What do you all think about animal motifs?
Such comparisons could be considered to be lazy characterization by some, but I find them to be an apt way to cut right to the chase. After all, these parallels between human and non-human usually serve to accentuate and emphasize aspects of a character’s personality.
So to me, it’s like a little cheat sheet when you’re trying to get a bead on a character’s psyche and nature. Furthermore, such interesting similarities also help retain viewership interest. Or at least I laugh when a character is described as a stray cat before aforementioned feline-like person proceeds to confirm such a comparison. Is that engaging? Is that funny? Only you can answer those questions.
But that’s enough about that. I wanted to talk about monkey-like and gorilla-like anime girls. Why? Because it’s 11 pm on Sunday and I want a banana but there’s none in the house. That’s why.
Kirisaki Chitoge – Nisekoi
To be honest, Chitoge is only on the list to pad the numbers. The other girls are likened to monkeys. Chitoge, however, is considered to be like a gorilla by Raku since she tends to hit him whenever she’s upset or overly flustered. In other words, Chitoge single-handedly changed the title of this post! She’s so powerful!
I wasn’t aware that gorilla were known to be violent towards wishy-washy harem protagonists, but now I do!
Still, I liked her more than that wallflower Onodera. But in my book, Chitoge, as well as all of the other potential love interests, doesn’t even come close to the wallflower’s younger sister, Haru. Fight me.
Ninomiya Ai – Amanchu! (and Amanchu! Advance)
Ai, too, is quite violent and very prone to dishing out flying kicks to (deserving?) males. I’m starting to think that both monkeys and gorillas are not to be underestimated! Ah, but the way her face is usually depicted reminds me of monkeys somehow.
She even has a monkey-themed yukata lying around at home, which her younger brother purposefully brought up while they were in front of everyone else.
I think Ai is really pretty, but I guess I sort of relate to her because I’m also a twin (except we happen to be identical). I’m the older brother, by the way, even though a certain someone likes to claim I’m the younger brother since I’m too willing to spoil my clone.
Suzukaze Aoba – New Game!
Look, Aoba definitely doesn’t start off as the sharpest knife embodied in an animal carca– say what?
Be that as it may, Umiko is right. Aoba really does look like a monkey when she’s feeling sad.
With that being said, I do have a bit of a soft spot for Aoba because New Game! was one of the first anime series I did episode reviews on. Plus, I started working at my first job shortly after New Game! started broadcasting, which led to me sort of relating to her constant plights as a new hire.
…but at least I know what a NPC is…
Takakamo Shizuno – Saki Achiga-hen
Look, Shizuno turned from being just an average player to becoming a supernatural menace who can nullify the nonsensical and unlikely plays the other players rely on. And how did she do that? She constantly ran around in the mountains like a monkey for over a year. Shizuno is the most monkey-like anime girl of all.
Up against an energetic girl who has a poor attenton span, sports a poor memory, and usually acts before thinking things through, can the other contenders even stand a chance? Will my biasness never stop showing? I think we all know the answers to both of these questions.
…It must be the exposed, round ears that makes Shizuno such a monkey girl. Aoba has them, too.
Do you have any favourite animal motifs? Any other monkey-like girls in mind? Let me know!
Thank you for reading.
The Lily Garden 
This was fun!!
I’d like to add Meru from Fly High, it doesn’t have an anime though.
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Well, this season there’s a show called Last Period, which has Team Rocket-like group called Wiseman, and they’re three girls themed after the three monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil (with accessories covering the respective facial features). They also have a talking monkey mascot. And they’re all called something-zaru. So there.
Then there was Juuni Taisen in which the Chinese zodiac themed monkey warrior was a girl who trained with talking monkey monks (monk-ies!) in the mountains.
Don’t remember much else. My biggest problem is that – to me – we’re all primates anyway, so in the end they’re all monkey girls and boys (if they’re human that is).
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I missed out on that one, then.
…Missed out on Juuni Taisen, too!
Yeah, fair enough. But I would say some boys and girls are more monkey-like than others.
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Okay, now I see what you meant by monkey-like anime girls when you mentioned it on Twitter. I was confused back then but I see that now… Haha I’ve never thought about these things before.
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Haha, yeah. Our little chit-chat reminded me that I should push out this list, so thanks!
Mmm my mind goes into weird places, I know.
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Wow, I’m glad our little chat did that!! No problem. 😀 Weird is good. :3
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Is it ok to assume that a monkey-dudes list is a possibility? I bet there’re enough candidates that are called gorillas quite often.
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I-I’m sorry, I am not too interested in making a list about monkey-dudes. But there really are a lot!
Isidro from Berserk, Monta from Eyeshield 21, Seiyans from DragonBall Z due to their tails, Sanageyama Uzu from Kill la Kill, the Third Hokage from Naruto, Luffy from One Piece, Kizaru from One PIece, 1000 players from Slam Dunk, and so on!
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Yeah, there’re a lot of them. The idea popped in my mind because of Gintama – that show also has a healthy population of gorillas.
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Even the author is like a gorilla, apparently! But mmm you’re totally right haha.
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Yeah, he is. At least he portrays himself in that way. As if Gintama wasn’t weird enough already.
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While i’m not familair with the last character on the list, I do really love Chitoge and Ai. They both make me smile in thier respective series. I was rooting for Chitoge over Onodera in Nisekoi, and Ai is sucha wonderful addition to the alreayd excellent Amanchu. I’ve onyl seen one episode of New Game!, but I thoroughly enjoyed that, so I suspect that Aoba will be a favourite too.
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It’s alright, Saki is a bit of a niche series~ ;__;
I’m glad you agree that you like (or will probably like in regards to Aoba) the other three girls, though!
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You actually went and wrote this, eh xD?
But Shizuno’s power is Shugendou-related, Buddhism-Shintoism synthesis, deep stuff…!
Though I suppose becoming at peace with her inner monkey-hood is another way to frame it.
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Desperateness is a strong motivator.
Mmm I was really considering adding that the way she awakened her power was much like a monk or a taoist, but I ended up just doubling down on her monkey-ness 🐵
It really is, but I sure did wish there was a bit more foreshadowing in regards to her power. Would have been nice if Kodomo was momentarily pensive back when she thoroughly walloped Shizuno. Instead her newfound power comes out of nowhere and some people thus hate on her for stomping on the fan-favourite, the trash-talking Supernova. Oh, well…
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Dunno what’s up with the execution of Shizuno’s reveal, considering how meticulously planned Saki is overall. The quarters were a rare case of mundane-o-land with nothing for her nullify – I get that. But there were a dozen ways things could have been foreshadowed anyway. Weird stuff.
Is Awai a fan favourite? Most people I know have a little trouble respecting her after she nearly found a way to kill off her own team with that final hand and not taking a cheaper win for vanity purposes. Only to get knocked down a peg but still saved by lady luck. Her and Matano badly need to perform in the finals…
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Mmm, yeah, I guess that’s one possible explanation regarding Shizuno’s delayed reveal, but as you said, there was many other ways to show how Shizuno leveled up.
I’m not sure if you’re following the manga, but Ryuuka’s own ability (not the one where she uses Toki’s foresight as a crutch but the one where she is able to monitor her opponents and predict their waits and such) was actually an anime-original and not present in the original source material. However, during the battle for fifth place it was shown that this ability was actually canon. I don’t know, I think it’s pretty cool how the anime adaptation was able to flesh things out with subtle changes and such, but I digress. Poor Shizuno.
Hmmm, I used to browse some public anonymous forums and they would love to bash on Shizuno and praise Awai. She really did almost doom her team, but she, along with Himeko, wasn’t expecting someone who could at least partially nullify her abilities. Her arrogance and stubbornness in hindsight is moronic, but mahjong is the sum of all its parts. Sometimes the right move isn’t correct i.e. a player goes for the hell wait instead of the three-sided wait and ends up winning.
But yeah, I think some people like Awai because she’s A BAD GIRL. Just like how some people love Aki-Lucky from WIXOSS.
I do believe that Awai was hyped up by Ritz to be a worthy rival of Saki, but I have to agree with you and the people you know. She’s a bit underwhelming thus far. Matano in particular lost the most amount of points in a match ever, even beating out Bundou Seika. Ahhh, Shiraitodai is in a pinch when it comes to those two players.
I’ve been thinking about writing my thoughts on the upcoming finals. Thanks for getting me so fired up!
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(I’m usually up to date with Saki and Shinohayu, not up to date with Toki.)
Awai is unique in the fact that she chose what was a suboptimal move /based on her own assumptions/. We know exactly what she was thinking, and there is no reason not to go out on Shindouji’s discard there. That’s different from the cases where other players stick to their own beliefs or strategies even if those are suboptimal by “Nodoka standards”.
Awai already has the clear skies buff announced, but I’m more worried about the mental aspect than the power aspect when it comes to her.
Btw, where do you usually play mahjong online? We could get together for some blogger mahjong sometime, add randomwall’s nightsentinel and somebody. Japanese Saki bloggers play punishment mahjong, where the losers write entries or short stories according to the winners’ prompts xD.
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(Fair enough. I’m much the same way.)
Hard to contest that. At the end of the day Awai is arrogant to the point of suffering from tunnel-vision and that almost screwed her team. But all kinds of people with all kinds of mindsets gather around to play our favourite tile-based game. And some people can’t seem to truly reflect on their own shortcomings. Furthermore, she’s much too used to her own abilities smoothing everything out for her much like how Matano predictably discards honour tiles and terminals when she’s on the defensive.
Awai does have that buff going for her, but you’re absolutely right about Awai’s own mindset which limits her. Can she overcome herself?!?!
I’ve only dabbled with Tenhou. At the moment I’m raising this new account and am currently aiming for Tokujou again. I was once on the cusp of being 5-dan, but then I tilted hard…
Wow! I need to join up for that lol
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“Why? Because it’s 11 pm on Sunday and I want a banana but there’s none in the house. That’s why” Seriously had to laugh so hard at that sentence 😂😂 This was a fun post. Had to wrack my brain but so far I haven’t been able to come up with any monkey-like girls. Or any other animal motifs for that part. But no matter, I really enjoyed reading this one! (and finding out about some characters I did not yet know myself 😀😀)
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Had to tell it like it is!
Hmmm yeah monkey-like girls are in short supply.
Off the top of my head, Your Lie in April has a few. Kaori is likened to a cat as she enjoys petting a particular black cat, is rather temperamental and has violent moodswings. Furthermore, a distraught Kousei sees the black cat that Kaori often played with dead due to a careless driver, which foreshadows what happens to Kaori later on. Finally, there is another black cat who shows up by the railroad tracks in the final moments of episode 22 before disappearing behind a passing train, symbolizing the loss of Kaori.
Emi gets a bear-like battle aura whenever she starts feeling bear-y competitive.
Lastly, Nagi is very much like a kitten and it’s no coincidence that Kousei runs into her and a kitten at the same time.
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Hmm, had not thought of that, but you are right! Especially the comparison of Kaori was spot-on. 😊😊😊
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