Zazaki Kowan

Zazaki Kowan (ざあざあ), also known as Steam Crazy (スチームクレイジー) is a student in Class 1-B at U.A. High School who is training to become a Pro-Hero.

Appearance
Zazaki is a girl of medium height, with broader shoulders that make her look slightly more v-shaped than other girls in her class. She has somewhat large, “wild,” rounded square eyes with long eyelashes, bright or pale blue irises, and extremely tiny pupils. She has a small nose, a tear-shaped birthmark on her right cheek, one which no one knows why she has it. Her teeth appear pointed, slightly shark-like, similar to her classmate, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. Her short Columbia blue or Pattens blue hair is styled almost symmetrically, but just a little tilted to her right side, with three spikes that curve outward from each side like wings, and the front consisting of one larger bang on her left side and one hook-shaped side bangs on both sides of her round head where they hide most of her ears. Zazaki spends more time than she should on keeping her hair so neat and tidy every day, at least 20-43 minutes on it at home and more than 3 outside her house. Due to the size of her sidebangs, her ears are hidden, but her golden chained earrings that dangle from both sides with big pink hearts remind anyone who sees her that she does indeed have ears underneath her hair.

In her Hero Costume, Zazaki wears what looks like a jumpsuit or a suit where it is mainly three colors of blue and white with a lighter shade of blue on the trim along the top area, a very light blue or white part of the left side goes up the bodice area in a wavy shape like fire and the bottom or pants having a curved white line that goes down both legs to the knees. A transparent “overskirt” is attached to the bottom of the bodice at the hips and covers most of the legs around except the front and a darker part of her top is attached to the main piece, so the upper area looks like a tank top, though it also looks like she is wearing two one-strapped tank tops. She also wears a pair of long, bright-colored gloves with three-spiked fins on both, a chainmail top to cover and protect her torso, and a white free-forming Phantom mask that covers half of her face on the left side and is easy to move and reform as easily as water, so the mask takes the shape of the wearer perfectly, no matter the expression. The mask has two metal rings for the soft rope or strap to be tied onto in order to keep it on the wearer's face. Steam Crazy's "Megaman-like" boots of four colors look large enough to be difficult to move in the costume with, but appeared simple and easy for her to do. They have three spikes on both boots that make them maintain a "fiery" look. Her teeth are sharper and more shark-like, and Steam Crazy smiles much wider and more often than usual, further displaying her screw-loosened persona. Her eyes seem more open and wild in this form. Strangely, as Steam Crazy, Zazaki has four spikes of wing-like curled hair on both sides as opposed to the usual three.

Personality
Zazaki is usually seen in class to be the typical kind, calm, and happy girl in class. She tends to be reliable in homework, in which she is willing to help out in study hours the moment someone asks her. Upon seeing them, she greets with a soft, cheerful smile and tries hard to encourage them in class, or at least a topic she knows or is familiar with. She portrays to be all-around optimistic and happy, almost always having a smile planted on her face every time when seen. Zazaki is always willing to make friends and sees being able to make those who are feeling most down happy again to be a challenging game that she is willing to participate in. Makes one wonder how her cheek muscles aren't hurting by now.

She is also very active, so one would likely see her in places ranging from a café to the large cliffsides in Japan, but does not mind stopping to relax and enjoy watching the scenery of anywhere she goes. Zazaki is comedic, eager to land a joke or two as a way to entertain herself and those around her. She feels that making someone smile and laugh is among the few things she believes brings everyone closer as a connected family. Zazaki is full of playfulness, open to trying out new things in life, loves to dance, and adores fashion and sports like soccer.

Zazaki, in reality, is not always perfect in this display of the goodie-two-shoes type. She can be sensitive and it can easily show from steam that may emerge from her body as a response to insults or something that greatly upsets her. Despite being sensitive, she tries her best to put on a happy and positive face because she doesn't want to break the image she put up more than she already may have done. But there are moments when she is just beyond her limit in being uncomfortable, she can end up lecturing and snapping back at the "perpetrator." Sometimes, the steam used to relax with her Quirk is not enough to calm her down well. She is hyper and shows a happy face as she constantly puts effort to make people entertained and content, which can be overwhelming if they haven't gotten used to her behavior yet. She is mischievous, sometimes playing pranks on others and it can be tricky if she is actually interested in whoever she talks, thus she may be dishonest. She can be very confusing.

Zazaki is very insecure about her Quirk. Although she possesses water manipulation, she deeply wished she was born with a lava-related or ice-related Quirk instead, due to their flashy and lethal potential in combat and her own power is slower-paced and has to transition her water vapor into a more physical form of water, such as a flood. This is why she envies but admires Todoroki Shoto and Katsuki Bakugou from her rival class, Class 1-A.

In noticing her own sometimes hyperactive behavior, Zazaki uses this side of her and exaggerates it in building an unhinged persona in her Hero Costume, Steam Crazy, who is always excited to do anything, especially when it comes to fighting anyone. This was an alternate outlet for her in relieving the overwhelming energy contained in her, her need for activity, and vent out her emotions. This is when she lets everything out and becomes the crazy person she hid in her normal life most of the time. As "Zazaki's insane counterpart," Steam Crazy wears her heart on her sleeves much more than Zazaki does, expressing sadness, anger, and happiness in a more explosive display. She is more aggressive and is dangerous to deal with, for she can chase you down with a wide toothy smile and beat you up like a wolf chasing its prey. Inspired by Oyumi/Black Arrow's fleet-footed skills and stealth in combat, Steam Crazy implemented those techniques to her own combat in helping herself chasing down and sneak attacking opponents. She also uses the speed aspect to dodge strikes against her, although through trial and error.

Despite her wide but slim frame and her limited Quirk, she ironically is the brawn of the duo of Black Arrow and Steam Crazy, the two she joked as "Team Smoke" or "Team Brimstone." She typically heads over to get the job done in an "act first, ask questions later" fashion, but once in a while, she takes her time in the disposing of targets by sneaking up onto them to commit pranks before jumping them. Steam Crazy may do childish and verbal taunts as she fools around before knocking them down. If she wanted to, she can treat the whole fight like a game as she may try to rip the enemy apart. Frequently, she becomes too excited to stand still and jumps into the fun. The only one who prevents her from doing so is usually Oyumi.

Abilities
Flexibility: After spending her time with Oyumi in training, Zazaki grew to be quite flexible in her abilities, both physically and in her quirk, achieving the ability of move out of harm's way over time by practicing on avoiding Oyumi's close-ranged, melee-related approaches to land a series of hits in different poses one would expect from a contortionist or gymnast in training. This became useful during their Final Exams against their chosen opponent from the U.A. Faculty, which helped her avoid attacks, land hits, and dodge around to handcuff them. Thanks to her improved flexibility, she also was shown to be capable to swim underwater fluidly (no pun intended).

Strength: She did not start off as a physically strong fighter, but greatly improved her combat abilities during her time at U.A. High School and her vigorous training, giving her a visual change such as slightly stronger and larger muscles on her legs and arms. Originally, Zazaki relaxes and uses her power for leisure, but later managed to evolve to be able to transform steam into a mass of hot water for various uses, ranging from a simple whip to a defensive barrier. Over the years, she prospered in being able to use water vapor or expanses of water hot enough to leave behind scalding burns, much more if used as a whip. Occasionally, her abilities can allow Zazaki to slam water into an opponent like blunt weapon to send them almost flying. Her seldom use of "steaming ice" can puncture if the weak spot is exposed, but could miss and the shards can shatter into tiny pieces instantly against solid surfaces like a wall. She is prone to getting dried and cracked skin and passing out when using too much energy from her Quirk without her suit, which proved to be detrimental to her in training and fighting villains, and can leave her at risk in getting slaughtered. Despite the increase in strength and skills with her Quirk, she is still among the middlemost  powerful combatants by the time finals came along.

Enhanced Speed: Zazaki, as a result of her wonder towards her friend Oyumi's capability of using high speeds in combat, later nearly refined her skills to be adapt speed as support to dodge strikes, chase down hiding targets, and take out enemies in a short time. Thanks to her practiced ability of dashing and twisting at a high velocity, she can counterattack with fast moving water, and deep scratches or bites. This capability of high speed also helps her in rescuing those who are hurt by taking them to bring out of trouble and moving around as a steam cloud in a short time.

Quirk
Steam/Water Vapor/Scalding Water Form (蒸気/水蒸気  (やけど/水の形):

Zazaki can easily summon a cloud of water vapor in various sizes around her, which can be transformed into a levitating body of water or shards of ice and snow. Alternatively, she can use water stored in her Hero Costume to create extra steam needed.

As steam or water vapor, the element can help Zazaki feel relaxed, stay hydrated, and is usable for obscuring sight like a smokescreen, which is useful for sneak attacks. She can also transport from one place to another in the form of a steam cloud more freely than on land. With hot water, Zazaki can use it as a blunt weapon, a whip, or a small shield that could only partially protect her. She can use a cluster of ice shards and pellets, like ammunition, albeit weakly.

Due to its hot temperature, contact with the steam or hot water may lead to a bad sting or a scalding burn, depending on the amount of energy used. Despite the ice pellets being weak and fragile, there is still a chance for a shard or two to be able to puncture the opponent when a certain area on them is exposed like skin.

Due to lack of training with her Quirk, being able to use water vapor in more "solidified" forms and transportation as a steam cloud proved to be very exhausting for her. The more droplets, the more energy she will need to move them around. Forming the water vapor to become heavy enough to turn into snow or ice alone is arduous, requiring a lot of more from Zazaki's body and Quirk to do so. Without her costume or a moisturizer like lotion, Zazaki's skin can dry up and crack due to using up too much of her power. Pushing herself too hard to transition water to ice leaves at a high risk of passing out.

Thus, she finds it easier to either use ice in her surroundings or not using her quirk to make ice at all. She is slightly slower to suffering this when nearby the presence of water, luckily, but she would still have to drink plenty of water in order to restore some of her energy along with getting rest.

This ability to turn water droplets into ice is something many people, including Zazaki, said was impossible since her power is a high-temperature water-based Quirk. Thanks to Oyumi's encouragement and her advice, she learns that "she doesn't have to possess a violent or badass-looking Quirk to be badass, useful, and dangerous herself in combat and be acknowledged as a Hero." Zazaki was then able to "accidentally" turn into ice crystals during training in school, leaving her shocked with the occurrence. She credits her ability to get this far in her Quirk, as well as learning to make her steam power to become more versatile to Oyumi.

Before, achieving goals in turning steam into a body of hot water to use as a weapon was something Zazaki believed was impossible because one could only do so much with something as petty as steam. With Oyumi's vigorous and extensive help over the years at U.A. High though, she was able to push herself to refine her abilities further to the point of having the capability of forming water vapor to be heavy enough and have plenty enough droplets to form bodies of hot water. Not without the efforts leading the poor girl to be susceptible to a lot of fatigue and passing out, of course. Frequently, at the time.

Name

 * Zazaki's name was derived from ザーザー or ざあざあ, which were onomatopoeia describing heavy rainfall or rushing water. The 汽 used means "steam, vapor" and her surname "港湾" means "harbor/port."


 * Zazaki's first name made for her was "Zaki" or "Zaaki" before "Zatsuki" was considered. The initial name was later used as a nickname given to her by her peers.She was inspired by Ochaco Uraraka and Nejire Hado, from the "cute nice girl" vibe to the round head. hair color and shape, and smile to the boots in her Hero Costume.

Development

 * Her Hero outfit gave Zazaki an active but girly vibe, but it, along with her crazy smile, inspired her creator to give her the idea of having a "persona" that is wild and unhinged, a contrast to her mostly calm and pleasant image.


 * Initially, she wasn't meant to have tiny pupils from her original sketch.  She was built to be a typically pleasant and innocent nice girl with large and active, but feminine and soft eyes. Her tiny pupils were added as an experiment since her creator rarely made characters with large irises and tiny pupils. Since her Hero Costume is a "crazy persona" of her, the wild vibe after giving her mini pupils was further expressed.


 * Her teardrop mark on her face was included by random, possibly being a birthmark or a tattoo, and her peers may interpret it as "reflecting her sadness." However, her creator thought the tattoo idea sounded too deliberate and looked like she could have done it to seek attention in some way. There was no specific reason or explanation of how Zazaki got it, like Denki Kaminari's black hairstreak on his blond locks.


 * Originally, she was planned to not have any involvement in Oyumi’s life and was to be positioned somewhere in the Department of General Education like 1-C or the Department of Management, especially since she didn't have a Quirk chosen yet.  If she hadn't met Oyumi and didn't push herself to be a decent fighter, she may have been transferred to either Department.

Character

 * Zazaki is a wonder in baking, and loves making pies and quiches.  It's one of Oyumi’s favorite things about hanging out with her. When Oyumi disappeared, she mourns and accidentally drips tears onto the pie she just baked as she cries, remembering the content joy her friend expressed on her face when she brought in the desserts, but now she can't experience it again anymore. The pie moment is a nod to the song "She Used To Be Mine."
 * Zazaki has a constant habit of positioning her arms or hands together or at least near each other.
 * It is possible that she developed a small crush on Tetsutetsu or Kirishima, and Monoma at one point, although it's just speculation at the moment and may have been just Zazaki's typical outward positivity at play.


 * Zazaki loves painting with watercolors all day long, for it gives her great joy, and painting real-life sceneries with that medium was even better.


 * While she loves animals, it doesn't stop her from being scared of fish and eels, seeing them as "scarier than snakes" with their odd, "alienlike" face and fast movements.  This is ironic because she teases Tetsutetsu and Kirishima for having sharklike teeth in a lighthearted and goofy manner. Jellyfish are among the few aquatic animals she seemed fine with.


 * Even after the revelation of her potential provided by Oyumi, Zazaki still wished she had a more ice-centered or lava-centered Quirk.


 * Zazaki one of the few people in U. A. High who always cheers Oyumi on in her exams and compliments her performance.  She is one of the few people who genuinely wanted to be friends with the archer and managed to be so.
 * Zazaki and Oyumi's friendship is occasionally described by her classmates to be a "tamer version of Kirishima and Bakugo's."


 * Coincidentally, Zazaki and Oyumi are like BNHA counterparts of her creator's Beyblade OCs, Varuna and Yatsuma. Both Oyumi and Varuna are jaded and cynical women with troubling pasts or shortcomings while Yatsuma and Zazaki are the younger teens being the support for them in improving as people, while in turn becoming stronger themselves.  Varuna is taken care of by Yatsuma while Zazaki does so somewhat, although Oyumi does more of that. Oyumi and Varuna slowly warm up to their "sidekicks" and their relationship result from roommates or fan to an idol into pairs that equate to an unbreakable sisterly love, like Anna and Elsa from Disney's "Frozen."  Zazaki and Yatsuma end up being part of the roles of "Guardian Angels" or the very people that become the major key to Oyumi and Varuna's recovery or improvement of character.
 * Another contrast is that Zazaki had a wealthy family, but unstable relations, but did not care since she was happy with her life, so she lived leisurely, but Oyumi's family had high expectations looming over her head, which led to her being hard on herself, pushing so far in exercise and training to even find some validation in the family.