Shiori is so much more than a shy, bookish, probably autistic girl. She has more complex, more real emotions going on. In particular, she regards herself as being quite smart and her thoughts as interesting, but she is ashamed that she doesn't know how to translate any of her intelligence into smooth articulation. She is at her most calm and at her happiest when she is most distant from this source of shame i.e. when she is alone with her books. She would like to think that she can just avoid her problem forever, but on some level she knows that she probably can't. She is at a loss for how to make herself understood. She just wants someone to understand her.
As someone whose thoughts race at light speed and doesn't say even 1% of all the things that I think are cool and interesting, and as someone who has a knack for picking the most easily misunderstood ways of saying things, I quite relate to Shiori's plight. And I feel like that makes for a really strong connection: waifu understands that what I say doesn't necessarily reflect what I mean, and I understand that waifu always has way more going on than she expresses. Did I mention that she has one of the most adorable character designs I've ever seen in anime? I could pet that beautiful black hair for hours, if not days. Any of the sheer variety of facial expressions that she is capable is instant moe; it's magical just how literally all of Shiori's emotions are the cutest things ever. Her big grin that she only makes when she's rearranging books, her anger when Keima trolls her, her embarrassment when she accidentally says "arigaron"; everything is perfect and beautiful.
Also, Kana Hanazawa's performance brings out all the complexities of Shiori's personality that the animation can't quite evoke. While her normal voice sounds a lot like Tsukimi from Jellyfish Princess -- in particular nervous Shiori sounds almost exactly like nervous Tsukimi -- the biggest difference between the two HanaKana characters is that Shiori's internal monologues have this calm, happy tone that Tsukimi is just not capable of. You can imagine Shiori thinking even something like "Hito to fureau no wa nigate desu" with a slight smile on her face, like she is in a place of total comfort. HanaKana brings out this aspect of her character in addition to her already super-cute normal voice.
I love you Shiori! Waifu4laifu!! |
