Fragile Flower: Difference between revisions

Ah, Alice. She's beautiful, but she always looks really sad. On the inside she's really just one insult away from bursting into tears.

 

 

There may be a few reasons for a fragile flower's behavior. They might just be super sensitive by nature. There might have been something in their past such as emotional abuse from peers that caused them to be this way. Most characters who know the fragile flower are careful not to upset them when talking. Other more [[Jerkass]] characters will most likely try to make them cry, in which case the fragile flower may eventually force themselves to become desensitized towards insults. Most often female, though it can be a male in order to be [[Played for Laughs]].

 

Compare [[The Ingenue]] and [[Shrinking Violet]].

 

* Mikuru in ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi|The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' takes this to satirical lengths.

* Nazuna in ''[[Hidamari Sketch]]''. She has a heck lack of confidence.

{{quote|'''Abe''': And stop sniveling, it looks like I'm bullying you.}}

* Princess Shirahoshi from ''[[One Piece]]'' doesn't just ''look'' like she would burst into tears from something trivial like being awakened from a nap—she actually does. She has an excuse though, having watched her mother die and then forced to spend 10 years locked up in a tower due to death threats in the form of giant flying axes that can home in on her. She gets a little better after making some friends, though.

** Meanwhile, Lua Klein could be considered a subversion. She ''looks'' a lot like this type of character, but is in reality a completely-insane, borderline [[Emotionless Girl|emotionless]] masochist.

* Shuuichi Nitori from ''[[Wandering Son]]''. He used to cry a lot, but has gotten over that. Nowadays he mopes and lets things go to his head.

* Hinako from ''[[Bitter Virgin]]''. [[Parental Incest|With]] [[Teen Pregnancy|good]] [[The Woobie|reason.]]

* Yayoi in ''[[Smile Pretty Cure]]'' is described in the first episode as a crybaby whose tears start flowing with even the smallest nudge. She's also seen crying when she uses her Cure powers during the opening.

 

 

* ''[[The Closer]]'': Despite being a tough [[Action Girl]], our heroine is always one blink away from tearing up.

* Tess in [[The BBC]]'s 2008 adaptation of ''[[Tess of the D'Urbervilles]]'', as played by Gemma Arterton.

* A [[Take Our Word for It]] male example in ''[[Wings (TV series)|Wings]]'', when Helen dates a man who cries when she mentions her dead dog; she becomes disillusioned when she realizes he cries at everything. "We went to a Marx Brothers film and he was crying because Harpo couldn't talk."

 

* Mélisande in Maurice Maeterlinck's play ''Pelléas and Mélisande''.

* [[Hamlet]] in Shakespeare's play has been played this way, in a production starring Kevin Kline in the title role. While no one can fault Kline's talent as an actor, both the number of times he bursts into tears during the production and his reputation as a comic actor makes it unintentionally comic (at least to this viewer).

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Yoriko in ''[[Da Capo]]'' at first has great trouble interacting with people and, of course, always seems close to tears. Oddly enough, having ''rocks'' thrown at her apparently didn't bother her in the slightest.

* Hanako Ikezawa from [[Katawa Shoujo]]. Having burn scars that cover the entire right half of your body will do that to you. {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|Or not.]] Treating her like one ends ''very badly''}}

* According to one of his less-effectual titles in ''[[Yggdra Unison]]'', Nessiah—despite his status as the local [[Magnificent Bastard]]—cries very easily when hurt or frustrated. If the player's performance is substandard, this happens often enough that his enemies start to mock him for being childish, and his subordinates have to devote a lot of time to taking care of him. As Nessiah's social skills are strange at best, he never really becomes cognizant of the burden he's putting on them.

* Evanine in the ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' mod Tales of Arterra.

 

* Hanami in ''[[Tasakeru]]'', as part of her general [[Flower Motifs|flower motif]], can be overly sensitive at times.

 

* Amy Wong and Dr. Zoidberg in ''[[Futurama]]'' temporarily turn into Fragile Flowers in a [[Played for Laughs|one-shot joke]]:

{{quote|'''Bender:''' Man, I guess it's harder than I thought to make someone cry.

''(Zoidberg runs away crying)''

'''Bender:''' That is a good idea. I'll go call her. }}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Double Standard]]

[[Category:Sadness Tropes]]