Waifu Wednesday: Yui (Angel Beats!)

I have been on a Angel Beats! kick recently, what with last week’s Waifu Wednesday piece being on the anime title’s Angel herself, Kanade Tachibana. It’s time to finally bring the holy trinity of a Jun Maeda classic together as we cover Angel Beats!’s adorably precious wild child Yui, a darling you will either immediately cherish or learn to wholeheartedly appreciate once her hidden depths are explored.

Here’s to my initial favourite character of this anime that originally aired back in 2010 – it’s not one to be forgotten about anytime soon, after all!

Spoilers vaguely mentioned.

Who is Yui?

Although being seen in the very first episode as an insignificant background character, Yui would quite literally take centre stage as the replacement singer of the band Girls Dead Monster, operating under the command of Yuri, leader of the Afterlife Battlefront. Being seemingly difficult to warm up to for both characters and audience alike due to Yui being Iwasawa’s replacement, this puts her in one of the most unique positions within the show.

That is because not only is Yui deemed as an “inferior” stand-in as the band’s vocalist in the eyes of other characters, since she is unable to sing whilst playing a guitar, but her overall behaviour is a complete contrast to Iwasawa’s more chill and stoic character; a character that audiences would have been absolutely committed to by this point. Yui was already at a disadvantage due to the natural comparisons she draws to such a predecessor, and her grand entrance probably did more damage than good – at least to most.

Yui being so loudly and even chaotically hyperactive at every single opportunity allowed the show to use her almost exclusively as comic relief once she started integrating herself better with the rest of the characters. But this was only the beginning of her journey, and what she brought to the anime overall in the long run. The emotional damage hit hard!

Why we love her

Yui’s appeal to me predates my discovery of my all-time favourite genki girl, Minori Kushieda of Toradora!, but the appeal elements are similar; the two of them conceal their hidden depths for the majority of their shows’ runtimes. While Yui is just as much of a goofball as the rest of the main group of Angel Beats!, her rough-around-the-edges attributes in her attitude alone will make you either immediately love her or hate her.

She has got quite a frank and even rude way of speaking, but what’s even more apparent in terms of her attitude is how she takes any and every opportunity to point out the stupid remarks or actions of those around her. On the other hand, her overall design is extremely satisfying in how it somehow manages to balance out all her many defining but unique traits that are at odds with one another.

For example, the not-so-subtle demon motifs in her design visually illustrate her mischievousness while the cat motifs reinforce her playfulness. It’s quite a hint to her hidden depths, in fact. That’s not to mention how her character design also captures the other sides of her, such as her colour scheme being pink to highlight her major goal in life. It’s simple but effective, and once again ups the emotional gravity when we finally get to the revelations concerning her character.

Why you will love her

Yui’s lasting impact, due to her storyline and consequential emotional pull, makes for one of the most moving scenes in the anime’s entire runtime when her character-specific journey comes to an end. Not only is it an extremely important moment for the other characters in relation to their core mission in moving on from this purgatory world, Yui’s exit is the biggest tearjerker scene in the anime. “Ichiban no Takaramono” remains one of the toughest songs to listen to without crying your heart out if you’ve seen the scene in question.

With Yui’s character-specific revelation being the simple wish of just wanting to be loved — and being unable to due to her state of living before arriving at the school — her sweet and heartfelt intention to actually live a life to the fullest is beautiful. Furthermore, regardless of how chaotic she is, she never loses sight of where she came from, making it clear that she feels indebted to her mother. It showcases just how considerate she is and always will be.

Plus, her singing voice is portrayed by the one and only LiSA. There’s no way you couldn’t possibly have a soft spot for her.

If at this point you still have yet to watch this timeless anime, do yourself a favour and head on over to Crunchyroll right now.

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