Nisekoi's My Fair Marika

Girl = Lady = Societally Desirable Image Befitting Role (1)

Equation 1 describes the conventional perception of what a girl ought to be like. Through literature and art, there are many instances of a girl – defined by persisting gender roles of the time period and culture – being pressured to change and become a lady, to become accepted by society. A famed example is Pygmalion[1] by George Bernard Shaw. Eliza Doolittle, a street girl with a myriad of signifiers of being among the working class, is taught how to dress, act, and speak like a proper English lady. The most piercing event in this play comes when Eliza, despite her grooming, begins speaking again like a street girl, revealing her true upbringing. This betrayal of expectation is both hilarious and poignant by shattering societal ideals of the “lady.” A person’s true nature goes beyond behavior and appearance crafted simply for society’s perspective, so ultimately Shaw is calling into question this whole idea of high English culture.

In the manga (and anime) Nisekoi[2], Marika Tachibana has a similar experience. But first, some background. As a child, Marika was a sickly child so she lived in the country to maintain her health. She managed to meet Raku and they played together. Then her father, a police chief, offered to arrange Marika’s marriage to Raku when they grew older: she became Raku’s betrothed. In Episode 14 of the anime, Marika is reunited with Raku after ten years after she transfers into his classroom; she immediately proceeds to immediately act overly familiar with him (Figure 1), taking him by surprise.

Figure 1. Depiction of Marika (brown-haired girl in flowery pink dress, right) hugging Raku (blue-haired boy, left) right after being introduced as a transfer student. Her acting overly familiar with Raku surprises the whole class, including Raku. Note that this image is of the Shaft adaptation of the Nisekoi manga and not the manga itself.

When Raku Ichijo says that he does not remember her as they hang out in the city, she becomes surprised (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Depiction of Marika’s utter shock to hear that Raku does not remember her in the slightest. In the anime, Raku specifically mentions that he has never met someone who speaks like Marika.

Then she flies into a fit (Figure 3):
“I know you ain’t tellin’ me you done totally forgot me. I been carryin’ ‘round memories of you fer ten years […]And you’re tellin’ me you done totally forgot me?! […] Rakky, you told me you liked long hair so I grew my hair long an’ learned to talk all-proper like!! I worked so hard at it but now you’re tellin’ me you done totally forgot me?!”  (Spoken by Marika Tachibana in Volume 5 of the Nisekoi manga; an adapted version of this scene appears in the anime[3] based on the manga)

Figure 3. Depiction of Marika when she becomes furious that Raku had forgotten her. Note that this image is from the anime and does not appear in the manga.

Figure 4. Depiction of Marika growing embarrassed following her outburst where she reveals her country accent.

During this rant, her voice shifts dramatically to a country accent – in short, Marika is revealed to have altered her speech and grown her hair out in order to become what she thought Raku would want. In short, a lady. This scene therefore recalls Pygmalion as Marika channels her true mannerisms beyond her projections of ladyness. Due to her outburst, Raku realizes that he knows her – Marika’s transformation had caught him off guard. From here, Marika strives to change from a sickly girl with an accent into a lady. Reflecting on her outburst, she grows embarrassed (Figure 4). Now that Raku remembers, Marika beseeches him to never forget again.

The question remains: Is Marika’s behavior detrimental to her self worth? Clearly, her desire to please Raku represents an attempt to become a lady within his perspective, which seems self-defeating. She gets longer hair per his preferences and changes her speaking style just to be with him. However, this seems a bit cynical for love: she should not change herself in this effort to win over Raku because that places her squarely as more of an object than human. For love, she should allow Raku to love her the way she is. In this sense, Marika is clearly disempowering herself. However, at the same time, she displays agency by changing her appearance and behavior – by now means any easy task – through sheer willpower. Though Marika changed for Raku, she maintains a dominant approach that is on her own terms, affirming this idea of agency. Agency vs changing exclusively for love – answering the posed question requires a balancing of the two sides. Marika is a determined person so she should get the benefit of the doubt. Her self worth seems intact and perhaps improved – after all she was simply a sickly girl in her young age. The answer is therefore not straightforward: Marika is empowering herself, though she risks losing her meaning if her motivation falters. 

References
Nisekoi. Dir. Akiyuki Shinbo. Perf. Kana Asumi and Kana Hanazawa. Shaft Animation, 2014. Anime. 
Komi, Naoshi. Nisekoi. Weekly Shonen Jump. Manga.
Shaw, George Bernard. Pygmalion. 1912. Play. 

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[1] Takes place in England during the early 1900s. It focuses on London in particular. This play is considered a classic work and a satire of the stiffness of high British culture.

[2] This manga (and anime) takes place in modern day Japan.

[3] A twenty-episode first season of the show, which contains the aforementioned scene, was created by Shaft Animation. Marika Tachibana is voiced by Kana Asumi in the anime adaptation.