- "I work as a mermaid at a gaudy maid cafe called Sunfish Pocket."
- —Amame in the nirvanA Initiative Character Trailer
Amame Doi (土居 亜麻芽, Doi Amame) simply known as Mermaid (マーメイド, Māmeido) in the first game, is is a minor character in both both AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES and the Lemniscate YouTube series, and a major supporting character in AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative.
Amame is a third-year at Sekiba High and a member of the dance club. She's good friends with her club mates Iris Sagan and Kizuna Chieda, as well as with Mizuki Okiura and Ota Matsushita. Amame works part-time as a maid at Sunfish Pocket, and she has a sharped-tongued side to her. She occasionally goes on haunted tours and UFO sightings with Iris, Mizuki, and Ota.
In AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES, Amame assists Kaname Date in the investigation into the Murder of Shoko Nadami. However, in nirvanA Initiative, she is a person of interest in the investigation of the Half Body Serial Killings.
Design[]
Amame is a young woman with pink eyes and long blue hair with pink accents. In AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES, she wears a Sunfish Pocket mermaid uniform, and puts her hair in high pigtails behind her fin design headband. Her uniform includes a white button-up blouse with a large pink flower at the collar, and long sleeves puffed at the shoulder with a cursive "M" design on them. On top, she wears a blue bodice with two large golden shells on the chest, and four smaller shells along the seams down the front. At her hips, it it ends in a scalloped edge resembling scales, and her skirt consists of several more layers of "scales" that fade to yellow. She also wears a belt resembling a string of pearls with a small fish charm hanging from it. Her thigh high stockings are pink, and her shoes are light blue.
In AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative, Amame wears her pigtails lower, and a small section of the bangs above her left eye is colored pink. She wears a Sekiba High uniform, consisting of a white collared shirt, red tie, and long-sleeved black dress with an "SJ" emblem on the left sleeve. Amame also wears a golden shell pin on the left side of her chest. In other scenes, Amame also wears a thick blue sweater with the shell pin on her wide knit collar.
Personality[]
Amame has a generally friendly, kind, and loving personality. She's very supportive of her friends and loved ones, and a very hard worker. She is very loving to her friends and family, and is willing to go to great lengths to protect them, even to the point of self-sacrifice, and is shown to be very accepting of others in spite of their appearance and circumstances, indicating a lack of prejudice in how she treats others.
When working at Sunfish Pocket, Amame is professional, charismatic, and polite, but is quite skilled at manipulating customers into spending more money at the cafe (even while being quite explicit about her intentions). Although she is similar to her friend Iris, being generally quite plucky and sweet, she can be brutally honest and has a fairly sharp tongue, and is better that picking up on dirty jokes than Iris is, indicating that she is the less innocent and naive of the two. However, she can be just as silly and "out there" as Iris is. Like her friends Iris and Kizuna, she enjoys dancing and singing, and is considered quite good at it.
Despite her chipper exterior, Amame is actually quite world-weary and worn out. Due to her parents divorce and a myriad of other struggles, Amame puts up with a lot of stress and long hours of work, but tries not to show her frustration or the effect the stress has on her. She works very hard to be helpful to her loved ones, even willing to sacrifice her own happiness and well-being for their sake. This honorable side leads her to become quite secretive as; although she's usually quite straight-laced, she can also be sneaky and dishonest when pushed, as she was willing to lie about her age to get additional hours at work, or to cover up secrets that would endanger her. She is often forced to make decisions on who to prioritize, and these decisions weigh heavily on her, especially after the death of her father.
Although generally very level-headed, Amame has her limits. Partially due to her grief and trauma, Amame is prone to panicking, or taking rash action when she feels cornered or at her very limit. Unfortunately, these decisions have tended to cause great misfortune on herself and others, or make already-tense situations worse. Additionally, in extreme situations, she can be vindictive and vicious towards others who she feels have seriously wronged her. However, true to her nature, she quickly comes to agonize and feel deep remorse over these actions, even when those extreme actions are arguably justifiable and forgiven by others, indicating that such extreme actions only come about in similarly extreme circumstances. All in all, she is a kind person who is unfortunately defined by her unfortunate choices, circumstances, and desperation.
Story[]
Before the games[]
When her parents divorced, she was given the option to live with her father, or her mother. Ultimately, she chose to stay with her mother, while her younger brother Shoma stayed with Komeji.
While choosing a part time job, she chose Sunfish Pocket because she could get a lot of money from the customers, something she wanted to support her family. During her interview, she lied to the manager that she was actually 20 years old even though she was really 18, so that she could work long hours after school that wouldn’t be legal if she was a minor.
She says that at her job at Sunfish Pocket, she met her schoolmate Iris as another mermaid and became close with her.
In AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES[]
On Day 3 GyoukAI, Amame was working at Sunfish Pocket serving Ota when Date came searching for Renju. Amame didn’t know where Renju was at the time, but after Date and Ota left, Renju came, injured from the car accident he’d been in. He asked Amame about Iris, but as Ota had said while Amame was serving him, Iris was missing, and Amame presumably told Renju as much.
On Day 4 SyuurAI, Amame was working at Sunfish Pocket again, this time serving Mizuki. She’d been taking care of Mizuki since Date wasn’t around, and Mizuki had been crying to Amame, though she’d stopped by the time Date and Iris arrived at the maid cafe. Amame informed them that Renju had come around looking for Iris, and talked to Date about her friendship with Iris. When Date asked Mizuki about why she was there, Amame pulled Date aside to tell him to try to understand how Mizuki was feeling, since she’d been through a lot in the past several days.
3 months later, Amame saw Date again after he’d swapped back to his original body.
In nirvanA Initiative[]
Six years ago[]
TBA
Present[]
Six years after Amame met Uru Somezuki, he invited her to meet him in Horadori Institute of Genetics’s basement, where she was told of the Nirvana Initiative and Uru’s belief in Naixatloz. She felt anger at Uru, knowing that he killed Komeji for that plan, and grabbed a wrench in the room, hitting him on the head and knocking him out. She took his body to the slicer, and when he woke up, she sliced him in half, wanting him to feel the same pain her father did.
Uru’s murder was witnessed by Tokiko Shigure, who blackmailed her for her own plans, telling Amame that she’d reveal the murder if Amame didn’t move Uru and later Tokiko’s bodies as Tokiko wanted.
Amame, believing she had no choice, agreed to the plan even knowing how dangerous it was. She took Shoma’s robot and moved half of Uru’s body to Tokyo National Stadium on February 10th, while the other half was hidden by Tokiko herself.
TBA
Appearances[]
AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES | |||||
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Day 1: sigAI | |||||
Absent | |||||
BRaiN | |||||
Absent | |||||
Day 2: saikAI | |||||
Absent | |||||
PaiN | |||||
Absent | |||||
Day 2: meikAI | Day 2: keitAI | ||||
Absent | Absent | ||||
Day 3: syokubAI | Day 3: gyoukAI | ||||
Absent | Appears | ||||
VaiN | VILLaiN | ||||
Absent | Absent | ||||
Day 3: rihAI | Day 3: gumAI | Day 3: kyuusAI | |||
Absent | Absent | Absent | |||
Day 4: youdAI | Day 4: jukkAI | Day 4: syuurAI | |||
Absent | Absent | Appears | |||
SWaiN | CURTaiN | MaiN: 1 | |||
Absent | Absent | Absent | |||
Day 4: jikAI | Day 4: syougAI | Day 4: kikAI | Day 4: irAI | Day 5: kenzAI | |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | |
Day 5: zugAI | Day 5: seisAI | Day 5: jinnAI | Day 5: dakkAI | Day 5: jutAI | |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Mentioned | |
SUSTaiN | REFRaiN | MaiN: 2 | MOUNTaiN | ||
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | ||
Day 5: syokuzAI | Day 5: ihAI | Day 6: kekkAI | Day 5: kokkAI | ||
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | ||
Ota: END | Day 6: hiAI | Annihilation: END | Iris: END | Day 6: sousAI | |
Absent | Absent | ||||
CAPTaiN | CHaiN | ||||
Absent | Absent | ||||
Day 6: sanpAI | Day 6: hakAI | ||||
Absent | Absent | ||||
Mizuki: END | Three Months Later: kassAI | ||||
Appears | |||||
Resolution: END |
AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 Years Ago | Present | ||||
Converge Ch 0: A Strange Tale (Past) Absent |
Converge Ch 0: A Strange Tale (Present) Absent |
||||
Mizuki Ch 0: New Investigation Absent |
|||||
Ryuki Ch 0: Dispossessed Absent |
Mizuki Ch 0: Alone Absent |
||||
Ryuki Ch 1: Anyone Imagines Appears |
Mizuki Ch 1: Pass Mildly Away Appears |
||||
Ryuki Ch 1: Nefarious Institute Absent |
Mizuki Ch 1: Nostalgic Idol Absent |
||||
Ryuki Diverge: 遐エ邯サ逋セ蜃コ Absent |
Ryuki Ch 1: Ought to Know Absent |
Mizuki Ch 1: End Where I Begun Absent |
|||
Mizuki Ch 2: Traveler Absent |
Ryuki Ch 2: Nothing to Be Done Absent |
||||
Mizuki Ch 2: Necessary Intervention Appears |
Ryuki Ch 2: Naixatloz's Intentions Figure |
||||
Mizuki Ch 2: Left Behind Absent |
Ryuki Ch 2: Go Appears |
||||
Ryuki Ch 3: Farewell Appears |
Mizuki Ch 3: The Expense of Spirit Appears |
||||
Ryuki Ch 3: Need Info Absent |
Mizuki Ch 3: Neurotic Inception Absent |
||||
Ryuki Ch 3 R2: Joy for Anguish Absent |
Ryuki Ch 3 R1: Smiles for Tears Appears |
Mizuki Ch 3 M1: Hell Absent |
Mizuki Ch 3 M2: All Living Things Absent |
||
Ryuki Ch 4 R2: I Found Me Absent |
Mizuki Ch 4 M1: Visions Absent |
Ryuki Ch 4 R1: Well-Known Appears |
Mizuki Ch 4 M2: Of Arms and Of Man Mentioned |
||
Ryuki Ch 4 R2: Nested Insecurities Absent |
Mizuki Ch 4 M1: Nonentity Incognito Absent |
Ryuki Ch 4 R1: Nearly Interesting Appears |
Mizuki Ch 4 M2: Novel Ingress Absent |
||
Ryuki Ch 4 R2: Past Its Ken Absent |
Mizuki Ch 4 M1: In Truth Absent |
Ryuki Ch 4 R1: The Mind of God Appears |
Mizuki Ch 4 M2: Who's There Appears |
Mizuki Ch 4 M3: Bid the Soldiers Shoot Absent | |
Komeji and Shoma: END | Ryuki Ch 5 R1: Not All A Dream Absent |
Mizuki Ch 5 M1: Births Appears |
Mizuki Ch 5 M2: All That We Are Appears |
Mizuki Ch 5 M3: Sweet Silent Thought Absent | |
Ryuki Ch 5 R1: Nemesis Identified Absent |
Mizuki Ch 5 M1: Nightmare Irreconcilable Appears |
Gen and Amame: END | Kizuna and Lien: END | ||
Ryuki Ch 5 R1: She Was the Universe Absent |
Mizuki Ch 5 M1: The End of Craving Appears |
Ryuki Diverge: All This Happened, More or Less Appears | |||
Explosion: END | Mizuki Epilogue: Braver Than All Flowers Mentioned |
閭。陜カ荵句、「邱ィEND | |||
Resolution: END |
Gallery[]
AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES[]
AI: nirvanA Initiative[]
Trivia[]
Etymology[]
- The name Amame means "second, Asia" (亜) (a), "hemp, flax" (麻) (ma) and "bud, sprout" (芽) (me).
- Amame's surname Doi means "soil, earth" (土) (do) and "home, dwelling, habitat, reside, to be, exist, live with" (居) (i).
- The syllables in her name are an anagram of "maameido" (マーメイド) or "mermaid" in Japanese.
General[]
- Amame is based off the Japanese legend Amabie, a one-eyed mermaid with 3 legs. According to legend, when an amabie appears, it brings about either a good harvest or an epidemic, and it spoke to a town official saying "If disease spreads, show a picture of me to those who fall ill and they will be cured."[1]
- During the worldwide COVID-19 epidemic, the amabie became a popular internet symbol in Japan throughout the internet, spawning various art renditions of her. Kotaro Uchikoshi shared an image of both the amabie and Amame Doi during this time to bring good fortune.[2]
- Amame is the first (and currently only) character in the series to have been upgraded from a minor "nameless" role (as in, not mentioned by name by other characters) from one game (AI) into a larger supporting role tied directly into the mystery in a following game (AINI).
- According to Ota Matsushita, Amame is his second-favorite Mermaid, behind the retired Iris Sagan. He has received her services since he had a Bronze Trident at the Sunfish Pocket, and by 2019 he has already received the Gold Trident.[3]
- In a fan-made Character Poll for AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES held on Twitter, Amame Doi came in 16th place.
- Amame shares her English voice actress, Faye Mata, with Manaka Iwai.