Anita King (R.O.D)

Infobox animanga character
name = Anita King
series = R.O.D


caption = Anita in her battle uniform
first = Read or Dream
last = R.O.D the TV
creator =
voiced by = Chiwa Saito (Japanese)
Rachel Hirschfeld (TV, English)
nickname =
alias = Chibikko, brat
age = 12 (manga) 13 (ROD the TV)
gender = female
born =
death =
occupation = Detective; student; bodyguard to Nenene Sumiregawa (R.O.D the TV only)
title =
relatives = Michelle Cheung (older sister), Maggie Mui (older sister)

nihongo|Anita King|アニタ・キング|Anita Kingu is in the "R.O.D" series of manga and anime created by Hideyuki Kurata. She is a papermaster and one of the "Paper Sisters," the trio of heroines in "Read or Dream" and "R.O.D the TV".

Character Background

Anita is a 13-year-old girl, adopted by her "sisters" Michelle Cheung and Maggie Mui and, despite her young age, works with them as an equal partner in the Paper Sisters Detective Company of Hong Kong. Anita's backhistory in "Dream" and "the TV" are different, although her general behavior, motives, and abilities remain the same.

Read or Dream

In vol. 4, a flashback story reveals that an amnesiac Anita was "assigned" to Maggie and Michelle to "look after her." Anita was initially sullen around the girls, resentful of their love of books when she professed to hate them. However, she came to accept them, gradually spending more time with them. When her "older sisters" gave her a book entitled "The Story of a Giraffe with a Shrunken Neck"--a book that Michelle and Maggie both loved--Anita read it, and her paper mastery awakened.

Dokusensha immediately arrived on the scene to take Anita away, explaining that she was genetically engineered to have all the power of a papermaster with none of their faults (such as extreme bibliomania). They congratulated Maggie and Michelle for their success, but told them their services would no longer be required, and gave each of them a blank check as payment. Dokusensha took Anita back to their headquarters and constrain her. Maggie and Michelle invaded the complex and showed the Dokusensha project manager that they have filled in the payment they want on their checks: "Anita." Michelle recounts the story of the "Giraffe with a Shrunken Neck" and Anita's abilities once again awaken, terrorizing the Dokusensha agents. The three escape, leaving Dokusensha's Hong Kong headquarters destroyed in their wake. They agree to put their abilities to use as local detectives.

R.O.D the TV

Anita initially believed, as retold in episode 10, that she met her sisters in an abandoned church, as she had run away from state care. Cold and starving, Maggie and Michelle took her in, and they carved their initials onto a nearby statue of the Virgin Mary. However, Anita later (episode 23) learns from Joker that she was created by the British Library using the genes of some of their best papermasters. As in "Dream", they wanted to create a papermaster who was not driven by bibliomania. Anita's powers failed to manifest until she needed to defend herself from Yomiko's attack on the British Library. In the confusion caused by the fire, she was kidnapped by Dokusensha.

Dokusensha created other papermasters using the British Library's data. Unfortunately, these users were found to be "psychologically defective," so to maximize their abilities, Dokusensha rewrote their memories to make them believe they lived together in "families." Joker states that the meeting in the church was a false memory implanted into the three papermasters' minds, a "script written by Dokusensha's best writers." However, the series ends by revealing to the audience the Virgin Mary statue exists with their initials on it, suggesting the Christmas meeting did occur after all.

The sisters work together as detectives for two years before they meet Nenene Sumiregawa and become her bodyguards.

Appearance and Personality

Anita is a petite teenage girl, standing at 141 cm (4' 7") tall. British Library records ["Paper Leaf Wood." R.O.D the TV. 2003-12-01. No. 14.] indicate that she has red hair and brown eyes, though animators depict her with bright pink hair and green eyes. Her Paper battle uniform consists of a Chinese-style tunic in maroon and cream, with short culottes underneath; beneath that is a black unitard that possibly provides some light armor protection. She also has hip "holsters" containing stacks of cards she can use in battle.

Anita is a spitfire--outspoken, pragmatic, and full of energy. At her best, she is confident and deeply, deeply loyal; at her worst, she can be "bratty" and self-important, often failing to take others' feelings into account when speaking. She is extremely attached to her sisters, for all that she nags them; when separated from them, her bravado quickly turns to anxiety and despair. She has a great deal of faith in the importance of family and friendship, stating on multiple occasions, "The world is made to help people find each other."

Anita is well liked in her class, and especially admired by classmate named Hisami Hishishii (see below). Anita makes friends with ease even with those hard to get acquainted with, from the stubborn Chihon in "Dream" to the reticent Junior in "the TV."

Unlike most papermasters, she at first as a strong aversion to books and reading (in "the TV" this is related to her traumatic experience in the British Library fire). However, she comes to appreciate the importance of books in her life over time, and by the end of "the TV" she is amassing piles of books to read like her sisters.

Though not as obsessively as her sisters collect books, Anita collects clothes, toys, and trinkets with a frog motif (many of her frogs have an appearance similar to Keroro in Sgt. Frog).

Powers and Skills

Anita is almost supernaturally agile and resilient, especially for a 13-year-old girl, and can make huge leaps and land without serious injury even when falling a couple stories. Anita is a dangerous hand-to-hand opponent who fights with rapid kicks and strikes, capable of disarming and subduing trained soldiers. Unlike most Paper Masters, Anita usually uses her paper abilities serve to enhance her "mundane" martial arts. Anita arms herself with a stack of blank white cards to use as either throwing blades or knives, with which she can slice through steel as though it were butter. Other tactics include using paper chains as climbing ropes, spreading paper over the floor to hear unseen enemies, and entangling targets in large clouds of paper. She has basic paper 'support' abilities, such as summoning paper (telekinesis) and using it to create clothing.

Anita's defensive abilities are much weaker. She requires large amounts of paper (a thick book) to block bullets and piercing weapons, when most papermasters only need a sheet or two. Anita's offensive fighting style also leaves her open for counterattack, and she fights best with a partner to supply defense or ranged support.

In "the TV", Yomiko Readman shares with Anita one of her signature tricks: the giant paper airplane. Despite Anita's protestations that mass transport is beyond her capabilities, with Yomiko's help Anita manages to control the craft while Yomiko concentrates on operating a scanner. This suggests that with further training Anita's powers could be greatly enhanced.

Relationships

Maggie Mui

Maggie, as Anita's sister, will do anything to protect Anita, even if it means dying or reluctantly handing Nenene over to the British Library. They trust and love each other, but Anita's thoughtless criticism of Maggie has, at times, affected Maggie's confidence concerning her ability to help and protect her sisters.

Michelle Cheung

While Anita is down to earth and practical, Michelle is free-spirited and acts on impulse. They frequently clash over matters of money, as Michelle buys books when Anita's priorities are rent and food. Like Maggie, Michelle would not hesitate to put her life on the line to protect Anita. However, Michelle does not restrain herself from disciplining Anita when Anita has gone too far by insulting or provoking someone else.

Hisami Hishishii

In the "Read or Dream" manga, Hisami appears in Hong Kong as a young author and the two soon become friends when the Paper Sisters are hired to protect Hisami from possible kidnappers.

In "the TV", Anita meets Hisami on her first day of school and quickly befriends the soft-spoken and shy girl. Anita gives her the nickname, "Hisa." While Anita generally dislikes books, she reads them for Hisa's sake, as Hisami loves reading. Hisami compares their friendship to Anne Shirley and Diana Barry's in "Anne of Green Gables" (one of the few books Anita reads, at Hisami's recommendation).

In "Seduced by the Night," Hisami says to an unrequited Tohru that there is someone else she might love; glances exchanged between the characters imply that it might be Anita (especially since Hisami reacts poorly to discovering, right after her confession to Tohru, that Anita has spent the evening chatting alone with Junior). Anita doesn't seem to pick up on this undertone, but continues to be a loyal and supportive friend to Hisami.

Junior

Anita first encounters Junior in Toto Books where she gives him a Gentleman book (not knowing what it is at the time). She subsequently meets Junior when he poses as a student at the school and befriends him--but she is unaware that this is actually their third meeting, as he masked himself and attacked a man in the school library, and Anita fought him off. Junior is drawn to Anita because of her kindness and finds it difficult to betray her to Joker. Anita, upon discovering his true identity, feels betrayed, although they eventually reconcile (after a thump on Junior's head for good measure).

Nenene Sumiregawa

While Michelle and Maggie respect and at times fear Nenene, Anita does not hesitate to speak her mind concerning the author and her work. Nenene becomes another older sister figure to Anita (indeed, Nenene asks her to call her "Nenene-nee," which Anita hastily shortens to "Nene-nee," or "Big Sis Nene"). Anita also becomes a listening ear for Nenene when she is troubled. They also frequently bicker and play-wrestle, much like siblings. Despite being nearly 10 years apart in age, the two have similar personalities, being both spunky, outspoken, and short-tempered.

Yomiko Readman

As a child, Anita witnessed Yomiko in the midst of the fire at the British Library, the event which caused Anita to develop subconscious hatred of books from the sheer terror she felt during that moment. While Dokusensha had erased Anita's memory, she still had vague flashbacks to that moment, but does not fully recall it until Junior dives into the "Book of All Seeing Eyes" and she witnesses her past. Upon discovering that Yomiko was responsible for the traumatic memory, Anita despises her, but works with her because she hates their mutual enemies more so.

Yomiko is kind to Anita even when Anita treats her harshly (Yomiko can't deny what she did in the library and feels badly). Ever a teacher, Yomiko tries to advise Anita on papermastery tactics and proves to Anita she is capable of more than she thought via the paper airplane flight.

References

External links

* [http://www.rodthetv.com/main.html Official English R.O.D the TV site]
* [http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Animation/ROD/index.html R.O.D -THE TV- Official site] jp icon
* [http://readordie.wikia.com/ Read or Die Wiki] : an English language wiki designed to cover all aspects of the Read or Die universe