Yuuichirou Kotoishi is the father of Naru Kotoishi and son of Kousaku Kotoishi.
Appearance[]
He and Naru look incredibly similar. He has messy blonde hair, droopy eyes and a stubble. He is taller than Handa by about half a head.
Personality[]
He is an incredibly Carefree and somewhat irresponsible person. Due to his job as a sailor, he leads a nomadic lifestyle and has been mostly absent from Naru’s life (and the island), coming back only once a year for Christmas. Nothing has ever been mentioned about Naru’s mother, his relationship with her, or how he became a father. Because of his personality, he has left his widowed father in charge of raising Naru (and indirectly to some degree pushed some of that responsibility onto Handa).
Even so, it appears that he does love his daughter in his own way such as coming back to the island every year for Christmas to give her a gift. During the few days he is around at the end of the year he usually tails Naru and tries to look out for her from the shadows, like yelling at her to come down from the wall cause it was dangerous, but hiding before she can see him. Later we see that he feels guilty for not being in Naru’s life and feels like he failed as a father.
Overview[]
He is seen as a baby in photographs of the time when Seimei lived on the island. At the time Seimei was invited by Kousaku Kotoishi to write his name on a slip of paper. This slip of paper can be seen in the background of those photographs and Yuuichirou is later shown to have kept it in a small cloth bag as a good luck charm. When Seimei describe the father of the baby as an energetic man who always wears a straw hat, Sensei realises the man in the straw hat must be Naru’s grandfather and that the baby is in fact Naru’s father.
He first officially appears as an adult in chapter 90 of the manga dressed as Santa Claus and sneakily giving Naru a birthday present. Handa spots him and nearly gives him away. He considers himself not fit to be a parent due to his attitude and lifestyle which he is not willing to give up. Because of this Naru was left in the care of her grandfather before Sensei came to the island. However she was often left alone because her grandfather worked long hours as a farmer/fisherman.
When Sensei asks him about his job, Yuuichirou says he boarded a ship right out of middle school though the specific work he does is unknown. He then mentions he actually gets a break several months a year but uses it to see “his special lady” instead of his daughter. It is unknown who this “special lady” is or if it could be Naru’s mother.
He says the reason for this is when Naru first started talking he came home for 3 days to see her and she reacted to him violentl, clinging to his father Kousaku instead who had been looking after her while he was away. This flashback also shows that at this point Naru’s mother was already not in her life.
Sensei says that Naru was now old enough to get to know him and possibly understand his circumstances, however he declines and says that “kids grow up, even without their parents”. His careless attitude towards Naru irritates Sensei, especially after he tells Sensei not to worry about his relationship with his daughter cause Sensei was an ‘outsider’. There is a commotion outside and they both see Naru with her group of friends. She tells them that Yuuichirou has been stalking her since that morning showing that she realises he had been watching her. When Sensei tries to tell her Yuuichirou is her dad, he interrupts him and distracts Naru and her friends with a game of kick the can.
While they hide from Yuuichirou, Sensei asks Naru if she has ever met her dad. Naru says Kousaku told her not to talk about her parents because they are space aliens and if she talks about them, they’ll hear her and take her to outer space. After the game, one of the boys asks Handa if he knows Yuuichirou, he quietly says that Yuuichirou is a space alien. This shocks Naru who now realises who he is.
The next day, Sensei, worried about Naru and unable to sleep finds her pacing at the bus station Where Yuuichirou is suppose to board the bus and leave the island. Seeing them, Yuuichirou tries to talk to Naru and she hides behind Sensei’s legs, similar to what she did as a child with her grandpa when Yuuichirou came over to visit her. Sensei then scolds her, telling her he has never known her to be shy and that she shouldn’t be now because she played with him yesterday. She tells him that she had fun playing kick the can together and asks if aliens had names. He then shows her a folded slip of paper that had his name written by Seimei when he was born, and gives it to Naru As a good luck charm. Naru says she’ll give him something in return for the paper and runs off. While she’s gone, he tells Sensei that it isn’t like he doesn’t want to meet her, but he heard that when she was still very little, she always got a fever from the shock of her dad leaving even though she’s such a healthy child. He then says his relatives had tried to suggest he find work on land for Naru’s sake, but he could only do sea work and that if he wasn’t going to be there for his child, it’d be better if he didn’t exist to her. Sensei then asks him if he was willing to send her letters after realising that even though he was the way he was, he did genuinely care for Naru. Sensei then tells him that his own father who was an awkward man often found it easier to express his emotions and concern through words and would periodically send him letters. This surprises Yuuichiro, who seeing how much Sensei was thinking about him and his daughter agreed to send the letters to his house. Just as the bus arrives, Naru returns and gives him a bag. That contained toy airplanes she gets from ‘Santa’ every year. She tells him she got a new airplane this year and would give him all her old ones.
After he leaves, Naru tells sensei that she was in denial all this time and secretly knew Santa wasn’t real because Kenta and Hina got different presents from what they wrote on their wish list And that their dad gave it to them. She tears up and says she never actually wanted airplanes, but she was always happy to get them cause she knew it meant her dad came to visit her. This shocks Sensei because Naru wasn’t the type to cry.
As he sits in the bus, Yuuichirou realises that all the airplanes could mean that she was giving all the airplanes back because she no longer believed in Santa and knew who he was. He then wonders if there was a present he could give her next time that a dad would give.
The next day, Tama and Miwa comes over to sensei’s house and finds both Sensei and Naru sick. Miwa brings in a postcard that was left at his door and he was surprise to see it was from Yuuichirou, leading a surprise Naru to ask if the card was from her dad, confirming that she knows Yuuichiro’s relationship with her.
Trivia[]
- He grew upon the island and as such speaks with a strong island slang similar to most of the townsfolk.
- Naru’s mother and his relationship with her is never clarified.
- Tama stated that even among the villagers he is considered an oddball and that’s really saying something.
- He now frequently sends postcards home to Naru.
Gallery[]
