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Name: Anri Sonohara
Fandom: Durarara!!
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Time Period: Post anime-series.
Wing Color: Tea rose
History: Anri Sonohara did not have a happy childhood; her father was physically abusive and would hit (and in one case, attempt to strangle) her mother and her. All that, however, came to an end after Anri’s mother was possessed by the ethereal sword Saika (who was supposed to “love humans”), and Anri watched as her mother cut down her father before slitting her own neck. She then took ownership of Saika.
An extra element of instability in her past was also introduced in the form of Mika Harima. To others, Anri and Mika were supposedly best friends, although in reality, this was very far from the truth. Anri in fact, served merely as Mika’s foil to make her look superior. In exchange, Mika allowed Anri to rely (or in Anri's own terms, "leech") on her and provided protection against bullies and the sort. This unhealthy relationship was supposed to continue all the way till they entered high school (for Mika a made it a point to choose Raira Academy where Anri was heading to), but due to an unexpected jilting of sorts from Seiji Yagiri (Mika’s current stalkee), Mika failed to attend school for the first three days. Due to this, Anri became friends with Mikado Ryugamine and Masaomi Kida.
Fast forward to the end of her first year at Raira Academy, there was an upsurge in the number of Slasher cases in Ikebukuro where victims were slashed- never to the death, but serious enough to warrant hospital treatment. This was inevitably traced back to another Saika- this time a daughter blade of the original Saika that Anri had (Saika’s abilities are further expounded in the Strengths section). Anri was able to stop this rash of slashings by possessing the owner of that other Saika with her own original Saika.
Things should have returned to normal for her then, but it didn't. Mikado and Masaomi, unbeknownst to her, were head of Dollars and the Yellow Scarves (two very influential gangs/groups in Ikebukuro). Both wanted information on the Slasher after hearing that Anri had been injured by this Slasher. However, due to several unfortunate events (such as the time when Anri was almost caught by the Yellow Scarves when she was spying on them, only to be rescued in front of the Yellow Scarves by Celty who was the Headless Rider and a recognisable member of Dollars), this escalated into a full-fledged gang war between the two groups. The three of them managed to put a stop to this fight before too many casualties were suffered, however.
Personality:
"A friend is a second self."
-Aristotle
The above quote is listed as Anri’s favourite saying (source: Character profiles from DVDs), and is in fact integral to how she views herself. Anri’s entire personality, her entire life is based around obtaining validation from people around her; it is why she wields Saika, it is why she puts up with an agonisingly dependent friendship with Mika Harima. She’s well aware that having such a handicap isn’t healthy and will openly admit so (see: Her confession to Mikado and Kida), but also admits that it has become such an integral part of her life that she cannot live without it. Take for example when the Saika incidents have finally been resolved: Anri is still heavily dependent on the Saika voices in her to keep her grounded, to keep her sane…or at least help her maintain that ‘normal’ façade expected of today’s society. She regards the whole matter with a self-deprecating sense of humour-- she sees nothing wrong with it as long as she doesn’t harm anyone, after all.
However, when someone shows any dislike towards her (indeed, as opposed to the “love” that she is so hungry for), Anri’s immediate self-mechanism is to disassociate herself completely from the scene. She usually isn't a person who argues back or stands up for herself-- in fact, most of the time, she’ll remain silent no matter what you throw at her. Chances are that she agrees with the insults/advice being thrown at her too (e.g. when she was being bullied, she was called a parasite. Her inward response was to think, “Ah, maybe they’re right…”). This ties back to her own validation issues since she tends to think that if someone says things about her, it’s probably the truth. The only exception for this would be when her life is under a direct threat, although it's hard to imply what a "direct threat" constitutes of at times. In canon, she's shown to refuse to react against a man who'd wanted to stab her, choosing instead to see things in the "picture frame view" that she's so fond of. However, she snaps out of this when threatened by Haruna, thinking instead "How do I get out of here...?". She's able to discern what she really wants.
One thing's for certain, though: Anri is not always a fatalist. It's true that she had fatalistic beliefs at the beginning of the series, but this has been shown to fade once she gains control over the rest of the Saika children. Does she still adopt a "wait and see" attitude? For most things, yes-- she isn't a go-getter and will probably wait on others for most things, but if things seem distressing for her friends, she will not hesitate to use everything within her abilities (especially Saika children and Saika itself) to change it. Mind you, this only applies for her friends and not herself.
Which leads to the question of how Anri perceives friendship. She is, by nature, a very private person, preferring to have one (or a few) friends than to be part of a crowd. Most of her time outside school hours in the anime is spent with Mikado and Masaomi although she doesn’t actually speak very much (in fact, most the lines during those scenes are from the two boys). We never do see her socialise with her classmates; the only times when she actually addresses anyone else from her class would be when it involves her duties as a class representative. Friendship, in short, is more of a passive involvement for her; it is the presence that counts more than actual involvement. She is quite satisfied merely listening to the chatter of others- after all, Anri isn’t much of a talker. Unfortunately, this characteristic silence is usually interpreted as apathy and/or complacence, but this is in reality, far from the truth. Whilst it may be true that she does have that desire to be validated (as aforementioned), it however, does not stop her from harbouring dissenting opinions. She usually does not express these opinions out loud, save for one exception: She never hesitates to correct anyone who is of the opinion that it is easy for her to live a life of dependency (i.e like a parasite/leech). It is, after all, the principle that governs her very existence, and to deny that would be to deny herself.
In most cases, however, Anri prefers to remain more of an outside observer than get involved in things. She’s polite and pleasant, though mostly distant and it does take a while for her to warm up to others. One could say that her emotional development has been stunted- for in fact, it is immensely difficult for her to draw that distinction between “love” (not necessarily in the romantic sense) and “friendship”. It is, however, this unfortunate inability to discern between the two that leads her to be picky (and by extension, objective) about those whom she interacts with; she refuses to owe anyone any favours. Take for example, the Nasujima issue: Although she was well aware that his advances were considered as sexual harassment (and she saw nothing wrong with telling him that to his face after she rescues him), she nevertheless tolerated it until she discovered a way to return the favour that he had made for her by putting her and Mika in the same class.
Strengths: Anri stores the ethereal sword ‘Saika’ in her body. She can pull it out from just anywhere (e.g. she blocks Haruna’s own Saika with a concealed Saika underneath her blazer sleeve without cutting through the cloth) and has been proven to be quite familiar with using it. Saika’s special nature allows it one special capability: A victim pierced by Saika will be turned into a ‘child of Saika’; Anri is able to command these children of Saika when she taps into Saika’s powers. These commands can range anywhere from memory modification to direct commands such as “Slash this person”. It's hard to describe what Saika is-- it's not exactly inanimate since each person who touches it will be able to hear the cacophony of voices inside it, but for anyone who doesn't come into physical contact with it, it will look like a normal sword. It's also extremely sharp, and has been shown to be able to cut through metal doors-- giving the impression that it gives her higher-than-average strength. The strength, however, wouldn't be comparable to the likes of say, Superman.
For the record, I will, of course, be setting up a permissions post for Saika.
Aside from Saika, Anri is a pretty normal girl. She can be surprisingly athletic (she far outlasts Mikado in running and her favourite subject is apparently P.E.), but that’s about it. She does pretty well in class (Masaomi has described her as an "honour student" once) and is rather independent as she's used to living alone.
Weaknesses: Perhaps the greatest of Anri's weaknesses is her stunted emotional condition. Friendship is a relatively alien notion to her (prior to her friendship with Masaomi, and Mikado you could basically decide her friends into two groups: The ones she leeched off from and acquaintances. Most people would belong in category B) and she struggles with the notion of prioritising someone over her need for validation, and more importantly, her need for Saika. In fact, it's stated in the novels (translated by anni_fiesta):
"Rather, Sonohara Anri feared that she would continue to use Saika to gain control over the ones she loved as she kept listening to the curses inside her body."
Her friendship with Mikado and Masaomi are important, but to her, her own parasitic nature is far more important. At least, at this point in time.
She's aware of how strange this kind of attitude is considered by society at large, and she strives to hide this; for this reason, Anri gives off the impression of being aloof. And she is aloof, because she's terrifyingly objective about most things. She lets herself be sexually harassed by Nasujima just to return a favour, and in the past has even asked bullies who were ganging up on Mika and wanted her to join in, "What good would that be for me?". As selfish as that sounds at first glance, it is nevertheless insight into how she thinks-- unless there is a reason that can appeal to her and her sense of dependency, she won't take it. Basically, she's aware of what society perceives as the "norm" and realises that she deviates from it and...basically embraces her situation.
Also, for all the pomp and splendour of Saika's powers, its usefulness is nevertheless limited by its wielder's own prowess and Anri's no skilled swordsman. Her movements are amateurish even if she has good aim and her success in cutting something (or someone) largely depends on the element of surprise. This is painfully clear when she goes head-to-head with Izaya-- he is able to hold her off with a switchblade and his parkour skills. Does she have talent? Perhaps; it's hard to tell when her talent begins and where Saika's influence ends, after all. But if she does, it's mostly untapped and will probably remain so as she has no urge to find out what the extent of her powers are just yet.