Nanami, the seventh-grade sister of Touga Kiryuu, is, in a word, insane. Completely. She has an absolutely pathological fixation with her older brother. As Miki put it, he is her perfect man, and no one else can ever compare. Nanami and Touga were adopted by their parents when Nanami was a baby, and it seems like their adopted parents were not the warmest people. When Nanami was little, she depended on Touga to protect her. He was always there to shield her from harm and comfort her when she was sad. The earliest indication we get of how really crazy she is was during a flashback, which showed Nanami giving Touga a kitten for his birthday. Touga paid more attention to the kitten than to Nanami, and so Nanami put it in a box and threw it over a dam. She was horrified by what she had done (she was only a little girl at the time) but she refused to let anyone or anything come between her and her oniisama. As she (and Touga) grew older, things became more complicated. Now Nanami had an enemy that was much more dangerous to deal with than a kitten: other girls. Touga, what with that playboy reputation and looks that would stop a train, was a veritable babe-magnet. This did not make his little sister very happy. Any girl that got near Touga was subjected to a slapping by Nanami (or more usually, her henchgirls). Speaking of Nanami's henchgirls, they are three girls that follow Nanami around and do her dirty work for her. As one of them said, Nanami never gets her own hands dirty. But more on them later. At the beginning of the series, Nanami was plotting the demise of both Utena and Anthy because she though that her brother liked both of them. She actually got Anthy to wear a dress to a dance that, when gotten wet, disintegrated. Of course, Utena saved her from humiliation by her famous tablecloth-into-eveningwear trick, which made Nanami even angrier. After a while of seething over Touga's new fascination with Utena, Nanami challenged her to a duel. She lost quickly, because she was way too enraged to duel with any skill. After losing, she attacked Utena, who warded her off with some difficulty, but nothing ever came of it. After Touga lost a duel with Utena and retreated into seclusion, Nanami sort of took over the Student Council. She got a sword taken out of her chest by a Black Rose Duelist in one of the episodes, just like everyone else. One of the funny things about Nanami is that she is sort of equatable to the comic relief. Every stand-alone episode (the really wacky ones that have nothing to do with anything) involve her in some way. In one, she got her hands on some sort of legendary spice that blew up and switched Utena and Anthy's personalities. Oh, wait, that was just Anthy's cooking... In another one, all her plots are exposed though Tsuwabuki's diary. In still another, she gets a "designer cowbell" in the mail and slowly turns into a cow. I told you they were wacky. Later in the series, she discovers what she thinks is proof that she and Touga are not really siblings. This crushes her, and she also hears Touga talk to another girl about how he only tolerates her because she is his adopted sister. She goes to live with Utena, Anthy, and Akio in the tower, which results in some interesting situations. When Touga comes to get her, he actually looks shocked that she does not want to come home with him. Touga showing sincere emotion? It's truely a sight to behold :) Anyway, she eventually comes back home (after it's revealed, although not to her, that she and Touga really are siblings). Nanami, like the others in the Student Council, has definate psychological problems. At the beginning, I really didn't like her, but as time went on I began to feel truly sorry for her. She loved Touga, she really did, and he chose to treat her like he did everyone else (except Utena), at least, until the end.

Pictures

This picture really illustrates Nanami's inner personality. She's a dangerous chick. I like her hair like this picture, too.


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