Konoko
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"Various in-game images of Konoko" |
Konoko
Konoko is the main protagonist and the player in the 2001 third-person shooter Oni. She is unlike most other people in the game because she is a Daodan symbiote.
From the manual
Bio Data:
Orphaned at the age of 3, the woman now code-named Konoko has been raised as a ward of the World Coalition Government ever since. Her upbringing has been overseen by a legion of scientists and TCTF personnel, and she has been trained in the most advanced combat and counter-terrorism techniques.
Development
TCTF Agent
At the start of Oni, Konoko was an agent, working under the orders of Commader Griffin. She was also supervised by Shinatama, an SLD, as well as the scientists working for the TCTF, including Doctor Kerr. However, she had not been assigned any missions before the events of Oni.
After completing TCTF Training Beta-6, Konoko was assigned her first mission: a rendevous with an undercover TCTF operative working in a Syndicate warehouse. Upon discovering the agent's dead body, she finds a datapad linking the warehouse to the Mushashi Heavy Manufacturing Concern, a suspected Syndicate front. Konoko is then ordered to shut down the warehouse by Griffin.
Following the lead on Musashi, Konoko lead a team to investigate the company, but were quickly ambushed by Syndicate forces. Whilst Konoko and her team were trapped within the building, Sydindicate forces, under the command of Barabas, attacked a nearby research facility. Konoko and her team were able to escape after she disabled the Deadly Brain controlling the building's security systems.
Upon reaching the research facility, Konoko had her first battle with Barabas. Barabas was defeated, and promptly escaped. However, Konoko was unable to apprehend Muro at the facility, and so pursued him to the Airport, chasing him through the terminal bays and the Airport hangers. Muro found out about Konoko's neural link to Shinatama, and sent Barabas to 'retrieve' Shinatama from the TCTF Regional HQ.
Konoko managed to enter the TCTF Regional HQ as it fell under attack from Syndicate forces. Despite gaining assistance from the beseiged TCTF personnel still alive after the attack, Konoko was unable to stop Barabas from capturing Shinatama, and fought him for a second time on the roof of the HQ, as Shinatama was carried away in a Syndicate helcopter.
Rogue agent
NOTE: I've removed the conversations from the pages. Scripts can be referenced to from there - ItemfinderDeluxe
When Shinatama is kidnapped from the TCTF HQ, Konoko decided to rescue Shinatama personally. Griffin, on the other hand, opposed her decision, stating that he had already sent a strike team to retrieve Shinatama. In spite of this, Konoko disobeyed his orders, and went to the Atmospheric Processor where Muro had taken Shinatama.
Whilst Konoko was able to reach Shinatama, she was unable to save her, as Muro had Shinatama tortured and severely damaged (the reasons for doing so are many and debateable). Here, Konoko learns that her actual name is Mai Hasegawa, and that Shinatama had been constructed to monitor the development of the Chrysalis inside her. Then, Griffin, unhappy with Konoko and Kerr, ordered Shinatama's self-detonation, in order to kill Konoko. Shinatama was unable to override the command, but bought enough time for Konoko to escape the blast radius. After escaping from the Atmospheric Processor, Konoko is declared a rogue agent by Griffin.
Konoko heads to the Regional State Building in order to gather information about her past, but Griffin organised for TCTF Troops to ambush and bring her in. Konoko was able to elude being captured by the TCTF, but lost the data on herself to Mukade. Konoko was forced to pursue Mukade through the nearby rooftops, before cornering him. Konoko and Mukade fight, with Konoko kiling Mukade and recovering the CD.
Konoko makes her way to her father's laboratory, and reads the contents of the CD. She learns that her name is Mai Hasegawa, as Shinatama told her. Konoko also learns of her parents, particularly her mother Jamie Hasegawa (maiden name Jamie Kerr), thus making Doctor Kerr her uncle. Afterwards, Konoko experienced an unsettling dream involving encounters with Muro, Shinatama, Griffin, and even herself.
So, technically speaking, Mai is not on a mission in CHAPTER 07 . A FRIEND IN NEED and CHAPTER 08 . AN INNOCENT LIFE : as good as not affiliated with the TCTF at all. She's on her own.
Which is one of the reasons why she could have chosen to wear another kind of gear than what she wore on her missions until then : Black Ops gear ^^
Other reasons are :
- The first missions are carried out by day. Going after Shinatama means night-time infiltration. Black Ops gear is good for that.
- Konoko is (plotwise) seconded by a TCTF team on her first missions, so a clearly identifiable TCTF label can prevent friendly fire etc. None of that here.
- Getting out the coolest toys when it comes to saving her best and only friend would make sense. Imagine a cutscene when she straps that stuff on... ^^
Mai Hasegawa
Loquacious Shinatama
CHAPTER 08 . AN INNOCENT LIFE is where Konoko first learns her real name. It is spoken by Shinatama, but at that moment Konoko ignores almost everything Shinatama tells her.
The CD
CHAPTER 11 . DREAM DIVER is where Konoko learns most of the stuff about her parents : Jamie Kerr and Professor Hasegawa (first name unknown). She and her brother (Muro) are not referred to at all in Hasegawa's diary, except for the newspaper article GRAD STUDENT DIES : MURDER OR MERCY : "Jamie Kerr Hasegawa, environmental activist, top grad student, mother of two".
Science Prison
Konoko is referred to as "Hasegawa, Mai" in the terminals there. The readout relates mostly to experiments performed on Mai at some undefined time.
After scanning Mai, Kerr acknowledges that Muro, Mai's archnemesis, is indeed Mai's brother. He does not, however, make any statement as for Hasegawa's fate or whereabouts.
Daodan symbiote
The fact that Konoko is not 100% human is suggested by cutscenes throughout the first part of the game. Konoko herself is of course unaware of those sequences, but the sequences supply too little information for the player to know much more than the character.
Filling in...
Name
"Konoko"
"Kono" means "this" in Japanese, and "ko" means child (or "great", "price", or "sin"!). Hence, "Konoko" literally could mean "this child" to a Japanese speaker. Although we don't know who in the TCTF gave it to her, one can almost hear Griffin saying "What do you want me to do with this child?" upon seeing the girl Kerr brought with him when he fled the Syndicate. As to why she would be given a Japanese (code)name, and not an "English" name instead, this would make sense given her (half-)Japanese ethnicity. Translation source: http://www.freedict.com/onldict/jap.html. See Trivia#Konoko for more on interpreting her name, including a cautionary note.
- (Konoko's generic name is reminiscent of Odo from DS9, who, being discovered as a seemingly non-sentient goo, was labeled "Odo'ital", meaning "unknown sample" or "nothing".)
"Mai"
According to ( http://www.behindthename.com/php/search.php?terms=mai&nmd=n&gender=both&operator=or ), Konoko's true name translates (in japanese) to 'dance' or 'linen robe'. It can also be a result of "True, real" combined with "Love, affection".
Design
"Lorraine McLees, Bungie artist, remembers the slight tug of war between the Chicago and Bungie West [offices]: 'Their vision of (Konoko) was more overtly -blam!- than ours. We specifically didn't want her to be just another Lara Croft, so we'd go back and forth with the California office. They'd send Konoko designs back with a bare midriff and the bottom of her breasts exposed, and we'd go back and re-clothe her. The funny thing is that the more we tried to de--blam!-ize her, the more sexy she became.' " -- http://www.bungie.net/inside/history.aspx?link=oni