Reira or the art of creating an unorthodox antagonist.
I thought I’d make a post about Reira because she really is an interesting character to read and analyze.
Firstly, I would like to clarify that an antagonist doesn’t always have to be a villain. Reira is an antagonist not because her main motivations are to harm other characters, she is one because her actions cause pain regardless of this.
Now in complete honesty, Reira is a character that really frustrates me, I’m never going get over her relationship with Shin (so wrong, so, so wrong) but that doesn’t mean I can’t see how much she has suffered and how that suffering has affected her.
Reira has everything: the looks, the talent, the magnetism that draws other people towards her… it would’ve been so easy for Ai Yazawa to fall into the clichés these types of characters ususally get. She could’ve gone with a conniving femme fatale, a schemer who goes out of her way to compete against the main protagonists. It honestly says a lot about the type of media we consume, when these are the common traits in female antagonists, especially if they share a love interest with the protagonist, but I digress.
Instead of this type of character, we get Reira: a young woman in her early 20’s with a very sweet demeanor (almost childish) and a bright personality. The first time she meets Nana O. there’s nothing but genuine excitement, she simply doesn’t come across as an antagonist at all. Here lies Ai Yazawa’s talent for characterization. Reira is confusing to the reader, she is the main singer of the rival band our main protagonists are up against. She’s incredibly talented, Nana O. is left feeling very insecure after hearing her sing live. The first few times she appears in the manga is as a beautiful and cool figure. That’s why the first introduction to her actual personality after the last concert of their tour was so surprising and comical: the contrast between the image of Reira the singer and Reira the person was just beginning.
Throughout the manga, her fears and insecurities start to unfold, (usually through conversations with Shin, which I think is interesting, and not a coincidence) and we start seeing how many layers Reira has. We can see how much her father’s loss affected her, how she can’t even disclose her identity as half American (she states her label thinks it’s beneficial if fans think she’s fully Japanese), the fact that she had to move from everything she considered home at a very young age to move to a country she didn’t know… It’s clear Reira has been through a lot, and through most of it she’s had Takumi as a constant. It’s only natural that she’d feel so strongly towards him, but what these two have is an incredibly toxic relationship.
Reira centers her existence and worth in her voice, and this is because she thinks her talent is the only reason why Takumi stays by her side. She feels like she has nothing more to offer to the world, and that’s sad because when it comes to Takumi, Reira really has no power over her feelings.
All this being said, Reira’s biggest flaw is her selfishness. She’s incredibly self-absorbed without the arrogance, which makes for a very interesting character. In fact, most of the harm she causes comes from her simply not taking into account other people. The main victim of this has been Shin. Although one could argue he lied to her about his age, she did eventually find out that he was a minor, and no amount of mental gymnastics is going to make the relationship okay. She doesn’t register the possible pain she can cause Shin, who is clearly taken by her or how her attitude towards Ren can make Nana O. uncomfortable (even though Ren mentions Nana’s jealousy more than once). The biggest offence being during Ren’s wake. She doesn’t think about Hachi when she sleeps with Takumi, or even Shin, who she admits to have some feelings towards. She truly doesn’t look past herself at first, only to realize later the harm she has caused and feeling guilty about it, but not actively changing her ways.
She isn’t the only one to blame though, when it comes to her selfish ways, Reira is always enabled by the people around her. From Takumi to Ren to even Yasu. All these men, have a weird fixation with saving Reira, delegating this task to each other and even Shin (a teenager), when the thing Reira needs the most is independence. Shin seems to be the only one who sometimes calls her out on her selfishness, only to be demonized for it and then feel guilty about it, like what happened during Ren’s wake.
We can’t forget that Reira is an adult, regardless of how much people around her baby her, she should know better and take responsibility for her actions, trauma doesn’t justify any of them.
annaxmalina
discoholicmusic
janainaart
yousharknotpass
kianamaiart
kaledo-art
titsay
theartofmadeline
romaincrisis
germansingergirl
