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Hotori
April 3, 2026 at 10:53 AM
Enhanced with confirmed time-freeze ultimate details, umbrella weapon mechanics, story centrality, and Eibon proprietress role expansion
Hotori is an S-Class Cosmos Esper in Neverness to Everness. She is the Shopkeeper of Eibon and wields an Umbrella Katana, a concealed blade hidden within an elegant parasol. Her birthday is December 20.
Hotori is affiliated with the Eibon Antique Shop and serves as its elegant proprietress. She possesses sharp financial acumen and a deep understanding of time and the treasures that pass through her shop. Hotori is known for enjoying strong drinks and carries herself with a composed, refined demeanor at all times.
Hotori's Umbrella Katana is one of the most unique weapons in the game. The weapon is a concealed blade hidden within an elegant parasol, reflecting Hotori's refined personality. In combat, she switches seamlessly between using the umbrella as a defensive shield and drawing the hidden blade for precise katana strikes. The dual-purpose nature of the weapon gives her both offensive and defensive options within her standard attack chain.
Her ultimate ability can freeze time, providing the team with powerful crowd control that halts all enemies in the area. This time-freeze effect is not merely a slow or stun; it completely stops enemy movement, attacks, and animations for its duration. During this window, Hotori and her teammates can reposition, chain abilities, and deal damage to frozen targets without any threat of retaliation. The time-freeze ultimate makes Hotori one of the most impactful support characters in high-difficulty content where controlling enemy actions is more valuable than raw damage.
As the shopkeeper of Eibon, Hotori oversees the day-to-day operations of the antique shop while maintaining its connections to the broader Esper community in Hethereau. Her knowledge of antiques extends beyond mere commerce; she understands the temporal significance of objects and their relationship to Anomaly phenomena.
Hotori was unplayable during the game's beta testing phases, making her one of the most anticipated characters at launch. She also received a significant design redesign between early development and release, with her final appearance reflecting a more refined and elegant aesthetic.
Hotori is central to the game's main story. As the proprietress of the Eibon Antique Shop, she serves as a key narrative anchor, connecting the player character to the shop's crew and the mysteries that surround the antiques they handle. The shop itself is a hub for story events, and Hotori's role as its owner places her at the intersection of commerce, history, and the supernatural forces at work in Hethereau. Her sharp financial acumen is matched by a deep understanding of the artifacts that pass through the shop, and she frequently provides insight into their origins and significance.
The Eibon crew, which includes Nanally and Taygedo, looks to Hotori as both their employer and a mentor figure. Her composed demeanor and vast knowledge of antiques and anomalies make her a stabilizing presence for the group, even as the stakes of their work escalate throughout the story.
Hotori's combat kit revolves around her Non-Closed Timepiece mechanic, a clockwise-rotating energy system that powers her time manipulation abilities. She is a support Esper who provides team healing, time-stop crowd control, and damage amplification through her recording and replay mechanics.
Ability | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
Basic Attack | Misty Moon Style | Performs up to 5 consecutive attacks with her umbrella katana. |
Present Replay | No cooldown. When Non-Closed Timepiece energy exceeds 60, deals 7 instances of Cosmos DMG to the surrounding area while recording team attacks and skills for 5 seconds (max 3 recordings). | |
Ultimate | World's Tide | Requires full timepiece energy. Deals 10 instances of Cosmos DMG and activates time stop mode. Hotori draws the katana from her umbrella and replays recorded attacks, building momentum toward a finishing blow at 10 hits. |
Shopkeeper's Authority | Throws her umbrella at the target, dealing 1 instance of Cosmos DMG. | |
Core Mechanic | Non-Closed Timepiece | A clockwise-rotating energy mechanic that accumulates energy over time. Regularly restores HP to the entire team based on accumulated energy. |
Passive 1 | Ghost Orchid Crest | During time stop, Lebenstamm attacks continue without pause, allowing companion projectiles to deal damage even while enemies are frozen. |
Passive 2 | All Treasures Under Heaven | Each timepiece hand movement grants +3% team health recovery (based on Hotori's Max HP). |
Passive 3 | Frozen Snow Ritual | Out of battle, hold the basic attack button to slow time when energy is above 0. This exploration ability costs energy to maintain. |
Node | Effect |
|---|---|
A1 | Present Replay and World's Tide restore 15% of Hotori's Max HP on activation. |
A2 | +30% damage dealt during time stop, making the ultimate a significant damage window. |
A5 | Against a single enemy, grants +15% damage to the entire team, boosting focused single-target encounters. |
A6 | Ignores 30% of enemy DEF during time stop, allowing Hotori to shred through armored targets. |
Hotori's Cosmos element and time-freeze ultimate make her a premier support pick for teams focused on controlled, methodical play. Her Cosmos element triggers the Blossom reaction when paired with Anima characters like Nanally or Mint, dealing additional AoE damage in the process.
The time-freeze ultimate synergizes particularly well with burst damage characters who need enemies to stay in place. Characters like Baicang can channel their full combo into frozen targets without worrying about enemies dodging or moving out of range. For teams running Hathor as an energy battery, Hotori's ultimate becomes available more frequently, increasing the team's overall crowd control uptime.
Her dual role as shopkeeper and fighter also means she has narrative connections to several other characters. Building a team around Eibon Antique Shop members (Hotori, Nanally, and Taygedo for life skills) creates a thematically cohesive squad with strong elemental coverage.
Hotori's umbrella katana is a reference to traditional Japanese shikomizue (concealed sword canes), fitting her elegant aesthetic.
The time stop mechanic makes her one of the few characters whose abilities affect the flow of in-game time, connecting to the Cosmos element's thematic association with space and time.
Her Frozen Snow Ritual passive provides exploration utility similar to Lacrimosa's bat form, but focused on time manipulation rather than flight.
The recording and replay mechanic (Present Replay into World's Tide) encourages players to use powerful team abilities just before activating Hotori's ultimate to maximize replayed damage.
Hotori was one of the most requested playable characters during beta, as players could see her in the shop but not play as her.
