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Mar 13 2006

Categories: anime, full metal panic, march madness
Tagged: full metal panic, rozen maiden

26 Comments »

You guys asked for it, and it is a hard match-up… Chidori and Suigintou are fundamentally different characters. Maybe Dr Jack can shed some light on the Chidori and Suigintou match-up. Fumoffu!

Combat Abilities

Chidori: Has above-average athletic ability for a high school girl, and being a Whispered, she can make good decisions. Unfortunately, her weapons are lacking (just a paper fan) and her greatest martial arts skills are reserved solely for punishing Sousuke.

Suigintou: One of the strongest Rozen dolls (but she’s still a doll); capable of tossing around a lot of black feathers as well as control lesser dolls. She can also form the features into wings for herself. After Rozen Maiden Dreams, she gains Souseiseki’s rosa mystica thus providing her with even more power as well from her sickly medium, Megu.

Unfortunately, Chidori is more of a support role character than a frontline that Suigintou is. Whereas I’m not sure Suigintou/Megu can top Chidori/Shinku or Chidori/Bonta-kun, Suigintou has more power one-on-one. Edge: Suigintou.

Command Skills

Chidori: Chidori has done an admirable job of commanding Sousuke around and not completely destroying the school. Beyond that, she saved the Tuatha de Danaan after Gauron took control of the sub.

Suigintou: Suigintou is not what one would call a team player.

Suigintou is kinda like Sagara before he found Chidori. Unfortunately, this just means that (a) Shinku is no Chidori and (b) Edge: Chidori.

Field Performance

Chidori: Chidori gets kidnapped. A lot. By Gauron once. A few times in Fumoffu, including once by the mafia and once by the female gang leader. At least in TSR she manages to outwit Xia Yu Fan.

Suigintou: Turned to junk by Shinku in Rozen Maiden. Turned to junk by Shinku and Barasuishou later on.

I guess neither really did that well in the field, and that’s a shame. Mmm… it’s a push. Edge: Even.

Diabolical Laughter

Chidori: A bit forced, usually heard after a “Sagara did what?” moment.

Suigintou: Evil. Evil. Evil. Evil. Evil.

No contest. No one beats Suigintou in this category, not even Nanoha, Lacus, or any other evil character. Her only competition is Suiseiseki, whom was smited in the previous poll. Omega best diabolical laughter of the year. Rie Tanaka’s finest role… well, maybe second finest. Edge: Suigin-frickin-tou.

Hawtness

Chidori: Decent curves, and she can show off her charm when she wants to. Though, Sagara, you’re as big of an idiot as Reito. (I wonder if there’s a secret anime club where characters like Sagara, Reito, and Haruo hang out and discuss how best to ignore the hawt, nubile women tossing themselves at their feet. Remind me to ask the Main Office to investigate this.) Anyway, Chidori’s ceiling would be a Maxim or FHM cover girl or hooker from Hong Kong.

Suigintou: Suigintou’s a doll that’s missing a stomach. Can’t really classify Suigintou as seikushi (not much of a figure) or kawaii (doesn’t have enough loli genes… isn’t she like a few hundred by now?). Her ceiling would be the same as Midori… doll endlessly desired and coveted by smelly otaku at a convention. (Um… I bid $1,000!)

Suigintou’s a two feet tall doll! I’m sorry, to be consider hawt, especially compared to Chidori, Hobbit-height is a minimum. And I shudder to think what smelly otaku would do to Suigintou. Edge: Chidori.

Growth of Character

Chidori: Sorta naive girl who turns into a valuable ally for Sagara. Chidori at the beginning of FMP isn’t the same Chidori bitch-slapping Sagara around at the end of TSR. Yet, I think Shana and Yuji are farther along.

Suigintou: Goes from one dimensional evil doll to a more complex being after Megu’s introduction. I think Rozen Maiden Dreaming would have been much better if they cut that fake Rozen crap out, got rid of the two new dolls, and just focused on Suigintou/Megu and Suiseiseki/everyone else.

Megu’s episode clinches it fo Suigintou. And if Yuji passes Sagara in the gohobi department, it just validates this choice more. Edge: Suigintou.

Rival

Chidori: Quite a few, but none as menacing as Tess. While the two may act friendly and cooperate at times (like what Gauron took over the sub), they are decidedly locked in mortal kombat for Sousuke’s attention.

Suigintou: Suigintou hates Shinku, but Shinku doesn’t hate Suigintou and thusly she takes advantage of Shinku’s waffling and weakness. As Homer Simpson once said, “That’s what heroes do!”

While Tess and Chidori do manage to try to one-up each other, their interaction is comedic at best. The Suigintou/Shinku dynamic drives a big part of Rozen Maiden (with only Shinku/Jun being a bigger portion). Edge: Suigintou.

Lesbian Tendancies

Chidori: Sadly, Chidori x Tess is probably as likely as Meyrin x Lunamaria. Yes, we can dream, can’t we?

Suigintou: I like the “Suigintou hates Shinku because she’s in love with Shinku” angle, but it’s just not Rozen Maiden.

Only because of the hot springs episode from Fumoffu. Edge: Chidori.

Emotional Stability

Chidori: SOUSUKE!

Suigintou: SHINKU!

Magikano and Gun x Sword completely threw my emo-meter off… is a good or bad thing to pull a Shinn now? Edge for being more stable: Chidori. Edge for being less stable: Suigintou.

Importance and Conclusion

Chidori: Chidori is one-half of Full Metal Panic. Without her, there is no series to begin with, and the same can be said for Sagara. They complement each other well, and it is their dynamic that keeps the series humming along. Very important to the functionality of FMP.

Suigintou: While Suigintou is a major part of why Rozen Maiden is popular, she wasn’t the full driving force. Rozen Maiden, like Full Metal Panic, blends comedy with dramatic action. However, the comedy portion Suigintou has no part in… that’s squarely in Desu Desu girl’s domain. As for the dramatic plot, in the original 13 episodes, she was a catalyst but the heart of the story revolved around Shinku and Jun. While Suigintou did crazy doll perfectly, that wasn’t the point of Rozen Maiden… Shinku opening Jun to the world was. Nor was Suigintou the focus of the second batch of shows… while her interaction with Megu opened up the character (thus taking Rozen Maiden Dreaming from below expections to meeting expectations), the plot was driven by oto-sama, Barasuishou, and Shinku’s reluctance to fight.

I think that one big factor in Chidori vs Suigintou is just how well known they are. Hard core fans know who Suigintou is, love her, and can readily appreciate her. But, one must have seen Rozen Maiden to appreciate this. Then one must watch Rozen Maiden Dreaming to really see her character open up… I’m not sure how many people who read this blog have watched Rozen Maiden, but I’m sure it’s less than the number who have watched Full Metal Panic. Whereas Rozen Maiden is a niche series, Full Metal Panic has far more episodes, manga (original, sigma, and overload), novels, and ADV’s marketing machine behind it. (Of course, this flies in the face of the Nanoha vs Lacus match… as I’m sure Gundam Seed‘s audience is larger than Nanoha‘s, but I think Seed has more heroines, including Cagali, Meer, Meyrin, and Luna whereas Nanoha’s main competition was Fate and maybe VITACHANVITACHANVITACHAN.)

Overall, both characters have a great depth to them and both grow quite a bit. Just I have a hard time imagining Full Metal Panic without Chidori but I can easily picture Rozen Maiden without Suigintou (it’ll just be like Otome with Shinku sliding in Arika’s role… *shudder*). I didn’t say it’ll be good, just it’ll still be Rozen Maiden. Full Metal Panic isn’t Full Metal Panic without Chidori. Final Edge: Chidori.

(And, of course, Chidori in a swimsuit…)