Curate, connect, and discover
I know yesterday was her birthday, but I was busy with Halloween so I’m just going to post this today. Anri Sonohara is such an underappreciated character and she doesn’t deserve it. She’s amazing and unique and she needs more attention. So I’m going to take a brief moment to gush about her.
I legit can’t believe that it was only this year that I realized that Anri is like one of my top comfort characters. Right next to Shizuo, Masaomi and a few others. Apparently all you need to do to make me mentally adopt a fictional character is make them a victim of bullying and/or abuse. That or be a literal baby. Obviously there is more to it, but that seems to be a big factor. But thinking back, it does make sense. In my teen years I was obsessed with her, and a lot of female characters I made were somewhat inspired by her. I just didn’t get enough of a chance to notice because sadly there just isn’t enough content for her to make me notice. The stuff that IS out there, has her shoehorned in as part of the main trio.
And poor Anri, not only does she get forgotten by the fandom (and even characters in the main story), but also has to go through a real load of shit. She’s an orphan, but only cause one of her parents was an abusive ass that pushed the other to murder, only to then kill themself (that whole scenario is just...a mess but thats the main gist.) Now she’s possessed by a demon sword, which she just about has control over only because she’s numb to the trauma. Then there’s the aforementioned bullying, a pervy teacher, her friends being some secretive weirdos, her female friends also being pervy, and don’t get me started on the gang war thing with Izaya and all that. Yet this girl still comes out at the end with a smile. Like. Wow. I can barely go through a day without finding some aspect of life to be miserable about. Yet here she is. She’s way too tolerant for her own good.
Also, she’s super sweet, and really should have been given more of a chance to be hardcore with her sword and all that. I like that she’s a more feminine character that’s still badass. Way too much fiction has badass females be more stereotypically masculine, and to have her be more gentle and shy is a breath of fresh air. Especially because I and others in this generation, have grown to be rather shy. The best part is, she doesn't necessarily grow to be more social like in other media. Her introvertedness still remains intact, yet she still makes sure to still have connections outside of Mika after the first few arches. It's a development that's healthy both in that it shows its ok to be shy, yet still doesn't enable her to shut herself off to the point of destruction.
I like her design too, and I just wish their was more done with it other than that weird hoodie thing she got going on (while it's more practical, I don't understand why she wears it so often, even in the daytime). She’s cute and deserves more than that and the rule 34 official art. I've seen a lot of really neat fashion redesigns for her, and I'm glad that there seems to be some sort agreement that she needs to wear more pastel with black. Plus the redesigns sort of fit my own fashion sense (if I actually try).
She’s such a wasted character. All that backstory and design, and what happens to it in the end? Like there was a load of build up and then...nothing happened with her. Just Mikado nearly killing himsellf, but then she had no part of it. She didn't even stop the Saika army like she did in the Saika arch. I legit can't remember what happened to her in the end except for that moment in the van with the others. There really should have been more involvement. It's neat that her build up is more internal, but when you have a demon sword on the wall it needs to be used. Please. She became borderline useless.
Oh well. I love her regardless of the flaws in the writing. If I go on any further I’ll just be complaining about how wasted and mistreated she was, and this was meant to be a feel good thing.
See ya~
Ms