I'm sure the forum members who have wrote their own essays will put in their two cents soon but for now, I will comment on it as best as I can as I'm no wordsmith.

I believe that because SKU is an anime, it allows the characters to resemble an animal more.

Nanami = Lion
Besides the whole latge forehead and yellowish mane as well as the whole cat like bod she has, she does often come off as the King (or in her case, QUEEN) of the school 'Jungle' by the way she prowls around the school.

Wakaba = Orangutan
I'm not suggesting that Wakaba looks like an orangutan as such, its more of the way she acts especially around Utena with her jumping on her back and all that.

I told you that I wasn't much of an essay writer but thats my view on the subject.

Tamago wrote:

Nanami = Lion
Wakaba = Orangutan

Hey! You're pretty close with those guesses I won't write out all my thoughts on them yet (I should actually be asleep right now....) but I will say you matched my guess with one of those two

Yasha wrote:

The_White_Horse wrote:

Touga
Saionji

You are so right, and I have no idea how many times I've thought this.

That's awesome! It means a lot, since I havey a heavy dose of admiration for all the fantastic SKU thinking and analysizing you and Gio do

Well, I did think about some big cat for Touga and a dog for Saionji, but to me, big cats are slightly more temperamental and not as manipulating, so i felt they didn't fit for Touga.

And Saionji was the other way around. He's more temperamental than your basic dog, and dogs don't have the same strict pack rules that wolves do. Altough theydo gather in groups, it doesn't operate with the order of a wolf pack, and order, or the illusion there of, was something I felt important for Saionji.

But interesting views! So... does that mean when it's "raining cats and dogs".... it's raining Tougas and Saionjis? I'm sure that'll make some people happy x3

Epi_lepsia wrote:

Saionji can be a wild dog 8D

Awesome! It can work

Now, for part two! Remember, these are my own silly observations. Your results may differ
Who did I say I was gonna cover tonight... ah yeah. lesse....

Nanami! Nanami insists on being the top among her friends, but she always travels with a crew. She's also predatory, and possesive, territorial. Although a bit bratty, I don't think anyone can deny that she has a haughty or regal-like air about her at times. She's determined to get what she wants, and uses strategy to do so (even if those strategies fail often). She follows her ideal man loyally, and without fail. She is a lioness. Also, interesting note about lions, they miss thier kill most of the time, despite all thier plans x3.

And in mentioning Nanami, I couldn't possibly leave out Mitsuru! The little boy so keen on protecting the one he cares about, so eager to serve her if only to be close to her, so happy to please.... Mitsuru is a domestic dog, more than likely a puppy. There's a reason they're "man's best friend" after all, and most domestic dogs adore thier owners to peices.

Aiko, Keiko, and Yuuko I thought about for a bit, but the SKU MST3K truly did my work for me. This trio attach themselves to someone else in order to obtain thier goal. They may or may not be content living as they are, but they don't fight the fact that they're always in the background, overlooked, simply going where the person they've attached themselves to goes. They're remora fish! remora fish attach themselves to creatures like sharks or large predatory fish in order to get what they really want a little easier. In thier case, food of course. x3 This way, they don't have to compete with all the other fish in the sea.

Now for Wakaba! Wakaba is social, cheerful, energetic. She's definitely playful, pretty loyal, and damn if she can't actually point out what's wrong with Utena when Utena herself can't figure it out. Pretty perceptive, that girl. She is a dolphin. Dolphins are highly social creatures, speaking in a very wide range of clicks and whistles ( "uuuuutena, utena!" x3 ). Loyalty and protection of them towards humans and dolphins is also a big trait ("Take your hands off of my Utena!") and as a number of therapy programs have learned, they seem to be able to tell, at least to some degree, when something is wrong with someone. Also, despite thier intelligence, they tend to seem flighty in nature. On a more silly note, they also display a heavy inclination to leap, and share the huge forehead. Poor Onion Princess xD

The_White_Horse wrote:

Nanami! Nanami insists on being the top among her friends, but she always travels with a crew. She's also predatory, and possesive, territorial. Although a bit bratty, I don't think anyone can deny that she has a haughty or regal-like air about her at times. She's determined to get what she wants, and uses strategy to do so (even if those strategies fail often). She follows her ideal man loyally, and without fail. She is a lioness. Also, interesting note about lions, they miss thier kill most of the time, despite all thier plans x3.

This is all too convenient, considering Nanami's a Leo.

satyreyes wrote:

This gives me the silly image of remora fish trying to attach themselves to the belly of a lion.  I imagine you'd get three dead remora fish and a very confused lion.

OMG! I agree with Clarice, that would make for such a cute picture! I might attempt to draw it sometime

Raven Nightshade wrote:

This is all too convenient, considering Nanami's a Leo.

I swear... for some reason I never looked that up! Coolness Also... why do I share star signs with characters I don't particularly care for ;_;

The_White_Horse wrote:

[
Nanami! Nanami insists on being the top among her friends, but she always travels with a crew. She's also predatory, and possesive, territorial. Although a bit bratty, I don't think anyone can deny that she has a haughty or regal-like air about her at times. She's determined to get what she wants, and uses strategy to do so (even if those strategies fail often). She follows her ideal man loyally, and without fail. She is a lioness. Also, interesting note about lions, they miss thier kill most of the time, despite all thier plans x3.

Social dynamics are a good reason you could argue Touga being a lion. Because what does a male lion do? NOTHING. Oh wait...a male lion sleeps and bangs his troop of lionesses that do all the hunting and child-rearing while he chillaxes. On occasion he has to fight another male lion, but seriously, if you wanna go with the Touga and his fangirls thing...

Akio is a tiger (big and flashy) or a boa constrictor (lazy and deadly). Either one fits.

I feel strongly that someone must be a meerkat. Wakaba?

I think it's really neat how people's opinions of animals matched to people's personalities differ and are alike!

I've always seen Juri as a falcon or bird of prey of some sort. Scary, beautiful, taunting, but not really that playful with her food. (And she flies in the intro; She totally does. [/lame] ) She's very straight and to the point about what she does and says and while not always proudly held, always seems to exude the aura that she could be.

Touga always has and always will remind me of a red stallion. He's got charm, muscle, skills of flattery, and tons of girls. Plus he radiates with the same power and control that stallions seem to think they have.

And that's my two cents!

(( Seitokaichou, your posting style is addicting. ))

whee! I've been so busy/tired lately x.x

And the sad thing is, I'm getting even less done than before ;_; but I do intend to post up more of these! I have Akio's sorted out in my head, and Utena's... I think o.o. but I'm having problems with Anthy, Shiori, and... I *think* I  have Mikage...

Gio, oddly enough, I keep wanting to make Anthy a meerkat, but I can't justify it

I LOVE reading everyone's input in here, it's so interesting to read what animals you see the cast as and why

I read your new post and then I was like "Hey, Touga's like a cat, I should post this!" and then I read your OP and realized this is the second time I've thought that exact same thing before fully reading the OP.

And just so that this post has some content:

I think Wakaba could also work as a sparrow. This concept reminds me of a line from a book-- I think it's Robin McKinley's Beauty-- where the character says something like "No matter if you dress it up in a peacock's tail, underneath it's always just a dull, drab little sparrow!" If I remembered right, the quote is really Beauty talking about herself-- because she thinks she's ugly, she refuses to wear dresses she thinks are too pretty for someone as ugly as her to wear. Somehow that resonates with Wakaba for me, even though she never outwardly seems to feel this bad about life. We get a glimpse of that sort of thinking in her duel episode, though.

Only semi-related, but I wonder if Miki and Kozue's hair color is referencing The Blue Bird...as I understand, the play is much more popular in Japan than in the US.

So, both Miki and Kozue are blue jays.

The Belted Kingfisher - Ruka. Hair/plumage proves it!

And Mikage could be...a cat, maybe? Manipulative, afraid of affection but secretly craving it, holds grudges for a long time. An aloof, mysterious feline.
And if the BR Duelists are birdies then, well...