Pearl

Pearl Houzuki​

Pearl Houzuki

Species	Inkling
Habitat
Height
Hair color	Cream/Pink
Eye color	Light gold
Age	21 (Splatoon 2) Likely 26 (Splatoon 3)
Gender	Female
Pronouns
Relations	Unknown parents Unknown uncle Unknown grandmother
Location	Inkopolis Square, Order Sector
Shop
HP
Maximum HP
Members
Other forms

This article is about the idol introduced in Splatoon 2. For her Drone form taken on in Splatoon 3: Side Order, see Pearl Drone.
For other uses, see Pearl (disambiguation).

“	Boo-YAAAAAAHHHHHH!	”
— Pearl's battle cry from the Octo Expansion

Pearl Houzuki is a major character introduced in Splatoon 2. She is one of the two band members of Off the Hook, along with Marina. In Splatoon 2, she co-hosted Inkopolis News and Splatfest events, replacing the role of the Squid Sisters from the first game. She returns in Splatoon 3 as a member of Damp Socks feat. Off the Hook. Additionally, she is a major character in the DLC single-player campaigns Octo Expansion (Splatoon 2) and Side Order (Splatoon 3). In the latter, she appears in an alternate form called the Pearl Drone. Her signature color is light pink.

She is voiced by Rina Itou.

Appearance

Pearl resembles a stereotypical Japanese "pop princess". She has pale skin and appears shorter than most Inklings, something she is defensive about. Her shoulder-length tentacles are creamy-white with pink tips and a small bang, although they can change to completely one color like other Inklings. She has light golden eyes with pale yellow pupils in the shape of a cross, round cream eyebrows, and a beauty mark at the bottom right of her lips. Like Marina, and unlike other Inklings, she has one sharp tooth in the top middle of her mouth instead of the usual two. Her ears, which are slightly smaller than those of the average Inkling, are usually covered by her hair.

Her outfit consists of a pearly white sleeveless dress, white shorts, and pink tights. The dress has a high collar, a large golden zipper on the front with a cut out cross similar to her pupils, and features a slanted diamond-like pattern at the bottom right. Her shoes are white, slightly platformed boots with large golden zippers and black soles. She also wears black fingerless gloves and a white crown with pink tips on her head that resembles a squid ring tooth. During Splatfests, the pink in her design changes to match the color of her chosen team, except for her crown which only changes in artwork. The diamond-like pattern on her dress lights up in sync with the music.

In the Octo Expansion, she wears a more hip-hop-style attire than her pop stage outfit. She wears a golden jeweled crown on her head, a long golden chain necklace with a cross pendant (like her zippers on her stage outfit) around her neck, multiple golden rings on her fingers on both of her hands, a pastel pink baggy hoodie with cream sleeves, and rainbow metallic platform shoes. This outfit is noted as being reminiscent of the rapper The Notorious B.I.G.. The gear items given out by the Pearl amiibo are replicas of Pearl's Octo Expansion outfit, named the Pearlescent Crown, Pearlescent Hoodie, and Pearlescent Kicks.

During the Final Fest, Pearl donned a special black and gold outfit, with her tentacles having a black gradient for the occasion. She wore a black crown with its points slightly bent in one direction; on her face was a black arrow-shaped mark that crossed her left cheek, eye and forehead. Its tail had three points, symbolizing a stylized squid. She wore a black, sleeveless dress that gets bigger at the bottom, with a brown piece that had a gold cross symbol on her chest; the bottom of the dress had golden fish-scale spikes pointing to the right. She also wore leggings with a black-to-gold gradient, black boots with spikes on their sides, and her usual gloves.

In Splatoon 3, Pearl mainly wears a completely new outfit, first appearing in artwork and album covers for Damp Socks feat. Off the Hook, and starting to physically appear in Side Order. She wears a thin, plain gold crown, translucent pale orange sunglasses that bear a slight resemblance to Octoling Shades, an oversized white puffy jacket with a gold zipper, a thin orange stripe on the collar and sleeves and an Off the Hook logo on the right shoulder, and a knee-length gold sequin dress with a deep purple interior, mirroring that of Marina's jacket. The front of her jacket bears several patches (including one that appears to be based on the NASA logo, depicting a yellow squid-shaped arrow passing through a red "A"-shaped icon on a blue starry background) and two large, rectangular pockets on the bottom. In Off the Hook's character artwork for Splatoon 3, the NASA-like patch on the front of Pearl's jacket is absent, replaced by a simplistic X shape. Pearl additionally wears her usual gloves, black stockings, and white lace-up boots with golden midsoles and white soles that have the Off the Hook logo on the bottom. She also wears this outfit when playing Tableturf Battle; however, during Splatfest events, she wears her usual outfit instead.

In the artwork for the Suffer No Fools music video, Pearl wears a simple, hip-hop styled outfit consisting of a large black hoodie with Off the Hook's wordmark in gold on it, a gold chain necklace with a pendant shaped like an upside down number 2, and white sports shoes with black and orange details. Her tentacles have a golden gradient and she wears no crown, instead wearing a black piercing-like ring on her left front tentacle.

During the Baby Chicks vs. Li'l Bunnies vs. Bear Cubs Splatfest, Pearl wears a Gothic metal-inspired outfit with a spiky dark purple crown and studded collar alongside her usual gloves, and a long, low-cut black T-shirt with a white design that represents an Inkling and an Octoling's tentacles side by side. The straps of her top are visible over her otherwise bare shoulders. She wears fishnet stockings over black pantyhose, and high platform boots with chains wrapped around the ankles and skull designs on the tongues. The tips of Pearl's tentacles feature pastel green spots.

Personality and traits

Pearl speaks rather bluntly and uses various slang terms, in line with her characterization as a rapper (despite her "pop princess" appearance). Compared to Marina, Pearl is a lot more energetic, expressive and quick to jump onto a topic with a bit of a short temper and a knack for composing new songs as they come to her. Often her comments can be playfully sarcastic, playing off Marina. She can also be quite brash, but is usually very friendly and means well in the end. Her lively attitude is most obvious if the player looks at her through the window, as she looks at them quizzically before striking a pose. When she wins a Splatfest, she often boasts how her team was better in the form of a rap, which she insists she makes up on the spot. She has been described sarcastically by Marina as "starved for attention, yet full of [herself]".

She comes from a very rich family, which reflects in her attitude and appearance. Among her several possessions, she owns a go-kart, a private jet, Camp Triggerfish, the baseball "Inkopolis Princess League", and a fitness studio. She also still gets an allowance despite having a job, has personal shoppers for MakoMart, and owns a vegetable garden in front of her house that must be watered using her helicopter with an exclusive jellyfish pilot, as well as having a lemon tree orchard and at least three shoe rooms in her house, one of which is soundproof.

Her Splatfest choices show her to gravitate towards mostly outgoing things, such as Action, Adventure, and Film. Indeed, she has difficulties with sitting still, leading her to fidget and walk around during recordings. She's shown to be impatient and dislikes when things get "too quiet". She also has a quirky side, as she has mentioned that she eats breakfast cereal with a fork and has a pool full of imported mayonnaise.

Due to being born with uniquely developed vocal cords, Pearl's voice operates at two thousand times the frequency required to produce "mind-blowing" waves. As a result, it can create massive shockwaves and destroys audio equipment when she sings, leading her fans to nickname her the "club destroyer". Sunken Scroll 1 shows an incident in which a young Pearl destroyed various parts of the Youth Folk-Singing contest, and Marina's chat room has a clip during a heavy metal concert in which glass is heard shattering. To mitigate the effect, Marina mixes backing tracks in order to prevent Pearl from destroying her audio systems. When fully warmed up and amplified by the Princess Cannon, Pearl's shockwave is concentrated into a powerful laser able to counteract the NILS statue's mostly-charged cannon. As a result of this tremendous power, Pearl chooses to practice away from civilization on Mount Nantai.

Pearl is also very protective of Marina, even after being told by Cap'n Cuttlefish of Marina's true nature as an Octoling. Upon receiving the news, she remained loyal to Marina, even threatening violence against Cap'n Cuttlefish if he ever dared to splat her bandmate. She considers meeting Marina the best gift she has ever received. Pearl is also fond of Agent 8, who she nicknames as 'Eight', happily noticing them before Marina does and striking a more flourished pose in direct contrast to her reaction to the standard playable Inkling. However, she is shown to dislike Sheldon due to her finding him boring, calling him that in the Mayo vs. Ketchup Splatfests' announcements. She also says that she would "rather watch ink dry...at the post office...WITH SHELDON" than watching soccer in the Baseball vs. Soccer announcement, as well as suggesting to Marina that they should cover his house in toilet paper as a Halloween prank, albeit only in localizations.

Pearl with the Enperry Splat Dualies.

Her preferred personal pronoun in Japanese is アタシ atashi, which is an informal female form commonly used by young women and girls. She also uses many slang terms as well as childish speech patterns (like replacing "sh" sounds with "ch" sounds), giving the air of a little girl trying to act tough. She speaks almost exclusively in the informal speech (タメ語/タメ口 tame-go/tame-guchi), further emphasizing her "street" style. Her text extends syllables very often (with the "ー" character compared to Marina's "～", mirroring the same difference between Callie and Marie), and she ends many sentences with the particles "よ", "ぜ" and even "ぞ", which not only makes her text read as energetic and curt but also as if she is rapping her lines. In the Japanese version of the game, Pearl is referred to by Marina as 先輩 (senpai), an honorific used when addressing an elder with the same social standing or when addressing someone more experienced in a field or trade. Her usage of the term indicates that Pearl is looked up to by Marina, either as a respectable figure more experienced than her in the music industry and/or the Inkling world, as Marina grew up among the Octarians, or because Pearl is older than her by three years.

Pearl's favorite weapon class appears to be Dualies. She frequently mentions using these weapons when presenting stages currently in rotation, and additionally mentions dodge-rolling in dialogue for New Albacore Hotel. This is further confirmed in Side Order, as her Palette comes with the Order Dualies. She more specifically seems to appreciate the Enperry Splat Dualies, as she is seen posing with them in promotional art for the Action vs. Comedy Splatfest. She also seems to use Chargers on occasion to compensate for her "stature", per Marina's suggestion.

History

Early life

A young Pearl.

Pearl hails from Calamari County and was born into an exceedingly rich family, something that came across in a lot of stories about her childhood, such as being able to easily afford top-of-the-range musical equipment and receiving a ship identical to the Manta Maria for her sixth birthday. She also met the 'Lord of The Lake' who owns Piranha Pit. Pearl was interested in music from an early age, taking part in an Inkopolis Youth Folk-Singing Contest and causing some destruction with the power of her voice.

Pearl later attempted to start a musical career of her own, and despite having little to no idea how to write music, she insisted her heart was in the right place. She eventually became known as a heavy metal singer, demonstrating a notably more vulgar side with her song #$@%* Dudes Be #$@%* Sleepin, which garnered some fans but never went beyond that.

Pearl's solo career.

While practicing her potentially dangerous voice on Mt. Nantai less than two years before the events of Splatoon 2, Pearl met Marina, a newly-defected Octoling, and the two quickly bonded. Pearl never learned of Marina's past, believing her to be a "country bumpkin", and taught Marina the ways of Inkling society. After meeting each other again, the two became friends, with Marina demonstrating her musical abilities with a demo of Ebb & Flow. After hearing this, Pearl agreed to form a band with her, which led to her fully establishing herself in the public consciousness upon the formation of Off the Hook. They released Ebb & Flow as their first single, and it was a hit. By the time of their fourth single, around nine months after the events of Splatoon, they had become popular enough to take over hosting Inkopolis News from the Squid Sisters.

Splatoon 2

By the time of Splatoon 2, Off the Hook had become famous in Inkopolis Square for their music and for presenting Inkopolis News, in which Pearl had a similar relationship with Marina as Callie had with Marie. Their work included hosting Splatfest events, announcing the themes and singing and dancing to Color Pulse for the event's duration. Across all regions, Pearl and Marina won 29 Splatfests each.

Although Pearl and Marina did not make appearances during Octo Canyon, they were the first to break the news of Callie and the Great Zapfish's disappearances. They also announced their rescue on Inkopolis News, fulfilling a request by "Freshly Fried Boy" to play Fresh Start over the credits.

Octo Expansion

Pearl preparing to defeat Commander Tartar.

During the Octo Expansion, Pearl and Marina stumbled upon Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 8 by overhearing their radio transmission. Learning that they were trapped in the Deepsea Metro, attempting to escape to Inkopolis, they promised to help them out. The three acted as Agent 8's guides during the tests, while they also talked in Marina's chat room, where Pearl was known as "MC.Princess". This chat room was used by the group to learn about their respective pasts. When discussing with Cuttlefish about Marina's technological achievements, Pearl finally discovered her history as a member of the Octarian army, and despite being deeply shocked, she promised to remain friends with her. Later, Pearl revealed to Marina and Cuttlefish how Inkopolis Square was beginning to become populated with more Octolings and eased Cuttlefish's worries about his old enemies.

After Agent 8 collected all four thangs and escaped from the Deepsea Metro, Off the Hook finally met them and Cap'n Cuttlefish in person after their battle with a brainwashed Agent 3. When the Telephone revealed itself as Commander Tartar, who wants to destroy Inkopolis, Pearl's "battle cry" was instrumental in defeating it. After Agent 8 covered the NILS Statue in ink from Marina's hyperbombs, Pearl used her Princess Cannon to finish it off. With the threat averted, the group returned safely to Inkopolis Square.

Splatoon 3

Pearl returns in Splatoon 3, along with Marina, in the band Damp Socks feat. Off the Hook. They perform the songs Candy-Coated Rocks and Tentacle to the Metal. She can be faced in Tableturf Battle after completing Side Order.

Side Order

Main article: Pearl Drone

Pearl in Inkling form, as seen in a teaser for Side Order.

Due to the Dramatic Days of Orderland module, she takes on the form of a drone, following Agent 8 and assisting them in combat. During the first climb, Pearl is locked into this form; after saving Marina from Order, she is reprogrammed and gains the ability to switch between Inkling and drone at will while in the Memverse.

In the manga series

Pearl's first appearance in the manga was chapter 15, where she and Marina announced the semi-final matches for the Square King Cup. During the same tournament, she, along with Marina, does the play-by-play report for both the semi-finals and finals.

In the Octo Expansion arc, Pearl plays the same role she has in the game, helping Cap'n Cuttlefish, Eight, Team Blue, and Rider out of Deepsea Metro.

Pearl makes two appearances in the Splatfest arc; once to announce the Funny Man VS Straight Man Splatfest, and another to provide the play-by-play report.

In the Square King Ranked Battle Cup arc, Pearl and Marina return to providing the play-by-play report for most of the tournament.

During the Final Fest arc, Pearl appears to represent her team, Team Chaos, and she and Marina once again provide the play-by-play report for the entire Splatfest.

Songs

See also: Off the Hook and Damp Socks feat. Off the Hook

Fictional Band	Song Name	Audio
Pearl	#$@%* Dudes Be #$@%* Sleepin	#$@%* Dudes Be #$@%* Sleepin

Palette

Pearl's Palette
Order Dualies	Curling Bomb	Reefslider	Did you know I study my enemies' moves in the name of order? Thanks to the digital tickets those jerks sent me, I watch all the livestweams of their shows! Then I check the VODs to examine evewy detail of their evewy move. CURSE THAT PEAWL! She's too cool...
Most common Tone: Lucky
Second Most common Tone: Support

Gallery

For images of Pearl and Marina together, see Off the Hook/Gallery.

➤ View the gallery

Trivia

• Across Splatfest artworks from Splatoon 2, there seems to be a continuity regarding Pearl's crown. In the Warm Innerwear vs. Warm Outerwear Splatfest artwork, Pearl is shown tossing her crown while posing like a Uniqlo model. The next artwork to be released, for Sweater vs. Sock, shows that her crown is cracked, likely from falling on the ground following the previous picture. The following Splatfest artwork shows her with a new, golden crown instead. This was not reflected on her in-game model, but she did wear her gold crown during Family vs. Friends. She is later shown wearing several different crowns across artworks and game appearances, including the gold crown as part of her standard outfit in Splatoon 3.
• Pearl seems to have a special connection with Snapper Canal from multiple news dialogues. Her father taught her how to ride a bike there (although she still uses training wheels), and a boy from her school took her there as a child for an unknown reason.
• In Japan, Pearl's fans are known as Himeito (ヒメイト), a portmanteau of Pearl's name, "Hime", and the English word "mate". The English equivalent to this name is implied to be "Pearl Scout", as seen on the Pearl-Scout Lace-Ups. "Pearl Scout" is a reference to the Girl Scouts, the biggest guiding group in the USA.
• According to concept art, Pearl was at one point going to be an Octoling the same age as Marina, and was given a stool to stand on during news broadcasts instead of her chair, presumably to make her taller.
• During Inkopolis News, Pearl occasionally mentions that Moray Towers is one of her favorite stages.
• According to dialogue from the Color-Chip Collection, Pearl is known to run out of ink often. Marina repeatedly makes note of this, much to Pearl's dismay.
• According to an interview in Famitsu, the jacket Pearl wears in Splatoon 3 (including the NASA-like patch) is designed to resemble a spacesuit, symbolizing her "transcending worlds" by becoming an internationally recognized musician. It is a haute-couture designer piece that cost 200 million cash to create. Marina is noted to have used Pearl's outfit as inspiration for the galaxy pattern on her tentacles.
• As of Side Order, Pearl is one of the only two idols never fought as a boss, the other being Marie.

Etymology

"Pearl" is derived from the valuable hard, glistening mineral of the same name formed inside the shells of molluscs. It is a possible reference to her small size and wealthy background. "Houzuki" comes from ダイオウホウズキイカ daiōhōzukīka (literally "great king bladder cherry squid"), the Japanese name for colossal squid, an ironic reference to her diminutive size.

Names in other languages

Pearl

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ホウズキ・ヒメ Hōzuki Hime	From ヒメイカ hime-ika (Japanese for northern pygmy squid). "Hime" literally translates to "princess", which inspired her design and 'MC.Princess' pseudonym. Her first name and surname deriving from contrasting sizes of squid could be a reference to The Notorious B.I.G., who had the nickname "Biggie Smalls".
Dutch	Lorelei	Named after the mythical character Lorelei, a siren whose beauty and song unwittingly distracted shipmen, causing them to crash their ships
French	Perle Houzuki	Pearl Houzuki
German	Perla Houzuki	Pearl Houzuki
Italian	Alga Houzuki	Seaweed Houzuki
Russian	Жемчик Хоудзуки Zhemchik Khoudzuki	A made-up diminutive form of the word жемчуг zhemchug ("pearl") + Houzuki
Spanish	Perla Houzuki	Pearl Houzuki
Chinese	小姬 Xiǎojī 酸浆姬 Suānjiāng Jī	From "姬" (hime), Pearl's Japanese name. From 大王酸浆鱿 (ダイオホウズキイカ) and "姬" (hime)
Korean	호우즈키 히메 Houjeuki hime	Transcription of Japanese name

Pearlie (nickname by Marina)

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	センパイ Senpai	Katakana rendering of 先輩 (Senior)
Dutch	Lore	Short for Lorelei
French	Ma petite Perle/Ma p'tite Perle	My little Pearl
	Ma pauvre Perle	My poor Pearl
	Perlounette	Little Pearlie
German	Perlalein	Little Pearl
Italian	Alguccia	Little Seaweed, Pearl's Italian name
	Alghina	Little Seaweed, Pearl's Italian name
Spanish (NOA)	Perlita	Little-Pearl
Chinese (Simplified)	前辈 Qián bèi	Same as Japanese

MC.Princess

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	MC Princess	-
Dutch	☆MC Princess☆	-
French	MC Princess	-
German	MC Princess	-
Italian	RoyAlga MC	From "royal" and "Alga", the latter being Pearl's name in the Italian version of Splatoon 2.
Russian	☆☆MC ПЕРЛОВКА☆☆ MC PERLOVKA	From перловка perlovka ("pearl barley")
Spanish	☆MC Princesa☆	☆MC Princess☆