Kotaba Honyakuji is a zookeeper who works at Megalo-Safari in My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions.
Appearance#
Kotaba is a woman with black hair she wears a standard zoo uniform with a hoodie tied to her waist and a pair of gloves alongside a polka dot scarf.
Personality#
Kotaba is an extremely energetic, passionate, and caring person as seen when she makes sure Jurota Shishida is okay after he is shoulder slammed by Brutus.
Synopsis#
After Gang Orca explains to Itsuka Kendo, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, and Jurota Shishida what they'll be doing for their team-up mission, he introduces them to Kotaba and explains her Quirk: the ability to understand animals. Kotaba then takes the three students on a tour of the park, explaining how the zoo is split into zones based on topography. Afterward, she takes them to the jungle zone and hands the students interpreter devices that will allow them to understand the animals as she does.
As Itsuka, Tetsutetsu, and Jurota each state their goals, Jurota is suddenly shoulder-slammed by Brutus, a gorilla. Kotaba explains to Brutus that the students mean him no harm. Shishida gets up and asks Brutus to teach him the way of the wilds. Kotaba tells him to rethink his decision, but Brutus tells Jurota to have it his way. As Jurota continues to try to be wild like Brutus, it eventually becomes feeding time, and Kotaba brings out food for the animals. Brutus goes into the jungle to get his own food, with Jurota following him.
After using some equipment he has, Jurota decides he's not wild enough and asks Brutus yet again to teach him how to be secretive and free like the wild itself. Brutus explains he's just being himself.
Later, a zebra man arrives at the zoo to take some pictures for social media. His friend asks him if it's okay for him to be out of the car. The zebra guy says the fence is blocking his view and that he'll be right back after he takes some shots. While he's taking pictures, he's surrounded by hungry lions. Brutus hears the yelling and dashes off. Kotaba then runs up to everyone and tells them that a guest is missing. Jurota then uses his quirk to track down Brutus by smell. They find Brutus a few moments later, and Kotaba tries to talk to the lions, but they don't understand her. Gang Orca says it must be because they've gone fully feral.
Brutus is then attacked by one of the lions, but uses an umbrella Jurota dropped to protect himself and the zebra man, which catches Kotaba off guard. Itsuka and Tetsutetsu then use their quirks to help Brutus. Shishida then says he has no choice, with Kotaba telling him not to hurt the animals, but he starts drumming his chest, which causes the lions to snap out of their instincts and walk away. As Kotaba thanks everyone for their help, she is still caught off guard by Brutus using human tools. Brutus says that the human way isn't that bad, with Kotaba saying she didn't catch what he said.[1]
Trivia#
- Kotaba is primarily based on Hana Aoi, the protagonist from Kohei Horikoshi's previous work, Oumagadoki Zoo. The scarf she wears is a nod to one of the other main characters of the series, Shiina.
- She shares both of her inspirations with Zookeeper.