Kanata Izumi

Kanata Izumi
Kanji Name	泉かなた
Romaji Name	Izumi Kanata
Gender	Female
Age	20’s-40’s
Status	Deceased
Date of Birth	August 20
Blood Type	A
Height	143cm (4 ft, 8 in)
Family	Sōjirō Izumi (Husband) Konata Izumi (Daughter) Yui Narumi (Older Niece) Yutaka Kobayakawa (Younger Niece) Yuki Kobayakawa (Sister-In-Law)
Seiyū	Sumi Shimamoto (Shimamoto Sumi)
Voice Actor	Rebecca Forstadt
Manga Debut	Manga Episode 149
Anime Debut	Episode 22

Kanata Izumi (泉 かなた, Izumi Kanata) is a minor character in the Lucky Star series. She is the late mother of Konata Izumi and wife of Sōjirō Izumi.

Personality

Kanata was a very kind young woman, and she cared deeply for her loved ones.

Appearance

Her appearance was very similar to that of her daughter, especially with her long blue hair and petite, skinny build. However, her daughter, Konata, has an ahoge, messier bangs, tanned skin, a catlike smile, and a beauty mark under her left eye. She looks young, even younger than Sojiro, though Kanata is slightly older.

Description

According to Sojiro, Kanata was a very weak person, like her niece Yutaka Kobayakawa. Like Yutaka and Konata, she was also very short and extremely skinny.

Biography

Early Life

When Kanata Izumi was young she fell in love with Sōjirō Izumi, she eventually got married to him and had a little girl named Konata. Sometime after Konata was born, she passed away. The exact reasons and time of her death are unknown in either the anime or manga, only stating she died when Konata was an infant.

Returning as a Spirit

Kanata looks over her family

"May the ones who brought me so much joy be blessed with happiness."

- Kanata in The Yonder Here

For majority of the series, Kanata is only in photos and flashbacks. Kanata is so far only featured in one episode of the anime and one chapter of the manga, though she is mentioned in a few more. Kanata does not make her true appearance until the episode The Yonder Here, when she appears as a spirit at the Izumi house. A long flashback scene shows Sojiro's and Kanata's time before her death as Sojiro tells Konata about how much he loved her. When Konata and Sojiro take a picture, Kanata's spirit moves and poses with them, resulting in a picture of Konata and Sojiro with Kanata's spirit in it. However, Kanata only appears as a shadow in the picture, and Sojiro and Konata get scared and say that they must burn and rip the picture. Kanata denies and pleads for the picture to not be destroyed.

According to Hiyori Tamura's Secret Notes, Kanata is regarded as a "guardian angel" to Sojiro and Konata.

Soundtracks

Character song Vol. 11: Kanata and Sōjirō Izumi is dedicated to Kanata and Sojiro and contains 3 songs:

• Shiawase Negau Kanata Kara (I Wish for Happiness from the Yonder)
• Onna wa Yome to Musume Dake (My Women are Only My Bride and My Daughter)
• Sekai ga Kiete mo Aishiteru (I Love You Even if the World Vanishes)
  

  

  Kanata on the cover of Character song Vol. 11: Kanata and Sōjirō Izumi.

Etymology

• The name Kanata is Iroquois for "homeland" and was the original name for Canada.
  • Kanata is written in hiragana (かなた), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (奏太, 奏多, 叶多, 彼方, 奏汰, 奏大, 叶大, 叶太, 叶汰, 哉太, 哉大, 哉多, 哉汰, 夏向, 可南太, 佳奈多 or 佳那多), it could possibly mean:
    • 奏太 - "play music, complete" (奏) (kana) and "thick, big, great" (太) (ta).
    • 奏多 - "play music, complete" (奏) (kana) and "many" (多) (ta).
    • 叶多 - "grant, answer" (叶) (kana) and "many" (多) (ta).
    • 彼方 - "beyond, other side, yonder, there".
      • "Kanata" (彼方) is also Japanese for "far away", "distant", or "yonder", making the title of the episode in which she appears a pun on her name.
    • 奏汰 - "play music, complete" (奏) (kana) and "luxury, select" (汰) (ta).
    • 奏大 - "play music, complete" (奏) (kana) and "big, great" (大) (ta).
    • 叶大 - "grant, answer" (叶) (kana) and "big, great" (大) (ta).
    • 叶太 - "grant, answer" (叶) (kana) and "thick, big, great" (太) (ta).
    • 叶汰 - "grant, answer" (叶) (kana) and "luxury, select" (汰) (ta).
    • 哉太 - "how, what, alas, question mark, ?" (哉) (kana) and "thick, big, great" (太) (ta).
    • 哉大 - "how, what, alas, question mark, ?" (哉) (kana) and "big, great" (大) (ta).
    • 哉多 - "how, what, alas, question mark, ?" (哉) (kana) and "many" (多) (ta).
    • 哉汰 - "how, what, alas, question mark, ?" (哉) (kana) and "luxury, select" (汰) (ta).
    • 夏向 - "summer" (夏) (ka) and "yonder, facing, beyond, confront, defy, tend toward, approach" (向) (nata).
    • 可南太 - "possible, passable" (可) (ka), "south" (南) (na) and "thick, big, great" (太) (ta).
    • 佳奈多 - "good, beautiful" (佳) (ka), "apple tree" (奈) (na) and "many" (多) (ta).
    • 佳那多 - "good, beautiful" (佳) (ka), "what?" (那) (na) and "many" (多) (ta).

Trivia

• It's possible that the cause of Kanata's death was a disease, as seen in the last 2 scenes of her flashback.
  • The second to the last scene showed her on what may have been her sickbed, petting Sojiro's head as he lays it on her lap with a sad expression (possibly distressed by how she only has so little time left to live).
  • The last showed her on a wheelchair moved by Sojiro in the sunset (indicating that the illness cost her the ability to walk, and that he was trying to have what little time they had together.)
• Kanata's hairstyle is similar to Konata's, but her bangs are neater. In the manga, she has an ahoge; whereas in the anime, she lacks an ahoge.
• Kanata is of short stature, a lot smaller than Sojiro, which Konata inherited.
• The spelling of Kanata's name is similar to her daughter Konata.

Images

Kanata and shop cleaner sweat drop

Kanata in a different hairstyle

Kanata trying to cook

Sojiro proposing to Kanata

Kanata holding baby Konata

A picture of Kanata and Sojiro with baby Konata

Kanata reappears as a spirit

Kanata looks over her family

Artwork from the Lucky Star 10th Anniversary Fanbook

See Also

• The Yonder Here (Anime)
• The Near-By Far Away (Chapter) (Manga Chapter)