Suzu Taniguchi

Suzu Taniguchi is a major character from the "Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest" series.

She is one of the students from Japan who got involved in the Summoning Incident, and ended up in Tortus along with her other classmates. She was once best friends with Eri Nakamura (which turned out to be a lie as Nakamura betrayed her), and was part of Kouki Amanogawa's party during the training in Orcus Dungeon. She is also Ryutarou Sakagami's girlfriend.

After Eri's betrayal and Hiyama's death, Suzu (along with Shizuku, Kouki and Ryutarou) traveled with Hajime Nagumo and his companions to clear the last remaining Great Labyrinths to kill Ehit and would become friends with Eri.

Appearance
Suzu is teenage girl with a short stature. She as short brown hair styled into twin-tails that reaches her shoulders and has light brown eyes.

Personality
"Everything you said is absolutely right. I really was a coward. But that doesn’t matter anymore. I’m done with trying to protect myself. Ever since I saw that dream in Haltina’s labyrinth, I realized I’d been running away from what really mattered."

- Suzu while fighting her doppelgänger in the Frost Caverns of Schnee Suzu is the mood-maker of her class as she is usually very cheery and likes to lighten the mood. She also acts perverted at times towards her friends, making dirty jokes or grabbing one of her friends' breasts on occasion. However, she is actually quite pure and becomes easily flustered when witnessing the adult situations surrounding Hajime. She often gets overwhelmed by Tio's perverted personality after meeting her.

She has a gag of giving people nicknames such as Hajime as Hajihaji, Kaori as Kaorin, Shizuku as Shizushizu, Shea as Sheashea, Ryutarou as Ryu-kun and Eri as Eririn. After Hajime killed Ehit, she is the one who nicknamed him as the "God Slaying Demon King".

After she and the rest of her class is betrayed by her former-best friend Eri, Suzu becomes more depressed and devastated when she learns that Eri never considered her to be a true friend, but she's also more focused and determined in order to find a way to talk with her once again. After Hiyama's death by Hajime, Her determination was strong enough to convince Hajime to give her, Kouki, Shizuku and Ryutarou another chance to conquer a labyrinth and helping him to destroy the god as well hopefully give Eri resolve.

Ever since Eri's betrayal, Suzu admitted to her doppelgänger that she is a coward and is always running away from her problems.

Despite appearing happy all the time, Suzu is actually quite perceptive. She is aware that Eri, like herself, is hiding her true persona from the rest of her classmates, and wants to be her friend because of their similar circumstances.

Suzu has an inferiority complex with her appearance. Although she is considered to be "cute" by most people, she feels that she is not as attractive as some of her female friends.

Suzu is quite afraid of bugs, and becomes especially distraught when she is only able to tame insect-like monsters (with the exception of Inaba) before the battle against Ehit.

Weapons & Equipment

 * Bracelets - A pair of bracelets given to her by the Heiligh Kingdom to help strengthen her barrier magic. They are destroyed after Hajime attempts to enhance them using evolution magic.


 * Twin Iron Fans - Two iron-ribbed fans created by Hajime. They are bound to Suzu’s mana and blood, so only she can use them. They are able to reduce the length of Suzu's chants, and can enhance any defensive spells channeled through them thanks to evolution magic. Her fans also absorb trace amount of her mana at all times and store it for future use, as well as reducing the mana consumption of spells cast with them. There are jewels attached to the handle of each fan that allows her to summon various monsters that she controls. Each fan has a specific ability that complements each other: The right fan is used to cast traditional barrier spells, while the left fan can add secondary effects to those barriers, allowing Suzu to use composite magic. The following are the abilities enchanted in the fans by Hajime.
 * Aerodynamic-Enchanted Boots - They allow Suzu to walk mid-air.
 * Treasure Trove - A ring-shaped Artifact that has a small 1 centimeter ruby set in its center. The ruby was actually an artificially created dimensional space where things could be stored. It has the size around a house’s storage.
 * Skyboard - A surfboard that lets the user surf through the sky. They wrapped the user in a spatial magic barrier to cut down air resistance and used gravity magic to emulate flight. Their average cruising speed was around 200km/h, though those with larger mana pools could accelerate them to 300km/h. However, they took a lot of mana to operate.
 * Monster Orbs - Small hand-held orbs imbued with spatial magic in order to easily confine and transport subjugated monsters.

Physical Abilities

 * Enhanced Strength - Although not as physically strong as some of her other classmates, Suzu's strength is still superior to that of normal individuals. She is capable of denting a metal shield with her bare fists.

Magical Abilities

 * Enhanced Mana - As one of Ehit's summoned heroes, Suzu possess a higher quantity of mana than most humans of Tortus.
 * Magic Master - As a Barrier Master, Suzu has the highest aptitude for barrier magic among Ehit's heroes. She can deploy high level barriers in rapid success with little difficulties. Through her intense training, Suzu has improved her skills greatly, earning praise from Yue. After gaining Metamorphosis magic, she became able to control and strengthen monsters from the Orcus Labyrinth.

Skills

 * Barrier Magic Affinity
 * Mana Efficiency Up - A skill that makes the user efficient in using magic.
 * Speed Casting - Can cast magic at a fast rate.
 * Remote Manipulation - A skill to remotely control magic from afar.
 * Chain Casting - It can use barrier magic on any person from near or afar.
 * Light Magic Affinity - It allows the user to use light magic at a capable rate.
 * Barrier Aptitude Link
 * Metamorphosis Magic - One of the "Ancient Magics" originating from the "Age of God", which allows a user to remake the form of a normal being and reform them into a different form. Normally it's used to remake a normal organism and turn it into a monster, or even manipulate the magic stone of a monster and remake them. But the true power of this magic is the ability to 'interfere with any organic material'. Meaning not only animals, but it's also possible to remake plants or intelligent beings, and reform their structure as needed. Even byproducts of organic material, like paper or food, can also be manipulated by this magic. The magic stone which gets created during the process is just a byproduct of the process.
 * Language Comprehension - A base skill granted to all those who got summoned. It gives the user the ability to understand any language and be proficient in it.

Spells/Attacks
Barrier Magic
 * Hallowed Nimbus - It creates rings of light that can be used to defend. The rings can be shaped into various objects like a net. "Enfold the weak with your gentle light— Hallowed Nimbus!"
 * Sacred Shields - an advanced version of the basic light spell, "Holy Shield", that allows the caster to deploy multiple Holy Shields at once. "Undying holy light, be my shield forevermore— Sacred Shields!"
 * Storm Bulwark - It unleashes an offensive barrier of wind. It creates an invisible wind wall that sends enemies that hit it backwards with an explosive gust of wind. "O momentary squall, form an impassable, invisible wall! Rebuff all who approach— Storm Bulwark!"
 * Heaven Crusher - It creates a makeshift shield to defend or to push back and restrain enemies. The shield can also be moved according to the casters will. "Press down, O voluminous light, for as long as my resolve stays true— Heaven Crusher!”
 * Heaven Crusher - Barrier - A composite spell combination of Heaven's Crusher and Hallowed Ground to create a powerful barrier.
 * Hallowed Ground - It creates an impenetrable barrier that can't be broken by normal means, but does have some limitations. It separates a particular area from other areas and not people from people, so enemies within the AOE would not be pushed away. It also consumes a lot of mana and can only be used for a minute. "Reject all malice and let this be a holy ground that denies thine enemies passage— Hallowed Ground!”
 * Hallowed Ground - Dispersal - A composite spell that combines light and barrier magic. Causes the Hallowed Ground barrier to diffuse the energy of anything that it comes into contact with.
 * Hallowed Ground - Bind - It creates a barrier that seals enemies. It uses gravity magic to deploy a barrier that contained a localized gravitational field. "Swallow them whole— Hallowed Ground - Bind."
 * Blazing Hallowed Ground - A composite spell that combines fire magic and barrier magic. It creates a superheated zone inside the barrier.
 * Hallowed Ground - Burst - It causes the Hallowed Ground barrier to explode with intense power.
 * Hallowed Ground - Reversal - A composite spell that combines restoration and barrier magic. It uses fragments of destroyed barriers to restore the previously destroyed barriers.
 * Hallowed Ground - Scatter - It creates a barrier that can both absorb and redirect the impact of attacks.
 * Hallowed Ground - Citadel - It overlaps multiple Hallowed Ground's into a sturdy defensive barrier that can even resist the Disintegration ability of an Apostle by constantly replenishing the barrier.
 * Hallowed Ground - Immortal Prison - A composite spell that uses spirit magic to trace the souls of the targets, as well as spatial magic to lock on to specific coordinates. As a result, the caster could pinpoint multiple enemies at once and trap them in a specially crafted barrier
 * Hallowed Ground - Cherry Blossoms - It releases a storm of shining barrier fragments. Any enemy which touches the petal ray will be cut while the petals can form into a barrier of Hallowed Ground. This spell combines offense and defense.
 * ''Hallowed Ground - Etherian Citadel - A spell that Suzu created during her battle with Eri. It was a multifold barrier that created a status-cleansing aura within it.”
 * Hallowed Ground - Shrine of Oblivion - It creates a large spatial barrier to extract multiple enemies. Any attempts to treat it will cause it to destroy the space around them. "Enclose them all, great barrier of isolation. Bring forth a dimension of unending desolation. Heed my call, inescapable cradle of death—Hallowed Ground - Shrine of Oblivion!"
 * Shrine of Oblivion - Final Seal - It enables the caster to destroy the barrier, thus killing everyone that is trapped within it. "Return to the light from whence you came—Shrine of Oblivion - Final Seal."
 * Blossom Burst - Suzu's trump card. A combination spell of "Hallowed Ground - Cheery Blossoms" and "Hallowed Ground - Burst". After the initial defensive barrier is destroyed, it unleashes a storm of exploding sakura flowers to annihilate the enemy. This spell was powerful enough to significantly injure Eri, who had undergone the Apostle transformation which increased her physical abilities.
 * Barrier Maze - Suzu's original spell. By setting up tiny, transparent barriers all around their enemies, the caster could limit their range of movement. Furthermore, the faster their enemies were, the more they damaged themselves on collision.

Light Magic
 * Etheria - A spell that cures all negative status effects.

Stats
Suzu's stats as per "Web Novel - Chapter 122"

Note :-
 * The base stats given above aren't Suzu's current stats, as the last time the author provided stats for her in the web novel was before the Haltina's Labyrinth trial.

Quotes

 * (To Hajime Nagumo) "Me too, Nagumo-kun. I want to be stronger, so that I can talk to Eri again!"
 * (Suzu while fighting in the Frost Caverns of Schnee): "I won’t lose. Haaah... Haaah... I’ll never lose! No matter what happens, no matter what anyone tells me! I’m going to get through this and talk to Eri again!"
 * (To Eri Nakamura): "I’m not going to avert my eyes any longer. I’m tired of losing the things I care about because I pretended not to see the truth. I’m tired of losing the things I care about because I didn’t try to fix my own ignorance! So please, Eri, tell me more about yourself!"
 * (To Eri Nakamura): "You’re always trying to act aloof and cool. Plus, you also brush off anyone bad-mouthing you with a smile, except you’re just gloomy and emo inside. Could you be any more obvious about the persona you’re trying to build? You wear glasses, act shy, and you volunteered to be a library assistant? I mean, come on. Maybe I am childish, but at least I don’t try to act all mature and deep. You’re way more cringe than I’ll ever be, especially with how you keep pretending like you’re the heroine in some tragic romance. You should grow up for real instead of pretending to act like an adult."

Etymology

 * The name Suzu means "bell" (鈴).
 * Suzu's surname Taniguchi means "valley" (谷) and "mouth, entrance" (口), which literally means "mouth of a valley" altogether.

Trivia

 * Prior to dating Ryutarou, Suzu was only confessed to once by an old man from her neighborhood.
 * The following are the nicknames that Suzu has come up with throughout the series:
 * Hajime Nagumo as Hajihaji, God Slaying Demon King
 * Kaori Shirasaki as Kaorin
 * Shizuku Yaegashi as Shizushizu
 * Eri Nakamura as Eririn
 * Ryutarou Sakagami as Ryu-kun
 * Shea Haulia as Sheashea
 * Yuka Sonobe as Sononobe, Sonosono
 * Yue as Great Sister
 * Originally in the Manga, Suzu had two braided locks of hair instead of twin-tails. Her character design would later be redrawn to make her appear identical to the Light Novel and Anime. . Also, in the Anime, Suzu's hairstyle includes a hair strand sticking out from the top of her head (known in Japan as a "ahoge").
 * Suzu was originally not present in Chapter 43 of the Manga, but later appeared in the revised version.