In/Spectre has started its 2nd season, filled with strange creatures and the adventures of Kuro Sakuragawa and his girlfriend, Kotoko Iwanaga. A story filled with mystery and the supernatural, it’s not hard to see why some people speculate that some of the characters might just be more than a little special. One of the most asked questions around is whether the main female protagonist, aka Kotoko Iwanaga, is immortal like her boyfriend. Which, yeah, it’s easy to see why that gets brought up.
As the Goddess of Wisdom, Kotoko Iwanaga is potentially immortal. I say potentially because immortality in the world of In/Spectre works very differently from how we understand being immortal. Kuro, for example, is said to be immortal, but at the same time, he is aging. When asked to explain, it is said he is immortal in the sense that he doesn’t require things to live, and that he has much higher durability than your average person. From what we’ve seen of Kotoko, this version of being immortal holds for her as well.
Then again, immortality is always such a mixed bag in anime, in general. Sometimes it’s a thing you have to work super hard for, to virtually live on forever. Sometimes, you’re born immortal, reaching an age that is considered your peak and then just never aging again. You live as a healthy 18-year-old or 25-year-old, depending on what the writer considers the perfect age. And then you have immortality in the sense that you do age, but just very, very slowly. Think 10 years being the equivalent of one.
So its immortality has a lot of flavors. You’re either born with it, cultivate it, or magically stumble upon something that grants you immortality. When it comes to Kotoko Iwanaga, being immortal becomes a little more blurred. So, in today’s Character Analysis, let’s take a deep dive into her character and see if we can answer with certainty whether Kotoko Iwanaga, Supernatural Detective, is really immortal.
Table of Contents
Goddess Of Wisdom: She’s Been At It For Years.

One of the main reasons people talk about Kotoko being immortal is because well, she’s a literal Goddess. Well, kind of. See, she’s in between being human and magical, so maybe like a Priestess. And because she’s considered a Goddess by the Yokai she helps mediate humanity.
It’s because of her status as an in-between, someone who walks both the path of humanity and the path of the supernatural, that she can be considered immortal. There’s also the fact that, in the world of In/Spectre, one can achieve immortality by consuming the flesh of a Yokai, such as a mermaid. So, it isn’t farfetched to believe that someone like Kotoko, who works with Yokai actively, could’ve eaten a body part or two to ensure her safety.
But I think a point that a lot of people overlook when discussing Kotoko’s immortality, is the way she is coded. She looks like a child, despite being an adult. However, the fact that she’s missing an eye and a leg actually feel like a deliberate reference to Odin, the Norse God of Death, Magic, and, yes, Wisdom. Which, again, means that if she isn’t immortal yet, there is plenty of time for her to rectify that.
What Does Koru Being Immortal Mean For Kotoko?

But why would Kotoko Iwanaga want to be immortal? Perhaps before, it wasn’t of much concern to her. However, things changed when she fell in love with Kuro Sakuragawa, who had been fed the meat of a Kudan and Ningyo, leading him towards his version of immortality, amongst other things.
You see, Kuro was fed the meat so he could predict the future, but he also gained an imperviousness to staying hurt for too long. So now, he recovers almost instantaneously. However, it is funny that Kotoko stumbles upon him at a hospital, of all places. And since then, she has been attached to him by the hip.
At first, Kuro didn’t return any of her affection, but as they went on their journey together, things did change They went from platonic friends to lovers, and now, well, here we are. So, to think that Kotoko would risk dying herself when she can spend eternity with Kuro, doesn’t make sense. This is why it is easy to see whether Kotoko Iwanage chooses to be immortal.
She did say it was love at first sight. Safe to say, she doesn’t plan on losing it anytime soon.
Tagged in:
- 2nd Season
- Anime
- Character Analysis
- Eternal Life
- Goddess of Wisdom
- Immortal
- Immortality
- Immortalization
- In/Spectre
- In/Spectre World
- Kotoko Iwanaga
- Kuro Sakuragawa
- Kuro's Immortality
- Love
- Love Story
- Norse God
- Odin
- Romantic Relationship
- Sacrifice
- Supernatural
- Yokai
- Yokai Flesh