In her day-to-day life, Mahina is an even-keeled individual who remains calm and optimistic even in desperate times. She's kind-hearted as well, and will often be entirely too generous and absent-minded to notice when someone takes advantage of her. She shrugs this off easily, reasoning that if they were that desperate they probably needed it.
Her online personality in her ghost videos is much more animated and excited, almost offputtingly so. Generally it gets a bit Luna-Lovegood-esque and needs reining in from whoever's off-camera, usually Aulu, or Aina if she's guesting.
She's got an interest in both dreams and alternate dimensions, and will eventually study under Dr Fennel for some time before returning to Alola to conduct research comparing Ultra Space and the Dream World at the Aether Foundation.
Mahina had a twin brother, Lehu. When they were little, they were playing on the beach together when an Ultra Wormhole suddenly appeared. Lehu fell in, and was never seen again... until he started showing up in Mahina's dreams. Still, this is Mahina's most striking childhood memory, and it drives her interest in ghosts, dreams, Ultra Space and alternate dimensions.
Mahina begins her ghost story videos more as a record for herself, but they gain enough of a small regular following that she starts polishing them more for an audience. This is what connects her and Aina; they're trading video filming and editing tips and then they're chatting and visiting each other all the time.
Mahina befriends Aulu because she thinks he's terribly lonely and could use a friend. In the end, the three of them decide to travel the world together and set off on a journey with their parents' blessing.
Her brother's appearances in her dreams are often accompanied by a huge amount of pink fog. When her travelling group passes through Unova, she meets Dr Fennel, who she looks up to for her extensive research in the fields of somnology (sleep) and oneirology (dreams). Their conversation, combined with Mahina's curious circumstances, leads to Fennel offering Mahina the opportunity to do research with her. However, she's uncertain about leaving her friends on their journey. Knowing how much the subject means to her, her friends persuade her to take the opportunity.
At this point she starts transitioning from ghost stories and supernatural phenomena videos to studying videos; it's a bit weird for her normal audience, who are normally here for the wild and wacky, but some of them do make the transition. In a year's time, her friends visit her at the lab and they film a vlog with her hanging out at a café with Aina; their viewers marvel at the window into their friendship and their normal lives, and it remains their most popular video for quite some time.
Mahina sees her (missing, presumed dead) twin brother in her dreams. It's often very foggy and she can't make out most of what he's saying, but she thinks she gets the gist. Often, she wakes up with tears drying on her pillow.
Ilima (father):
Mina (mother):
Lehu (twin brother):
Aina: Mahina loves her friend's energy and enthusiasm for the small things in life, and it brings her a lot of joy to see her enjoying herself. Mahina is very glad she has a friend in Aina, and she thinks Aina came into her life at the right time to insert some much needed cheer at what could have possibly been a very dark time for her.
Aulu: They met at a summer camp Mina was running; Mahina befriended Aulu because she thought he was lonely and could use a friend or even just someone to silently hang out with. She came to find that while he was very quiet, he also had a razor sharp wit that he was more than happy to use once he got used to her presence. It was a happy coincidence that Aulu had a huge interest in photography; he ends up directing both her and Aina's videos after that because he can't stand the set-up for their lighting. In some ways, Aulu reminds her of Lehu.
Mahina's social media handle is 'dreaminghost'.
The friendship bracelet and anklet Mahina wears are gifts from Aina.
Mahina means 'moon' in Hawaiian; it is also a name for a type of onion and a type of sweet potato.
Sometimes her friends will shorten her name to Hina. This can mean 'to fall' in Hawaiian.
Her brother's name, Lehu, is a name for a variety of sugar cane, but also means 'ashes' or 'gray' in Hawaiian.
Momoe is a plural form of the verb meaning 'to sleep' in Hawaiian, and means 'a thousand blessings' in Japanese.
Flower Necklace: The flower necklace Mahina wears is a gift from Lehu; he has a leaf that Mahina made.