Thread:Shanethefilmmaker/@comment-397235-20140829052131/@comment-397235-20140830062721

One other thing I changed is what they actually wear. In Japan, school uniforms are mandatory, though a few of them do get away with minor changes (Izumi's tsundere socks, Naoya's jacket, Takako's vests); the times you see them in their casuals gives you an idea of their personality:

Kouichi dresses like a normal teenager. He's not flashy and doesn't wear name brands. His clothing is functional and comfortable, but doesn't stand out. He's an everyman...or boy.

Naoya wears a very loud Hawaiian shirt because he thinks it's attractive (no one else does). When they go to meet Matsunaga, he wears beach-clothes and a visor; despite this being a serious trip he dresses like he's going on vacation. This is a facet of his inability to take anything seriously.

Yuuya often wears shirts with famous paintings on them, mostly surrealist works. This both shows off his love of art, and the fact he doesn't particularly care about conforming, anymore than his interest in Reiko; Yuuya likes what he likes and to hell with everyone who has a problem with that.

Mei dresses in a way that appears "cute." Her clothing isn't especially sexualized, it's wholesome and somewhat innocent, without being especially childish. It's also subdued; Mei doesn't like to draw attention to herself. She also wears the most modest swimsuit of the girls.

Misaki, the flamboyant one, wears bright clothing, but like her sister she's more "cute" than "sexy." Neither girl is meant to be a sexual object; they're both meant to illicit sympathy and parental urges.

Izumi dresses femininely. She's attractive and knows it, and while she's not overly sluttish, neither is she boring to look at. Izumi can use her looks to her advantage, but she doesn't overtly flaunt it either. Izumi wants people to pay attention to her not her looks.

Takako also dresses like a girl, but not in an especially flashy way. This is either because she's used to being around Izumi and no one every looks at her twice so there's no sense in trying, or because she doesn't want to detract from her friend. Unlike Izumi, Takako doesn't care if people pay attention to her, so she doesn't try.

Junta's clothing is very plain. He's not an especially memorable character, and he's apparently a rather bland individual. Since he's an attachment for Izumi, he doesn't worry about being noticed for himself. Junta's just there. His clothing is just as forgettable as he is; you wouldn't look at him twice in any room, especially if it was one full of people like Naoya or Izumi.

How this translates in an American setting:

Well, Holly wears clothing that doesn't fit her, so it's not especially flattering. It also shows some parental neglect without bordering on outright abuse: her mom buys her new clothing but doesn't know her own daughter's size.

Kirk allows Nolan to help him find American clothing (his school in the UK had a uniform). This ends about as well as you'd expect, and flummoxed by his lack of fashion sense (or common sense), Amy, Violet, and Holly (in the sense she tags along) "help" him out. This doesn't go all that much better, and he ends up settling on more or less what he wears in the anime, for the same reasons.

Thomas wears nice pants and always tucks his shirt into them. He's a very proper individual, and his clothing reflects this. You wouldn't notice Thomas until he speaks; when you do see him, you'll listen to what he says.

Sherry is kind of a girly-girl, but her family doesn't have much money. It doesn't really detract from her appeal, but she's embarrassed by it. Sherry's a very shy person.

Isabel dresses in a way that is at once feminine and assertive. Her greatest distinguishing feature in both the manga/anime and here is her hair. Isabel wears hers in a long braid, another sign of her serious nature. However, before and after the Calamity, she usually wore her hair down.

Amy skirts a fine line between being mature and being cute; when she tries to be the former it usually becomes the latter anyway due to her small size. This doesn't help her, since Amy is constantly trying to be taken seriously by her friends, who more often than not see her as the group's "little sister."

Violet is flamboyant, bouncy, and loud: her clothing is girly, bright, and immediately noticeable. Violet likes attention.

Alexandria dresses somewhat masculinely; Isabel usually wears skirts or shorts, while Alexandria always wears jeans. The same principals apply: she's not used to being noticed so she unconsciously ensures people won't look at her twice.

Nolan is a jock, and he often wears athletic shorts, sweatpants, and sports t-shirts. I always assumed the jacket he wore in the anime was somehow basketball related (if you notice, it has the school emblem on it; my sister goes to a private school and was allowed to wear only jackets in the school colors, which judging by Naoya's jacket and Takako's various accessories seem to include blue). I'd initially planned to have him where a "Letterman's" style jacket, but I don't remember actually seeing one outside movies set in the 1950s; we had letters in high school (I got one for Orchestra my junior year) but nobody ever wore the jackets.

Jericho is probably the easiest. He wears weird graphic t-shirts and pants to emphasize the fact that he is not a girl. Jericho's also small and doesn't like attention, so most of what he wears is in muted colors, but it has the opposite affect it does with Thomas. You want to listen to Thomas; Jericho seems more like someone you'd try to talk to or draw into a a group because otherwise he'd be content to go sit in the corner and pretend he's invisible.

Lincoln is also a jock, but his clothing is more aggressive. Nolan plays sports because he has fun; Lincoln plays because he likes to win, and more importantly, likes the other guy to lose. While Nolan's clothing is relaxed and casual, Lincoln's is functional to a fault, just as he is.

Well, that was a wonderful visual/mental exercise. I'm a very visual person (which is weird because my writing doesn't have that much description) so having some mental frame of reference is important.