Mimi Tachikawa

Mimi Tachikawa (太刀川 ミミ) is a character in the and  series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. She is a DigiDestined, partnered to, and the bearer of the Crest of Sincerity.

Appearance
In 1995, Mimi is a little girl with light skin, long wavy light brown hair and brown eyes. She wears pink pajamas with a frilly collar, and her hair is tied in a lose ponytail with a yellow bow.

By 1999, Mimi is older and taller. She mostly wears her hair tied back in a high ponytail with a yellow hairband, with long strands framing her face, but also wears it down sometimes. She wears a western-style red dress with a buttoned turtleneck, a dark brown belt with a golden buckle, light brown gloves with brown straps around the wrists, pink socks, and brown and white shoes. She also wears a large pink cowgirl hat with a white drawstring. Her underwear is a pink training bra and matching panties.

After taking a bath in 's illusory mansion, she wears a pink bath robe over her underwear, which is later revealed to be an illusion.

When escaping from the shower in 's cruise ship, Mimi has a white towel wrapped around her body.

As the princess of ShogunGekomon's castle, Mimi wears a tiered pink and white princess dress, with a low-cut collar, puffy sleeves, and ribbons decorating the entire ensemble. She also wears a three-pronged crown with five red jewels and white opera gloves, and wears her tag and crest around her neck openly. At night, she wears a purple nightgown.

When she is kidnapped by 's minions, she is wearing her pajamas, consisting of a button-up shirt with short puffy sleeves and puffy pink shorts. She also wears purple and dark blue sandal slippers.

On March 4, 2000, Mimi wears a pink two-piece swimsuit with green lining, as well as a cream cowgirl hat. She is also shown wearing a pink midriff-baring tank top with yellow lining, light yellow shorts held up by a brown belt with a silver buckle, white socks and pink shoes. She is also seen with a tan, due to the climate of Hawaii.

In May 2000, when Gennai summons her back to the, Mimi wears hear hair down under a pink droopy bucket hat. She also wears a light yellow midriff-baring tank top, light blue jean shorts held up by a brown belt with a silver buckle, dark red socks, and beige shoes with brown soles.

In 2002, Mimi is a teenager, has grown taller, and enjoys trying different hairstyles. She is first shown with her hair curled up at the tips and dyed in shades of pink with star decorations. She wears a midriff-baring blue and red T-shirt with a white collar and white stripe across the chest, as well as a yellow star in the middle. She also wears a white skirt and tall white boots with beige platform heels and maroon straps.

During summer, her hair is strawberry blonde, and worn in two low ponytails. She wears a pink cowgirl hat, a short white western-style dress with spaghetti straps, a necklace with three red feathers, grey bracelets on both wrists, and tall white zip-up shoes with beige platform heels.

During autumn, Mimi's hair is styled in an orange perm under a cream slouchy hat. She also wears a red midriff-baring tank top with yellow and white stripes, a brown string necklace with a golden pendant, light blue jeans held up by a brown belt with a golden buckle, and white shoes with brown soles.

During winter, her hair is back in its natural color and wavy hairstyle. She wears a light blue turtleneck sweater and a dark red skirt reaching past her knees. Outside, she wears a green hat with a fuzzy white rim, a green coat with yellow linings and buttons and fuzzy white cuffs, dark brown gloves, and tall light brown boots.

On March 25, 2003, she wears a yellow turtleneck sweater, a necklace, a red skirt, a wide black belt with a big golden buckle, and tall brown boots.

In 2027, Mimi is an adult. Her hair is in its natural color and in a flipped hairstyle under a small pink cowgirl hat with a brown strap. She also wears a short coral dress with cream drawstrings, a brown belt with a big golden buckle, and a cream western-style jacket, as well as small hanging earrings. At work, she wears her hair in a slightly curled up style, more reminiscent of her natural hairstyle. She also wears a frilly pink full-body apron over a white dress and cream skirt, as well as stud earrings.

Description
Mimi is a girl who has been pampered her entire life, and as such is rather prissy and spoiled. However, she is actually a very sweet and caring person, who is sensitive to the feelings of others and dislikes fighting. She is purehearted and honest, sometimes brutally honest, but she never means to truly harm others. She is very ditzy, and has a rather wild imagination. Through her adventures in the Digital World, she learns that sometimes fighting is necessary to protect the ones she loves, and becomes more confident and resilient. As a teenager, she has shed most of her spoiled mannerisms, and is very confident and upbeat.

In the American English dub, she often talks of shopping and fashion.

Mimi is a talented singer, as shown when she is at 's castle. She also has an odd culinary taste; in the Japanese version, her favorite food is nattō, a dish made of fermented soybeans that is notorious for being an acquired taste due to its smell and texture. This is likely inherited from her mother, who makes meals like rice topped with whipped cream, and her father, who enjoys said meals.

In the Japanese version, Mimi is unable to swim 25 m, while in the American English dub, she's unable to swim across a bathtub.

Etymologies
Name used in Japanese materials. Also used in many dubs, including the American English.
 * Mimi Tachikawa (太刀川 ミミ)
 * Ja: Tachikawa (太刀川). Japanese surname that means "thick sword river".
 * Ja: Mimi (ミミ). A Japanese feminine name. With Sora, it may be a pun on "soramimi" (空耳). May also be derived from "mi" (美), as Mimi is described as beautiful in the official site.

Anime
In 1995, Mimi lived in Highton View Terrace with her parents, Keisuke and Satoe Tachikawa. One night, she witnessed the battle between and. This event led her to be chosen to become a new. The destruction created by the battle caused it to be labeled a terrorist attack, and the Tachikawa family moved away from the area.

When she is transported from summer camp into the Digital World, Mimi's pampered background and inexperience lead her to grow tired easily and complain. However, she does the best she can to keep up with the others. To her chagrin, she finds out she is very popular with gross Digimon like Numemon.

When separates the DigiDestined, Mimi and Palmon end up in the Ancient Dino Region. When they encounter and, Mimi's Digivice purifies the naturally nasty Digimon, and they tell Mimi and Palmon they saw another human on the other side of the region. When they find Izzy and at a temple, Izzy is too preoccupied to recognize Mimi's presence, and she is insulted and runs away crying, with Tentomon in hot pursuit. When they both run into a maze, Izzy pulls out the map and locates Mimi’s, directing them out of the maze.

After Tai and disappear following the battle against, Mimi and Palmon break from the other DigiDestined. Mimi is sought out by and  from 's castle, who were told by  about her singing skills. They bring her to the castle, hoping her singing will awaken ShogunGekomon, but Mimi takes advantage of their hospitality and asks for more and more luxuries. When Tai and Joe arrive and try to take her with them, Mimi refuses, even throwing them and Palmon to the dungeon. However, she feels terrible for betraying her friends, and when Sora visits Mimi in her bedroom that night, she admits she had been wrong. She apologizes to her friends and the Gekomon and Otamamon and sings to ShogunGekomon, waking him up. After ShogunGekomon attacks them and the DigiDestined defeat him to save the Gekomon and Otamamon, Mimi rejoins the DigiDestined.

Soon, the DigiDestined reunite and return to the Real World with their Digimon, hoping to find the eighth DigiDestined before and his army get to them. However, on August 3, Myotismon sends his to capture everyone in Odaiba, Mimi and her parents among them. While they are help at the Tokyo Big Site convention center, Mimi and Sora reunite, and with the help of Tai and Mimi's parents, they manage to escape momentarily. When appears and holds them back, Mimi's Crest of Sincerity activates, and  Digivolves into  to neutralize it. However, Myotismon decides to take on Lilymon himself, freezing her. Though Sora manages to escape, everyone else is taken back to the convention center. However, when Myotismon puts everyone in the convention center under a sleep spell, Mimi's Crest awakens her immediately, and she joins the other DigiDestined and the revitalized Lillymon to fight Myotismon.

Once they return to the Digital World, many of the DigiDestined's friends sacrifice themselves to save them from the. Mimi is deeply saddened by these deaths, to the point where she feels she can no longer fight. Joe decides to be the one to stay with her so she wouldn't be alone. Once they are alone, they encounter the wounded, and Mimi asks Joe to give him medical aid. When the newly evolved attacks them, their old friend  comes to their aid as. However, in a later battle against MetalEtemon, SaberLeomon is gravely injured, though he helps defeat MetalEtemon before he perishes. Now realizing that she has to fight to prevent more friends from dying, Mimi decides gather all their Digimon friends to help them in the final battle again.

After spending some time gathering reinforcements, Joe leaves Mimi with them to find Matt. When the DigiDestined gather to battle Piedmon and ruins his plan to turn the children into keychains, Mimi arrives at the battlefield, having gathered more friends to fight since Joe's departure. With their help, the DigiDestined easily overpower Piedmon and his army of Vilemon.

After defeating, when it's time for the DigiDestined to go back to the Real World, Palmon suddenly disappears. Mimi boards the tram back to the Real World thinking that she missed her chance to say one last goodbye to her partner. Once the tram starts moving, however, Palmon appears, having been too upset to say goodbye. Mimi's hat flies off in the wind as the DigiDestined and the Digimon wave goodbye to each other.

At some point, the Old Clock Shop Man summoned the heroes of the past to the Fusion universe to help take down. While Tai and Marcus Damon aid in their initial encounter with Quartzmon, Rika Nonaka and the ten-year old Mimi appear before Christopher Aonuma and Nene Amano in the DigiQuartz version of Hong Kong. Rika explains that they are not Digimon Hunters, and assures the former Generals that they are there to help with what is to come.

On December 31, Mimi has been kidnapped by. After defeating a revived Devimon, Ryo Akiyama rescues Mimi, Palmon, Izzy, and Tentomon. The two humans then return to the Real World.

On March 4, 2000, Mimi is taking a vacation in Hawaii. When Tai tries to call her in a panic, he can't reach her, only to later receive a postcard from her.

On May, Mimi arrives in the Digital World and gives up her Crest power to free the. As a result, Palmon loses the power to become.

In summer 2000, Mimi is a contestant in the D1 Tournament, a sham tournament meant to train Ryo in preparation for a battle with Millenniummon. She initially flirts with Ryo, even asking him out after she loses. Ryo is oblivious and merely stares at her in confusion. After the deception is revealed, she is one of the first to apologize, despite having been duped herself.

Sometime before September 2001, Mimi and her parents move to New York City in the United States of America. On September 11, 2001, Mimi is in New York during. When she rushes to Ground Zero, she meets some American DigiDestined and their Digimon, who help rescue and look for survivors. However, they are ultimately forced to leave because the Digimon couldn't be discovered. She and her mother cook for the rescuers.

At some point in the same year, Mimi visits Kyoto to learn more about as she didn't know how to explain it to her American friends. When at Kawaramachi Street, she meets Matt, Izzy, Joe. She then watches the ritual performed by Agumon, Gabumon, Biyomon, Gomamon, and Tentomon perform a ritual around the Heso-ishi in order to restore the balance between the Real and Digital Worlds.

By 2002, Mimi has been fully acclimated in America, though she also misses Japan, especially her friends and Japanese food. During Golden Week, Mimi comes back to Tokyo for a visit (in the Japanese version, it is stated that Mimi returns to Japan to attend her cousin's wedding) and meets the new DigiDestined, joining them on a picnic. Later, a portal to the opens in the United States, allowing Mimi to access the Digital World. She uses this opportunity to introduce the new DigiDestined to her friend, who is one of the American DigiDestined. During the summer, she visits Tokyo again to celebrate the anniversary of her Digital World adventures with the other DigiDestined.

T.K. and Kari visit Mimi in New York on summer of 2002. After she takes their picture, she goes to a telephone booth to connect her laptop to test the connection, but disappears into thin air few moments later, leaving T.K. and Kari confused. She is kidnapped into another dimension and regresses in age thanks to, but the new DigiDestined reverse this.

In autumn, while Mimi is feeding a bunch of YukimiBotamon, Palmon sees converting a Control Spire into Golemon and ordering it to destroy a nearby dam. Mimi messages the new DigiDestined to come help, and after all five of the DigiDestined's Digimon are exhausted and defeated, Mimi messages Ken to come help. This proves to be a turning point for the DigiDestined's relationship with Ken.

On Christmas Day, Mimi receives a special present from the younger DigiDestined: they bring Palmon to the Real World, and she hides in a sack under the Christmas tree. That night, when Digimon are set loose worldwide, Mimi's frightened parents try to take her and Palmon and leave the city. However, the two escape from the car, and join Davis and Michael to help them gather all the loose Digimon and send them to the Digital World.

When the world is engulfed by 's darkness, Mimi is with the American DigiDestined in New York, holding her Digivice to the sky with the others. They manage to reach the Digital World from there, and help defeat MaloMyotismon once and for all with the light of their Digivices.

On Valentine's Day, 2003, Mimi is at a store with Sora and Kari when they were taken hostage by. In the end she and the other DigiDestined attempt to use the s to digivolve their Digimon.

On March 2003, she was traveling to Japan by plane and later showed up at the school computer lab where Izzy, T.K. and Kari were.

In summer 2003, Mimi, Willis and Davis have a meet up in New York during summer vacation, however they encounter a random snow storm, strange fireflies and a mysterious girl Mimi nicknames Nat-chan, short for Natsu (夏). Nat-chan turns out to be a terrifying clawed Digimon and Mimi is forced to sit and watch as the terrifying encounter insues. In the end it is discovered that Nat-chan just wanted to be Davis's partner Digimon, and so the three DigiDestined decide to find a partner for Nat-chan themselves.

In 2005, Mimi returns to study in a Japan for a while.

By the year 2027, Mimi becomes a famous and well-loved chef (a nutritionist in the original Japanese) who has her own cooking show, with Palmon as her co-host. She has a son who is partnered with a Tanemon.

Novel
Ironically, while in the English dub of Digimon Adventure she mocks Izzy for his alien theories about the Digital World, in the Japanese Digimon Adventure novels, upon reaching the Digital World, Mimi initially perceives herself to be on an alien planet establishing diplomatic connections with an alien (Tanemon) there.

Digimon Fusion
A girl that looks like a thirteen-year old Mimi is at the Game World.

Music
Mimi has four Japanese image songs, the most of any character in the Digimon franchise; "Itsudemo Aeru Kara" ("Because We Can Always Meet Each Other"), "Super Girl", "Open Your Heart", and "Tomadoi" ("Confusion"), sung by Ai Maeda. She has an additional image song, a duet sung by Maeda with Shihomi Mizowaki as, called "Happy Smile". Maeda also participates in "Bokura no Digital World" ("Our Digital World"), and in the female Digimon Adventure characters' rendition of "I Wish" in the Digimon Music 100 Title Memorial Box

Notes and references
Mimi Tachikawa 太刀川ミミ Tachikawa Mimi