Basic Trope: A woman who conforms to classic Japanese ideals of femininity.
- Straight: Sakura is somewhat pretty and she has a demure personality. She is also devoted to her friends, family and the man she loves. She writes haiku and performs tea ceremonies. However, while she's certainly polite, she's not a pushover, and can be firm when she needs to be.
- Exaggerated:
- Sakura wears a formal kimono every day and literally does nothing but bow, smile and serve tea even as a yokai-on-yakuza battle royale erupts around her. Until one of the combatants bumps into the table and knocks one of the teacups off, breaking it. At which point she politely but firmly asks them all to take their fight elsewhere. Which they do.
- She is the daughter of a Big Good mother and all of her three sisters are members of an action ensemble, so you would think that she would be implicated in public affairs and somehow rebellious against paternal authority when it takes bad decisions. When everyone is this close from a possible dimension-altering incident, she kindly serves tea to Cthulhu and regrets Satan's absence, as her father, an extremely Corrupt Corporate Executive, had cordially invited him. All this while remaining indisputably Lawful and undoubtedly Good. She firmly insists that all the Eldritch Abominations around the tea table remain Affably Evil at least for the duration of her reception.
- Downplayed: Sakura sometimes sets her own personal goals over her friends, family or her husband, without ignoring the people she's devoted to. While she may be well versed when it comes to art, she isn't obsessed with it. Sakura never initated a giant Freak Out, but she is sometimes more offensive and active, than she is supposed to be. Nevertheless, she still retains her elegance. In short: She occasionally fails at Silk Hiding Steel.
- Justified: Sakura is from a traditional Japanese family and thus was raised to have these sorts of values.
- Inverted:
- Sakura is a ladette.
- Sakura is a Perky Goth.
- Sakura is One of the Boys.
- Ryuji is The Idiot from Osaka (Amerikamura, in particular) who actively eschews Japanese traditions, styles his already punkish pompadour into increasingly idiotic shapes, is a loud, bombastic, and overall Boisterous Bruiser, doesn't give a rat's ass about how his family thinks, and manages to zigzag being a Paper Tiger Miles Gloriosus (being that he seems weak and tries to act tough, but can really defeat Sakura and all of her family and friends despite being comedically outnumbered).
- Subverted:
- Sakura is actually an undercover agent disguised as a girl from a traditional Japanese family and is using the behaviors expected of a young woman of that class so her cover won't be blown.
- Yandere
- Cute and Psycho
- Or a repressed Tsundere.
- Double Subverted:
- It turns out she really is a Yamato Nadeshiko outside the agent gig, and felt comfortable and happy in that role. It's the reason she was chosen for it.
- Lady of War
- Parodied: Sakura's hair is so long she trips on it and her body is hidden by exaggerated and puffed up traditional clothing. She speaks in nothing but flowery haiku that no one understands. She conducts a tea ceremony with beer and is quickly drunk as a skunk.
- Zig Zagged:
- Sakura was undercover as a Yamato Nadeshiko, but is like that in her personal life too, but only to make her parents happy, until it turns into a habit and she does it when they're not around.
- Sakura is a street girl who looks the part with long dark hair in a Hime Cut and is regularly polite to others but this is because she can't find anything to cut her hair, her politeness is really Tranquil Fury and she refers to herself with Bokukko. Then she married a noble who fell in love with her and at their wedding she is a picture perfect YN in appearance and speech patterns. However, this is because she rehearsed with tutors and is a tomboy in private. Then her family castle is besieged by Samurai from a rival clan and she takes up a naginata to protect her family and fights beside her husband. When the siege is over, she washes blood off her kimono, of which none is hers.
- Averted: Sakura is not particularly demure, domestic, or into Japanese culture.
- Enforced: Sakura is from a show where the writers are trying to teach about traditional Japanese values, and they want to teach about the traditional Japanese ideal woman.
- Lampshaded: "It's like you came out of a Japanese show where the women are all sweet and traditional."
- Invoked: Sakura decides that, in order to be more feminine, she'll have to become a Yamato Nadeshiko.
- Exploited: "Let's have Sakura arrange the Peace Conference between all the Yakuza clans. At least they won't feel insulted and get into a Mob War."
- Defied: Sakura is a Straw Feminist.
- Discussed: "If we were anime characters, Sakura would be the sweet homemaker with a Hime Cut."
- Conversed: "Man, Sakura must have nerves of steel to deal with that asshole villain's behavior."
- Deconstructed:
- Sakura really isn't a Yamato Nadeshiko. Maybe she's a Tomboy, a Tomboy with a Girly Streak, or hell, a girl with personality, it doesn't matter. Despite that, she's forced to be a Nadeshiko in very much the same way that say, English girls were forced to be an English Rose. When she protests, they call her mannish and "not a true Japanese girl". She succumbs to the pressure, abandons her personality, and becomes a Broken Bird.
- Sakura might not show it, but her self-esteem is damaged because she puts others' needs always before her own. Alternately, she puts the needs of others before herself because she has such low self-esteem.
- Stepford Smiler
- Reconstructed:
- Sakura gets help in regards to her self-esteem problems and learns to take care of herself better. She still acts like a YN sometimes because she likes it.
- Sakura is taciturn by nature but expresses her disapproval in polite insults or a subtle Dope Slap.
- Played For Laughs: Sakura is trying to be polite as she can be, but when someone makes a snide comment about her weight, she loses her composure and lashes out an acidic insult back.
- Played For Drama: Sakura is trying to be an ideal woman to her bitchy mother, hoping that she'll finally accept her and love her.
To go back to Yamato Nadeshiko, click here. I hope you have enjoyed reading this.
