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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