywhere to save one Yen in groceries.

She wished for an editor who would recognize her works and treat them with care, as once she wrote a draft for a novel that was taken by her editor and released under the authorship of a top idol to rave reviews. When asked why she didn't simply wish to be a best-selling author, she states she did not want talent, but fame. This may mean she either believes in her own talent, or simply wants to be famous. Either way, she uses the money she earns to give herself and her friends a comfortable life.

History
Her first appearance was at the mall where Kazumi was being traded for a bomb. After getting reacquainted with Kazumi, she and Kaoru led her to their house. While she was out, Kazumi met and fought the police detective from earlier. Umika and Kaoru arrived just after the end of the battle, picking up what a Grief Seed like object (later revealed to be an Evil Nut) that appeared when the detective was defeated.

The next day, she suffers from writer's block, acting awkwardly towards the other girls, growing horns and cooking maniacally. This was almost effective, were it not for an untimely comment by Kazumi. She then used her second trick to overcome her block: shopping. This apparently worked. While leaving the mall, Kazumi's "witch-detecting" hair sensed something in a nearby alley, leading her to a pseudo-witch. In the resulting battle, the monster gets the upper hand, prompting Umika and Kaoru to show their own powers to Kazumi and awakening some of her lost memories. However, Kazumi's attempt to follow those memories causes her to nearly hit Umika and allows the pseudo-witch get away. Umika and Kaoru "punish" Kazumi by giving her a new (and rather messy) haircut while telling her about magic and their own wishes. Afterwards, they meet and defeat the same pseudo-witch, who is briefly seen with a mysterious magical girl.

Sometime later, the three fight a "real" witch. Kazumi hesitates at a critical moment, causing Kaoru to nearly be devoured by it. Umika jumped inside the witch just in time to summon a protective barrier around the two of them, but the witch flees with both of them trapped inside. Kazumi meets the remaining Pleiades, and they engage in a mad rush to save the two before Umika's barrier collapses. They arrive just in time to save them both and defeat the witch.

While they celebrate their victory, they are attacked by the mysterious magical girl from earlier, Yuuri. She kidnaps Kazumi, and orders them to go to the Asunaro Dome if they want Kazumi back. They head there, but due to a force barrier, they can do nothing but watch. However, Kazumi is able to free herself, and engages Yuuri. Unfortunately for all involved, Yuuri becomes a witch over the course of the battle. Along with the other Pleaides, Umika is trapped on a cross in the witch's barrier, and is enveloped in thorny vines.

The magical girls are then shown a vision of the witch's past as Airi. After that, Kazumi falls under the influence of the Evil Nut and breaks free. However, she is unwilling to fight the witch and even attempts to change her back. Saki then shoots the witch, freeing Umika and the other Saints. They then attack the witch as they explain to Kazumi that they have no choice but to kill her. Umika is seen crying during this sequence. Finally Kazumi delivers the final blow, saying she wishes to share this burden with her friends. She then collapses crying into Umika's arms.

Later, Kaoru and Umika walk home with Kazumi. Kazumi then tells them to go on ahead, as she wishes to be alone. That night, the Pleiades are seen stealing the Soul Gem of a magical girl named Akane Sumire in a back alley. Umika is not visible, but it's not unlikely that she was present at the time.

The next day, Umika and the other Pleiades Saints appear to rescue Kauzmi and Nico from Ayase and Luca Souju at an amusement park. Kaoru says they'll be taking the Soujus' gems. Saki tells Kaoru not to do it in front of Kazumi, but Nico says Kazumi already saw her doing it. Kaoru pulls out both Ayase and Luca's gems with the spell Tocco del Mare. Kazumi angrily asks the others why they're taking the Soul Gems of other magical girls, saying that she said earlier she would bear the burden with her friends. Against Saki's objections, Umika says she'll tell Kazumi the truth about the Pleiades Saints, but is interrupted by Nico's Soul Gem glowing. As she falls over, a witch emerges from her Gem.

As Nico's Soul Gem cracks, we see background text of her thinking that that she'll die without a trace, and she wants everyone to remember. The Pleiades are shocked to discover Nico has become a witch. The witch attacks the Pleiades; Kaoru and Umika defend against its attacks while Mirai kills it. As the other Pleiades recover from their shock, Jubey and Umika stare at Nico's Grief Seed and wonder how this disaster happened. Another Nico subsequently shows up, and Jubey informs the Pleiades that her wish was to produce the "spare" they now see before them.

The Pleiades take Kazumi to Mirai's teddy bear museum, "Angelica Bears", where Umika opens a path to the building's eerie lower levels. They walk up to a giant door, which opens into a giant room filled with Soul Gems and the lifeless bodies of Magical Girls. Umika tells Kazumi that after they take Soul Gems, they put the empty shells of the magical girls into this "Freezer" that they created, as their "rejection" of the magical girl system. She explains that witches are the end state of magical girls, and admits that they lied to Kazumi when they claimed to not know why Soul Gems go out of control. Jubey, grinning, further explains that Soul Gems are the extracted souls of magical girls. Umika explains that the girls they capture are placed in a barrier that separates their bodies from their Gems, putting them in suspended animation and preventing them from becoming witches. The Pleiades hope to find a way to completely clean the gems and turn them back into humans. Kazumi asks when everyone found out about the connection between magical girls and witches. Umika touches her forehead to Kazumi's, telling her to remember everything.

In her memory, Kazumi sees Umika, Kaoru, Satomi, Mirai, Nico, and Saki, standing on a catwalk with a witch's kiss on their necks. The story flashes back to each girl's "despair" in turn. Umika's despair comes from when she wrote a draft for a novel that was taken by her editor and released under the authorship of a top idol, to rave reviews. When the editor calls her to ask if they can look forward to her next work, Umika drops the phone in shock.

The girls standing on the catwalk all jump off together at the witch's command. They are suddenly rescued by Kazumi, who snags them in midair with ribbons and greets them cheerily. She then opens up the witch's barrier and orders the six of them to fight off the familiars, saving them from the witch at the last second. She later takes them all back to her house.

The seven new friends eat together at Kazumi's house. She points out a book that Umika is holding, asking her if it's the book that was plagiarized from her draft. After reading the book, Kazumi says it's bad because the main character wastes food like "The Girl who Trod on the Loaf" (a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen). Umika suddenly becomes animated and agrees, saying the scene wasn't in her draft. She then explains that the rule of villains is that the one who wastes food is a villain and can't be left alive - revealing the source of the brief flashback Kazumi had in Chapter 1. Kazumi then tells the Pleiades how she became a magical girl. After listening to her story, Jubey mentions that the Pleiades can become magical girls as well, to which they all agree. Kazumi cheers over having new friends. Jubey tells the girls to give him their wishes; Umika's is to meet an editor who will recognize her works and treat them with care. Their contracts completed, Kazumi dubs the team the Pleiades Saints, and they happily fight witches together for some time.

One night, some time later, the Pleiades notice that Kazumi is running late, having been told that she was bringing a new friend along. Jubey hurriedly calls them out to Asunaro Dome, where they see Yuuri Asuka becoming a witch. After the battle, Jubey explains the witch conversion process and his nature as an Incubator to the stunned girls. Umika suddenly grabs Jubey and slams her forehead against his, firing a laser between their eyes. He falls down, speaking in a different tone of voice and bewildered as to why she's upset. Umika explains that she has rewritten Jubey's memories and prevented him from making any further contracts.

The story then returns to the present. Kazumi feels faint from the stress of having her memories restored, and Umika leads her back to the house. Kazumi falls fast asleep as Umika and Kaoru watch over her, feeling somewhat guilty that they lied to her about their wishes when they first met. They worry that things will "go better this time", and Umika remembers how Kazumi was affected by the Evil Nut. Saki enters, drenched in rain. She asks how Kazumi is doing, specifically with regards to the Evil Nut. Umika has no idea what they are, saying that they'll have to find out from the person who gave them to Yuuri and the Soujus. Saki worries that they've had "another failure", but Umika insists that nothing is wrong. Saki becomes increasingly panicked that they're going to run out of magic and turn into witches like Nico, at which point Umika notices that she's suddenly referring to Kazumi as "Kazumi-chan". Saki kicks Umika into the far wall. Umika, wounded, warns Kaoru that Saki is being controlled by Satomi. Satomi (through Saki) exclaims that she has to kill Kazumi, and by the time Umika and Kaoru make it to Kazumi's room, Saki has already kidnapped her.

Umika and the other Pleiades locate Kazumi and Satomi, but by then it's too late-- Kazumi has learned from Satomi that she is a clone of her original self, Michiru, and that her memories are fake, and Satomi has become a witch. Kazumi flees in a panic after she realizes that she has killed Satomi. The remaining Pleiades reconvene at Umika's house, unable to locate Kazumi. Umika (along with Saki, Mirai and Nico) affirms her determination to revive Michiru; Kaoru objects, as this means killing the current Kazumi.

Some time later, the Pleiades receive a signal from Kazumi, who demands that they confront her at the Freezer lest she unseal all the Soul Gems there. There, Kazumi speaks with them, ordering them to kill her and try their hardest to revive Michiru. She then transforms into a monster and engulfs the room in a barrier. Kaoru is quickly struck down by the witch; Umika tends to her, realizes that she is merely immobilized, not injured, and breaks the spell Kazumi put on her. Kaoru holds Saki back, having realized that Kazumi is simply creating an illusion so that they'd have no choice but to kill her. As the other Pleiades stand before Kazumi in shock, Mirai cleaves her in two. Kazumi's corpse turns into a balloon-like doll of Nico, as does the Nico that she incapacitated beforehand. The real Nico steps into view, with the real Kazumi safely stowed in her collection tube. Before the Pleiades can overcome their shock, she shoves an Evil Nut into Saki and causes her to become a witch.

The witch swiftly kills Mirai and is immobilized by Nico, who reveals herself to be Kanna Hijiri. She prepares to attack Umika and Kaoru with the witch when Kazumi breaks out of her prison. Umika and Kaoru run to Kazumi's side, ferverently apologizing to Kanna and begging her to help Kazumi, as she is on the verge of turning into a witch. Kanna screams back that they have no idea what she went through when she discovered that she was "made up". Umika quietly responds that Kanna isn't made up, angering her further. Umika shouts at Kanna, saying that they'll never hand Kazumi over to her as long as she insists that the two of them are "made up", as Kazumi's strength of will is something they couldn't possibly have made on their own.

Kanna, enraged, attacks them with a group of witches (including Saki's). Umika sends Kaoru to attack the witches while she removes Kanna's Gem, but they are both struck down. Kazumi tries to get up and help them (asking them one last time to kill her if she becomes a witch) but her Gem is corrupted to the point where she can't transform. Kaoru and Umika's Gems are also reaching their limit, and Juubey breaks into pieces while trying to purify them.

Meanwhile, a giant magic circle of Umika's is seen floating above the city, beginning to break down. Umika and Kaoru suddenly remember that Grief Seeds can be used to purify Soul Gems, having apparently forgotten up until this point. Saki's witch is freed from Kanna's control by Kazumi at the last second, and destroys itself. Umika and Kaoru grab its Grief Seed and clean Kazumi's Gem. As the rejuvenated Kazumi fights Kanna, Umika and Kaoru reminisce on how they planned to revive her to begin with.

Umika was the one to first present the plan to revive Michiru, having extracted information from a witch and retrieved the "heart" that fueled it. She herself referred to it as part of their battle against the magical girl system and "them". The Pleiades were eagerly looking forward to seeing her again, without a trace of the unhappiness that followed. Umika herself planned to give her the first copy of her new book.

With her Gem on the verge of breaking, Umika apologizes to Kazumi for leaving her alone again, and looks up at Saki's Grief Seed that they don't know how to dispose of. Suddenly, she and Kaoru remember that they can just feed it to Kyubey, as the magic circle above the city shatters entirely. Having thus realized something, they scream for Kyubey to reveal himself, and he does as if on cue.

=Powers, Weapons & Abilities== Having made a wish related to writing, her weapon is a magical book. Its main function is to read the opponent's mind with the spell "Ex File", their thoughts being written on its pages. Umika can then use that information to identify the enemy's weakness, and come up with a plan. It can take the information it learns (such as spells) and apply it to other magical girls, like when Umika casts "Rosso Fantasma", a technique that belongs to Kyoko Sakura, on Kaoru. She can also summon objects from the book, most often a ball for Kaoru's attacks. For close range attacks, she can transform the book into a double-edged pole, with the covers acting as blades. This pole has the ability to sever the link between humans and pseudo-witches spawned by them.

She can summon a protective barrier around her, but she can only maintain it for a limited period of time. She can also study and use other people's magic, such as Kyouko's Rosso Fantasma, and release people who have been immobilized by using the spell "Carcere Pausa" (Jailbreak).

Umika can also manipulate people's memories by headbutting them and firing lasers into their eyes. She has used this to brainwash Jubey, restore Kazumi's memories, and remove Tachibana's and Ishijima's memories of the bomb threat they were involved in.

In Chapter 21, it is revealed that she cast a massive spell over all of Asunaro City as part of the Pleiades' plan to reject the magical girl system. This spell made regular Incubators imperceptible to everyone there, edited their existing memories to include Jubey rather than Kyubey, and removed the knowledge of how to purify Soul Gems without Jubey from all magical girls in the area.

Trivia

 * Her last name means "honorable peninsula".
 * Her last name can also be used as a first name.
 * Her first name means "sea scent".
 * While she has normal eyesight, she wears glasses when transformed possibly due to the nature of her wish and even acquiring common gestures such as adjusting them regularly.
 * It's revealed in chapter 20 that she uses glasses for reading, which explains her habits.