| Read or Die character | |
| |
| Anita King | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Age | 12 (manga), 13 (TV series) |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Occupation | Bodyguard to Nenene Sumiregawa |
| Seiyū | Chiwa Saito |
| Voice Actor | Rachel Hirschfeld |
Anita King (アニタ・キング Anita Kingu) is the youngest of the Paper Sisters, a spitfire who specializes in using her paper offensively (by throwing index cards like shuriken), but also uses her physical agility as a fighter. She loves frogs and milk, yet ironically dislikes books. At the time of R.O.D the TV, Anita is 13 years old.
Appearance and Personality
As well as being the youngest sister, Anita is also the shortest, standing at 141 cm (4' 7") tall. She also has pink hair, although British Library records indicate that Anita is a redhead. Anita is extremely quick and agile, which not only makes her extremely dangerous as a fighter but also ingratiates her into her seventh grade class.
She is well liked in her class, and especially admired by classmate named Hisami Hishiishii, nicknamed Hisa by Anita. The relationship between the two is compared by Hisa to the extremely close friendship found between two of the characters, Anne and Diana, in "Anne of Green Gables".
She makes friends easily, despite her brash attitude. She becomes friends with Junior easily, and Junior trusts her and likes her - though of what level, we don't know. She is sometimes bratty, and she is a bit brash and outspoken, blunt is a good word for it, but she really does care about those close to her. She feels a deep love to her sisters even though she doesn't always act like it.
Although she sometimes acts bratty and self-important, she deeply loves her sisters. It was revealed by Joseph Carpenter that Anita was originally a genetic test subject of the British Library Special Operations Division to be their artificially created Papermaster but ended up as a failure. She was then kidnapped by a Dokusensha undercover agent and was brought to Hong Kong.
Powers and Skills
Her preferred paper manipulation is a throwing blade. In battle, she is responsible for offence.
Anita's abilities are strongly offensive. In battle, she prefers wielding small blades and engaging in close combat with the enemy. Other tactics include spreading paper over the floor to 'sense' invisible enemies and using telekinesis to 'throw' blades of paper. Unfortunately, her focus on offense usually leaves her wide open for a counterattack, and Anita relies on a partner to cover her back.
Anita's defensive abilities are much weaker. She requires large amounts of paper (a thick book) to block projectiles such as bullets and drills, a task that most Paper Masters only require a few or a single sheet to accomplish. She has basic paper 'support' abilities, such as summoning paper (telekinesis) and using it to create a disguise.
Anita wears two holsters on her legs, where she can draw sheets of paper, both individually and 'chained'.
Unlike most Paper Masters, Anita's paper abilities serve to enhance her physical ones, instead of solely relying on paper to fight.
Anita is immensely strong for a child her age, and also very flexible. She is so confident in her abilities of strength and flexibility she relies upon them to save her life by leaning backwards out of a fourth-floor window and over a roof railing. Anita has apparently exceptionally prehensible toes, being able to tear pages from a book with her bare feet and pick up knives and single papers with her toes.
According to Nenene, all Anita knows how to cook are curry, hamburgers and rice.
Character History
R.O.D the TV
Anita was created by the British Library as an experiment - to see if a Paper Master who didn't love books could exist. The result was Anita, who was deemed a failure despite her successful inheritance of the Paper Master genes. Her paper powers never manifested until Yomiko's terrorist attack on the British Library, but in the confusion she was kidnapped by Dokusensha.
Dokusensha was unable to use Anita as a lone agent because of her phobia to books, so they created other Paper Masters using the British Library's data. Unfortunately, these users were 'psychologically defective', so to train them Dokusensha rewrote their memories and staged meetings between them to make them live in 'families'.
Anita, Maggie and Michelle met in a church when Anita was ten years old, on Christmas Eve: Maggie and Michelle were sent by Dokusensha to investigate a cache of books and Anita was hiding there after running away from her foster family. On Christmas Day the two older girls return with presents for Anita - each of them with a book titled "Story of a Giraffe with a Shrunken Neck". From then on they lived as the Paper Sisters, running the Three Sisters Detective Agency to support themselves.
It is one year after this incident when they meet Nenene Sumiregawa and R.O.D the TV begins.
Read or Dream
Anita was brought to Maggie and Michelle by Dokusensha to 'look after her'. Anita was initially silent and sullen around the girls, not understanding their love of books. However, she came to accept them, gradually hanging around them even if there were books around. She was finally given "Story of a Giraffe with a Shrunken Neck" to read, as it was a simple picture book. As Anita read it, her paper abilities awakened and she fainted.
Dokusensha came in to retrieve Anita at that point. They congratulated Maggie and Michelle for their success and gave each of them a blank cheque to fill in with whatever amount they pleased as payment. The girls are upset at their 'sister' getting kidnapped, however, but leave to claim their reward.
Anita is strapped into a chair, having returned to her indifferent self. She is to be used in one of Dokusensha's experiments, similar to Nenene in Twilight of the Papers, Part I. Maggie and Michelle bust in, demanding their reward and holding their cheques: "Anita". Despite Dokusensha's threats, the pair take Anita back to live with them.
Relationships
Sister
The paper sisters are the protagonists of Read or Dream and R.O.D The T.V. Not truly sisters, the 3 roomates are related by a psionic control over paper. It is revealed late in the series that they were actually genetically engineered by Dokusensha (and, for Anita, the Special Operations Division). The trio are occasionally hired by Dokunsensha to carry out missions.
The Paper Sisters' names are derived from names of 3 real Hong Kong action stars: Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, and Michelle Yeoh (who has also been credited as Michelle Khan). These three actresses starred together in the 1993 movie The Heroic Trio as the titular heroines.
Anita King (アニタ・キング Anita Kingu): The youngest sister, a spitfire who specializes in using her paper offensively (by throwing index cards like shuriken), but also uses her physical agility as a fighter. She loves frogs, yet ironically dislikes books. She is well liked in her class, and especially admired by a classmate named Hisa. Although she sometimes acts bratty and self-important, she deeply loves her sisters. One of her closest friends is Hisa, who compares the two to characters with an extremely close friendship in Anne of Green Gables.
Hisami Hishiishii
When Anita begins attending junior high school, she quickly befriends the soft-spoken and shy Hisami Hishiishii and gives her the nickname "Hisa". While Anita generally dislikes books, she reads them for the sake of Hisa, who loves books and reads often. The two girls become very close friends, comparable to Anne Shirley and Diana Barry in Anne of Green Gables.
In the Read or Dream manga, Hisami appears in Hong Kong as a young author and the two soon become friends when the Paper Sisters are hired to protect Hisami from possible kidnappers.
Junior
Anita first encounters Junior when he is attempting to recover one of Mr. Gentleman's books hidden at her junior high school, but is unaware of who he is because he is masked. She subsequently meets Junior when he poses as a student at the school and befriends him, unaware that he was the assailant at the library. Junior is drawn to Anita because of her kindness and soon finds it difficult to betray her to Joseph Carpenter and his plans. Anita, upon discovering his true identity, feels betrayed and finds herself unable to trust someone she considered a friend. After a good whack on the head, she forgives him for the most part. There has been question as to their feelings for each other. It suggests Anita likes him when she says "The best part is, trying to make you feel the way I do" (Episode 8), or something of the like. Junior shows affection for her while saying "I'd rather be talking to you." Episode 6)
Maggie Mui
Maggie, as Anita's sister, will do anything to protect Anita, even if it means dying or reluctantly handing Nenene over to the British Library. They trust and love each other, but Anita's thoughtless criticism of Maggie has, at times, affected Maggie's confidence concerning her ability to help and protect her sisters.
Michelle Cheung
While Anita is down to earth and practical, Michelle is free-spirited and acts on impulse. They frequently clash over matters of money - whenever Anita thinks that they should be spending money on food, Michelle spends all their money on books. Like Maggie, Michelle would not hesitate to put her life on the line to protect Anita, but does not hesitate when she feels that Anita needs to be disciplined, especially when Anita accuses Maggie of being useless.
Nenene Sumiregawa
While Michelle and Maggie respect and at times fear Nenene, Anita does not hesitate to speak her mind concerning the author and her work. Nenene normally calls Anita "chibi-ko" (Japanese for squirt, brat, or kid) which annoys the youngest Paper Sister. Nenene becomes another older sister figure to Anita, who despite saying otherwise, comes to care and respect Nenene for her courage. The two have similar personalities. They bicker quite a bit, but have a good friendship.
Yomiko Readman
R.O.D. The TV: During the incident where Yomiko burned down the British Library, Anita witnessed Yomiko in the flames and developed a subconscious hatred of books from the sheer terror she felt during that moment. While Dokusensha had erased her memory numerous times, Anita retained that memory, but does not fully recall it until Junior dives into the Book of All Seeing Eyes and she witnesses her past. Anita, upon discovering that Yomiko was responsible for the traumatic memory, despises her, but works with her because she hates those who have taken her sisters, Michelle and Maggie, even more.
Read or Dream Manga: In the last chapter of the manga Anita accidental bumps Yomiko with a book when she sits on a park bench to rest. Yomiko then picks up the book and asks Anita if she could read it. Though they don't introduce themselves to each other they do talk about Yomiko's love of books and the reason Anita dislikes them. Yomiko finishes the book, surprising Anita, and hands it back to her. Then after building a paper crane for a couple of kids in the playground she walks away. As she is leaving Anita asks who she was, and Yomiko replies "Just a passing book lover. May the power of paper protect you"