Half-Masked

This next article is a double-header: Yomi and Tomo.

Actually, you know what? That pretty much sums it up for these two. That’s all you need to know.

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~A.H.

EDIT: Psyche! You didn’t think I’d give you an article that wasn’t long and boring as hell, did you?

THINK AGAIN, DOUCHE-FAGS! =D

The closest we will ever get to a "Penny Arcade: The Animated Series"

Yomi and Tomo. One is quiet, thoughtful, and sensible. The other is loud, and REALLY SUPER ULTRA EXTREMELY TURBO SUGOII HD ENERGETIC AND COMPETITIVE. Guess which one gets the gang into various -wacky- predicaments, and which one tries to maintain control of the sanity of the show. If you’ve watched television at any time in the last 50 years, this should be a no-brainer.

See, Tomo's the messy one...

As main characters, they’d be pretty typical sitcom characters whose supply of fresh material and comic situations would dry up pretty fast. But as side-characters, the show’s writers are forced to squeeze the concept down to its basic components, and they’re only given just enough time to make them seem more interesting than they are.

The conflicts in Gaza have a better negotiation process than these two

Some of the best shows are the ones whose casts are comprised almost entirely of people and characters who could be main-characters from otherwise unremarkable shows. Monty Python, for example. It doesn’t hinge its success on a single aspect, like today’s sitcoms do. It’s not one of those “Look! It’s a show with Kelsey Grammer! And he has a petting zoo or something! THAT IS SO ZANY YOU GUYS“ shows. It focuses what each of the performers/writers do best into short bursts, so we don’t tire of their antics as fast as we would if we only had one or two to work with. An hour of nothing but Eric Idle can be hit-or-miss, but he always shines when you throw in John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Basically, you’ve got the comedic equivalent of Voltron. Several independant parts combining to form something magnificent, something that wouldn’t be possible with just any one piece of the puzzle alone.

Azumanga Daioh knows this. Any of its characters would be the best character in a drab program. But because they’re all here, we’re treated to an entire series of only the choice highlights. I like Yomi and Tomo, but I like them more because they’re not the main focus(not that Tomo doesnt’ try).

Yomi didn’t seem very interesting to me at first, but the more of this show I watch, the more dimensions to her are unearthed. She’s the straight-man of this group, the comic-foil to her loud, obnoxious friend Tomo, and she even helps correct Osaka’s dream-like misconceptions and odd questions. Yomi is also the first person to befriend Chiyo, which sets off a chain of events leading to six young women forming unorthodox but lasting friendships. She does her best to steer her friends in a reasonable direction. But this isn’t a conscious decision she’s made. Rather, it’s a by-product of her long-term friendship with a crazy person.

She's not musically talented either, although this picture is funnier out of context.

When she tries bragging about a trip to Hokkaido to her other friends(not to rub it in, but to share a pleasant experience she had with her friends), Tomo spends the rest of that day(maybe even week) trying to humiliate her. She’s upset that she didn’t get to go on that trip with Yomi, but she never explicitly says this, so her friends just think she’s gone off the deep end.

Pictured: A valid reaction.

Some elaboration: throughout the series, the two are almost always in the same place. For better or worse, they’re usually inseperable. Tomo seems to enjoy this arrangement more than Yomi, who only seems to flourish in the comfort of privacy, or with a change of venue. Tomo relies on her immediate company so much that she finds it insulting that Yomi had some brief adventures in Hokkaido without her. And because of her rowdiness and put-downs, Yomi feels obligated to keep stories of personal enjoyment to herself from that point on. She’s practically forced into living a certain way because of how her oldest friend makes her feel.

Can you feel the love tonight?

She comes off as straight-faced, responsible, mature, “together”, etc. But we see an eagerness and excitement bubbling on the surface when they make plans to visit an amusement park. She buys an information booklet on the park, and all of its rides, and spends most of the night before the trip excitedly going over in her head which rides to go on. She has to take into account the wait during the lines, as years of being in the same environment with Tomo has given her first-hand knowledge that her frienemy does not have a deep well of patience to draw from. Think of what kind of person she would be if Tomo would just shut up and let her be happy for once.

I also notice she has an eating disorder. Don’t think I’m jumping to conclusions. This woman is far too concerned about her weight(probably due to Tomo constantly making fun of her for being “fat”).

Look at those jellyrolls! JELLYROLLS!

When you look that good and still think you need to lose weight, you have an unhealthy image of yourself.

On Tomo, you may have noticed the heavy amount of screengrabs in this post. There’s certainly no shortage of visual examples to choose from, but it’s hard conveying what makes this character so humorous with still frames alone. You really have to see her in action. The voice perfectly compliments her animation as well, accentuating and underlining her unknowingly destructive nature.

It’s pretty clear that Tomo does care about Yomi, and Chiyo and Osaka and so on and so forth. But I think she doesn’t know how to show it. And if Yomi didn’t think of Tomo as her friend(begrudgingly, of course), she would have ended the friendship a long time ago. We don’t always get to choose who our friends are, even the ones that piss us off and make life more of a challenge than it already is.

That said, I am finding it harder and harder to forgive Tomo’s outspoken bitchiness…

VICTOLY!

And yet, I can’t imagine the show without her. Yes, she’s a noisy, selfish r-tard, but it’s not an accident. They didn’t try to make her loveable and sweet. She’s a necessary “evil” for the show(”flawed good” just doesn’t have the same ring to it I suppose). A lot of the humorous events in these characters’ lives happen as a result of her. She tends to purposely say and do precisely what should not be said and done to avoid embarrassing or disastrous results, because she knows it will annoy those around her, and(usually) entertain us. It’s what I like to refer to as “Brian Clevinger Syndrome”. And when this lifestyle comes around and bites her in the ass, Yomi is always the first person to say: “Well, ’serves you right, you stupid cunt.”… Although with a little more grace than that, of course. This is family programming after all.

And she means well… sometimes… If I had to guess why she tries WAY TOO HARD at everything, to the point of sabotaging her friends’ safety and patience for her, maybe it’s all that keeps her unique from everybody else in the show. Maybe she’s aware of this, and maybe just being another face in the crowd to fade from history is a frightening concept to her.

Or maybe she’s just an immature, loudmouthed brat. Not all of these characters necessitate deep psychological examination, so here’s some more cute screengrabs:

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~A.H.