Mana Nakiri (
Appearance[]
Mana is a beautiful young woman who bears a strong resemblance to Erina Nakiri except that Mana has thigh-length salmon-pink hair (in contrast to Erina's lower-back length honey-blonde hair) that is tied back on top while the rest is tied at the bottom with two small hair strands hanging in the middle of her forehead and two medium hair strands resting on her shoulders, sharp purple-pinkish eyes (which Erina inherited) that has long eyelashes, pink lipstick, and small, round eyebrows (in contrast to Erina's thin eyebrows).
Her first appearance in the anime and manga is in a long, possibly traditional Japanese kimono, wearing a dark-colored cardigan and donning a traditional fan.
Back when Mana was a student and her first meeting with Azami Nakamura in high school, her hairstyle was still the same (tied in the back on top and the same two medium hair strands resting on her shoulders) as her adult self, but the only difference was that she had upper-back length hair, the bottom part of her hair wasn't tied at the time, and she didn't have the smaller hair strands hanging in front of her forehead.
Personality[]
Mana is a cold and callous woman, especially towards her estranged daughter Erina Nakiri. Moreover, she can be interpreted to have a very stand-out personality (possibly a negative one), to the point that Erina can pin-point the bracket re-setter (Mana herself) just from the placement. She also has been shown to have an obsession towards "Superhuman Abilities", specifically those that Les Cuisiniers Noirs possess (i.e. Asahi Saiba's Cross Knives), despite vehemently denying Erina's God Tongue, referring to that as an unneeded superhuman ability.
However, Mana can be best described as having a morbid culinary obsession, one that seeks to find new forms of food that can satisfy her. So much is her disgust at eating current food that she can no longer eat normally, so she gets her nutrients via IV injections. Her strong desire to find food that pleases her is the reason she is distant from her daughter.
She seems to feel little if nothing about this as proven with the fact that she deems Erina as somebody she doesn't need to fulfill her goals.
During the BLUE, after seeing Sōma Yukihira and Erina battle in the final round and seeing how far Sōma would go to make Erina say "delicious", regardless of her God Tongue and the enormous difficulty it presents, Mana has since come to realize how important it is to dedicate oneself to making the best food possible for one special person. With that, Mana's goals and personality were shaken to their core. She has since reconciled with her daughter and happily rejoined the Nakiri clan, no longer languishing in solitude with her culinary obsessions.
History[]
Mana is first alluded to when it was stated that she was not around when Azami Nakiri began his brutal training regimen for Erina Nakiri.
Mana was born with the God's Tongue, a rare genetic trait from the Nakiri family that develops every few generations. Along the years, the God Tongue became a curse for her as she could not taste food normally, becoming physically and mentally disgusted with tasting food to the point that even odors were repulsive enough for her. This broke her as she despaired at being unable to find food that could satisfy her when everything else she tasted made her regurgitate. As a result of this depressive state, she left the Nakiri household and abandons Erina during her early childhood.
Senzaemon Nakiri would tell Erina that Mana went on a journey to cure herself of a sickness affecting her and that she would eventually return. Eventually, Mana became the Bookmaster and using her position she would try to find a chef that could satisfy her, albeit unsuccessfully. At this point, she would inject nutrients into her body in order to sustain herself.
Plot[]
BLUE[]
- Main article: BLUE Arc
Mana was revealed to be the Bookmaster by Erina Nakiri, as well as the person responsible for Erina's disadvantageous gauntlet-like bracket in BLUE.
Cooking Style[]
Skills[]
- God's Tongue - Like Erina Nakiri, Mana also possess the God's Tongue.
Etymology[]
- The name Mana means "real, genuine" (真) (ma) and "calm, lull" (凪) (na).
- Mana's surname Nakiri means "mow" (薙) (na) and "off" (切) (kiri).
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| Bookmaster | Mana Nakiri | |||||
| 1st Rank | Anne • Courage • Decora | |||||
| 2nd Rank | Histoire • Charme • Lanterby | |||||