❖ CHARACTER STUDY: SHIKI RYOUGI
Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is she heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Around average height, on the thin side but not skinny, fit but not visibly muscular.
2. How old is she?
Fifteen-years-old at the beginning of Murder Study (Part I), eighteen-years-old by Overlooking View, turns nineteen by Paradox Spiral.
3. Describe her posture. Does she carry herself well or does she slouch?
Pre-coma, she has very formal posture what with being a classy, dignified ~*ojou-sama*~ and all that. After the coma, her posture relaxes into something more casual but she's still a bit stiff. She'll slouch, but not too often, and there's still something very dignified in the way she carries herself.
4. How is her health? Is she fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Physically she's more than just fit, she's practically inhuman. Thanks for all the training and self-suggestion Papa Ryougi... but anyways, the Ryougis have the ability of manifesting a second personality within themselves. It's not correct to call them split personalities as they are, in a way, still the same person, just with different priorities--they're called United Independent Personalities in canon. The amount of stress having a second personality can be incredible though, and more often than not, family members who had a second personality went insane. Arguably, Shiki did not.
5. How does she move? Is she clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
The way she walks is very direct, never even the slightest amount of hesitation. When she comes up against an exciting opponent though, she sways while she walks; she can't contain her excitement. Her movements are tense while also being fluid, and she's most especially graceful in battle.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does she perceive herself in the mirror?
She's described as both beautiful and handsome in canon; it's safe to say that she's quite the looker. As for how she perceives herself, she just doesn't give two fucks about her appearance. She even gives herself a haircut because her long hair was in her way.
7. Describe her complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
A little paler than most, but not to a sickly-extent.
8. Describe her hair: color, texture, style.
Dark brown, thick, kept short and a bit past her chin with bangs just above her eyes. It looks a bit messy due to the fact she cuts her hair herself, but you can tell she takes care of it. Hair is a woman's pride after all...
9. What color are her eyes?
Bordering around some kind of brown-gray shade; it's brown in official art and the movies, gray in MBAA. When the MEoDP are active, they're blue with a magenta iris.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
The kimono kind of hides it, but she definitely has a feminine figure.
11. What are her chief tension centers?
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does she have six of the same suit?
Kimono + red leather jacket, this is her wardrobe. :|b But anyways, she has kimonos in various colors, though the most common one seems to be a blue yukata. In the novels her kimonos have various patterns on them, but as for the movies they're just solid colors for the most part. She doesn't care much for variety; seriously, she has a million red leather jackets... On the other hand though, she sleeps in a plain white dress shirt.
13. Do her clothes fit well? Does she seem comfortable in them?
They kimonos are all probably tailor-made from some personal tailor who works for the Ryougi family, so they definitely fit well. She's comfortable in them, and she doesn't care enough to try new styles of clothing.
14. Does she dress the same on the job as she does in her free time? If not, what are the differences?
Yeeep. The only difference is that she doesn't wear her jacket if it's too hot or she's at home.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Panties. :|b
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
MAAYA SAKAMOTO YOUR VOICE RANGE WHY. Anyways, Shiki's voice is on the lower side of pitches and a bit rough, but she does that intentionally to make up for the fact that SHIKI is dead. Pre-coma, her pitch was quite a bit higher and most notably more feminine. However, pre-coma!Shiki doesn't compare to Void!Shiki's voice which is so most feminine and soft that it's scary to hear it coming from Shiki's mouth...
2. How does she normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does she talk easily, or does she hesitate?
She talks at her own pace, i.e. evenly and not particularly fast or slow. She's definitely not quiet, but she's not obnoxiously loud either. Keeping with the "casual, laid back, lazy" kind of image, she doesn't hesitate and talks freely.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
Pre-coma she used keigo which is a very formal, somewhat old-fashioned way of speech. After the coma, she switches from the gender-neutral (though usually used by girls) "watashi" pronoun to the masculine, rough, even somewhat rude "ore" pronoun.
4. What language/s does she speak, and with how much fluency?
Fluent Japanese, all high schools in Japan teach English, but not well enough for anyone to become fluent from just that. :|
5. Does she switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
The only notable "switch" she does is how she refers to Mikiya Kokutou--when she's in a relatively good mood she uses his first name, but for the most part she uses his last name (up until the end of the series).
6. Is she a good impromptu speaker, or does she have to think about her words?
She doesn't care enough to think about her words, but she's not what you'd call an inspiring speaker. Her internal monologues are a bit different though. (eyeroll)
7. Is she eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
Neither--she just says what she says and doesn't give two fucks about how she sounds.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is she book-smart or street-smart?
Shiki is actually really smart; she's just too lazy to really put her brain to use. I'd say she's both book-smart and street-smart. Again though, the former wouldn't really be obvious since she's so lazy.
2. Does she think on her feet, or does she need time to deliberate?
She thinks on her feet for the most part, such as when she's fighting and whatnot. She spends the longest time debating whether or not to kill Lio Shirazumi though.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is she more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
Intuitive as, again, she doesn't bother to really think things through, but heavily on the practical side. As idealistic as she wishes she was, she gives up on ever reaching her "dream".
4. What kind of education has the character had?
Probably had private tutors when she was younger, the high school she attended was noted for having most of its graduates go onto college.
5. What are her areas of expertise? What, if anything, is she interested in learning more about?
Her area of expertise would be murder. (MURDER STUDY? GET IT? HAR HAR HAR.) Aside from that horrible joke though, she's extremely adept in martial arts, knife-wielding, and of course sword-wielding. She's not particularly interested in learning about anything though, not even other methods of combat.
6. Is she an introvert or an extrovert?
SO INTROVERTED IT HURTS. Literally. Her definition of killing used to be getting rid of whatever tried to get her to open up, and seeing as how SHIKI was a talkative guy, well...
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is she even-tempered or does she have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
Even-tempered and laid-back because--GUESS. YEP, THAT'S RIGHT, SHE DOESN'T GIVE A FUCK. It's kind of hard to get her really worked up about something, and she spends a lot of her time thinking and being melancholic. Safe to say, you won't be riling her up much.
8. How does she respond to new people or situations? Is she suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
Unless there's the prospect of killing something, her default reaction to almost everything is being apathetic. She just doesn't care enough about things to give a proper reaction, so she comes off as relaxed and easy-going.
9. Is she more likely to act, or to react?
Act: she doesn't sit around waiting for fights to happen, she goes out looking for them.
10. Which is her default: fight or flight?
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. Even regarding internal and personal matters, she spends the whole series trying to find herself rather than run away from her problems.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does she appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
She enjoys poking fun at others and making somewhat silly/ridiculous statements while being deadpan. It gets a good reaction out of people.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does she deal with them?
She had a second personality in a family where having a second personality often gets you into an asylum. She dealt with SHIKI by having him "die" repeatedly so that she couldn't get hurt. Fuck you Nasu and your personality bullshit that makes no sense.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined her as a person?
- meeting Mikiya Kokutou
- deciding not to kill Mikiya Kokutou
- deciding to kill the zombie rather than let it kill her
- deciding not to kill Fujino Asagami
- being thrown into Akasha
- deciding to kill Lio Shirazumi
14. What does she fear?
Up until Oblivion Recording, she doesn't really remember what she fears. Once Satsuki Kurogiri brings back her memory though, it's losing her "dream" i.e. Mikiya.
15. What are her hopes or aspirations?
Her hopes and aspirations are things she considers to be completely impossible. That is, she wants to live a normal life with Mikiya. She knows that she is on the "other side" what with her unnatural eyes and having had a strange second personality, all things that are abnormal and don't fit with regular society. Mikiya, on the other hand, is as normal and average as you can get. For the longest time she thinks that being with him is just a dream she'll never have.
16. What is something she doesn't want anyone to find out about her?
That she actually enjoys strawberry ice cream...
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with her parents.
Her relationship with her parents isn't a particularly close one; she trained with her father but that was as the heir to the Ryougi clan, not out of family bonding. Her mother isn't someone she's close with either. During her time in a coma, none of her family regularly visited her, and the only time we even see her mother is once she wakes up. After the coma especially, Shiki distances herself from her family. While she recognizes that she is the person in her memories, she feels a dissociation with them; it doesn't feel like that's actually her. As such, the people in her memories, family included, all feel like strangers to her.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
Shiki has one older brother, and again, she's not particularly close to him. Before she was chosen as the heir they were probably pretty close, but after that things went downhill. As the eldest male he more than likely saw himself as the rightful heir, and to be honest Shiki does too; she doesn't give a damn about being the heir. It's tradition for members with second personalities to be chosen though, and thus Shiki was selected over her brother. She might have felt bad about it at first and missed her older brother, but after a while she just stopped caring.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom she is close? Are there ones she can't stand?
She isn't close with any member of her family, but she did have a very close moment with her grandfather right as he passed away. He was the one who told her that a person can only kill someone once in their lifetime, and whether it was conscious or not, she stuck to those words.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom she considers part of her family? What are her relationships with them?
Mikiya Kokutou is the love of her life okok. And by extension, she sees his little sister Azaka as something like a little sister too. She doesn't consider Touko to be a part of her family so to speak, but Touko is more or less the Cool Big Sis trope personified so why not.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Azaka Kokutou. They met for the first time when Shiki and Mikiya were in their freshman year of high school, but Azaka technically met SHIKI then.
6. Does she have other close friends?
She actually developed a close bond with Tomoe Enjou, so close that he actually fell in love with her. Aside from him though, there's not really anyone else she shares a particularly strong bond with.
7. Does she make friends easily, or does she have trouble getting along with people?
It's not exactly that she has trouble getting along with people, it's just that she doesn't care to try. Her personality would probably be a turn off for most people.
8. Which does she consider more important: family or friends?
Friends. She really doesn't care about her family at all.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has she been married more than once?
Single, though she gets married to Kokutou sometime after the series ends. And LOL NO.
10. Is she currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
LMAO NOPE.
11. Who was her first crush? Who is her latest?
Mikiya Kokutou. Mikiya Kokutou. :|
12. What does she look for in a romantic partner?
She doesn't look for anything because the only person she loves like that is Mikiya!!
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does she relate to them? If no, does she want any?
She eventually has a daughter, Mana. Their relationship isn't explored in Gospel in the Future very much, but they're most likely very close if Mana knows about SHIKI. Mana does say that she wants to "beat" her mother though so she can spend more time with "papa".
14. Does she have any rivals or enemies?
Her rival ~*in love*~ would be Azaka derp. Fujino Asagami, Kirie Fujyou, and Lio Shirazumi were all handpicked enemies from Souren Araya for Shiki. And of course, Araya is an enemy himself.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does she fall on the Kinsey scale?
She's Mikiyasexual, the end.
16. How does she feel about sex? How important is it to her?
Premarital sex is absolutely disgusting to her; she's very conservative in that sense. By that train of thought, it must be pretty important to her if she only thinks it's okay to have if you're married.
17. What are her turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
... she's a bloodlusting knife nut, I don't want to think about what her bedroom habits would be. (unsure)
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does she fit type?
Her birthday (most likely) being October 3, 1980 would make her a Monkey and a Libra. People born in the year of the monkey tend to be "clever, skillful, and flexible" and "can solve the most difficult problems with ease" which certainly fits her. However, she is not at all agreeable and would not really start anything on her own out of apathy and/or laziness. She doesn't really care about learning new things either; her memory is pretty good though, even if she is missing a few because of the coma. Regarding being a Libra, Shiki is arguably on the masculine side, but she's not at all an extrovert. She's charming in her own way, though more graceful than elegant really. She probably would be willing to play devil's advocate, but that's more of Touko's thing to be honest. Libra is represented by a scale, but the whole series is more or less about Shiki trying to find balance within herself. It's true that does seem to have an innate understanding of human emotions, but she also loves battle and actively seeks conflict. Also, she doesn't give a damn about art. Basically, the Monkey and the Libra both fit her in some parts, they're also definitely not completely accurate about her.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in her life?
Religion is not important to her at all; she states that if one exists, she could kill a God after all. She's not spiritual either. Really, she has enough to think about with herself.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
THIS IS GOING TO BE REALLY FUCKING LONG, I'LL GET BACK TO IT
4. How does she regard beliefs that differ from hers? Is she tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
She tolerates different beliefs more or less. It's hard to tell if she has any actual opinion on things like being being gay/bisexual, but at the very least she doesn't ostracize anyone for it. Even if she thinks premarital sex and drugs are disgusting, she doesn't go out of her way to stop people from doing them either. It's just that she won't think very much of you if you do those.
5. What prejudices does she hold? Are they irrational or does she have a good reason for them?
PREMARITAL SEX IS DISGUSTING, SO IS DOING DRUGS. They're not particularly irrational or understandable; she's just pretty conservative when it comes to certain things.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is she rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Her family owns a gigantic Japanese style house surrounded by bamboo groves. SHE'S RICH, BITCH.
2. What is her social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected her?
Upper class, but from the way she lives in tiny apartment that has almost nothing you'd think lower-middle class. She chose to live like that though as to get away from her family. Her apartment is bare because she doesn't have anything she'd care to fill it up with.
3. Where does she live? House, apartment, trailer? Is her home her castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does she share it with others?
Apartment. It's one of the places she relaxes best in, and it's a bit messy as she has a tendency to just let her clothes lie around. She doesn't share it with anyone except for when Tomoe was there and when she asks Mikiya to spend the night.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does she spend her money on?
Strawberry ice cream...
5. What does she do for a living? Is she good at it? Does she enjoy it, or would she rather be doing something else?
She hunts down supernatural beings for a living. You can bet that she's damn good at it, and that she enjoys every second of it.
6. What are her interests or hobbies? How does she spend her free time?
Not being interested in anything = no hobbies. She spends her free time taking walks around the city at night or just... rolling around her bed...
7. What are her eating habits? Does she skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
The only thing her fridge is filled with is water and strawberry ice cream. She certainly does eat other food, but it's never really shown haha... in any case though, she probably doesn't bother to eat full meals everyday and skips around a lot. She doesn't care of alcohol.
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is her favorite:
1. Color? red, white
2. Smell?
3. Time of day? evening
4. Season? spring
5. Book?
6. Music? the Kara no Kyoukai OST...? \(unsure)/ aside from that though, traditional music played on native instruments like the koto or shamisen
7. Place? a snow-covered road overlooking a city filled with lights
8. Substance? Haagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream
9. Plant? cherry blossom
10. Animal? cat
END
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