Akuma, Otsuno - The Five-Star Flambe!

While it is perhaps unfair to judge one on their appearance, Otsuno tends to give off the aura of someone scary or socially dominant because of her horns and tail. People associate such traits with demons and devils, which immediately places on her a certain amount of pre-judgement. This isn't helped by the fact that she is rather short, at 5'5", which causes most people to assume she has some sort of Napoleon complex and because her default expression is a scowl, that's confirmation enough for most; hence why people tend to give her a wide berth.

That being said though she has all the makings of a beautiful mature woman. Soft, almost fluffy silver-white hair usually kept in a ponytail while working, or in a more loose one when casual. Both styles include a hime cut for the bangs and are framed around her horns to emphasize her distinctive look. The contrast with her bright red eyes is rather stark, generally giving her a rather striking appearance which some have described as 'creepy' or 'intense'.

Her attire is usually very simple, consisting of button-up shirts, dress pants and heeled boots as a casual look. This is sometimes combined with a blazer and tie to make it a full suit or when she's working, an apron from her show 'Satan's Kitchen'; specifically one with 'S A T A N' across the chest. Most of these are in a black, red or white color scheme, trying to balance out her pale skin with her red eyes.

✔ Dedicated
✔ Artistic
✔ Confident
✔ Observant
✔ Eloquent

✖ Short-tempered
✖ Assertive
✖ Pretentious
✖ Rigid
✖ Willful

✔ Cooking
✔ Discipline
✔ Heat
✔ Retsina (Greek dry white wine)
✔ Baklava (Greek pastry dessert)

✖ Microwaves
✖ Instant meals
✖ Ketchup
✖ Disrespectful people
✖ Food waste

Discipline. That is what Otsuno values most in anyone. Discipline, order and efficiency. Having worked all over the world in many, many kitchens under many famous Head Chefs, Otsuno frankly has no time for needless bullshit and will happily tell you so to your face if you upset her. Her experience in the cooking world has left her nearly incapable of fear, calling anyone and everyone out for things they've done with the fury of one thousand suns. She has no time to indulge the whimsy of idiots and will readily remove people from her kitchen or her restaurant who are disrespectful.

That being said, she does not fly off into a rage with everyone, even if she is very judgmental and critical of food. If someone is genuinely trying to learn how to cook, doing home cooking and is not calling themselves a 'professional' or professing their skills at every turn she is polite, restrained and will happily give constructive criticism or offer to show people how to do something. As much as she is harsh with people in the restaurant business or people with an ego about cooking, she wants the average person to learn how to cook because it's her passion.

Indeed, when not working she can even be seen having fun and enjoying herself; she's a very social person and enjoys the company of others when off the clock and will often host people in her home for dinner parties or to watch movies together. The courtesy of an invite to these events is generally not extended to her staff unless they have been with her for a very long time; which points to a general trust issue and a desire to keep people at arm's length. Being on TV for six years in a relatively popular show has made her wary of getting too close to anyone after numerous bad dealings with tabloid journalists.

Obviously being an incredibly busy woman, she finds it hard to carve out time for relationships but those who get close enough will find that she is surprisingly sweet and sensitive, even if she does it in a very flippant way. She'll often make very nice gestures, suck as making a romantic dinner and then when thanked for it, will pout and blush, telling them to stop making fun of her.

The childhood of one Akuma, Otsuno was rather unusual despite it's typical start. The oldest child of a salaryman and a CEO, Otsuno learned how to help out around the house at a very young age and quickly developed a love of cooking from her tired father. When he was promoted and thus had even less time to spend around the house, little Otsuno took to caring for her younger sister Atsuko, cooking and cleaning the house and in charge of making sure everyone was ready for work or school in the morning. Even at such a young age, Otsuno was ready and willing to take up such a responsibility, even if these days she regrets the fact that she never made many friends.

Her tough attitude and foul mouth started when defending her very tall sister from bullies, verbally cutting them down and sending them home in tears. Even back then, she had an explosive and powerful temper, which would only be honed and refined in later years. Still, she was dedicated to her home and her sister but started to harbour a growing resentment towards her parents for never being around, always working and vowing to be a better parent when she was older.

Then, something extraordinary happened. On a whim, Otsuno entered a cooking contest on one of her parents rare days off, displaying her incredibly cooking skills and eventually earning her first place! The prize was a chance to work in one of the busiest restaurants in America, under the tutelage of a world-reknowned chef. At only age fourteen, Otsuno was hesitant to go, especially not wanting to leave her sister but was pressured by her parents to live with their Aunt Kira, wanting nothing more than for their daughter to be successful.

At first she rebelled, not understanding why she had been forced to come to America, skipping school or restaurant shifts. Eventually however, her love of cooking won out and she began to listen to the Head Chef, despite his tendancy to fly into a rage whenever anyone did anything wrong. It was there that she learned respect and discipline, values she would carry with her for the rest of her life. She spent four years there, learning and working to the best of her ability but she craved something... more.

Speaking to the chef, who she regarded as somewhat of a mentor and father figure at this point, he agreed to sponsor a trip to Europe, sending her on a tour of the continent learning different cooking styles and techniques over the course of an entire year. Used to being independent and resourceful, she took the trip alone, despite her mother demanding that someone accompany her, leading to quite a few legal disputes later.

After travelling Europe, she eventually came across Ajax Adamos, a man who described himself as the best chef in Greece but had a reputation for being brutally temperamental in the kitchen. It was here that Otsuno truly threw herself into the fire, eventually deciding to live there and study under him. It took her a long time to develop the skills she needed to survive in that kitchen but her determination and dedication to the craft won out, even becoming his Head Chef for some time.

Something was nagging within her though, the call of home. She hadn't been back to Japan in over a decade... and her time with Ajax had given her ideas. Her arrival back in her home country was without ceremony, her parents both still very busy with work and her sister... doing what she did. Not even three hours after she landed she was in a board-room meeting with a production company pitching a reality TV show. Luckily both her old mentor and Ajax had connections and had set up the meeting.

And so, the show Satan's Kitchen was formed; a play on her distinctive tail and horns.

From there her life changed drastically. The show wasn't an immediate hit but the pressure of it was almost intoxicating to her; she worked near tirelessly to make it a success and to run the successful restaurant Atena alongside it, as the two were intrinsically linked. More than ever before she refined her cooking and management skills, pushing her and her staff to their limits until they hit s peak with viewership around Season 3. There, it plateaued at a stead, comfortable number and they could take their foot off the pedal for a while.

This continued for some time, Otsuno becoming more and more proficient in running the show, adding twists and turns to every season to keep viewers engaged, until Season 12, the current last season of the show. It was not intended to be a last season of course but... well, fate has a way of interfering. Having been off TV for some time and due to an unfortunate villain attack on Tokyo and Mustafu, Otsuno has found a lot of her life's work torn away all at once.

And she's had enough...