malymin

Circles¹ and Spheres, that which is Domestic², and Magic.

( Quotes )

_{1. See also: magic circle.}

_{2: Living near or about human habitations, as of animals. Tame, domesticated, as of animals. Of or relating to the household or the family. Devoted to home duties and pleasures.}

In 1998, an adaptation of the manga Yu-Gi-Oh! came out.

It was not a faithful adaptation, per say, but it started from the beginning. (Once upon a time, there was a bullied boy who loved games, all games, who was trying to solve a puzzle...) It was common, back then, for adaptations to not only be full of filler, but to also make changes, seemingly on a whim.

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a shounen, and like many shounen, it only has a single girl within its core cast. A lone girl, Mazaki Anzu, conceptualized as a love interest to its titular lead. Her story is a familiar one, among girls of shounen: she starts off headstrong, fiesty, someone with a bit of fire in her, even as the narrative finds excuses to damsel or sexually harass her... and then, as the genre shifts, her personality wastes away, her harsher edges eroding, as she drifts towards the platonic passive Girl-Thing, written by a Shounen Jump author who no longer has time in his schedule to go outside and meet real human women.

In 1998, a minor character - someone only from a single chapter, who barely even spoke - was ascended, to be her equal, her foil, the Second Girl. Her name was Nosaka Miho.