Digiboy's Character Database of Love – 9. Yamada & 10. Saten Ruiko

This is the fifth post in Digiboy’s Character Database of Love.

9. Yamada – B Gata H Kei

Seiyuu: Tamura Yukari (Performance: 5/5)

Character Design: (Designed by Yahiro Yuuko, based on designs by Sanri Youko). Straight-up, Yamada is sexy as fuck – I’d go so far as to consider her one of the my 10 hottest anime babes. Her design is interesting, because it feels very 90s, almost like she’s what a 90s character design would look like if combined with modern animation styles. What’s great about her is that she’s dense enough to play well with the humor in the series, but hot enough to make the steamy scenes amazing. I’m not a huge fan of her hair with the three ahoge in the front, but it’s not enough of a turnoff to keep me from considering her among my favorite designs.

Personal Bias/Moe Traits: If I haven’t made it apparent in this database yet, I’m a huge fan of sexually open women. Yamada is sex-obsessed, in spite of the fact that she’s afraid to actually initiate anything – I don’t blame her, since I’m about as sex-obsessed as you can get and have a hard time even talking to attractive women. (Shit, Yamada manages to *SPOILER* go all the way by the end of high school. I’m 19 and I haven’t had my first kiss. *END SPOILER*). She’s an all-around fun character, and I loved her from the first episode for her manic energy and one-track determination. She reminded me of an older, sex-obsessed Sana Kurata from Kodocha.

Distortions of My Imagination: Back when I did a post on B Gata H Kei, my buddy Taka pointed out that one sign of childhood sexual abuse is having compulsive sexual desires, but shrinking away when the time comes to act on them. As this was extremely true of Yamada’s character, I considered it in the context of the series. How come Yamada, a high school student, apparently lives in an apartment with just her middle-school sister? Why is the sister possibly even more promiscuous than Yamada? It’s probably just because I love analyzing the psychology of sexually abused children, but I can’t help pondering this kind of backstory for Yamada.

Crowning Moment of Love: Yamada’s greatest moment has to be when she finally manages to initiate in episode 11 during the ojou-sama girl’s party. She and the guy are on the bed, and it’s clear that she’s still very scared and not entirely sure what to do, but she pulls herself together and gets her man to finally massage her bare breasts. She was ready to go all the way and got interrupted, but I was already impressed that she got that far. It probably shouldn’t be that big a deal, since it was her goal from the beginning anyway, but I guess I could understand her troubles and was that much backing her ambitions.

Title: Come On Over (Turn Me On)

10. Saten Ruiko – To Aru Kagaku no Railgun

Seiyuu: Itou Kanae (Performance: 4/5)

Character Design: (Designed by Tanaka Yuichi, based on designs by Haimura Kiyotaka). Of the four main Railgun girls, Saten has my least-favorite design, just because I’m not big on long hair in general and because she’s the tallest of the bunch (though I’m sure she’s probably like 5 feet at most – this is Japan, damn it!) I do love the little flower in her hair and those mischievous eyes. It’s those eyes that help to sell her small deception in the first arc, while at other times reflecting her slightly twisted energetic personality. All in all, she’s not a design that particularly attracts me, but she’s a design that works.

Personal Bias/Moe Traits: Saten is a fun and fashionable gal who doesn’t like to take anything too seriously. What’s more, she’s a reliable friend and generally good person, who faces disappointment in herself for not being strong enough to do more. I liked Saten from the start, mostly for her interactions with Uiharu and the fact that I’ve been following Itou Kanae’s career, but it was later in the series that I really grew to enjoy her (despite the fact the she’s mostly useless in the actual plot arcs). After coming to terms with her lack of power and realizing that the only way to get through it was to stop bitching and work her ass off, I felt like I could respect her more.

Distortions of My Imagination: As I mentioned when I talked about Uiharu Kazari on the second week, I like to imagine that she and Saten are gay lovers. Saten makes this imagination a lot easier than Uiharu does – sure, maybe she’s only obsessed with women’s underwear (especially Uiharu’s, especially while she’s wearing them) because she finds flipping skirts to be fun, but I dunno. The way she acts and talks makes my gaydar go off even moreso than your average ambiguously-lesbian anime girl. Going back to my Uiharu fantasy, I like to think that Saten’s constant fake-out advances might actually become real advances one day, and that Uiharu might just go for it.

Crowning Moment of Love: Saten’s best moment comes in episode 15, wherein she and the other kids who used the ‘level uppers’ are made to attend a special class on powers. The other students spend most of the time complaining and making excuses for themselves, while Saten remains introspective through most of it. At the end, she’s shown giving it her all to the physical training, somehow feeling like she just couldn’t give up. After some speeches by the teachers and herself, she comes to realize that rather than angst about her lack of powers, she should work hard to improve and be proud of herself for never giving up. That’s an attitude that I can always respect.

Title: Panty Shot