Kaoru Orihara

In the show Brother Dear Brother (Oniisama E) Kaoru no Kimi is compared to the legendary Japanese nobleman of the same name from Shikibu Murasaki’s hefty novel, The Tale of Genji (written c. 1000 A.D.) Like him, Kaoru is handsome, noble and pleasantly fragrant. Like her good friend Saint Juste, Kaoru is also an androgynous high school superstar with a love of French poetry and basketball, and a coterie of ardent admirers. In fact, Kaoru is often exasperated by the endless adulation of the younger girls who flock around her. Unfortunately, because she is a freshman herself she is unable to get away from them!

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~ The Lauderdale

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More about Kaoru:

Kaoru has been held back a year due to an unknown ailment and, although she seems the picture of health, has a deep awareness of her own mortality. This has only stoked her fierce love of life, which she strives to live to its fullest. What is the nature of the unknown affliction that darkens Kaoru’s life? For whom does she reserve the abiding love that gives her the strength to carry on? Kaoru, along with Saint Juste and Miya-sama, is considered one of the three “Magnificent Ones” at Seiran Academy, who are held up as shining role models because of their beauty and talents. However, it is Kaoru’s kind heart, idealism and willingness to stand up for what is right that truly make her a worthy example for others.

Comments:

While I was interested in Saint Juste even before watching the series, it was Kaoru who most struck me in the first episode. A tall, vibrant individual with a warm heart, she is an island of common sense and normalcy in a chaotic sea of high school angst and melodrama. She also gets some of the best lines. Brother Dear Brother is for the most part a serious show—if someone says something funny, more often than not it is Kaoru. Kaoru is able to maintain a sense of good humor and to enjoy life, in spite (or, more accurately, because of) her own personal tragedy. She is the most heroic and admirable person in the series.

~ The Lauderdale

Favorite quotes:

Kaoru: The bell is ringing! Hurry! Take your seats!
Girl One: [gossiping]…so anyway….
Girl Two: Yes, what then?
Kaoru: Come on! You two, take your seats!
Girl One: You look so pretty when you are angry!
Girl Three: Lucky you! Being scolded by Kaoru-no-Kimi…
Girl Four: Please, scold me too!
Kaoru: [groans]

Teacher: Don’t mix the sugar and egg white at once. That’s the key. First, you separate the egg white from the yolk. Please begin now.
Kaoru: [tries to follow these instructions, with dismaying results] Sensei, this is too much like a circus trick!
Teacher: It’s easy for girls, but for you…?
Kaoru: It’s like you’re implying that I’m not a girl…
Teacher: Give me reasons to imply that you ARE a girl, then….[other girls laugh]
Kaoru: Ok, whatever it takes! [promptly destroys another egg]

Kaoru: No one truly understands another…but someone who cares can try to, anyway.

Kaoru: You’re so pale. You can’t go on abusing your health this way.
Mariko: Leave me alone. What good is health? Who cares about health!
Kaoru: [crushes the food in her hand] You don’t care! [hoists Mariko into the air] You’re talking nonsense! [slowly lowers her to the ground] You wouldn’t say that if you weren’t still healthy.

~ The Lauderdale

Pics and description contributed by The Lauderdale