Misaki Aoyagi (青柳美咲�Aoyagi Misaki) is the mother of Seimei Aoyagi and Ritsuka Aoyagi. Her maiden name is Misaki Imou, and she was shown at a younger age during chapters 126 and 127. It is unknown who the father of her children is or who her husband is, though the flashback chapters introduce two possible men.
Misaki is abusive and violent towards Ritsuka Aoyagi and is shown to be very unstable mentally. She has little grasp on reality and hallucinates often, especially after a visit from Nisei Akame during volume 5. She blames Ritsuka for his personality change two years before the start of the series, and beats him frequently to try bringing his old self back.
Background
Younger self
A younger Misaki and Seimei Nowaki
Misaki is shown during the flashback that Nagisa Sagan retells to Natsuo Sagan. Misaki is fifteen at this time, and is a third year at the Seven Voices Academy middle school. She is shown in the biology club with other students, including Ritsu Minami, Sanae Sagan, Nagisa Sagan, and Seimei Nowaki. The club is led by Masaki Aoyagi, a biology teacher, and his teaching assistant, Akio Sugou.
Fifteen year-old Misaki
In these chapters, Misaki is introduced with her maiden name, Imou, and narration states that she and Seimei Nowaki are a couple. While it can be assumed that Misaki is either a Fighter or a Sacrifice, it's not shown which, exactly, or who her partner was.
Misaki and Seimei Nowaki are on the specimens team in the biology club, and the chapter opens with Misaki looking through a catalogue of dyes for biology. Masaki, who seems to favor Misaki, promises to get her an expensive specimen dye, even when Nagisa chastises him for it, saying that it's too expensive. Misaki also compliments Sanae on her biotrope, and she and Seimei Nowaki seem to be aware of Sanae's cold nature. Misaki appears to have been friends with the Sagan sisters, as she talks to them in a friendly way.
Later, Misaki is shown alone with Masaki Aoyagi, and does not have her ears. The two are close and Masaki promises to buy her the dye, even if it means using his own money. This makes Misaki happy, and she throws her arms around her, exclaiming "I really like you!"
It's not revealed yet how Misaki reacted to Sanae's death, but she did appear to be aware of Sanae's true self.
Current self
Not much is known about Misaki in the time between what she was like at fifteen and what she's like now. There are at least twenty years between the events of the flashback chapters and when the manga starts. It can be assumed that she graduated from Seven Voices Academy, married someone, and had children. At some point, presumably after Ritsuka lost his memories, Misaki became psychotic and delusional.
Currently, Misaki does not work or leave the house. She stays in, and the only time the readers have seen her out of the house was in volume 6, where she ties Ritsuka to a chair and she goes out grocery shopping. Misaki stays at home and frequently comes up with 'tests' for Ritsuka, including presenting him with food and punishing based on which he picks. To her, this is a way to test whether or not 'this' Ritsuka is the 'true' Ritsuka. She is shown to punish and beat him if he chooses something wrong.
She seems impulsive, and she hurts Ritsuka with whatever is near her. She has thrown things at Ritsuka and stabbed him with a fork before, as well as beating him and biting him. She has said before that she despises 'this' Ritsuka and that she wants her son back and she does not listen to reason about her delusions. She also still loves Seimei, and describes him as the only strong man in the house, and is greatly upset by his death, though she seems to believe that Seimei will come back, even before Nisei Akame's visit.
Misaki is shown to be an antagonist throughout the first few volumes of the manga, with Ritsuka getting beat by her for every small thing, whether it's choosing the wrong food or missing curfew. However, in volume 5, the readers are shown a more sympathetic portrayal of her. During this arc of the story, Nisei Akame pays her a visit and uses a spell to mask himself and make him look like Seimei Aoyagi to Misaki. Misaki, being unstable and delusional, believes Nisei when he tells her that he's Seimei. Nisei also drugged Misaki by giving her enough medication to knock her out completely.
Nisei, acting as Seimei, tells Misaki that if she wants him to come home, she has to get rid of Ritsuka. This upsets Misaki further, leading her to try to protect him in volume 6 by tying Ritsuka to a chair and refusing to let him out. At one point during this, Yuiko Hawatari comes over with flowers for Ritsuka and asks to see Ritsuka. Misaki responds by acting coldly to her and shuts the door in her face, crushing the flowers that she had brought for him. The only reason Ritsuka was able to get out was due to Soubi Agatsuma untying him.
When Ritsuka returns home from visiting Seven Voices Academy with Soubi, Misaki goes back to her old ways and continues to beat him. After Soubi leaves with Seimei, however, Misaki is seen when Natsuo and Youji come to Ritsuka's house to try to investigate Seimei. Misaki does her best to be welcoming towards them, and obsesses over trying to make everything seem normal.
Personality
As a teenager, Misaki seemed fairly normal. She was friendly with her classmates and helpful and did not show any signs of psychosis or delusions. She was very interested in biology and her specimens and was energetic during the scenes at the biology club. Everyone in the club seems to have liked her, and she was friends with the people in the club. She was also very friendly with the club instructor, Masaki Aoyagi.
Currently, however, Misaki's personality is completely different. She's ill and weak and essentially a shut-in who does not leave the house. She's violent, abusive, and impulsive, and shows signs of psychosis. She does not seem to have friends, and most of the time, her husband is not home.
Relationships
Ritsuka Aoyagi
Ritsuka Aoyagi is Misaki's youngest son. It's unknown who his father is, but fans speculate that it's either Masaki Aoyagi or Seimei Nowaki. Misaki heavily abuses and neglects her son and punishes him for every mistake. She does not believe that the Ritsuka seen in canon is the 'real' Ritsuka, as Ritsuka lost his memories when he was ten years old and supposedly went through a large personality change. She frequently tests him by making food his old self liked. If Ritsuka were to eat something his old self didn't like, he would be severely beaten. The result of this is the fact that Ritsuka is severely underweight and neglected by her.
Ritsuka, however, is still very attached to her and loves her. He takes care of her as much as possible. When he finds Misaki collapsed on the ground after Nisei drugs her, he convinces Soubi to bring her into her room. Ritsuka clearly cares a lot about her and refuses to leave her or have anything happen to her. It's also because of her beatings that initially in the manga Ritsuka wants to bring his old self back.
Seimei Aoyagi
Seimei Aoyagi is Misaki's first son, and she describes him as the only strong man in the household. Even after his death, Misaki still believes that Seimei is still alive and will come back and take her and Ritsuka away. She cares greatly about Seimei and relied on him to keep her away from Ritsuka. She is very distraught by his death, but appears happy when Nisei visited her.
Seimei Nowaki
Seimei Nowaki was Misaki's boyfriend in middle school and was shown in the flashback chapters. He bares a certain resemblance to Ritsuka's father, seen in a couple panels in volume 2, but it's unknown if this person and Seimei Nowaki are the same. Misaki and Seimei Nowaki were classmates and in the same grade as her, as well as in the biology club.
It's speculated that Seimei Aoyagi was given his first name because of Seimei Nowaki.
Masaki Aoyagi
Misaki and Masaki Aoyagi
Masaki Aoyagi was Misaki's biology teacher and the leader of the biology club. Masaki and Misaki had a close relationship, with Masaki favoring her above his other students and Misaki proclaiming that she likes him. In a scene with just the two of them, Misaki does not have her virgin ears and tail. It's also of note that Masaki could also be the father of Seimei and Ritsuka, as Misaki, Seimei, and Ritsuka all take his family name.
Others
As a teenager, Misaki seemed to have had some friends, including Sanae Sagan and Nagisa Sagan. She was also very friendly and close with Akio Sugou, and looked for her ring when Akio thought she'd lost it.
As an adult, Misaki does not have relationships with other people and focuses most of her attention on abusing Ritsuka. When Yuiko Hawatari came to visit Ritsuka, Misaki treats her badly and she leaves in tears. However, in more recent chapters, Misaki tries to act friendly towards Natsuo Sagan and Youji Sagan.
Trivia
- As a teenager, Misaki was friends with Akio Sugou, meaning that Ritsuka's mother and Soubi's mother were friends with each other
- Misaki's age is not known, but she's at least 35
- Misaki attended Seven Voices Academy, but it has not been revealed if she was a Fighter or a Sacrifice