Yomi: That Other Glasses Girl

Yomi is an interesting character from Azumanga Daioh, who doesn’t really get as much fanboy attention as say, Osaka or Sakaki. But Yomi has backbone, gumption, and she’ll never take any crap from Tomo.

But what is it about her that deserves attention? For starters, she’s not your typical idealised body type. Tomo regularly jokes that Yomi is fat, and Yomi frequently diets, but Yomi has her own charms and intelligence that more than makes up for anyone’s perception of her as overweight. And she’s not unattractive, it’s just that she doesn’t see herself that way. In fan-fiction she is usually forced into a shojo-ai pairing with Tomo, but I don’t think Yomi would see her best friend in that way. To me she’s more of a girl who would date boys if she could, but doesn’t think boys are the most important thing in the world at the start of the series.

And she wears glasses. Yomi is the only glasses girl in Azumanga Daioh, there are boys who wear glasses, even Kimura does, but Yomi’s the only glasses girl. And that in itself is interesting, because glasses are often used to give a touch of librarian chic to a female character, whether intentionally or not. Really she’s special among the Azumanga Daioh cast, but not special in the way Osaka is “special”. Osaka is in a league of her own on that one.