Meet Tomoyo
Daidouji Tomoyo is the best friend of the heroine Kinomoto Sakura. She is introduced right at the beginning and is a recurring character until the end. That would make Tomoyo one of the main characters.
"Tomoyo is the smart and beautiful and the daughter of the CEO of Daidouji Corporations. She's really rich and nice."
- Sakura (Volume 1, Chapter 1)
Key Words
Some common key words come to mind when one thinks of Tomoyo:
|
|
|
Once upon a time (a very long time ago), my plan for this very website was to analyse key words associated with Tomoyo. I soon realised that this wouldn't work because a) there is so much overlap - it's just not possible to analyse 'aspects' of character without relating to other 'aspects' and b) these key words only represent what Tomoyo is on the surface. These words are only the impression that she gives.
In preparation for writing up this site, I visited as many existing CardCaptor Sakura related sites as I could find to see what the general view of Tomoyo was. There were a couple of common ideas that came through quite strongly. Mostly, they relate to the key words that I have specified above. It seemed to me that much of content on Tomoyo around the web were paraphrasing each other. I think it's because Tomoyo does give a consistent impression. She is either loved or critisized for her so called perfection.
Her Purpose
Tomoyo is a vehicle for CLAMP to provide cute outfits, humour and support. Someone had to be designing all the cute outfits that Sakura wears. Tomoyo is also there for a bit of humour with her flamboyant obsession with video taping Sakura. Last but not least, Tomoyo is there for support. She is the one that guides the other characters (specifically Sakura and Syaoran) with her wise words.
The Best Friend
The intelligent, mature and beautiful 'best friend' figure is actually quite common in Shoujo manga. Just off the top of my head, other examples include: Meiko (Marmalade Boy), Usio (Shinshi Doumei Cross) and Moko (Skip Beat). While the 'best friend' role is an incredibly important part of Tomoyo's character, it shouldn't confine her. Tomoyo is Tomoyo, with or without Sakura.
So Why Tomoyo?
If I were completely honest about it, an important part of why I love Tomoyo so much is because I encountered her around the age of 10. If I'd only read or watched CardCaptor Sakura, I can't say for sure that I'd be so attached to her. That's not to say that I love Tomoyo purely because I always have. I have outgrown characters in the past but Tomoyo remains special to me. What I mean is that I have had the time to digest her character and try to understand it as well as I can. While I view her very differently from when I was younger, Tomoyo remains an endearing and inspirational character.