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Which characters have the best bows?
When I think of bows, my mind auto points to Sailor Moon, but there must be more variety I've never noticed. In Sailor Moon, each of the girls had a bow that reflected their personality and matched the rest of their outfit. As a set, they're pretty iconic, and the bows were functional (for transformation, ofc). Arguably, Kiki's bow from Kiki's delivery service is lively, but I'd also say the magic comes from the Miyazaki's animation. Would a big bow even move like that? I like the costuming details on the Sailor Moon bows, but the volume in Kiki's is undeniably cuter.
I'd like to submit Chika Fujiwara's from Love is War for consideration, purely for its unique placement.
I can’t find it right now but there’s a hilarious page in the manga where Kaguya and Chika compare their daily hair styling routine;
The fact that it's right on the front of her head is very cute. The contrast of the darker fabric pops on her forehead and matches her dress, so it's got a lot going for it.
This is the weirdest topic I've seen on Tildes.
I love it.
I can't really think of any at the moment but one: Lymle from Star Ocean 4. Giant bows on staffs are a pretty iconic look by themselves, but this design with the early 20th century frills is just interesting to me. But Star Ocean has bows - or ribbons, at least - on practically every female character. Actually now that I think about it practically every Japanese sci-fi female character will have either a bow or some other hair accessory.
That's what makes it a bō staff
(I'll see myself out)
I'm usually the person who wants anime and manga to been seen as a medium worthy of serious study but this thread really made me smile on what has otherwise been a bad week so I appreciate /u/primarily for creating this thread. I think gushing over moé character designs was just what the doctor ordered.
I don't know if this fully counts as a hair bow but I really like the flower petal hair tie design that Leafa has in Sword Art Online because of how fairy looking it is.
The size of the bow on the staff is really nice. It becomes this pillow-y drape when she holds it close, or it makes the rest of her seem smaller and boxier when it's held out. The movement of the bow adds a lot to [her attacks when they're animated.] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8QATGKYaJc) When she holds it down and the bow's on the floor it adds a lot to her childish character.
I thought this question was about archery bows. And then I thought it was about bowing. I think I understand now it’s about head bows.
I want to hear about people's favourite anime archery bows too.
The classic answer would of course be Princess Mononoke and all the bows there
Honorable mention to Beatrice's bow from Zom100 though, as she's proficient in all the
weebancient Japanese weaponsBut really though, I'm hard pressed to think of any archery bows in anime that are anything beyond a basic recurve
You also see Japanese asymmetrical bows.
That's exactly what I thought it was gonna be about........
You really gotta look in the direction of Touhou Project
Can't say I've spent much time cataloging character's bows, but my first thought would be Reimu Hakurei from Touhou.
Arjuna's Gandiva is pretty cool too.
Now that is a bow. It's ridiculous size translates well in the pixel sprite I spotted. It's simple, but the white ruffle against the red stands out in grayscale as well. I'm going to make the argument that this bow comes out far ahead of some of the others because this character is almost more bow than human, with the way it's transformed from project to project while staying identifiable. In the character lineup, she's also very unique, even though the rest of the night caps are stellar.
Miss Bianca from The Rescuers because it's almost as big as her head.
In real life, Obi bows from kimonos can be much bigger than the wearer's head
And I'm all
For
It
I like how the bow transitions depending on her outfit. Sometimes she's more casual with it as a giant bow, where, in other scenes, it becomes a wrap around. She seems like a very nice mouse with a matching hat, and the transformation element makes her appear very practical.
Sorey and Mikleo's armatization bow of course.
And you didn't mention which Sailormoon ribbon-bow. I'm not as big of a fan of Star uniform overall, as the clear ribbons on Super S which is a direct callback to the eternally elegant Princess Serenity bow.
And for newer series I nominate Rozalin from Disgaea 2. (Erh, it's a game but let's count it as an animated short because of the awesome OP)
Nakku: Bouken Densetsu throws the best ‘bows, clearly.