Mild Spoilers Involving Shizuru Nakatsu from Rewrite
Shizuru Nakatsu, depicted in Figure 1, is one of the
main characters in the key visual novel Rewrite. Wearing an eyepatch, Shizuru
is visibly different from the others. Shorter, even. Setting physical disparateness
aside, she acts much stranger than the other characters. Shizuru is quiet, shy,
and prone to using few words; despite seeming cold, she is quite warm. Many of
her utterances and actions are thus weird yet simultaneously friendly. She is
one of the few characters who pays Tennouji Kotarou, the main character, heed;
Shizuru stands out as most fond of Kotarou. Her remarkable facial expressions
add further depth to her characterization. Purity embodied is she, at least
according to Kotarou.
Figure 1. Shizuru Nakatsu sitting on a bench wearing an eyepatch. She is wearing her school uniform.
Her most interesting apparent feature – ignoring her
hair – is the eyepatch she always wears. The eyepatch conventionally represents
either a clichéd pirate or someone with some eye problem or injury. The eye
could have sustained damage or else be developmentally delayed, among many eye
problems. The eyepatch is therefore a
signifier of injury and misfortune. It is thus blocked off from any notion of
beauty or individuality at least according to society’s scheme. In my youth
(age 2 or so I believe) I had to wear an eyepatch following correction of double
vision in one of my eyes. This time of my life passed swiftly but during that
time I was marked with an eyepatch. Looking at the pictures of me with an
eyepatch drives home that shallow – skin-deep – perception that I am injured,
not worthy of being beheld in the brilliance of society. An eyepatch, as it did
for me under inspection, signifies a damaged body as a whole, not simply an eye
injury. Shizuru therefore appears to have a devalued and pity-worthy existence
to the normal person.
Shizuru’s wearing an eyepatch must stem from some
childhood event. Indeed, as a child she received a vehement and excessive eye
injury, prompting the need for an eyepatch following surgery. Shizuru was told
not to touch her eye, but driven by curiosity she did anyway. In a sense, she
violated the eyepatch’s societally-donated penchant to separate the person from
their injury. However, due to Shizuru’s powers, her eye managed to recover
miraculously. The eye changed to a bright golden color instead of returning to
its original state.
Kotarou managed to learn about her situation after
gaining her trust, as it usually goes. I
was surprised that she was willing to remove her eyepatch for him but then was
overcome with admiration; for Shizuru made a courageous act by showing
something that had disgusted others. Shaking slightly and anxious of the, to
her, imminent rejection. The unsymmetrical eye color combination of golden and
navy blue[1] before
him, seemingly unnatural. Shizuru waiting. (Shizuru sans eyepatch is shown in
Figure 2.) When her eye first changed as a child, boys unearthed her unnatural
eye color by removing her eyepatch; they treated her as shameful and denigrated
her self-worth. Thus Shizuru’s eyepatch and heterochromia represent a double
bind: she can be excluded as an damaged existence or as an unnatural existence.
Either way, Shizuru is forced to tolerate belittling views from others. As a
side note, her situation is so complex – and saury[2]-filled
- that I cannot describe it entirely in
this post without providing extensive detail.
Figure 2. Shizuru sitting down without her eyepatch. Her heterochromia is clearly visible with one eye golden and the other one navy blue.
I consider Shizuru to be an empowering character, so
I won’t end just there.The sarcastic postmodern title should give you a
certain idea of how I want to extend this subject beyond themes of oppression. “Strange”
attributes can and should be subverted. In this regard, Shizuru is the ultimate
subversion of these normed ideas about beauty and individuality. She is not
ugly because of heterochromia or her eyepatch. Kotarou, in fact, responds to
Shizuru’s trust by saying that her eyes are pretty, not weird. I remember
wondering how someone could consider her eyes to be unnatural and disgusting
when such a combination, though asymmetric, is quite fitting for her. Her eyes
should not be seen as scary but rather as an individual and beautiful trait to
be celebrated.[3]
At the same time, her eyepatch should be viewed in the same light - as something unique but valuable and not something to fear. To illustrate this effect, see Figure 3 which features Shizuru in a bathing
suit.
Figure 3. Shizuru in a periwinkle blue bathing suit with white dots while bathing with a rubber ducky. Her heterochromia is not visible in this picture.
Rikka Takanashi from the show Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!, depicted in Figure 4, bears strong
similarities to Shizuru: Rikka wears an eyepatch and has heterochromia, though
in her case she used a colored contact lens. Rikka and Shizuru both wear
eyepatches beyond a medical need, but rather for personal reasons – the former
as a means of grieving over her fallen father, the latter as a means to avoid
ridicule for standing out. Thus, both characters cover up an eye as their own
way of going through the world, though they invite ridicule by doing so. They
are open to ridicule if they don’t either, hence this powerful double bind.
When I say beauty, I mean an individualistic definition that values the power
of self-worth and not being held back by looking “strange.” Thus Rikka and
Shizuru together – whether with an eyepatch or heterochromia – usurp harmful oppression
against abnormal bodies. To me at least, these two offer both subversion of
normalcy and exclusion of those who are different. Then, Rikka and Shizuru are empowering.
Figure 4. Rikka Takanashi in her dark blue school uniform and wearing an eyepatch over one eye.
Afterword
Today I wrote about a subject about which I am very passionate. As I’m sure you can tell. As someone who stands out for a variety of reasons – including riding a scooter and in the past wearing an eyepatch myself – I wanted to address this topic. The very act of subversion is very powerful when dealing with systems of oppression. Instead of something harmful, a word, or object, or action can be co-opted for an empowering message. Otherwise, society remains unchallenged and holds to a decrepit scheme.
Today I wrote about a subject about which I am very passionate. As I’m sure you can tell. As someone who stands out for a variety of reasons – including riding a scooter and in the past wearing an eyepatch myself – I wanted to address this topic. The very act of subversion is very powerful when dealing with systems of oppression. Instead of something harmful, a word, or object, or action can be co-opted for an empowering message. Otherwise, society remains unchallenged and holds to a decrepit scheme.
Works Cited
Rewrite. Perf. Kitaeri, Kanahana, Chiwa Saito. Key, 2011. Visual novel.
"Rikka Takanashi." MyAnimeList. Evolve Media. Web. Accessed 9 Jan 2015.
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