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"Your presence itself is like shouting." - Yomi, to Tomo, from Azumanga Daioh
"Genki" is Japanese for energetic or enthusiastic. The Genki Girl is a character - usually a schoolgirl, but not always - who acts like she's been mainlining caffeine and speed. She is possessed of an incredible surfeit of energy, such that she runs everywhere (often with arms waving wildly, sometimes in a Bird Run), speaks quickly (sometimes unintelligibly so), and always does everything fast, fast, fast! She's filled with confidence and determination, regardless of whether she's competent or not. Although usually played exclusively for comedy, sometimes the Genki Girl slows down for a serious or introspective moment. But not for long - she lives her life full-throttle. To sum it up, a good way of telling whether a female character is genki or not is to see if her family and peers are exhausted, astonished or even creeped out by her chronic outbursts of vitality.
Despite what you'd think, the Genki Girl is usually not The Ditz. However, there have been a few blends. She is, of course, very often a Motor Mouth or The Nicknamer. If she focuses her powers on getting a boring guy to relish life, she's a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Less sympathetic portrayals often make her the Jerkass of the group.
If this is a RPG setting, she's almost always going to be the Fragile Speedster, thus fitting her personality.
Whatever you do, don't give them too much coffee, cola or sugar. And definitely teach them that hard drugs are VERY, VERY bad. This is why she may be preferred with somebody who is practical.
Voice actors sometimes become famous for just being able to keep up the role.
For the male equivalent, see Keet.
Contrast Emotionless Girl.
Examples
Anime
- Chi, the energetic kitten.
- Excel from Excel Saga is the trope incarnate - Jessica Calvello, her first English voice actress, got just a little too much into the role and wound up straining her vocal cords, which forced her replacement by Larissa Woolcott. After Excel, most Genki Girls will seem quite tame...
- Excel Saga's director also gave us Poemi from Puni Puni Poemi. Impossible as it may sound, at times she surpasses even Excel in genki-ness.
- Kurata Sana from Kodomo No Omocha is the archetypical Genki Girl. The Fan Vid Caffeine Ecomium
gives an idea of just how energetic she is; note that none of the sequences in this video have been sped up.
- The title character of Suzumiya Haruhi is a very avalanche of Genki Girlness, who drags everyone nearby along with her. Tsuruya-san, a minor character, is somewhat of a Motor Mouth and a cheerful Genki Girl,with emphasis on the 'cheerful'. A natural co-conspirator with Haruhi.
- Akatsuki member Tobi from Naruto, especially in the Anime version.
- Mink from Dragon Half.
- Nabatame Renge from Sweet Ninja Girl Azuki. Also Azuki herself, to a lesser extent.
- Wakaba Shinohara from Revolutionary Girl Utena.
- Self-described "wildcat high school girl" Tomo from Azumanga Daioh, pretty much a girl not only on a sugar rush, but also under the influence of 5 cans of Red Bull, 4 pills of speed, and 20 g of cocaine. We know she's a Genki Girl because "Genki!" is the first thing she says. A veritable incarnation of the trope with a gift for self rationalization, she's also a Jerkass and a Ted Baxter.
- Kaolla Suu from Love Hina.
- Hwang Bu-ling from Tokyo Mew Mew, whose sprinting and flailing is often accompanied by circus tricks like running on top of a ball or breathing fire. As Mew Pudding, most of her fight scenes consist of jumping around and climbing things.
- To a lesser degree, Hikaru Shidou from Magic Knight Rayearth and Mamoru from Sister Princess are also Genki Girls.
- Mikoto from Mai-HiME subverts this trope nicely by simultaneously being a Dark Magical Girl. (Push this type of subversion even further, and you wind up with the Perky Goth.)
- Radical Edward from Cowboy Bebop.
- Cisqua when near money in Elemental Gelade.
- Miki from Marmalade Boy.
- Minori from Toradora. Approaches everything with so much energy that she makes the surrounding people look lifeless.
- Arale Norimaki from Doctor Slump. With a dose of Super Powered Robot Meter Maids, Cute Bruiser, Strange Girl and definitely Cloudcuckoolander.
- Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi.
- Manabi from Manabi Straight.
- Nozomi from Yes! Precure 5. With each "Kettei~!", you know she's going to drag the team into some good-hearted but implausible plan, and somehow, her pure energy makes it work.
- Tamayo from Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer.
- Dita from Vandread fills this role, right down to frequently falling over while running.
- Nano-Nano Pudding of Galaxy Angel II, who may or may not be an Expy of Bu-ling.
- In The Ditz variation, Kana in Minami-ke steals the show from her Deadpan Loli and Onee Sama sisters.
- The Tachikomas from Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex are Genki tanks. Yeah.
- Nakuru Akizuki from CardCaptor Sakura. Somewhat subverted by also being a Manipulative Bastard. That and being a technically genderless spirit being than a human girl.
- Hana-chan from Ojamajo Doremi.
- Yotsuba from Yotsuba&! is a Genki Girl with training wheels.
- Lulu from Blood Plus is usually upbeat and enthusiastic - even after she becomes the last survivor of the Schiff.
- Several characters in Mahou Sensei Negima count; Makie is the most notable example.
- To clarify, the entirely of Mahora Academy is described as such, even the boys, by the teachers themselves. It was stated that during a previous School Festival, they arranged an academy-wide game of tag, and afterwards decided not to do that again because there were too many injuries. That year, they were going for a (slightly) more sedate game of Hide-N-Seek, until the Big Bad of that arc provided an army of robots, and they decided to unleash the students on them instead.
- Pixy Misa and Washu in the Pretty Sammy series.
- Tomoka, Kurumi, and to some extent An (if you don't piss her off) in The Prince Of Tennis.
- Reinforce Zwei of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, in contrast to the original, angst-filled Reinforce.
- Haruna from Koukou Debut (also titled High School Debut) is so genki she's almost Badass Normal. One of her recurring sentences is "let's work hard!" —cue to high-fiving everyone, running around doing more physical work than the guys and tiring everyone out. Oh yeah, and she can put up a physical fight with guys including potential assaulters. Her over-the-top genki-ness is arguably part of what makes her such an endearing character.
- In the Neon Genesis Evangelion Lighter And Softer Gaiden Game Girlfriend of Steel, Rei gets this treatment. Rei. Seriously,
- She gets the same treatment in the alternate universe manga Angelic Days, too. So... weird.
- To be accurate, the first Girlfriend of Steel game still keeps her in character. The set-in-episode-26's-alternate-universe sequel, however, plays this trope straight.
- Torako from Hyakko. She's of the Genki-Ditz blend, considering she makes her debut by leaping out of a window. It was a second story window, but she definitely chose the quickest way to get from point A to point B.
- Chrono Crusade's Rosette is what happens when you give a Genki Girl a loaded weapon. It's probably a good idea to run.
- Misa from Death Note. Creepiest. Genki Girl. EVER.
- Kaguya Sumeragi of CodeGeass is like this, as well as The Ojou. She also proves herself to be smarter than you'd guess, becoming the head chairman of the UFN council.
- Ahiru from Princess Tutu—who is a duck that can magically turn into a girl—spends most of the show running at TOP SPEED, squawking out words so fast it's hard to keep up. She's not even aware that her energy level is unusually high, judging by her confused reaction when another girl from her school fails to keep up with her. This may be because her friends Pique and Lilie are about as energetic as she is, or it may be because she's a duck and doesn't know any better.
- Sora from Kaleido Star is amazingly energetic. Emphasis on amazingly. Her friends Rosetta Passel and Marion Begnini try to keep up with her, but they still have a way to go.
- Mileina Vashti from Gundam 00. Louise Halevy used to be one, but later she's not so genki anymore. And Nena Trinity looked like a Genki Girl, but was actually a Yandere
- Hikari from Lamune. Noted by the male lead (her cousin) that she acts much like a kid, despite being a year older than him.
- Miria from Baccano!, who even comes with the equally hyperactive boyfriend and partner in crime, Isaac.
- Princess Amelia from Slayers is a truly terrifying mix of this trope and Love Freak. HAMMER OF JUSTICE!!
- Tenma Tsukamoto from School Rumble is this combined with The Ditz.
- Himeko from Pani Poni Dash! Maho!
- Kendo Team Captain Kirino Chiba from Bamboo Blade is easily the most genki member of her squad.
- Sakuya from Candy Boy. Particularly with respect to her pursuit of Kanade.
Comic Books
- X-Men villain Mojo has a Deadpan Snarker assistant, Majordomo, who in turn has a Genki Girl assistant, Minordomo. Minor can be expected to say "Ohmygosh, OHmygolly..." at least twice per appearance, and will get worked up over something (complete with arm-waving and rapidfire talking - her version of it goes from sentences to short phrases strung together in the end) more and more until finally having a heart attack. Luckily, she's an artificial human, so Majordomo just has to hit her reset button to get her up and genki again.
- Early appearances of Kitty Pryde in the same comic also started her out as a Genki Girl, though she actually matured during her run with the team.
- Harley Quinn, both in the comics and the DCAU.
- Misfit from Birds Of Prey not only embodies this trope, she hangs a huge pink candy-striped lampshade on it.
- Cyclone from Justice Society Of America.
- Casey from Strangers In Paradise. It may or may not be a part of her Obfuscating Stupidity.
Commercials
- Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials.
Film
- Jordan Cochran in the movie Real Genius.
Jordan: I never sleep, I don't know why. I had a roommate and I drove her nuts, I mean really nuts, they had to take her away in an ambulance and everything. But she's okay now, but she had to transfer to an easier school, but I don't know if that had anything to do with being my fault. But listen, if you ever need to talk or you need help studying just let me know, 'cause I'm just a couple doors down from you guys and I never sleep, okay?
- Young Ellie from Disney / Pixar's Up! is definitely one of these. Her wonderful mania for living made this troper feel for her all the more when she finds that she can't have children.
Literature
Live Action TV
Tabletop Games
- A Wizards of the Coast free online supplement for Dungeons And Dragons 3.5 describes
Mercury Dragons as such.
- Pathfinder's Curse of the Crimson Throne AP gives us allied NPC Laori Vaus, the disturbingly enthusiastic cleric of a god of Pain and Loss ( Hellraiser ). So genki, she creeps out other members of her church.
Video Games
Webcomics
- Kiki from the Web Comic Sluggy Freelance. The one time they fed her Pixie Stix, she made a ferret-shaped hole in the wall, and had circled the Earth three times before the others had even reacted.
- Robin
DeSanto from It's Walky! and Shortpacked! is so genki it qualifies as a superpower . She moves like a bolt of lightning , smells like Skittles , and has less impulse control than your average three -year -old . She once ate a bowl of Cadbury cream eggs ; next thing she knew , she'd been elected to Congress .
- Grace from El Goonish Shive fits this trope sometimes
, though she also enjoys sleeping a lot. Sometimes, she combines the two, resulting in the invention of her legendary "Sleepy Little Ninja Stealth Hug"...
- The hyperactive, lovably eccentric Millie Mudd from Ozy And Millie is a Genki Girl in training.
- Larxene in the comic Ansem Retort. She's a homicidal version of this, once nuking Disney World because she couldn't get free Funnel Cake.
- Lisa, and to a lesser extent, Katy-Ann, in Penny And Aggie: ("Dear Mr. President: I have solved the world's energy needs. All you need to do is put two girls I know on a treadmill.")
- Missi from Misfile definitely qualifies. While not exactly hyper, she's drastically energetic and upbeat when compared to the rest of the cast. So far nothing, not even being dumped, has been able to make her sad for more than a single panel.
- Felucca from Earthsong
- The always-enthusiastic Molly the Peanut Butter Monster from The Inexplicable Adventures Of Bob. It probably helps that she has a super-fast metabolism and can outrun a bear.
- Freddy from Ghastly's Ghastly Comic is about as much of a Genki Girl as they get. (Well, the genki part, anyway. Freddie's as much a girl as she wants to be.)
- Fio from Circumstances of the Revenant Braves
is a girl of action and gets restless when sitting around for too long. She even hopes for trouble if it will alleviate her boredom.
- Agatha Heterodyne of Girl Genius—at least when she's
on coffee .
- Harmony from Sore Thumbs
- Hope From Alone In A Crowd
- Asako from Mega Tokyo is a Genki Girl of Mass Destruction
, and her friend Mami knows the arming codes. As Mami says, "Hey, I always reserve the right to use the "Asako option". You should know that by now."
Web Original
Western Animation
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