History Main / NunsareMikos

* ''TrinityBlood'' features a number of women who are apparently meant as nuns of a sort, including the very well-endowed, overtly seductive Noélle Bor and the demure -- yet-gun-toting -- Esther Blanchett. Oh, and on a related note, the series also features Catherina Sforza, a female cardinal.
* In ''Manga/WitchHunterRobin'', there's a male example -- Robin's mentor, a Catholic priest, has a daughter. While this is possible [[note]] Widowers are allowed to become priests, as are married Protestant ministers who convert to Catholicism. Additionally the Eastern Catholics, who make up 2% of all Catholics, allow married men to become priests. However Eastern Catholic churches have very distinct iconography that would be obvious.[[/note]] it is very rare.
* In ''SchoolRumble'', Yakumo's British friend Sarah Adiemus appears to be a nun on an after-school, part-time, volunteer basis. Part of her duties include hearing confessions, which is actually only done by a priest or bishop. And we later find out that other teens periodically come into the confessional to ask for relationship advice.

* In ''WitchHunterRobin'', there's a male example -- Robin's mentor, a Catholic priest, has a daughter. While this is possible [[note]] Widowers are allowed to become priests, as are married Protestant ministers who convert to Catholicism. Additionally the Eastern Catholics, who make up 2% of all Catholics, allow married men to become priests. However Eastern Catholic churches have very distinct iconography that would be obvious.[[/note]] it is very rare.

** This is averted in Harvest Moon: Twin Villages (known as Tale of Two Towns to the Western audience), where you ''can'' actually marry the game's nun-like character, but only after gaining permission from the Goddess she serves.

* In an early chapter of ''DGrayMan'' the brother of an episodic character is ''a priest who was going to be married to a nun'' [[spoiler: only to have her [[DeathByOriginStory killed]] pages in]].

* Seira from ''KaitouSaintTail'' is a part-time "nun-in-training" after school, and wears a white nun's habit -- all analagous to a {{miko}}'s role, but antithetical to nundom. Tachikawa Megumi admits in volume notes that she didn't do her research after being corrected in a fan letter from an actual nun.

* Erica Fontaine from [[SakuraWars Sakura Wars]].

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<<|UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}|>>

* Yumina from ''SoraNoWoto'' is a Miko-Nun living in a Shinto Church, [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/soranowoto/images/5/50/Ep03.png I mean just look]]. It is interesting to note, though, that Yumina acts more like an actual young Christian nun than most anime "nuns", providing spiritual support (or trying to) and running an orphanage. The fact that the series's world is a hybrid of multiple cultures don't help.

* Ciel from ''{{Tsukihime}}''. However, the organization she belongs to (the Burial Agency) is arguably the most heretical part of the Church, where faith is secondary to actual power. She does dress up as a nun on occasion, but she says that it's all for show and doesn't actually mean anything.

Compare NaughtyNuns, NunTooHoly. Ultimately also a subtrope of CreatorProvincialism, but it's prevalent enough to warrant its own page. This trope is one of the more common causes of AnimeCatholicism -- if the inaccuracy is about something other than nuns, please place it there.

* Similarly, the ''GundamWing'' manga ''Episode Zero'' shows that Duo Maxwell, who inexplicably wears a priest's collar in the series, once lived at a church staffed by a single priest (Father Maxwell) and nun (Sister Helen), who are killed in the war.
* And in ''YakitateJapan'' episodes 25-26.
* Misora, Cocone, and Shakti in ''MahouSenseiNegima'', who wear [[ImpossiblyCoolClothes ridiculously short habits]]. Then again, they ''do'' have to fight in those things, so a shorter length may be preferred. In one chapter, she was put in an even ''shorter'' habit, and was less than pleased about it (if only slightly so). That said, the church they are part of at least superficially resembles an actual church; there's a {{Confessional}}, at least. It doesn't get used like a confessional is normally used, but that's more because the girls are unfamiliar with it, and because a mischievous nun (Misora) was on the other side.

* There is a nun in an episode of ''ThoseWhoHuntElves''. She not only has demon fighting powers, she uses a staff with a Star of David on the end. Then again the show is a FantasyKitchenSink.

* Yumina from ''{{SoraNoWoto}}'' is a Miko-Nun living in a Shinto Church, [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/soranowoto/images/5/50/Ep03.png I mean just look]]. It is interesting to note, though, that Yumina acts more like an actual young Christian nun than most anime "nuns", providing spiritual support (or trying to) and running an orphanage. The fact that the series's world is a hybrid of multiple cultures don't help.

* ''MichikoToHatchin'' has the male equivalent in Hatchin's foster-family from Hell. Her foster-father is a Catholic priest living with his wife and two children.

Compare NaughtyNuns, NunTooHoly. Ultimately also a subtrope of CreatorProvincialism, but it's prevalent enough to warrant its own page. This trope is one of the more common causes of AnimeCatholicism- if the inaccuracy is about something other than nuns, please place it there.

* In PetitePrincessYucie, one of Yucie's many short-term part-time jobs is as a nun. Not only is this position treated as a part-time job, the real nun who teaches the "petite princesses" is not above flirting with boys who visit the establishment, something that would normally be considered scandalous.

* Sister Rosette from ''ChronoCrusade''.
** In the anime canon, it's explained that the Magdalene Order is actually comprised of many different religious branches working together for the common goal of combating demons. Rosette herself is a teenaged girl who despite her religious occupation doesn't have a religious vocation. (She joined the order because they were the only people who could give her the training and resources she needed to save her brother.) She even seems to think the handsome ''Priest'' will notice her charms one day.
* ''LightNovel/FateZero'' has a male example with Risei and Kirei, two Catholic priests, the first the father of the second whose wife recently passed away.
** This kind of situation is actually possible in real life, but is incredibly uncommon.

* Downplayed and mostly averted in ''{{Hellsing}}''. Yumiko [[SplitPersonality "Yumie"]] Takagi behaves very much like a Catholic nun and her only noticeably Japanese traits are her name and penchant for wielding katanas. She even has a Welsh (or sometimes Scottish)-sounding accent, which is likely the result of being raised by a Scottish priest.

* Yumina from ''{{SoraNoWoto}}'' is a Miko-Nun living in a Shinto Church, [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/soranowoto/images/5/50/Ep03.png I mean just look]]. It is interesting to note, though, that Yumina acts more like an actual young Christian nun than most anime "nuns", providing spiritual support (or trying to) and running an orphanage.
** The fact that the series's world is a hybrid of multiple cultures don't help.

** Players of ''HarvestMoon'' would find sweet hilarity and irony considering a nun character in one of the games is named "Ariela". Whether this is intentional or not is unknown. But oh [[FanPreferredCouple the jokes that come out of it...]]
*** For the record, if it's intentional, [[OlderThanTheyThink it's on Harvest Moon's part]].

* ''HarvestMoon'' plays with this. Their religion isn't Christianity, but it's a mix of Buddhism and Catholicism. You can't marry any of the priests or nuns, but one of the games teases you by letting you court a nun... Only for her to turn you down.

* ''FateZero'' has a male example with Risei and Kirei, two Catholic priests, the first the father of the second whose wife recently passed away.

* The title character of ''ToAruMajutsuNoIndex'' is a very young un-nun-like nun who others politely refer to as "Sister-san." She serves the Church of England rather than the Catholic church. Regular nuns in universe are an organization of female spell casters.

Instead of the Western role of the nun as a cloistered celibate religious figure, the nun in this role will often be a nun as a part-time after-school job, or only until she marries and not take a vow of celibacy, poverty or obedience. Her role will be more focused on divination than the traditional nun. Her spiritual powers will also resemble the miko—being able to see demons or produce a shield against them.

[[folder: Fanworks ]]

* Played with in ''LifeOfMaid'': [[TouhouProject Reimu]] dresses up in a nun costume for Halloween.

[[/folder]]

* Averted in ''ElCazadorDeLaBruja'', in which the two protagonists shelter in a South American convent with genuine nuns. Admittedly, it was an unusually small convent with only three nuns, and [[spoiler: one can only hope that their order's vows didn't include non-violence]], but the presence of an aged Mother Superior ensured that they couldn't really be analogous to mikos.

Few Japanese people today are overtly religious, and even fewer are Christians (less than two percent of the population). So Christianity, particularly the Roman Catholic type, tends to get used as an exotic religion, especially if you can mix in mythology and folklore. Some writers are fannish enough to do research, especially if a story takes place in a Medieval European Fantasy. But most have only a basic understanding of the religion, and few writers have a realistic idea of what a nun's life is like.

* Downplayed and mostly averted in ''{{Hellsing}}''. Yumiko Takagi behaves very much like a Catholic nun and her only noticeably Japanese traits are her first name and penchant for wielding katanas. She even has a Welsh (or sometimes Scottish)-sounding accent, which is likely the result of being raised by a Scottish priest.

* In an anime-inspired western example, the comic book series "Warrior Nun Areala" by Ben Dunn.

For aesthetic purposes, this depiction always resembles Roman Catholicism; Orthodox and Protestant trappings are never seen. Christian or Pseudo-Christian monks are conspicuous by their absence, while there will be a noticeable number of pretty nuns. Aesthetics aside, expect a substitution of personalities for the eastern equivalents.

* ''HarvestMoon'' plays with this. Their religion isn't Christianity, but it's a mix of Buddhism and Catholicism You can't marry any of the priests or nuns, but one of the games teases you by letting you court a nun... Only for her to turn you down.

* In ''WitchHunterRobin'', there's a male example -- Robin's mentor, a Catholic priest, has a daughter. While this is possible [[hottip:*: Widowers are allowed to become priests, as are married Protestant ministers who convert to Catholicism. Additionally the Eastern Catholics, who make up 2% of all Catholics, allow married men to become priests. However Eastern Catholic churches have very distinct iconography that would be obvious.]] it is very rare.