Kaede Fuyou
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Kaede Fuyou (芙蓉 楓 Fuyō Kaede?) is a character in Navel's Shuffle! media franchise. She is one of the main characters in both the original Shuffle! and Really? Really! visual novels.
The characters of Shuffle! have a theme of being named after plants. Her given name, kaede (楓), is the Japanese word for maple, and her surname, fuyō (芙蓉), refers to the Hibiscus mutabilis.
Kaede is voiced by Yuko Goto and was designed by Aoi Nishimata.
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[edit] In the Shuffle! anime
[edit] Background
Explanation of Kaede and Rin's past occurs in the 19th episode of the anime, in more much more detail than is given in the visual game.
Eight years prior to the time Shuffle! takes place, both of Rin's parents and Kaede's mother are killed in a car accident. Kaede became traumautized from the incident, losing her will to live. Rin overhears the doctor say that she needs a reason, any reason, to live. Rin then goes to Kaede and tells her that on the night of the accident, he was lonely and phoned his parents, asking them to come back. Since his parents and Kaede's mother rode in the same car, he essentially told Kaede that it was his fault that her mother died. This causes Kaede to snap out of her stupor and begin to choking Rin.
Rin manages to escape, but since Kaede's father has taken Rin into their home, Rin must constantly put up with Kaede's deep hatred of him. While putting on a front of being friends to her father, Kaede does such things as vandalize Rin's room and drop a box-cutter on his face while he's coming up the stairs.
Later, some time during their junior high years, Kaede finds a postcard while rummaging through Rin's possessions after destroying Rin's model ship, one of his prized possessions. The postcard sparks her memory of the night of the accident, and she remembers that the reason her mother (and Rin's parents) came back was because she had a fever, and she asked her father to call her mother home. She then realizes that her mother's death was to be blamed on her and not Rin. Rin rushes in just as she finishes reading the postcard, but he is too late to prevent Kaede from remembering everything and feeling deep guilt for her actions.
In order to atone for her actions in the past, Kaede decides to make herself Rin's personal servant by cooking his meals and doing all the work around the house. Rin does not want this, but he is afraid of causing Kaede a relapse by not allowing her to punish herself in this way.
[edit] The rest
Kaede is the first girl introduced at the start of the series. She wakes up Rin and serves him an extremely fancy breakfast. Rin asks her if she can take it easy and make breakfasts that are more modest in the future, but her worried looks forces him to withdraw the comment. Kaede cooks breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Rin, brings him his umbrella, and takes notes for him in school, but frequently forgets to look after herself. While walking to school Rin tells Kaede that her dad told him, before he left on his business trip, that he had his approval. While Kaede blushes a bit, Rin doesn't take it seriously. He is more concerned that since Kaede always does things for his sake, most of the other guys have avoided her.
When Lisianthus and Nerine arrive, Kaede faints after they reveal that they came to the human world seeking Rin as a marriage candidate. While many people have made suggestive comments about Rin's relationship with Kaede, he simply shrugs them off. Kaede, however, does not seem to mind these comments. In the second episode, Primula arrives and is adopted by the Fuyou household, so she moves in with Kaede and Rin, and Kaede starts to teach her how to cook. With this, both Kaede and Rin start to spend less and less time together as Kaede works with Primula while both Sia and Nerine try to win over Rin. She convinces herself that as long as Rin is happy, she should be happy, and does not say a word to him of her own emotions.
As Rin spends more and more time outside the house, Kaede finds herself wishing that the "old days" would come back. As she is friends with Lisianthus and Nerine, she does not complain about the amount of time that Rin spends with them. When Rin starts showing his romantic intentions towards Asa, however, her convictions of her own altruistic acts start to break down, as she becomes more and more occupied with distressing over Rin's social life.
Her past psychotic behavior reappears when Rin starts to solidify Asa as the object of his romantic interest. Primula notices this and attempts to inform Rin, but this falls on deaf ears. When Rin invites Asa over, Kaede has a mental breakdown and viciously attacks Asa. After she is restrained by Rin, Asa falls to the ground unconscious, and Kaede stares in shock at what she had just done.
This event causes Rin to visit Asa at the hospital for days at a time, causing Kaede even more stress. But now desperate for Rin's attention, Kaede decides to walk in on Rin naked and try to seduce him. This, however, only causes Rin to run away in shock.
When Primula asks Kaede why she acts like a personal slave for Rin, Kaede says that "taking care of Rin" is a mere facade to hide the fact that she simply wants to spend time with Rin. Despite her love for Rin, however, she feels that she doesn't deserve Rin's love due to their past. When Rin informs her that he is moving out of the house, she nearly breaks down again.
After a talk with Asa, Kaede has an epiphany of sorts and reasons that deceiving herself about her own love for Rin will never get her anywhere. After she meets with Rin on the street, Kaede tells Rin about her conversation with Asa, and accepts the reason why Rin is moving out. Rin also confesses his feelings to Kaede about the person he has devoted his whole heart to, and even though it was not Kaede, Rin still says he loves her because she is the person whom he has spent the most time with in his life. Kaede then confesses her love to Rin. She decides that despite her love for Rin and their dark past together, she will move on with her life. Although she has come to terms with her own feelings, she continues to love Rin, which she restates in the last episode.
[edit] External links
- (Japanese) Kaede Fuyou's character profile for Shuffle!
- (Japanese) Kaede Fuyou's character profile for Really? Really!
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Shuffle! series
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| Visual Novels: Shuffle! | Tick! Tack! | Really? Really! |
| Characters: Rin Tsuchimi | Lisianthus | Nerine | Kaede Fuyou | Asa Shigure | Primula Kareha | Mayumi=Thyme | Itsuki Midoriba | Nadeshiko Benibara | Eustoma | Forbesii | Ama Shigure Tsubomi | Sage | Ai | Cineraria | Bark | Sakura Yae | Mikio Fuyou | Momiji Fuyou |
| Other media: Shuffle! (anime) | List of Shuffle! episodes (Prologue) | List of Shuffle! albums |
