Hisako IchikiArmor

Teenager Hisako Ichiki just wants a normal life but life has other plans when her mutant powers emerge in the form of exoskeleton armor in the shape of a Samurai, and strange things start to happen around her.

A Tragedy and Mysterious Power

A diabolical genius, Reed Richards, AKA the Maker, uses time travel to create his ideal Earth on Earth-6160 by preventing Super Heroes from ever existing, and establishing a secret council of Super Villains to rule the world from the shadows. But the Maker gets trapped in a place called the City and the Maker’s Council endeavors to expand their influence on the world, including Sunfire, Viper and Silver Samurai, who oversee Japan, the Eastern territory of Hi No Kuni, “The Land of the Sun.” There, a young girl named Hisako Ichiki will find her life changed forever. 

Hisako lives in Kirisaki City and grows up with her childhood friend, Tsubasa, who gives her an omamori–a type of charm. But one day, Tsubasa is found dead, having allegedly hung himself. Strangely, her omamori shows up in her pocket even when she leaves it at home.

On the night of her middle school graduation, Hisako gets a cryptic note telling her to go to a temple. There, she finds a creepy shadow figure who talks to her about their mutual friend Tsubasa. The Shadow speaks of vengeance for Tsubasa as well. Frightened, Hisako runs away and collides with a car, but her unusual powers awaken as if an armor protecting her from harm and simultaneously smashes the car. Someone nearby caught it on camera and it went viral online, with voyeurs calling her #ArmorGirl. 

The next day, the Shadow attempts to return Hisako’s diploma that she allegedly dropped the night before, but Hisako demands to know what it really wants. It claims to want to help her through her trauma. Her armor appears again and tries to squeeze the Shadow but to no avail; it just spouts a warning about its curse and that Hisako would know the first victim, and it disappears. Hisako then sees her friend Tsubasa who’s effectively an apparition, and she receives a phone call telling her the teacher who coached Tsubasa and bullied him had hung himself, just like Tsubasa had.

Psionic Armor

Hisako’s mutant ability allows her to psionically project armor that is superhumanly durable and protects her from harm. The armor manifests as a Samurai exoskeleton, encasing her whole body, and sometimes seems to act independently to protect her. Hisako is still learning about the extent of her powers.

Outside of her high school courses, she takes classes to earn her motorcycle license.

Shadowy Figures

A sinister Shadow follows, haunts, and taunts Hisako about the death of her childhood friend and often brings dark and unusual occurrences with it. The Shadow turns out to be one of her classmates, Shinobu Kageyama, AKA Shadow King, a member of the cult known as The Children of the Atom. He becomes obsessed with Hisako, calling her his soulmate.

Close Friendships

Mei Igarashi, AKA Maystorm, is one of Hisako’s closest friends and classmates at Irodori High School. Mei affectionately calls her “Hi-chan” which is an honorific between friends. Mei thinks Hisako is a hero.

Hisako also grows close to fellow classmate and powerful budding psychic, Nico Minoru, and allies with her friends Natsu Tsukishima and Mori, who are both unwilling members of the Children of the Atom cult.

Armor’s Journey

One day, after taking her motorcycle-riding class, Hisako picked up eggs for her mom, and a white-haired punk girl named Mei approached her. Mei had recognized Hisako as the girl from the car wreck but Hisako denied her involvement. Mei didn’t believe her and instead showed her a stuffed toy that sang. Hisako thought her weird enough and shared another note from the Shadow figure with her. It instructed Hisako to go to a science lab in an abandoned school. Once they arrived, Hisako shared the story of the Shadow figure with Mei, how a teacher had died and her hopes to stop it before it claimed another victim. Mei thought of her as a Super Hero. The duo soon came upon a police officer but the Shadow appeared as well, saying that Hisako wouldn’t be seeing the three boys who bullied Tsubasa around anymore. When they called the Shadow a killer, expecting the officer to do something, but instead the officer transformed into a bunch of worms and moved to attack them. The pair ran but Mei protected them by summoning gusts of wind, dispelling the bugs. The Shadow attacked but Hisako’s armor appeared and took it down, allowing the girls to escape.

The next morning, Hisako heard about the three bullies on the news and how they had hanged themselves. At the high school entrance ceremony, Hisako spotted her new friend Mei and they embarked on an adventure to learn who was behind the creepy Shadow.

One day at school, Hisako and Mei noticed Nico Minoru, and Hisako expressed that there was always something strange about her and mentioned to Mei how her parents were real psychics. Nico took one look at them and called them mutants, too, surprising the duo. 

During a confrontation with the Shadow, a group of onlookers caught Armor’s powers on video, but Mei intervened, frying everyone’s phones with her lightning powers. But the video survived and the next day it was trending on social media. Nico was present and witnessed both Armor and Mei’s powers in action and joined their search for answers behind the Shadow. 

At school, Nico believed the Shadow might be connected to a mysterious cult that her grandmother once researched: The Children of the Atom. Nico brought her grandmother’s book that detailed all her findings, which included a symbol that also appeared on Hisako’s omamori. Nico’s friends, Natsu and Mori, revealed that they were members of the cult and they recognized the Shadow, who had appeared nearby, as their fellow cult member Shinobu Kageyama, AKA Shadow King! 

Meanwhile, unrest in Hi No Kuni exploded after images of a human body in a suitcase went viral on social media. When Hisako saw an image of the body on Mei’s phone, she zoomed in and spotted a symbol carved on the body–the same one that was on her omamori. Suspicious, Hisako started to connect the dots between Tsubasa’s omamori but Mei adamantly believed that the charm was protecting Hisako. 

Since the news broke about the Children of the Atom being involved with the body in the suitcase, Nico realized that their friends Natsu and Mori weren’t coming to school. Hisako, Mei, and Nico were soon verbally harassed by another student, who was in the midst of decorating the halls and who called them “muties.” Hisako lost it and destroyed the decor by ripping it apart and stomping on it. Afterward, Hisako was given a serious talk by one of the school’s staff. Hisako admitted to Mei that she was worried about losing control and hurting others, but Mei dismissed it and called her a hero.

When Hisako’s neighbors showed up on her doorstep asking questions about what she knew about their sons, the ones who committed suicide, Hisako’s mother told her to call the police. But suddenly their sons manifested as strange. large beings, and started choking one of the mothers. The entities seemed to be emanating from Hisako, whose mother tried to stop as Hisako’s red armor manifested in place of the sons. Hisako fled home, scared that she had hurt them and met up at Nico’s house where Mori was also present. Mori had received concerning texts from Natsu, who had inadvertently killed her mom with her optic blasts, and Nico resolved to find their missing friend Natsu.

Hisako and Mei chatted at school during lunch, expressing that she worried for Mori but thought that a missing-person’s case should be left to the police. Mei was confident about doing something instead of nothing, which made Hisako question herself. An older student, Kanon Sainouchi, approached Hisako, calling her Armor Girl and egging her on to fight, but Hisako didn’t want to as she didn’t know her and didn’t have a reason. But Kanon called her out that it seemed from her observations, she didn’t fight even if there was a reason.

Later, while hiding out at Nico’s house, a doorbell rang and she answered it to find Shinobu Kageyama. He reminded her of their past connection in middle school when she refused to acknowledge the omamori that Tsubasa had given her in front of others and embarrassed him at school. He admitted how he mentally suggested that Tsubasa take his own life, but blamed him for the deed itself. Still, he continued to prey on Hisako’s guild surrounding Tsubasa’s suicide, encouraged her to be her true self and stand by his side as he engulfed her, and her friends, in his world of shadows.