Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

40 Responses to “Girl Power: Tsukamoto Yakumo (School Rumble)”  

1. 1 scottfrye 17 comments Mar 25th, 2006 at 4:24 am

   I’m so glad that you did my favorite School Rumble girl. I believe that my favorite part about her is her voice and her beauty, especially when asleep. The only problem I have with the POW stereotype is that it’s a stereotype. The POW description sounds a little oppressive however true that it may be. I hate to say it but I find the stereotypical Oriental woman attractive.

2. 2 tik 67 comments Mar 25th, 2006 at 5:51 am

   What can I say other than agreeing that Yakumo rocks too. She is indeed perfect.I used to think that Noto Mamiko is monotonic, but I have grown to like her airy (and healing to some extent) voice as well, so the choice of Noto Mamiko as the seiyuu for Yakumo is definitely a plus for me. How can anyone dislike any character voiced by Noto Mamiko right :P能登かわいいよ能登  

3. 3 Hung 18 comments Mar 25th, 2006 at 7:28 am

   Uh, it’s "Asian," not "Oriental." Not that I myself am particularly offended by the use of "Oriental," but others may be. And yeah, I’m Asian.There’s sort of a write-up about the difference here: http://www.modelminority.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=183

4. 4 T_T||| 781 comments Mar 25th, 2006 at 8:53 am

   My definition of Oriental has always been Asian people living in the Northeastern part of Asia. eg. China, Hongkong, Taiwan, Japan etc. I don’t think tjhan here wants to include the rest of Asia in his post, ‘cos it would just be weird. And regarding that write-up, it’s just an opinion by another guy. Not some official English dictionary, Thesaurus, Ci Hai, bla bla bla
   Thus I find nothing wrong with the usage of Oriental.

5. 5 tj_han86 1440 comments Mar 25th, 2006 at 9:54 am

   I used the word Asian at first but decided that Oriental would be a more apt word as it narrows the field down to the East Asian region. I understand that Europeans, British people in particular, think of Asian as people from the Indian sub-continent and Oriental as people from East Asia. As we all know, Asia is too large a place. I’m not too pendantic with my language, so if the word "Oriental" offends anyone, I apologise.

   However, this is mainly a community that can accept siscon, lolicon, tentacles and teacher-student love. I certainly do not expect US to be offended hahaha.

   As for stereotypes and oppression, note that it is traditional. I am merely stating what men wanted and still want, even if it sounds a bit chauvinistic. But POW is not a stereotype. IT IS AN IDEAL.

6. 6 scottfrye 17 comments Mar 25th, 2006 at 11:37 am

   Yeah, it is really more of an ideal. I really doubt that there is a woman that really perfectly matches POW or really matches it all. But no matter what POW is, it doesn’t change the fact that Yakumo-chan is just plain awesome. I can say that I really love her. Also I really love any character where Noto Mamiko is the voice actor.

7. 7 EZzy 1 comment Jun 6th, 2006 at 3:07 pm

   Hi.

   Thx for writing about my fav girl from School Rumble as well. As a fan from South East Asia (so, am I Oriental or Asian? ) I agree that POW makes the perfect wife, although my brother picks Sawachika as his perfect girl. Yakumo seems to share similar trait with another of my fav girl, Belldandy of Oh My Goddess, who seems to be another POW type (my brother likes Urd more in that series so you can see a pattern there). Anyway, nice article, and keep up the good work.

8. 8 admire her 1 comment Jul 24th, 2006 at 12:51 pm

   cute, nice, kind, pretty, gorgeous, gold-hearted, soft spoken….
   any other synonyms i missed??

   If only yakumo was real..

9. 9 ban 1 comment Aug 28th, 2006 at 1:13 pm

   asian please.

   oriental sounds wrong.

   “T_T||| Mar 25th, 2006 at 8:53 am

   My definition of Oriental has always been Asian people living in the Northeastern part of Asia. eg. China, Hongkong, Taiwan, Japan etc. I don’t think tjhan here wants to include the rest of Asia in his post, ‘cos it would just be weird. And regarding that write-up, it’s just an opinion by another guy. Not some official English dictionary, Thesaurus, Ci Hai, bla bla bla
   Thus I find nothing wrong with the usage of Oriental.”

   China, Hong Kong, Taiwan. are made up of mostly Chinese.
   Why are Chinese living in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, left out of the equation here?
   Why is Southeastern Asia left out?

   Clearly, there is great ignorance in your defintion of Oreintal. If the owner of the blog had wanted to define it clearly, he could have used the word Japanese. Since the anime is based in Japan, but of course he would have to back up his point with evidence that Yakumo is the best type of wife one can find in Japan.

   On the other hand, if he doesn’t I feel that he should use the word Asian, because isnt it also true for other countries located in Asia?

   Do Indians not feel the same? Do Nepalese not feel the same?

   Why leave them out?

   Tsukamoto Yakumo rocks btw. Someone make a blog skin of her damn it.

10. 10 tj_han 1440 comments Aug 28th, 2006 at 1:33 pm

    I like yellow people. Oriental = yellow people. I don’t use the word Asian because it is far too broad. Middle Eastern, Indian subcontinental, SE Asian and East Asian all have different values of women they prefer. But generally, yellow-skinned people aka Orientals (not chinese,Japanese, or Korean only) have similar ideals of perfect women.

11. 11 jk 1 comment Sep 13th, 2006 at 6:18 am

    oh man i like this a pretty good description of the pow
    to tell you the truth i thought a pow was sorta against women but yakumo makes it look so nice…mmm…damn…i just wish there was actually a girl like that and not just an anime of a pow hehe….

    and why fight about oriental and asian? im korean i dont care, everybody seems to understand, and it doesnt matter

    but thank you for writing this!! yakumo is so moshisuh

12. 12 nurelahi 1 comment Oct 22nd, 2006 at 1:52 pm

    Yakumo is also my Favourite Schhol Rumble Girl. She is perfect her soft voice, pretty smile, sleepy face everything about her is mindblowing.

    She is an ideal younger sister, a nice cook and one of the best character Anime has produced.

    Yakumo Rulz…
    me, watin for the 3rd term, for even more Yakumo

    School RUMBLE Forever!!!

13. 13 hiddenpuma 2 comments Dec 13th, 2006 at 6:32 am

    yakumo is my fav!!!!!!!
    go yaku!!!!!!!!

14. 14 ckman 1 comment Feb 15th, 2007 at 9:43 am

    I love Yakumo!! sometimes i pretend she is my gf.. well.. not sometimes.. all the time!!

15. 15 JayDude 2 comments Apr 7th, 2007 at 9:40 am

    Tsukamoto Yakumo is a really good anime character. im currently waiting for the 3rd you have any idea when its comming out? hit me back on my email The anime was really nice i loved it

16. 16 Wes 3 comments Apr 14th, 2007 at 3:06 am

    The problem of POW is… they’re too good for regular guys like us. Hahaha…
    Now, let’s lower our expectation…

17. 17 harima 1 comment Apr 19th, 2007 at 1:32 pm

    i luv yakumo , my dream girl

18. 18 Leon Xenarax 2 comments May 1st, 2007 at 8:15 pm

    I couldn’t agree more with you. Yakumo is definitely the ideal wife or girlfriend. Being highly attractive and well-mannered, she would attract any guy that set eyes on her. Ever since i watched school rumble (which may i add is my most favourite anime), i have fallen for her beauty and most of all, her attitude. She is my dream girl. Sadly though, it will be challenge to get her to feel the same way for you as her mind reading skills will prove to be a huge obstacle. Either way, she is still the best anime character and i believe that there isn’t and never will be a woman in this world equivalent to Yakumo… Red eyes, black hair….she’s perfect…

19. 19 Jaydude 2 comments May 5th, 2007 at 10:45 am

    lols when is 3 comming out again i come here recently so yea

20. 20 DotA_Master 4 comments Jun 9th, 2007 at 1:35 pm

    hey, didn’t u notice that at episode 20 1st season, the face of Sawachika Eri looks similar with Yakumo’s !!! the conclusions is, sawachika and yakumo are twins !!! if u don’t trust me, please look it by yourself.

21. 21 Yakumo_Kenji 1 comment Jul 2nd, 2007 at 12:57 am

    MAN! THANKS FOR THIS!

    I LOVE YOU YAKUMO-KUN

22. 22 Yakumo_fans_club 6 comments Jul 26th, 2007 at 12:07 am

    when i first saw this siries, my eyes had been focus only to yakumo only, shes perfect what else can i say? maybe shes perfect than belldandy? i wish my future wife would be like yakumo

23. 23 Yakumo_fans_club 6 comments Jul 26th, 2007 at 12:09 am

    btw, i wish harimas leading lady would be yakumo XD

24. 24 GiJaws 1 comment Sep 2nd, 2007 at 8:41 pm

    Wat a girl she is! Oh! My Yakumo, heh heh heh… Describing a girl like that makes me wonder if someone like her exist in Asia (from Phlippines). Its so lucky for a being to have an excellent genetical benefactor (the truth is I will prefer to be born very very poor but have good gen. benefac. rather than to be very very rich but be world’s one very inferior being [im glad im not 100% Filipino]). You will be born with above average capacity at many things (maybe at school, sports or physically). I have cousins whose pure Filipino. Im observing them via psychological parameter. And im comparing them with other races in the world (firstly/prioritively, with Europeans [In my thoughts, they r the superior race in the world as shown in achievements and early civilizations]). I wish I could meet a girl like Yakumo (or Tomoyo). Speaking of genetics, Naruto and Gundam Seed shows a big part of it.

25. 25 bersek 1 comment Nov 29th, 2007 at 3:01 am

    her eyes man… they look so warm, i wish i culd find a stear like that.

26. 26 Heroichi 2 comments Dec 19th, 2007 at 9:04 pm

    Whoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    NICE-TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

27. 27 Jeff 1 comment Feb 5th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    You are sooooo right about her.. I love Yakumo Tsukamoto… Really

28. 28 ken_jed 5 comments Mar 16th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    a very nice subject and a very darn point u`ve proven TJ , realy liked it

    yakumo is something yep she is, u`ve covered about all the good parts she had

    but i realy disagree with u about not loveing a tsundere girl like ERI in real life, well its as u said there is no thought bubbles and pink blushes! to know what the other person is thinking, but there is alot of things thats makes u know how she feels about u

    and btw tesundere love is only shown when the other side of love didnt get confessed 2 by the 1st side (so its only when they dont realy know the other side feeling) tsundere is a type of contacting the other side, tsundere true meaning is to act cold (not showing ur true feeling) from the out side but has everything going inside ur brains. from that i can say that tenma is also a tsunderekko with karasma !!. lol got off subject

    well what iam trying to say is a tsundere love is the earliest time in a relationship between 2 pepole who may love each other and 2 me that time is the best time in any love relationship the longer it lasts the stronger the love will be ofcource its not a rule, so how can u discover a tsundere love 2 u? (answer: by any signs of love 2 u) trying to be with u, laughing at ur jokes, lots of resspect, looking at u when not knowing and ofcource the aggressive way for some pepole with some other signs ofc (and i realy dont think it will be that aggresive)

    the moment the other person finds out about the love and tell him/her its the moment that the tsundere love vanish and its a new kind of relationship now. take suzuka for example, Yamato Akitsuki & Suzuka Asahina & Honoka Sakurai in the 1st eposodes was a real tsundere triangle until honoka came and kissed yamato it bcame a tsundere between only asahina and yamato from asahina`s side and then asahina confessed to yamato thats when there were no tsundere in the anime and it became a DAM BOOOORING ONE afterwords didnt even bother to complete it

    tsundere in real life
    lol i realy dont stick to a subject do i ^^ hehe, well in the tsundere relation ship usually the one who has those feeling to the other will do the Best he could to have even a *hi* word from the other person, for the tsundere pepole may do un-expected things just for the love, tsundere usually happens when someone is afraid to confess his feelings to the other person with words, so he trys about anything and may even become super strong like in kenichi anime or even harima with tenma, so tsundere are all signs or actions from the lover that may make the 2nd person realize him or even love him. and as harima`s 1st thing that made him begins to be a mangaka and put alot of effort and even went to jail for it, its tsundere love >

29. 29 ken_jed 5 comments Mar 16th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    ?? it wasn`t sent all ?? here is the rest sorry for makeing it long tho

    its tsundere love >

30. 30 ken_jed 5 comments Mar 16th, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    again it didnt …

    after love i said
    (poor harima)

    some times both persons have tsundere love to each other (thats when its the best imo) every person is doing the impassible for the other and for some stupid reason they still dont know or not sure of the true feelings behind the other. for me i were darn enjoying it ^^.

    and sorry yakumo tho u look (so pure,kind,cute,friendly …) i realy admire that but the life with someone like u isnt very exaiting like liveing with somone who is like ERI or Tenma (those who knows how to have fun) yep Tenma knows how to make things pretty intresting and funny hehe that baka :0

31. 31 an143gel_07 1 comment May 19th, 2008 at 10:16 am

    yamo is so perfect! wish she’s real,
    as anyone here wishes. :p

    i have read something in other’s website about school rumble.

    i read that school rumble san gakki (3rd season)
    will be aired around july 2008.

    dont know if its a joke. but is wish it’s real.

    (sorry for my bad english though.)

32. 32 Erlang 1 comment Aug 5th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

    I think that any sufficiently advanced medieval (and patriarchal) civilization would have very similar ideal values in women. The civilzation would be structured, and it’s most basic structure would be the family unit, and central to the family unit is the mother. She needs to be smart in order to help educate the children, and gifted at house chores in order to keep the home functioning smoothly and of course, to feed the children and the husband who is working. Now in Europe, many of the poor lived on farms (this is based off of my limited knowledge and vast generalization of history, so please bear with me) so many of the children worked on the farm as well, and the mother then also helped with work on the farm, and was generally more knowledgeable about farm work. In that sense, the ideal European woman may have been larger, and would have required less education, and would have seemed less ‘refined’ if I may use the word. They may not have been as beautiful as some, but they were much more useful. Unfortunately though, it was likely the rich who established a social ideal for women, and in Europe, especially in the later years of its medieval era, the rich valued educated women, who were ‘refined’ and slender, and their beauty was constantly maintained through the use of cosmetics and such, but unfortunately, work was viewed as ‘lower class’ so these women did not know how to work. They left cooking (for the family) and raising children up to maids, and were generally unproductive, only taking sport in leisurely activities. Nowadays, fewer and fewer people farm, and an upper class that does not do any work at all has also dwindled in size, so neither of these ‘ideal women’ archetypes remain desirable to Europeans, Americans, and Caucasians (white people) in general.

    I am Chinese, and have limited understanding of Chinese history, and even less understanding of Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and other Oriental/Asian countries, so I will be writing only from what little I know of Chinese history. China established a national exam very early in history, and anyone who was learned and well versed in literature and history and whatever else they tested on, could gain a government post of some kind. Thsi was a sort of ‘American Dream’ in China, where even for the poorest family, if they could save up enough to send their son (women were excluded I think) to the national exam, and have him educated enough so that he can pass, then the son will live a much more stable, much more comfortable life, and if the son is obedient to his parents, will aid them financially as well. So in this way, an educated middle class was created in China, and the lower class sought the same level of education so that they may rise in class. As education became more important, something of a blend between the above mentioned ideal European women types was formed. A woman who was capable of maintaining the household: cook, clean, sew etc. able to educate the children, and slender and beautiful to please the husband, since they no longer needed to do seriously heavy work. This was a woman who was not only physically and mentally attractive, but also financially attractive, in that she can allow the children to secure better positions in life and preserve the well being of the parents. Now many other neighbouring countries probably experienced the same phenomenon, whether because they were influenced by China or not I will not even try to guess.

    Yakumo’s central role is that of Tenma’s sister, her responsibility to the family shows through here, acting almost like a mother to Tenma. The serious attractiveness of Yakumo is that she would not only make a great and accomodating wife, but that she would make a great mother, which is much sought after in the P.O.W. if not the main reason for having such a wife. Even physical attractiveness, some anthropologists say, might even be an instinctual drive to determine which woman would produce healthier offspring.

    Yakumo is not only kind and accomodating, but she is forgiving and helpful and full of traits that make her a great person. Msot of all, Yakumo exudes stability and calm, she is not volatile or overreactive, and is much more emotionally and mentally mature than her age may warrant. Now, I think that many Yakumo fans relate rather easily with Harima Kenji, as he is the main character and is therefore intentionally the most relatable, especially to males, and therefore would like to see Yakumo paired with Kenji, since the ywould want the female character the ylike most with the male character they relate with the most. As a Yakumo fan myself, I disagree with this pairing, feeling that Sawachika Eri is much better suited for Kenji. I think that any man could be attracted physically to Yakumo, but it takes a more cultured, refined person to truly appreciate every facet of Yakumo’s persona. I believe that no male character in School Rumble currently fits the bill and Yakumo remains as ‘a pearl before swine’. Unfortunately, I do not think such a character will appear in School Rumble as such characters are generally uninteresting to most consumers or will have their refined aspects defiled into a sort of lecherous rich gentleman type which is all too common because it seems everyone wants to make fun of culture and refienment. Basically, we talk about Yakumo as the ‘perfect woman’, but I say this, “Doesn’t she deserve the perfect man?” That of course, will not be an easy discussion, since the society remains patriarchal in root, and most societal standards are geared towards satisfying the male population.

    If this came off as overly political, I apologize, I am not intending to stand on a soapbox or anything, these thoughts just kind of wrote themselves. I myself am male, but sometimes I evaluate myself, and though I would love to meet someone like Yakumo, I do sometimes wonder if I am good enough. Oh well, a guy can dream, right?

33. 33 Yagami High Republic Army 7 comments Nov 2nd, 2008 at 12:21 pm

    Oriential? No, its Eastern Asian. Your description of Yakumo is totally wrong, as when you describe Tsukamoto Yakumo as “oriential”. In fact, Yakumo is a Asian/Eastern Asian people (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and so on).

34. 34 tj_han 1440 comments Nov 2nd, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    Google is your best friend. Find out the meaning of oriental please and stop spouting nonsense.

35. 35 Latinoheat 1 comment Jan 4th, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    man the first time i watched that anime i fell in love with that character. Alhough weird because im not a kid any more its ok to dream once in a while, specially about a perfect girl like her. I wish and hope there are a few women in the world like her not perfect but with that similar character and traits specially with the soft pretty voice she has, which i got to say was nicely done by caitlan glass in the dubbed english version of that anime. If caitlan only had yakumo’s same character would be proof there are girls like that on earth and they are not made up. Well i hope i do find a girl like that but not necessarely have to be asian but would be a big plus if she was japanese and hope everyone else here that likes her can find their own yakumo.

36. 36 ChrissoMerry 2 comments Jun 23rd, 2009 at 1:11 am

    Yay for Yakumo! She is indeed perfect! And so sweet!
    I have to say while it may appear that Harima wouldn’t be perfect enough for Yakumo, she does seem to care about him and in a way he does compliment her perfectness with his rough edges - I mean, too much of a good thing can always be dangerous. Yakumo with an equally perfect gentleman would just be boring, mostly for her, who is used to taking the position of the mature one (good ol’ Tenma for being incompetent at sistering lol) and shes also just one of those people who love to care for people.

    And plus, he spends a lot of time with her, they compliment eachother all the time and are their for eachother (her more than him) and they share the love of animals xD It’s gonna be hard for Eri if she wants to be with Harima because him and yakumo are verging on best buddies (well, more for kenji who kinda lacks many friends to begin with).

37. 37 cristian 2 comments Jul 10th, 2009 at 5:39 am

    i love how she is and talks to others treats them wel thats y i think shes the best girl
    in school rumble ………..i cant say more shes spacial to me in some ways =D

38. 38 Yakumon_Fanboy 1 comment Sep 16th, 2009 at 8:21 pm

    Awesome writeup!

    I recently re-visited all the School Rumble episodes and I came away feeling that Yakumo was quite shunted aside in the anime… or maybe I was just hoping she had more screentime. ^^;;

    Rant:
    Actually, I’m kinda upset with how the San Gakki OVA turned out. It glossed over some of the key Yakumo bits which were featured in the manga.

    Biggest of which was her almost-confession to Harima. =/ I really wish the OVA had re-wound a few more manga chapters and not dipped viewers straight into end-of-SR-manga territory. *sigh* Too, the OVA skipped a couple of the last few chapters which featured how Yakumo coped with Tenma popping off to the States and how the whole Yakumo-Kenji-Eri triangle actually ended up. *grinds teeth*

    Anyways, its not as if the manga ended that well. Plus SR Z was a total disappointment.

    /Rant

    Still, Yakumo’s a seriously awesome lady. Wish she were real. And mine. OTL

39. 39 G-man 53 comments Sep 27th, 2009 at 7:31 am

    You know I always thought it was odd when I heard of otakus falling in love with anime characters. That’s until I came across Yakumo, who is the embodiment of the perfect wife.

    I am G-man!

1. 1 First Anniversary GO! Warning, Long Post Ahead with Sentimentalism! at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts Pingback on Feb 25th, 2007 at 3:04 am

Do not use any < and > for your own sake. It will end the comment there and then. Also, there is an automatic IQ filter which weeds out comments made by those who accidentally got transported from the stone age.

Leave a Reply