YMMV / Girl from Nowhere

• Accidental Aesop: Season 2 had three of them:
  • When given powers of a devil, humans are shown to be way more evil and monstrous than the devil herself.
  • Women can be as vile, sick and abusive as men are.
  • While there are bad people who get karma sooner or later, there are those kind of very bad people who use their power, wealth and status to escape justice and karma and punish the heroes for exposing them and walk free to continue hurting others without remorse.
• Actor Shipping: Nanno and TK's actors are shipped by the fandom because of their chemistry in "Lost and Found".
• Adorkable: TK initially seems aloof, but as he gradually warms up to Nanno, he shows an awkward and sweet side to him.
• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • In "Lost and Found", was TK fully aware of who Nanno really was when he said that he sensed that she would eventually leave him after she had her fun? On one hand, he could be generalizing due to what he had seen of her and his own trust issues. On the other hand, Nanno herself was surprised that TK even came to that conclusion.
  • Was Yuri really a poor Nice Girl who turned evil because of the abuse the bullies put her through? Or is she just a textbook sociopath who was a fraud from the beginning and concocted the fake sob story just to hide her true identity as a sociopathic sadist?
• Angel/Devil Shipping: Nanno, the daughter of Satan is heavily shipped with TK for being a nice guy amongst all of the scum she faced in Season 1.
• Awesome Music:
  • "Summertime Skyline" by Midday Static that plays in "Lost and Found" for being a relaxing guitar solo that highlights the romantic feelings between TK and Nanno.
  • A montage of Ying sabotaging other girls in "The Rank" is intercut with her playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Winter on the piano. And boy, does it make the somewhat wacky scene a lot more awesome.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • "Lost and Found" gives TK, and the audience, relief when TK gets to hug his father at the end of the episode.
  • "True Love" has Miss Narumeol finding love again and ends it with a Big Damn Kiss, the joy spreading to both the students and the viewers cheering for her.
• Common Knowledge: That this show is Live-Action Adaptation of Junji Ito's Tomie. Nanno is certainly an expy of Tomie and her actress even stated that she read the manga while preparing for the role, but it isn't.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: TK from "Lost and Found" became immensely popular for his sympathetic backstory, genuine kindness towards Nanno and the chemistry that forms between them. So popular that nearly all of the tropes on this page is about him. When he didn't appear in Season 2, fans immediately hoped that he made at least one appearance in Season 3.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: TK reuniting with Nanno is a very popular fanfic idea because of their chemistry in "Lost and Found". They also combined it with the first episode of Season 2 in which Nannai is pregnant with Nanno's daughter and that would allow Nanno to be with TK for good.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Many Americans and Latin Americans took an interest in the series after hearing it was a "Live-Action Adaptation of Junji Ito's Tomie" (it's not, but was heavily inspired by it). Because it is available on Netflix with English subtitles, it grew a large foreign fandom overnight.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Season 1's "Lost and Found" has enough of its share due to TK and Nanno's relationship growing into something more and it's the only episode of Season 1 where the focus character gets a happy (albeit a bittersweet) ending.
  • Season Two's "True Love" also deserves a mention for having a surprisingly happy ending, in which the sexist and uptight headmaster finds true love again at the end with her female co-worker, and they even kiss with all of the students watching in approval! Made better by the fact that up until then, she was shaken up over her best friend's death from an abortion complication. Even Nanno knows when to Throw the Dog a Bone sometimes.
• He's Just Hiding: With Nanno's fate left up in the air, which left the audience questioning if she will ever come back after Yuri had her executed after pulling a Despair Gambit on her in the last two episodes of Season 2 to make her mortal, caused the fans to resort to this trope. Holding out hope that Nanno giving Yuri's blood wasn't accidental and she may have done this to test her humanity, which exposed Yuri as an irredeemable tyrant on the rise.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Some of the Antagonist of the Episode characters are like this. Mew in "Trophy" (season 1, episode 3), for example — she plagiarized artwork and was a shitty friend. Those are undoubtedly bad things, but nowhere near the crimes that other characters have committed, such as being a teacher who sexually assaulted minors (like Mr. Win). However, plenty of viewers consider Mew to be among their most hated characters.
• Jerkass Woobie: Some of the episode villains are definitely like this. For example, Miss Aum in "Thank You, Teacher" is clearly mentally ill, but of course that is no excuse for her actions.
• LGBT Fanbase: Season Two's "True Love" has the uptight headmaster finding true love again with a female co-worker with the students cheering them on when they kiss. This has made the show (even more) popular than it is with LGBT fans.
• Love to Hate: Yuri. Unlike most sinners in this series, she definitely stands out as the evilest villain because of the fact she is a vile psychopath both on the inside and outside, both before and after she got Nanno's powers who manipulates to cause chaos so that she can benefit from it and gain perks and enjoy the fruits of her manipulation. She is even proven to be an Invincible Villain at the end who becomes a Karma Houdini, which caused the fans to loathe her even more.
• Memetic Mutation: Find any video involving the episode "Lost and Found" that doesn't have a comment quoting some of the more heartbreaking lines of the episode or wishing that TK and Nanno get a happy ending as friends/lovers.
• Moral Event Horizon: Most of the characters Nanno takes down cross it in some form or the other, but Yuri crosses it multiple times. If she didn't cross it yet when she killed a dog to frame Kaye into getting beaten up or having the mean girls raped and killed for their crimes, she finally crossed it when she exploited Jane's situation and used and gaslit her as a pawn in her game of cat-and-mouse with Nanno and finally, manipulates Junko and her mother, Waan into stabbing Nanno, in order to overthrow her and possibly go on to kill innocents and bring more chaos with Junko. Worst part is, she is the only villain in the series who got away with her actions. Any part of sympathy which was there for her was now completely out of the window after this one.
  • Junko herself crosses it when she murders students out of pettiness and aids in Waan stabbing Nanno and killing her once she has done her job.
• Narm Charm: TK asking Nanno to Pinky Swear with him should be seen as cheesy, but it doesn't stop viewers from crying over how earnest it is and how TK values Nanno as a friend.
• Signature Line: TK telling Nanno, "I really like you. Please don't disappear on me." from "Lost and Found", which cemented his loneliness and how much he truly loves Nanno. Many fans have commented that this line was when they started to cry their hearts out.
• Signature Scene: Nanno and TK's Big Damn Kiss or their promise in the attic in "Lost and Found". Or better yet just the entire episode in general as it's known to be a Tear Jerker.
• Shocking Moments: In the last two episodes of Season 2, Yuri revealing herself to be the main Big Bad of the series by pulling a Despair Gambit on Nanno which ends with the latter being stabbed by Waan. Thus making Yuri and Junko the first villains of the series to become a Karma Houdini.
• Strawman Has a Point: While Miss Aum from the season 1 episode "Thank You, Teacher" is a self-righteous jerkass at best and a mentally unstable serial killer at worst, her complaints about the school system weren't all too unfounded, since her performance is being ranked by a popularity poll, and a lot the students were taking advantage of their teacher's amicability to get out of doing any work. Not to mention that her style of teaching wasn't all that strict, and was actually trying to encourage her students to think outside the box. Granted, her teaching style more than likely has little to with her unpopularity.
• Tear Jerker:
  • "Lost and Found" has been noted to be the saddest episode in Season 1 due to TK's loneliness and him begging Nanno not to disappear and it's hard not to find a video on YouTube about someone crying about the episode or at least begging Nanno and TK to be together. Hell, Nanno herself sheds a tear as she leaves!
  TK: (to Nanno, the final lines of the episode) What if I don't want to lose somebody? I don't want to lose you.
  (There's a Beat before it shows Nanno walking away from him with tears in her eyes as the rain falls and TK is left alone, staring at a previously stolen painting)
  • To make this even worse, Nanno can't fall in love with him as Season 2 reveals that if she starts feeling emotions for her victims, she starts becoming mortal.
  • Many fans suggested that even though TK got what he wanted in getting his father back, Nanno being the personification of karma meant that his thieving ways made him lose something important in the end: Nanno herself.
  • TK's actor, Ekhi, sums it like this, "TK and Nanno can be together...but not forever."
  • In "The Judgement", Nanno being supposedly murdered by Waan. Worst part is that this is the first time she failed to bring karma to the villains Yuri and Junko and they got away with their misdeeds. This is made even worse when in her final narration of the season, Nanno sounds more hopeless and in despair, which hits home that how dangerous and dreaded Yuri and Junko have become and nobody, not even Nanno, would be able to stop their tyranny. Darkest Hour indeed!
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: While plenty of Nanno's victims are horrible people (like Mr. Win in the pilot and Kaye in SOTUS) who deserved to be punished, others (like Mew in Trophy and I-Tim and Taew in Apologies) seemed like everyday people who had the bad luck to be chosen by Nanno. While they have their flaws and darkness, they didn't do anything major or terrible to others until Nanno comes in the picture and gauge them into bad things.
• The Woobie: In a world where most people Nanno tests are absolutely despicable, TK stands out. He only steals just to get some attention from his father and he is shown to be sympathetic and kind to Nanno, only asking her to not disappear and even will take the fall for her during a crime. Thankfully he gets a happy ending upon seeing his father again, but Nanno has to leave him behind to continue her mission.
  • Jane in "Jenny X" also counts. Her whole life she was treated like a cash cow as a social media influencer by her parents. She then turns to Nanno for help, feeling like she is the only one who understands her situation. After getting a much needed freedom from it, Yuri ends up making her a pawn in her own twisted game of cat-and-mouse with Nanno, which then results in Nanno stealing her identity and her life as a result. So much so that Nanno herself ended up being remorseful about it.
  • Nanno herself becomes this in "The Judgement" when her mission involving Junko and her mother Waan was actually a death trap set up by Yuri.
  • Miss Naruemol. She never got over the trauma of losing her best friend, whom it was implied she was in love with, to a botched abortion. Her mistreatment of male students isn't good, but it is done out of a sincere desire to protect young girls. Notably, she never slut-shames her female students or acts as if they should never be interested in the opposite-sex (she mentions them getting married and having families when they're older, and presumably, their potential partners will be less likely to hurt them); she just uses extreme, misguided methods to try to protect them from being taken advantage of or otherwise hurt by what she perceives to be horny, careless boys. Her reaction to Miss Linda's declaration of love comes across as less propelled by any genuine homophobia and more of, 'Wait, women being together in such a way isn't a thing.' It's heartwarming when whatever the appearance of her dead friend is, her imagination, Nanno using tricks, or the actual spirit of her friend, tells her to accept the requited love she and Miss Linda share and she does.

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