- "Alright! We charge at full speed once we see an enemy!"
- ―Kinuyo Nishi
- "It hurts! Excuse me, I am not a very capable soldier!"
- ―Nishi, upon being eliminated
Kinuyo Nishi (西 絹代, Nishi Kinuyo) is the commander of the Sensha-Dō team of Chi-Ha-Tan Academy.
She, along with other Chi-Ha-Tan Academy students, became an Ooarai temporarly transfered student in order to join the Ooarai team against Selection University .
Profile
Kinuyo is a student of Chi-Ha-Tan Academy and also the overall commander of her tankery team. She operates a Type 97 Chi-Ha.
Amongst her peers and the nation, Kinuyo is extremely popular. Her classmates have been known to jump at any chance to get closer to Kinuyo, purposely leaving their hair undone so that she could braid them, as well as another instance where they chased after her, after misunderstanding that charging at her would get them a kiss from her. Nationally, Kinuyo has had at least one article written about her beauty, with several of her fellow classmates mentioning her popularity with the country.
Kinuyo is not technologically savvy, having to learn about the internet from Fukuda.
Appearance
Kinuyo is a medium-sized girl with long dark brown hair and a pair of brown eyes.
She wears a Chi-Ha-Tan commander's jacket, a variation of the standard Chi-Ha-Tan jacket, with a white collar instead of a red one. Under the jacket, she wears a tank top or an undershirt. On at least one occasion, and to the delight of her compatriots, she has forgotten to wear the undershirt itself.
Personality
Kinuyo is a graceful and polite girl. She seems to love to learn new things as she gets excited when Miho tells her about what "Panzer Vor" means. She appears to be a bit too self-assured and competitive at times, but seems to quickly get lost (maybe overwhelmed) when there is too much move around her. Her teammates don't seem to listen to her a lot and usually charge while she tells them not to do so. Also, her communication skills aren't the best : when her radio breaks right when Duck team tell her to retreat, she reads on their lips and understands "charging", causing her to get shot. She's also forgetful in some way : Darjeeling tells her the team will be composed of 22 tanks in total, while Kinuyo brings 22 Chi-Ha-Tan tanks, proving she has forgotten a bit about what was said. She gladly listens to Fukuda's plans, though, showing that she's open-minded.
Kinuyo braiding Fukuda's hair.
Despite her popularity, Kinuyo remains both polite and generous, without becoming conceited or arrogant from her fame. This can be seen when she willingly braids Fukuda's hair for her, and shows embarrassment after realizing that she has had an article written about her beauty.
One of the examples of Kinuyo's deference to command.
It can be noted that she takes failure very hard and is extremely sensitive. When she reports tank losses, she exclaims that, "it's shameful (for her)!" In addition, she bows and apologizes to Miho Nishizumi when she reports the inadequacy of Chi-Ha-Tan's performance during the battle. Finally, when Tamada accidentally slashes at Kinuyo while practicing with her sword, she interprets this action as Tamada saying that Kinuyo's commands during battle were bad, and that she was useless. This has her on the verge of tears, and on the point of relinquishing command to Tamada.
In battle, she expresses an uncanny level of military formality, reminiscent of the behavior exhibited by the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces. This can be seen in the way she reports things to her superiors, as well as formal apologies and the returning of gratitude during the movie.
In the Drama CD, it's shown she has a big interest in foreign languages and history as she helps her friends in these subjects. She seems to have some skill as a teacher or tutor, showing her classmates how to use memetic phrases in Japanese to remember Western history and vocabulary. In the drama CD it appears that she leads the class that Tamada, Hosomi and Fukuda are attached to.
Trivia
- Kinuyo Nishi is inspired by Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi, a highly prominent Imperial Japanese Army Officer. He is known for being an Olympic Gold Medalist in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, as well as commanding the 26th Tank Regiment in the Battle of Iwo Jima before being killed during the ensuing battle.
- Kinuyo is sometimes depicted as a "Baroness" in fan arts due to this.
- Kinuyo seems to have an interest in motorbikes as well.
- She owns an motorcycle which she nicknamed as Uranus which is a reference to Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi's horse Uranus, in which they won the gold medal in the equestrian event in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
- Her favorite food is Sukiyaki.
- A big eater. Was reported to be able to eat 10 onigiri in one sitting without any difficulty.
- She has two younger brothers.
- Based on Kinuyo's personality, as well as her lack of knowledge of certain commonplace things, such as the internet and digital media, it may imply that she led a (very) sheltered life prior to entry in Chi-Ha-Tan Academy.
- Due to the fact she's the only one with Miho to be a second year student at the head of a school and seeing her birthday, Kinuyo is likely the youngest known school commander.
- Kinuyo's birthday is the December 8th, the same date in 1941 as the United States declaration of war on Japan and the massive simultaneous invasions by Japan of Shanghai, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines and Dutch East Indies.
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