Hatomi Asuna

Asuna (はとみ アスナ, Hatomi Asuna) is one of the main protagonists and the primary female protagonist of ELEMENT. She, like many other chief characters, was thrust into the Elemental world when Kiyoshi had his Awakening. Her goal is to accompany and protect her friends in the elemental world and to figure out what kind of girl she really wants to be.

Background
Asuna has had a complex past. Her mother was an Elemental by trade, so most of the time Asuna was raised by her maternal grandmother. Her grandmother was very kind and caring to her, and her mother wished for her to grow up as a normal girl. This influence can be seen when Asuna is stubborn at first regarding the Elemental situation. It is also shown that Asuna suffered from some sort of sickness as a child, which her grandmother helped her through. Asuna shows great attachment to both her mother and grandmother, as she wears her mother's Elemental outfit as her primary battle uniform, and shows great devotion to her grandmother when Himiko impersonates her. It is later revealed that Himiko had killed her grandmother. Asuna grew up in the same area as Kiyoshi and the gang as she went to the same elementary school as them, and the same high school as well. She finally joins the gang at Council headquarters after their mission on Mt. Alclay. On the way there, she met three girls who would become irreplaceable friends. She currently resides in Council Headquarters taking classes.

Appearance
Asuna is a blonde-haired girl with emerald green eyes. She is hinted to be a very attractive character in Element, mostly by Kiyoshi, who is infatuated with her. Akio also implies that she is out of Kiyoshi's league. Asuna wears a ponytail early in the series, but later lets her hair down. She wears a mix of clothes until she dons her mother's outfit, which is her current battle uniform. This outfit is complete with pink trim, long white sleeves, and gold bangles that she wears on her pants. Asuna also wears boots.

Personality
Asuna is first depicted as a typical girl with normal needs and wants. She is active and friendly, has a boyfriend, and has great school involvement. She participates in marching band and received the award for having the most school spirit. Her life is quickly thrown out of balance when Kiyoshi Awakens to save her from an incoming bazooka missile. She is impressed, but remains very close-minded to the idea of Elementals. Later, when Baku Sen'nin approaches her, she refuses to have any part in Kiyoshi or the Elementals. She is close minded until the situation on the roof with SYSTEM Bot A, which made her reflect on her friends and being able to help them. Himiko finally pushes her over the edge when she tries to get Asuna to betray her friends. Asuna then sets out on a quest to catch up to them.

Asuna is kind, caring, and friendly to all. At times she is portrayed as slightly absent minded, especially when gambling at the casino in Dezide. She is also a bit slow when it comes to understanding Elementals. Early in the series, her development is based around missing her friends and pursuing them so that she can be the one to help them. This is an uncommon bravery that many Elementals including Kando and Takashi are moved by. Asuna has an incredibly strong spirit and is surprisingly skilled. She is oddly the only Elemental with a perfect battle record thus far, if you don't count the battles she witnessed before she was an Elemental.

Asuna has been shown to be surprisingly mature about many things. At first, she dislikes politics, but later brings them up in conversation with Akio. She is understanding (although sad) when Masuyo breaks off their relationship, and is sympathetic toward many of the situations of other characters, including the situation with Kiyoshi's parents, and the situation with Takashi's people on Fire Island. She is respectful and fun to be around with amazing determination. Her best friends, Ayaka, Mayoke, and Saya, notice her growth and become very attached to her.

Abilities
Asuna seems to be a skilled individual, but her fighting prowess is far less noticeable than some of the other characters. However, when it comes to her friends, Asuna gets fired up easily. In her battle with Himiko the second time, she is notably more dogged and aggressive.

Physical
Asuna is a strong girl, capable of quick movements and lucky hits. As far as fighting, her only real opponent has been Himiko, whom she triumphs over on Fire Island. However, it is assumed that Ayaka, Mayoke, and Saya have trained her a bit in fighting arts. She can take out SYSTEM robots on her own, a great contrast to the beginning of the series.

Luck Powers
Asuna has been shown to be extremely lucky. She easily won a lot of money without even trying at a casino in Dezide, and conveniently trips and dodges a bullet. She was luckily saved once by both Kando and Kiyoshi's Archangel defense mechanism. She also tends to be relatively unlucky at times, being dragged into the elemental situation at the parade and further pestered by Kiyoshi and Takashi. Offensively, we have seen no application of this power.

Luck Chakrams
Asuna's level 1 eleweapons are a pair of rings she uses. She has only truly used them offensively in her fight with Himiko. She has shown great ranged abilities and excellent control. The rings appear to be physical energy, similar to Kiyoshi's Light Pole and Masuyo's Dark Scythe. She can pass objects through her eleweapons to bestow good luck or bad luck upon them. So far, she does not have any control over this, but she seems to have periods of good luck, followed by periods of bad luck, and so on.

Shisuku Masuyo
Asuna and Masuyo met one day at the beach and started dating. At the start of the series, they are involved in a relationship. However, Masuyo's interaction with Asuna is of mixed natures. He certainly cares for her, as he protects her from many dangers throughout the series, but at the same time brushes her aside. He expresses frustration when she calls him helpless on the roof of Jaimon High School during the battle with SYSTEM Bot A. When he arrives at Council, he is happy to see her, but she is much happier to see him. He later breaks off the romantic aspect of their relationship when he begins training with Black, his reason being that his life was becoming too cluttered and that it wasn't fair to her. Currently, the hold a mutual caring that is still more than ordinary friendship.

Reikari Kiyoshi
Asuna is Kiyoshi's love interest. Kiyoshi's relationship with her is one-sided at first, with Asuna being unreceptive. This parallels her treatment of the Elemental situation. As the story progresses, Asuna and Kiyoshi become more friendly and Kiyoshi helps Asuna quite often. She is the reason he Awakened in the first place. There are times when Asuna has trouble tolerating Kiyoshi's mannerisms, but she has admired his determination on several occasions.

Ayaka
Ayaka has quickly become Asuna's best friend. Ayaka's aggression and firey spirit has been helpful to Asuna to overcome her troubles. Ayaka supports Asuna and her relationships. She is the first to truly welcome Asuna into the group. Asuna shows great concern and respect for all three of the girls she meets, but directs most of her conversation toward Ayaka. Although Ayaka's solutions to Asuna's problems are often brute force, she truly cares.

Mayoke
Mayoke was the most hesitant to accept Asuna into the group. Presumably, she didn't want normal humans to be involved, but eventually warms up to Asuna and starts acting herself. Asuna and Mayoke are friendly towards each other, and share girlish interests that the tomboyish Ayaka may not be able to fulfill. Mayoke has great respect for Asuna.

Saya
Saya appears aloof, but one emotion she shows is her acceptance of Asuna. Saya can be inconsiderate, pointing out the technicalities of her relationship with Masuyo before catering to Asuna's feelings of jealousy towards Black.

Akako Akio
Asuna and Akio do not often interact, but manga chapter 98 reveals that they had known eachother as children in elementary school. Akio's opinion on Asuna when the manga begins is that Kiyoshi should give up on her because she is out of his reach. Other times, Akio and Asuna are depicted together commentating sarcastically on Kiyoshi's antics.

Itamichi Takashi
Asuna and Takashi don't interact much as Takashi shows little interest in her. Asuna, however, grows greatly from a particular comment by Takashi, when he says that she is nothing but a normal little girl. This makes her realize that she wants to be able to help her friends in the upcoming Elemental battles and to make sure that they are not captured or oppressed by the SYSTEM. Now, they have a friendly relationship. It should be noted that the first time Takashi makes a joke (albeit a bad one) is to Asuna.

Black
Black is best seen as a rival to Asuna. The nature of their relationship is unlike the rivalry between Kiyoshi and Masuyo as it is not as friendly, and actually rather hostile. During their first encounter, they tried to get a feel for eachother. The sexual tension that exists because of their common bond with Masuyo makes the air thick and awkward when they meet. Their rivalry is expected to evolve further.

Trivia

 * According to an EleTalk episode, Asuna likes to dance in her room when no one's watching. According to the same episode, Asuna did not learn to tie her shoes until "very recently".
 * Asuna's English name was once Stephanie.
 * Asuna has a perfect battle record as an Elemental.