Bio!
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Kinomoto Touya
Canon: Cardcaptor Sakura
Point taken from canon: Manga chapter 38 - during the conversation with Yue, just BEFORE giving up his magic
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Appearance:
At 5’10” and 140 lbs, Touya sees himself as fairly fit. Soccer keeps him in good shape, and he’s generally considered to be ‘attractive’, at least by the girls in his grade. He has dark-brown hair (apparently cut at home by his best friend) and brown eyes, the darker tones setting him apart from his family a little. His hair is often seen falling into his eyes.
Unless he’s wearing a school uniform, his dress tends to be casual, often consisting of jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies. He’s far more concerned about being comfortable than about how he looks, after all. The exception to this is of course when he’s working, in which cases he’s been seen in everything from suits and ties to giant bear costumes.
His mannerisms tend to portray a bit of a macho mindset, but it’s really just a cover for his shyness. He hates admitting that he cares about anyone or that he is concerned, and would rather come off like a big jerk than like the sensitive young man that he is.
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Background:
Touya was born the first child of a professor and a model. His parent’s love story was a little rocky: his father was quite a bit older than his mother, and had in fact been her teacher. Because of this, his mother’s family was not accepting of the match, and Touya thus had little to no contact with his extended family.
Theirs was a happy family, however, and it became happier when a second child, a girl, entered the scene. The children’s mother Nadeshiko didn’t get to enjoy her two children for long, due to an untimely death... and because of this, Touya always felt protective of his younger sister. Touya at least got to see his mother a little longer: her ghost appeared to him from the time she died to the time he entered junior high. He got to see her one last time in high school, when she showed up concerned for Sakura.
A few major changes happened in his life as a teenager. For one thing, he had his first romance, with a student teacher who also held spiritual powers. They met in front of the teacher’s family’s shrine, and dated for about a year. The young woman told him as she was leaving for England to study that by the time she came back, they’d both be in love with other people... and this prediction proved true when she did reappear later in Touya’s life.
Two more major events were gaining a new best friend named Yukito and learning that his sister had magic as well - and had been chosen to collect and recreate a magical deck of cards. During the time in which his sister was busy with her calling, Touya was busy with several things: working part-time jobs in order to save for college, studying and spending time with his best friend Yukito, and doing his best to help protect and support his sister... despite her insistence at trying to hide everything that was going on.
In the midst of it all, though, his best friend was revealed to be secretly a ‘shell’ form for a guardian creature created by the same sorcerer who made the magical cards... and was also revealed to be rapidly failing because Sakura’s magical power couldn’t sustain him. As a result, Touya made one of the most important (and easiest, really) decisions of his life; he chose to give up all of his magical powers to save the life of the guardian “Yue”... in order to save the life of the “Yukito” shell that he loved.
It’s from this point that Touya appears in Kannagara, the very moment that he is about to hand over his powers, but before the actual transfer happens.
Personality: At first glance, Touya can come off an odd mix of shy and rude, depending on who you are. He often picks on his sister, and he’ll flat out tell you what he thinks if you get in the way of something he wants. But he often has problems talking about his feelings, and often does nice things for others in ways that don’t require him to face those he’s helping.
Touya is actually a rather studious and responsible young man. His favorite subject is chemistry, but he also loves school in general, and can often be found studying in his spare time. Not that he has a lot of spare time; he has a gazillion part time jobs, because he’s determined to pay for his own college education. (Though, okay, he did splurge on a motorcycle. He’s a teenage boy, all right?)
He’s also very serious about looking out for his younger sister; their mother’s death and their father’s busy schedule cause Touya to feel like it’s up to him to look out for Sakura, quite a bit. In fact, his obsession with looking out for his sister causes his best friend to accuse him of having a ‘sister complex’, and he is shown treating Syaoran Li, who eventually is romantically interested in Sakura, with quite a bit of distrust, since Touya foresees this relationship from the beginning.
Of course, keeping an eye out for Sakura is quite a bit more difficult considering his sister is the ‘Cardcaptor’, who captured and now controls magical cards...
Not that Touya himself is a stranger to magic, and that’s had a big impact on his life and personality. Being able to see ghosts and other spiritual beings has always been a part of his life... and has gone a long way toward making him the mature young man he is.
Another effect of the magical power, however, has been to cause him to sometimes immerse himself so much in the world of the supernatural that he doesn’t always interact properly with those around him, as evidenced by having far more fangirls than actual friends. The only close friendship he has is with Yukito; everyone else is kept at arm’s length, including the girls who ask him out. While he is sometimes kind to others, that’s not the same as actually letting them in, and the amount of compassion he shows toward the Mirror card (who he believes to be a ghost) is quite a bit more than he typically shows toward classmates.
The Mirror card situation is, in fact, the best example of compassion that is shown for Touya. On the second occasion that he meets the Mirror card, he is acutely aware that it is not Sakura, despite wearing his sister’s face. Despite that, he is kind and not only feeds the card the soup he made for his sick sister, but also gives her the gift of a ribbon, which she takes with her back into card form.
The fact that he’s now chosen to give up his power to save someone close to him just goes to show exactly what kind of person he is: caring, self-sacrificing, and strong of character.
Abilities/Strengths: Touya’s most obvious strength is his magical power, which is mostly the ability to sense spiritual beings, ghosts... and sometimes future events (as evidenced by his knowing where to get a job in order to be near Sakura’s adventures). He also has the ability to interfere with magical spells or beings at times.
Based on the fact that several characters lust after his power, and that his power is able to sustain Yue when Sakura’s wasn’t able to, the obvious conclusion there is that his magical power is quite strong, and possibly able to extent to learning more active uses, if given the opportunity to learn. I’d be interested in doing a plot at Kannagara, if possible, where he learned some other type of magic from another player character.
He is shown using martial arts a little, and being very athletic in general, his main sport being soccer. However, even as someone trained in martial arts as a student, that’s not exactly the same thing as fighting for one’s life, so I can’t say how he’d fare in a real all-out fight.
His character strengths are mostly being absolutely devoted to those that he cares about, and being willing to sacrifice everything for those people.
On a more practical level, he’s used to managing a household while his father is away, so he is good at cooking, cleaning, sewing, managing money, and all that sort of thing. Also shown playing violin, in the manga. Many of his jobs involve food service, and most of them seem to involve dealing with people as well.
Weaknesses: SHYNESS His biggest character weakness is really his shyness, because it keeps him from expressing himself well, and often causes him to behave rather ridiculously. He comes off as an asshole quite a lot simply because he doesn’t want to admit that he cares about people.
His insane loyalty can also be seen as a weakness as well as a strength, because he would quite literally do anything for those he cares about, no matter how much danger it puts him in, or what he has to give up.
Defining Quote(s): [OPTIONAL]
“It’s my fault that she’s so afraid of ghosts and monsters. She was just a little kid, and I’d say things like ‘there’s a woman with no legs over there’ or ‘here’s a man with a broken head’ every day.” (I consider this a defining quote because he’s taking responsibility for the effect of his teasing on Sakura)
“I’m the only one who can play with her.” (About his sister, and how no one else is allowed to tease her)
“In this forest, there are a lot of spirits, but it seems like you still have things to do. When we find what you’re looking for, when we find it, you can go. Say hello to my mom, when you get there.” (To the mirror card, after she causes him to get injured, thinking she’s a ghost. I think this quote is significant because he’s still trying to help her despite the fact that she masqueraded as his sister and caused him to be hurt, and yet he still wants to help her.)
“If my power can keep Yuki from disappearing, take it all.”
Other: One thing that’s pretty hard to tell from the canon is exactly how much Touya knows about his sister’s activities as the cardcaptor. He is shown being suspicious throughout the series, always giving Kero-chan the guardian (who looks like a plush toy) funny looks that make it obvious that he suspects it of being a magical creature. He eventually confronts Yuki about not being human and summons Yue out of him at the point at which he offers up his powers to save his friend.
It’s also obvious that he knows Mizuki-sensei (his ex-girlfriend and Sakura’s substitute teacher) both has magical powers and has some role to play in his sister’s adventures.
The exact question of how much he knows is a difficult one though, because his point of view is rarely shown, and he never comes right out and says how much he’s aware of. As a result, headcanon becomes rather necessary here. I prefer to say that he knows about the cards themselves, but not what all they are capable of, how they work, how many she has, or any other details involving their creation or purpose.