The Bastardisation Of Sora Takenouchi

Has anyone else noticed it?

The bastardisation of Sora, I mean.

Sora Takenouchi. I'll be the first to admit that I don't like the girl (mostly her fans, for that matter, but that's another story...). She's perfect. She's got a perfect Mom, perfect Dad, she's polite, doesn't dress like Hikari, doesn't act like Miyako, isn't outlandish like Mimi. She arranges flowers, plays tennis, dates Yamato The Musician, is kind, loving and guiding.

Is it just me, or is that a FAR FREAKING CRY from the Sora we used to know in 01?! You know, the one that was a tomboy and had unresolved issues with her mother (and her father was never mentioned!). She played soccer, hung out with the boys, and was kinda shy and definetly not the perfect girl. SO WHAT IN HELL'S NAME HAPPENED?!

Somewhere in the middle of the later episodes of 02, Sora morphed into The Perfect Girl, and became more and more dislikable. Why? Well, it ties in somehow with my Sorato theory -- someone at Toei decided Sorato would be more appropriate than anything else. Who became the perfect boy? Yamato. Koushirou's a computer geek, Jyou's too down-to-earth, Taichi's...well, Taichi is Taichi. And the 02 boys are out, so it was Yamato, who was in the spotlight from the start with his band. Hence, they needed a perfect girl. Miyako and Hikari were a no-go, Mimi's too far away and besides, she's already too "Americanised" to be the perfect Japanese girl. So who was left? Poor Sora.

Sora didn't have too much characterisation in 01. Of course she had some, but she didn't have as much as say, Mimi or Taichi or even Hikari. That left room for the writers in 02 to morph her into anything that they wanted -- anything. She didn't have a major role in most of 02, so when she was given a larger part in things, she could be turned into anything they wanted.

Sora was the perfect girl. Yamato was the perfect boy. Together they became a perfect couple. Then a perfect married couple, with two perfect kids, a girl and a boy, and had perfect jobs and a perfect life.

It's sickening, it really is.

Okay, so maybe you think I'm off my rocker (and for the record, I probably am). But come on. Sora in later 02 is nothing like the Sora we used to know. Think about it.

This rant was brought to you by the letters Y, S and lots of coffee.