ZEXCS latest triumph on the tsundere landscape

12May/099

ZEXCS latest triumph on the tsundere landscape – Felli Loss

Few studios do tsundere like ZEXCS. And they do it right because unlike most others who shape characters out of a tsundere core, ZEXCS first lovingly craft credible characters and THEN coax out tsundere qualities ONLY IF they are aligned with her personality. ZEXCS understands 3 key things about tsundere -

1. No one is ALWAYS tsundere.
2. Tsundere is not character but an expression of it.
3. Any girls in love CAN be made tsundere.

Adhering to these basis, the audience would then be assured not to get tsundere-poisoning (overdoses of unnecessary, unjustified tsundere) and yet able to enjoy strategically released tsundere charm from any female in the cast.

ZEXCS most recent triumph in the tsundere realm is Felli Loss. Traditionally there are 2 characters classes that make good tsunderes - ojousama (with their tremendous 'royal' pride) and brother-loving imouto (who need to hide their taboo inclinations). Adilicia (Rental Magica) and Nemu (Da Capo) are classic examples of well-crafted tsunderes from ZEXCS. With Felli, we can now officially add EQ-challenged psychokinesis users onto the list.

I don't deny that my overwhelming love for Felli could be influenced to her light-hair attribute or Nakahara Mai voice but most of the credit needs to go ZEXCS for bringing out her endearing qualities. Underneath that seemingly violent, shin-bashing, disinterested facade lies a confused little girl, grappling with powerful feelings for Fon-fon yet having poorly developed avenues of expressing them.

For those who haven't discovered Hontounia's current top tsundere, do check out Chrome Shelled Regios - also my current favourite series airing. You may just find more than well-crafted, endearing tsunderes.

Filed under: Chrome Shelled Regios Leave a comment

Comments (9) Trackbacks (2) ( subscribe to comments on this post )

Ryan A
May 12th, 2009 - 10:48

She is a completely wonderful character! Somewhere along the way it’s hard to not have sympathy for her; likely the episode we realize it’s quite difficult for her to smile, and it’s like 1000% adorable.

so good

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holyman282
May 13th, 2009 - 23:17

haha I was wondering when you’ll delve into the world of Regios and knowing your tastes I thought that blogging about this show would of been an inevitability.

I was just surprised it took you that long to bring up the show lol.

Indeed Felli is a wonderful character cause she doesn’t stay tsundere mode for the whole series. To me tsundere isn’t a personality but more of an transitional symptom, it’s great to see Felli slowly coming out of her tsundere shelled i mean watch ep 18 that was just purely a felli moment.

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Stripey
May 14th, 2009 - 08:33

Ryan A: I give much of the credit to ZEXCS. Their bishoujos always have more depth, charm and ’staying power’ than other studios. I suspect they have more female touches than most others but that’s just a very wild guess

holyman282: This reminds of another light hair bishoujo confession, ep 19 in another of ZEXCS series. E-chan and her valentines day confession. Top five in anime confession ranking. Regio is a great show, not only for the layered and yet endearing characters but the intriguing world. However I’m concerned that with 6 eps remaining, the show may have bit off more than it could chew. I hope it doesn’t do a classic SUNRISE trainwreck. XD

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Ashram
May 15th, 2009 - 05:21

Ahhhh Felli, her habit of kicking things is somehow endearing, heh. I was pretty shocked on the swimming pool ep. when her dear brother suffered a shattered leg…holy crap!

Not to mention extremely funny

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8ghosts
May 15th, 2009 - 15:40

I would give more credit to the original source more so than ZEXCS since she is awesome even in
the two mangas that are based on Regios

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Stripey
May 16th, 2009 - 11:09

Ashram: I enjoyed the swimming ep tremendously. The helpless Felli who spoke with all the sweet nuances Nakahara Mai can possibly master was absolutely adorable.

8ghosts: Ah thanks for the highlight. I haven’t read the source but I think at least ZEXCS needs then to be commended for faithfully transcribing Felli’s charm from static to moving.

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Nazarielle
May 18th, 2009 - 09:41

Excellent, Felli has won over another one :p After hearing Nakahara Mai as Felli, I’ve become an even bigger fan of her, and I love how all the girls took turns doing a duet with the ending song (the first ending). Ah, now I need to watch another episode of Regios to get my fix of delicious Felli-chan :3

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Kvakond
May 24th, 2009 - 08:58

Shame on me for not checking here more often, I almost missed this wonderful entry. Actually I’m quite surprised, I didn’t think Regios would be your type of thing.

But to stay on topic, it really is a unique and great show, but what kept me watching in the first weeks was none other than Felli. She just had this wonderful cool charm (if I had to find a similar character I think it would be Mai from Kanon), that made her one of my favorite characters under 2-3 eps. On second thought she might be #1 right now.

I hope the show will treat her the way she deserves it, as well as they’ll make a second season instead of choking to death from trying to bring closure in 5 eps.

“I don

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Stripey
May 25th, 2009 - 00:16

Nazarielle: Nakahara Mai is soooo versatile. She does the psycho role so well too – Rena (Higurashi), Asami (Myself; yourself). My favourite role of hers would always be Mai (Mai HiME). The variations of “Kagutsuchi” alone should win her some anime oscar

Kvakond: Yes, there MUST be another season, else the series would just be heading for another classic SUNRISE trainwreck end. Ep 19 just opened a whole can of worms and I’m sure it cannot be resolved in 5 eps. But with ZEXCS’ recent light novel adaptations (Rental magica, Oinari), they seems pretty content to end without resolving everything. I suppose that’s fine too provided they still have sufficient closure to for a satisfying interim finish.

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