| Nanami Kiryuu | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Gender | Female |
| Blood type | B |
| Rose Bride | Touga Kiryuu |
| Rose color | Yellow |
| Birthday | August 8, 1984 (Age 13) |
| Zodiac sign |
Leo Sun, Sagittarius Moon |
| Voice actor | Shiratori Yuri |
Touga's dramatic little sister, often used as comic relief throughout the series. Her love for her brother borders on obsession and incest, and she is often seen using devious measures to punish the people who take her brother's attentions away from her. Though her motivations are considered the simplest and least ambitious out of all the Duelists, they are no less real to her, and she suffers just as much as all the other Student Council members throughout the series. Her Dueling Rose is yellow.
She is very fond of Touga to the point of their relationship having a semi-incestuous edge, at least on her part, having once asked Touga to kiss her. Nanami often makes various malicious attacks on students she deems inferior or worse, those she suspects Touga is paying attention to as she has a big brother complex. Miki Kaoru once said of her, "When you think your big brother is the best man on earth, no other man will ever be able to steal your heart." Her big brother complex often makes her behavior border psychotic, as in one instance in their childhood she had gifted Touga a kitten, but later drowned it for having taken Toga's attention away from her. After Touga is wounded in Utena's duel with Kyoichi Saijonji, she slaps Utena blaming her for Touga's wound (Touga had taken a blow from Kyoichi's sword to protect Utena). Her jealousy of the attention Touga pays Utena comes to a boiling point during Touga's birthday party, when she challenges Utena to a duel. Nanami is given a rose crest ring by Touga and temporarily becomes part of the Student Council, adopting a bright yellow uniform. She takes over as president after Touga loses to Utena and becomes reclusive.
Her psychotic side comes out again during her subsequent duel with Utena. After Utena successfully cuts Nanami's dueling rose, Nanami continues to fight despite having already lost. She pulls a hidden blade out from her uniform and attempts to seriously injure Utena rather than just cut her dueling rose. Touga stops the fight before Utena is killed by his blood relative. Nanami then breaks down into a fit of guilt and regrets for her violent behavior, a parallel to her breakdown as a child shortly after drowning the kitten.
Although Touga behaves as though he is oblivious to her feelings, (For example, when she asks for a kiss he tells her "We're not children anymore", ignoring the heavy romantic undertones.) he is later revealed to be fully aware of her complex, even going as far as to use it to manipulate her for his goals. (eg. Paying purposeful attention to Utena in order to initiate Nanami's duel challenge.) Nanami seems completely oblivious to her brother's manipulative side.
A few filler episodes in the series are specifically dedicated to Nanami and are usually standalone-type situations, breaking the convention of a standard Utena episode. Each has a metaphorical theme exploring Nanami's character in a sympathetic light, but are otherwise "gag episodes", meant to be humorous and are especially notorious for their bizarre content.
In the third arc of the anime, her sibling relationship with Touga is compared to Anthy and Akio's, with the implication that it is less incestuous and controlling because none of the Kiryus are as manipulative.
Nanami is not a main character in the manga and is only seen once in a picture with Touga. She is seen only once in the movie, in a reference to an episode in which she was transformed into a cow.
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