Wallpaper Post - Miyuki Takara
Posted by: DKellis in blatant filler, lucky star, pretty pics
Not only does Miyuki wear glasses, she’s also incredibly smart, and most importantly very nice. It’s actually kind of surprising how few “nice and smart people” there are in anime who have a main character role, rather than side character; the primary one which comes to mind offhand is Belldandy from Ah My Goddess, but her Divine Intellect is not exactly portrayed often in either anime or manga. (In fact, she’s kind of spacey in the earlier manga chapters, played up for comedy.) Also, Yomiko Readman from Read Or Die, one of the sexiest characters I’ve ever seen.
I’m under the impression that after a while, a particularly high intelligence in Real Life tends to result more in cynicism, rather than optimism. On the “nicer” end of the scale, we get the Deadpan Snarker, like (famously) Kyon from Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. As we progress towards less empathy and more RAGE, we end up with the “I hate people because everyone except me is stupid” types, which I’ve always had problems talking to. My worldview is that everyone should be nice to each other, and they believe that they have an inalienable right to be a complete… well, I’ll just leave it at that to prevent myself from descending into a full-blown rant.
I wonder what sort of character archetypes Miyuki would be classified under in the Great Fandom Classification. (Yes, I’m aware that many times, these pigeon-holes are not precisely accurate, or even appropriate.) There’s the obvious meganekko, and as Konata points out, she also has elements of dojikko, a trait which I’ve never seen portrayed as “cute” except in anime, although once again absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I don’t know if there’s a fandom term for “smart girl”, “nice girl”, or “smart and nice girl”. I wonder if “smart and nice”, male or female, really are that rare, in anime or in Real Life.
Yes, I went there.
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This may be the beginning of a new classification. Smart girl, nice girl, smart and nice girl can go under any moniker that you can think of from meganekko, dojikko, osananajimi, oneesan-chan-sama, imouto etc.
The only other characters that I can think of that fits Miyuki Takara to a tee is Taeko Minazuki from Ai Yori Aoshi. However, Miyuki-chan has a younger latter day twin named Mimi Usa who can be seen in the manga Kodomo no Jikan or, as its infamously known in the West, as Nymphette.
As of this writing the manga has been dropped by 7 Seas due to a whole lot of controversy.
However, the anime for Kodomo no Jikan is coming in October 20007 so everyone else can see for themselves how similar Miyuki an Mimi really are.
I’m tempted to say “you’re right, this needs a fandom term” but I don’t see anything wrong with what you’re using. XD Japanese isn’t always necessary, I think.
Anyways, empted to bring up Tomoyo Daidouji as one but she didn’t really get to use that whole “smart” aspect a lot, although it was part of her character. She probably clocks in as more of a rich girl type. Maybe Eriol as well, but he had, um, ulterior motives.
To redeem the comment - I see your Miyuki and raise you a Miyuki. Assuming that code works, anyways. Ah, it almost feels like Miyuki’s getting shafted out of that “main character” role nowadays anyway~
@RedMaigo: I’m not sure if Taeko ever displayed signs of being a walking encyclopaedia, but then that could just be faulty memory. Miyuki can rattle off facts which puts my Random Trivia to shame, and that’s an impressive feat.
I’m rather familiar with the whole Seven Seas/Kodomo no Jikan controversy, especially since it came about around the time of the (unrelated) “OMG Pedophilia” brouhaha on Livejournal. (Well, the first one anyway.) I’ve only read the first couple of chapters scanlated, and it was some time ago, so I need to check it out again to see if Mimi Usa does turn out like Miyuki.
@CCY: Hm. Yanno, I think I was blinded by my own prejudices (or whatever the phrase is) when I thought of and dismissed Tomoyo as an example, since I was certainly wished Tomoyo was a Main Character, but since she seemed more like a Side Main, I didn’t mention her. But it could be reasonably argued that the status of “Main Character” could be expanded to encompass the core group (Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Kero, Meiling, Touya, Yukito, later Eriol), so going by that, she’s probably a Main Character of some form.
Now, if asking about “smart and nice” without worrying about Protagonist status, I certainly agree that she’s the first character I think of.
I’m fine with a non-Japanese term, but even then “Smart And Nice Girl” doesn’t quite have the same ring as, say, “Deadpan Snarker” or “Campbellian Hero”. I didn’t really want to reinvent the wheel, and so was wondering if someone else had already come up with a Fandom Term.
Thanks for the pic. Saved. (Also, fixed the HTML.)