Mato Kuroi (OVA Character)

Mato Kuroi (黒衣マト, Kuroi Mato) is the main character of Black★Rock Shooter OVA. Her other self is Black★Rock Shooter.

Appearance
Mato is a black-haired schoolgirl with blue eyes. She has short, choppy pig tails and wears a seifuku consisting of a white top with a dark blue collar and a dark blue skirt. She wears black knee-high socks. She has a patch of bandage on her right knee, after getting an injury from basketball practice. Many of her belongings, including her clothes, phone charm, and room decorations, have a star motif. She is described as being 155cm tall.

Towards the end of the OVA, Mato wears an open dark-colored hoodie, a white and blue shirt, a blue skirt, black thigh-highs, and blue running shoes. Her hoodie, shirt, and shoes all have stars on them.

Personality
Mato is an innocent first-year student in middle school. On the outside, she is outgoing and excitable, but she is very awkward around people she does not know, and on the inside, she is a sensitive and meek person. She becomes interested in Yomi after the two notice each other on the first day of school, and takes the first step to speak to Yomi and become friends with her.

However, Mato is also naïve to a fault, as she does not realize how jealous Yomi Takanashi was while she was spending more time with Yuu, or what Yomi means to her until after she disappears. Mato also does not realize the dark state Yuu appears to be in at the very end of the OVA. Nevertheless, the friendship Mato has with both girls are important to her.

History
Mato wakes up on her first day of junior high school, excited to start the year. She carries out her morning routine and heads to a hill with a large view overlooking the town before she goes to school. Near the school entrance, she comes upon Yomi Takanashi coming out of a car and becomes interested in her. Mato decides to strike a conversation with her; her outgoing personality initially takes Yomi aback, but the two soon become friends. They begin to turn to each other for everything, and Mato eventually shows Yomi the view on the hill. There, Mato gives Yomi a cell phone charm with a star, identical to the one she has herself. Additionally, Mato's skill in basketball encourages Yomi to join the volleyball team so she can be with Mato on the court.

As the days go by, Mato and Yomi make fond memories throughout the year together, leading up to the new year. Sometime afterwards, Mato is injured from basketball practice, and the basketball team's manager, Yuu, helps her. She ends up befriending Yuu.

Things change in the girls' second year of junior high. Mato and Yomi are put into separate classes, with Mato in the same class as Yuu. Mato initially tries to get both Yuu and Yomi to be together with her at the same time, but she ends up spending more time with Yuu. As a result, Yomi begins to feel left out and jealous of their friendship. Mato senses Yomi just as she leaves after watching her talking with Yuu, and briefly sees her vanish. Mato begins to worry about Yomi not responding to any of her calls or texts. At first, she believes that this means Yomi is avoiding her, but when two men come to her house asking about Yomi's disappearance, Mato breaks into tears and continues halfheartedly searching for Yomi.

One evening, Mato gets a mysterious text from Yomi with nothing in it. Convinced that this is a clue, Mato runs out of her house and rides her bike up to the place on the hill. She finds the phone charm she bought for Yomi and holds it to her chest, finally realizing what Yomi means to her. A light erupts from the charm and envelops her, transporting her to a strange place filled with light. She meets Black★Rock Shooter there, and reconciles with her "other self," who offers to help Yomi. The two merge and both identify herself as Black★Rock Shooter, allowing them to save Yomi.

In the end, a reconciled Mato and Yomi walk home from school; however, Mato remains unaware that Yuu is in a dark state.

Trivia

 * Her surname, "Kuroi", is written with the kanji "黒衣", which means "black clothes".
 * Mato's surname can be misread as "Kokui", due to the fact that it would be the more common pronunciation of the kanji in normal wording: however, "Kuroi" as a surname is the proper pronunciation.
 * "Mato" is written in katakana, which has no meaning by itself, but one possible kanji writing for "mato" is "的", which means "target" (as in target shooting).

Gallery

 * Full article: Mato Kuroi (OVA Character)/Gallery