Kimono Is Traditional: Difference between revisions

In contemporary Japanese settings, kimono is often shorthand for "this character appreciated the traditional [[Good Old Ways]]". Even people who wouldn't normally even think of abandoning the comfort of Western wear, will go out of their way to wear fancy kimono for formal celebrations and events. For more information about kimono, see [[Kimono|the useful notes]]. For specifically kimono-flavoured [[Fan Service]], both sexual and [[Pandering to Thethe Base|not so]], see [[Kimono Fanservice]].

In modern Japan, the skill of dressing up in a kimono and carrying it is largely limited to dancers, geisha and such, and afficinandos. Being able to dress oneself up in a kimono is oh-so-WOW, while yukata-wearing skill is more like a citizen responsibility. Kimonos are also [[Crack Isis Cheaper|not cheap by any means]]. Thus, daily kimono wearer characters have a certain aura of elite in the Japanese mind.

Note that simply wearing yukata does not qualify a character to be [[Kimono Is Traditional|'''Traditional In Kimono]] -- it'''—it's considered a different type of garment altogether in Japan, and has different connotations. Similarly on the opposite end, wearing an ''uchikake'', i.e. a loose, unfastened outer kimono on top of the normal kimono, in normal conditions (outside weddings) [[Up to Eleven|multiplies all the traditionalness, class, and wealth indications]] the kimono itself gives to a character.

{{examples|Examples}}

* In ''[[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|Azumanga Daioh]]'', of the six students and two teachers, only Sakaki and eleven-year-old Chiyo knew how to put on a kimono, and had to teach the rest. Kagura's parents bought her one for the occasion.

* Saotome Nodoka in '' [[Ranma One Half½]]'' almost always wears a kimono, and is a walking parody of the [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] archetype.

** Kyouko from ''[[Maison Ikkoku]]'': [http://digilander.libero.it/bertimaurizio/MI/anime/MI96-02.jpg wedding kimono]. Akane from ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma ½]]'': [http://members.fortunecity.es/lamia/imagenes/ranma-akane.jpg western wedding dress]{{Dead link}}. Three guesses which one is the [[Cute Bruiser]] and which one is the [[Yamato Nadeshiko]].

** However, Akane is forced into [http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/037/001/008/ a wedding kimono] earlier on in the arc. It's not until later that she willingly dons a western wedding dress.  Perhaps it's symbolic of her character?

* Ryougi Shiki from ''[[Kara no Kyoukai:]]'' wears nothing but kimono, except for a red leather jacket over it.

* The kimono is standard garb for Nozomu Itoshiki, the despairing teacher in [[Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei-sensei]]. Also for his stalker, Matoi Tsunetsuki, since she always dresses like her current love.

* Tsuruya in [[Kyon Big Damn Hero (Fanfic)|Kyon: Big Damn Hero]] wears a kimono out of school nearly all the time for this reason.

* In [[Xenosaga (Video Game)|Xenosaga]] Episode II, Jin Uzuki wears kimono in a world thousands of years removed from Japan's ''existence'' on a [[Earth -That -Was|destroyed Earth]]. He is not merely a [[Fan of the Past]], but holds to a very old-fashioned [[Good Is Old -Fashioned|sense of propriety]], and is a practitioner, to [[Charles Atlas Superpower]] levels, of traditional martial arts.

* In the ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue (Video Game)|Pokémon Red and Blue]]'' games, Gym Leader Erika always wears a traditional kimono. Four generations later, she remains the gentlest and most polite of all female Gym Leaders. She runs a perfume shop as her day job and tends to flowers as her hobby.

** There is also a quintet known as the Kimono Girls. These are the only characters in [[Pokémon Gold and Silver (Video Game)|the games from which they originate]] to keep their Japanese names (though mixed up among them). Their role is to perform an old ritual to bring Ho-oh to the top of Ecruteak City's Bell Tower. Note that the entire Johto region, where they live, has a strong feudal Japanese look, with old-fashioned wooden houses and paper doors, temples with guardian monks, and a culture deeply reverent of tradition.

* In ''[[Tsunami Channel]]'', Haruna is presented as a very traditional girl from an extremely wealthy and traditional family, having been groomed like a [[Yamato Nadeshiko|samurai wife]] ([[Blade Onon a Stick|naginata]] wielding and all), so she naturally wears kimono all the time.