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Yuna (FFX) and Nao (Liar Game), their context, and some (very subjectve) comparisons.
Thesis: Nao and Yuna are basically the same character put into two completely different cultural contexts, and two different situations. This isn't to say that they're well-characterized or poorly-characterized or that one is better than the other, just that fundamentally they're very similar except for their wildly different contexts, which actually make my own perceptions of them, as a fan, very far apart.
That's one paragraph to say all the TL;DR contained below.
Basics of Nao and Yuna, for those who don't know both canons:
Kanzaki Nao is the eighteen-year-old "foolishly honest" protagonist of Liar Game. She gets caught in a situation (the titular "Liar Game") which appears to be an eat-or-be-eaten situation, and dedicates herself to saving as many of her 'opponents' as possible with the help of a "genius swindler."
Yuna is the seventeen-year-old heroine of Final Fantasy X. The daughter of a high-summoner, Yuna and her guardians travel across Spira in the hopes of defeating an entity called Sin and bring about the Calm.
The other thing to be aware of, if you don't know the canons, is that the focus of each one is different. FFX is very much focused on the drama and the sort of epic-big picture narrative. Liar Game is much smaller in scale, and the stories focus on short-term events. This focuses only on the manga version of Liar Game (not the J-drama) and FFX (not X-2).
Of the three female party members in Final Fantasy X, Yuna had always been my least favorite. I think it's much easier for me to get behind characters like Lulu, who wears her power and wisdom openly and does not hold her tongue for anybody or Rikku who brings in a level of energy and dynamism to the team, as well as a fairly skeptical viewpoint of what's going on. I think Lulu and Rikku too, not only show their strengths more obviously, they showed a level of frailty as well, and unlike Yuna, Lulu and Rikku were rarely praised for being the women they were. Yuna, I think, always seemed to maintain a level of perfection about her. She never appeared to doubt herself for very long, at least that we ever got to see, and because she is a summoner on a pilgrimage, while she might have had flaws as a person (and I do think she does have real flaws) most of the NPCs (and party members) seemed to either be unaware of them or ignore them.
I really didn't start appreciating her as a character at all until I began to write from Kimahri's point of view. And I think the first thing that I realized slipping behind his eyes, was the depth of love he held for Yuna. Not really any kind of 'love' in particular, but just a type of love that really formed his post-Gagazet identity and why he was on Besaid and not anywhere else. So in a way, it became incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to write in Kimahri's skin (or fur) without understanding that love, and feeling it just a little bit myself, since so much of my characterization techniques are based on empathy.
The other thing that really turned this sort of second-hand love into a first-hand affection, was actually getting to love Nao as a character and understanding their (Nao and Yuna's) fundamental similarities. I'm pretty certain, that given the same sort of cultural framework, they could be interchangable. I could easily see Nao embarking to be Spira's next high-summoner, and realizing it's a false tradition, casting it aside and taking the chance that would save everybody. Just as I can see Yuna getting dragged into a fearsome situation and putting her own well-being on the line in order to save everybody. They're both heavily influenced in the paths they take by their fathers, complete with the meaningful names (Yuna being the namesake the first high-summoner Yunalesca, and 'Nao' being the name her father gave her so that she would become an honest girl), and they both openly depend on the support of allies and guardians in order to accomplish their determined goals.
So, since these two were very similar characters, I've been trying to figure out why it was that I loved one pretty much the moment she started to show 'strength' and didn't actually start to truly love the other until several years after I'd first played the game. Which, I think ends up looking at these characters within the context of their worlds and their stories, and it really ended up being the context that these characters are in that changed my perceptions of them as characters.
1. Point of View.
Yuna is the 'main character' of Final Fantasy X, in the sense that the story's events revolve around her pilgrimage as a summoner. However, she's not the narrator, Tidus is, and as such, we're really only seeing her from the point of view of the male lead, who falls in love with her over the course of the story.
Nao is the main character of Liar Game, and while the focus of events are much more on Akiyama's schemes, with a few reminders here and there that she can change the outcomes of events as well, she's also the narrator. It's through her eyes that we see everything, herself, Akiyama, the game, and all the players.
I suppose already, if I'm experiencing the point of view of the narrator, there's a distinction between Yuna (with whom I'm being asked to 'fall in love' with) and Nao (with whom I'm being asked to identify). Which I think changes the distance between myself and the characters. Nao is much closer, narratively speaking, than Yuna, and thus much more easy to empathize with.
2. Situational/Cultural Contexts
Yuna comes from an incredibly exalted position. For one, she's the daughter of a high-summoner, so she has some of her father's luster. Secondly, she's a talented summoner making a pilgrimage that's (hopefully) going to save the world and everyone in it from a threat that's existed for 1000 years. This second point is what gives Yuna a 'summoner's privelege' or as long as she keeps on going, she can get away with almost anything. It takes the killing of a high-level church official to get her on Spira's bad side, and even then...that's mostly Bevelle, the temples, and the Guado. And once Yuna reaches Zanarkand, even that gets forgiven.
In a larger cultural context, she also comes from a world where teenagers are basically adults. Since Sin has a habit of destroying lives and killing people at unexpected times, people settle down and take adult responsibilities much earlier than they might in the real world. Which means that 17 year old Yuna is very much an adult in the eyes of her culture, both in the sense of the privileges she has, and the responsibilities she bears. So ageism and sexism aren't going to be problems for her asserting any kind of authority or power she has.
Plus, Spira appears much bigger in the sense of gender equality than our world is. As far as I can tell, there's really no intentional sexism in the way that Spira's drawn out, and it's possible to find women incorporated in the military, sports, and in the religion. That is, any sexism in X isn't so much within Spira, as it is in the people who produced it
On the other hand Kanzaki Nao has a much larger wall to contend with.
She's an eighteen-year-old in a culture where that's still not considered legal adulthood (In Japan, legal adulthood is 20 years). As far as we know, her family is minimal (she has a sick father), and her friend network is tenuous at best. Her situation requires that she confront a danger that absolutely nobody knows about, and which sounds completely unbelievable in the context of the setting, and one that she cannot handle on her own. Also adding to the problem is that the very people she's trying to help view her as an enemy. Yes, it's true that Nao is very open about her intent, but those around her either assume she's lying, or assume she's incapable of doing what she promised.
Plus, she also lives in our world (and Japan) where there's a very large difference between male and female equality, and the culture of the game itself, even more so. (Point 4) Nao functions pretty well within this framework, in that she can often get people to act as she wants them to, but she has to do so while delivering a certain level of respect to and tolerating a certain level of disrespect from them.
Yuna's sort of the clear favorite in her world while Nao is the underdog in hers. The Luca Goers vs. the Besaid Aurochs.
3. Born vs. Made
Yuna is strong and resolute. With Yuna, there always appeared to be no question about the path she would follow, even when Wakka, Lulu (and presumably Chappu) tried to convince her otherwise. There's little doubt in her resolve to beat Sin. I think the scene at the Macalania spring was the only real crisis she had, and that was solved by morning. And it's not really until Tidus and Auron start poking holes in the purpose of the sacrifice and the Final Aeon, that she even questions what's around her, and when she does, it's mostly in the direction that Tidus and Auron go. In her defense, she has seventeen years of experience within a thousand-year-old inertia (see, context).
Also, for better or worse, Yuna knows what likely awaits her at the end of the journey, and she accepted it going off. We also, in Point 1, don't get to see very far inside her head, so while she may have doubts about who she is and what she's doing on this pilgrimage, most of what we see is her resolve to end Spira's suffering and make everyone happy, even if it meant doing the same temprorary remedy everyone else did.
I guess, to me, Yuna's strength appears passive. Within the context of the story, I see where she is strong and determined, but I can't see what she struggles against internally or how the Yuna in Besaid became a stronger person over the course of her journey. It's not that it didn't happen (I'm sure it did), but that we really can't see the process in the context of the canon. This is Tidus's story, not hers.
Nao becomes strong and resolute. She starts the manga stuck in a situation she cannot handle on her own and being almost helpless to stop it. But as it goes on, she takes a much more active role in her situation, and basically makes many of her purported 'weaknesses' into strengths. The other thing is, Nao starts questioning, for herself, the framework that's been put around the Liar Game. Part of this is indirect influence from Akiyama, but anotherpat of it is, the idea that people will necessarily screw each other over in the hopes to win big does not fit with her worldview, and while she certainly does adjust parts of her outlook (like redefining doubt as something not necessarily bad), she does so on her terms, NOT on the terms of Akiyama or the Liar Game.
Unlike Yuna, Nao has no clue to her fate or what will happen whether she fails or succeeds. Heck, her original purpose in seeking Akiyama was just to get out, but it grew into wanting to save the other players. And in the little bit of off time, it's very explicitly said that she pretends that everything is normal and fine and that she doesn't worry about being hugely in debt, even though she really does.
And all this happens as a process throughout canon, to the point where it seems (almost) universal that even one doesn't like her in the first arc, one loves her by the fourth, just for the sheer level of growth. All without erasing her 'weaknesses'. Mostly, it seems that she's learned how to use her traits as strengths. And yes, I don't care how cool Akiyama is or how much he tries to explain things, this is mainly her story.
4. Other Female Characters
Oh let's see... besides Yuna, Final Fantasy X has two other major female party members both of whom I would consider to be active and strong characters in their own ways. In addition there are a good number of female NPCs who take active roles in Spiran culture. Lucil, Elma, Belgemine, Dona, and Yunalesca are the ones who come to mind. As far as more 'submissive' or 'passive' women in Spira, there's...Shelinda. And then, in the background, Spira appears equally populated with both men and women. Overall, it's a very rich landscape if what I'm looking for are awesome women.
Liar Game, in contrast, is a tundra. Besides Nao, there's Fukunaga in a major role (but only if one takes the view that she's a trans woman and not a cross-dressing gay man, who canonically has breast implants and takes hormones), but other than that nothing. There were six women in one game (out of 22 participants), all of whom but Nao and Fukunaga were eliminated early on. Three games with no female players besides Nao whatsoever. One game with a single female adversary (in a group of three). And then the latest game with three women, all of whom are implied to be devoted to a (male) cult-leader. On the corporation side of things, only Kurifuji, of all the countless employees is a woman.
Unfortunate implications anybody?
So, I think in many ways, without diminishing Nao for her genuinely appealing traits, there's a much larger variety of female awesomeness in FFX (and yes, I do gravitate to female characters) to pick and choose to identify with, of which Yuna's is only variety. In contrast, Nao is either the only, or one of the only, active female characters in Liar Game.
Conclusion, it's not really just about the character-type, but the context they're put in, that determines me reaction to them. I could probably go on more, but long post is long, and it's bedtime.
((BTW, if we're going to do the Liar Game to FFX analogies, Fukunaga would so be a less benevolent version of Lulu and Akiyama would be a combination of Kimahri and Auron, which gives me the uncomfortable realization that if Kimahri were a human, I'd totally ship him and Yuna.))
That's one paragraph to say all the TL;DR contained below.
Basics of Nao and Yuna, for those who don't know both canons:
Kanzaki Nao is the eighteen-year-old "foolishly honest" protagonist of Liar Game. She gets caught in a situation (the titular "Liar Game") which appears to be an eat-or-be-eaten situation, and dedicates herself to saving as many of her 'opponents' as possible with the help of a "genius swindler."
Yuna is the seventeen-year-old heroine of Final Fantasy X. The daughter of a high-summoner, Yuna and her guardians travel across Spira in the hopes of defeating an entity called Sin and bring about the Calm.
The other thing to be aware of, if you don't know the canons, is that the focus of each one is different. FFX is very much focused on the drama and the sort of epic-big picture narrative. Liar Game is much smaller in scale, and the stories focus on short-term events. This focuses only on the manga version of Liar Game (not the J-drama) and FFX (not X-2).
Of the three female party members in Final Fantasy X, Yuna had always been my least favorite. I think it's much easier for me to get behind characters like Lulu, who wears her power and wisdom openly and does not hold her tongue for anybody or Rikku who brings in a level of energy and dynamism to the team, as well as a fairly skeptical viewpoint of what's going on. I think Lulu and Rikku too, not only show their strengths more obviously, they showed a level of frailty as well, and unlike Yuna, Lulu and Rikku were rarely praised for being the women they were. Yuna, I think, always seemed to maintain a level of perfection about her. She never appeared to doubt herself for very long, at least that we ever got to see, and because she is a summoner on a pilgrimage, while she might have had flaws as a person (and I do think she does have real flaws) most of the NPCs (and party members) seemed to either be unaware of them or ignore them.
I really didn't start appreciating her as a character at all until I began to write from Kimahri's point of view. And I think the first thing that I realized slipping behind his eyes, was the depth of love he held for Yuna. Not really any kind of 'love' in particular, but just a type of love that really formed his post-Gagazet identity and why he was on Besaid and not anywhere else. So in a way, it became incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to write in Kimahri's skin (or fur) without understanding that love, and feeling it just a little bit myself, since so much of my characterization techniques are based on empathy.
The other thing that really turned this sort of second-hand love into a first-hand affection, was actually getting to love Nao as a character and understanding their (Nao and Yuna's) fundamental similarities. I'm pretty certain, that given the same sort of cultural framework, they could be interchangable. I could easily see Nao embarking to be Spira's next high-summoner, and realizing it's a false tradition, casting it aside and taking the chance that would save everybody. Just as I can see Yuna getting dragged into a fearsome situation and putting her own well-being on the line in order to save everybody. They're both heavily influenced in the paths they take by their fathers, complete with the meaningful names (Yuna being the namesake the first high-summoner Yunalesca, and 'Nao' being the name her father gave her so that she would become an honest girl), and they both openly depend on the support of allies and guardians in order to accomplish their determined goals.
So, since these two were very similar characters, I've been trying to figure out why it was that I loved one pretty much the moment she started to show 'strength' and didn't actually start to truly love the other until several years after I'd first played the game. Which, I think ends up looking at these characters within the context of their worlds and their stories, and it really ended up being the context that these characters are in that changed my perceptions of them as characters.
1. Point of View.
Yuna is the 'main character' of Final Fantasy X, in the sense that the story's events revolve around her pilgrimage as a summoner. However, she's not the narrator, Tidus is, and as such, we're really only seeing her from the point of view of the male lead, who falls in love with her over the course of the story.
Nao is the main character of Liar Game, and while the focus of events are much more on Akiyama's schemes, with a few reminders here and there that she can change the outcomes of events as well, she's also the narrator. It's through her eyes that we see everything, herself, Akiyama, the game, and all the players.
I suppose already, if I'm experiencing the point of view of the narrator, there's a distinction between Yuna (with whom I'm being asked to 'fall in love' with) and Nao (with whom I'm being asked to identify). Which I think changes the distance between myself and the characters. Nao is much closer, narratively speaking, than Yuna, and thus much more easy to empathize with.
2. Situational/Cultural Contexts
Yuna comes from an incredibly exalted position. For one, she's the daughter of a high-summoner, so she has some of her father's luster. Secondly, she's a talented summoner making a pilgrimage that's (hopefully) going to save the world and everyone in it from a threat that's existed for 1000 years. This second point is what gives Yuna a 'summoner's privelege' or as long as she keeps on going, she can get away with almost anything. It takes the killing of a high-level church official to get her on Spira's bad side, and even then...that's mostly Bevelle, the temples, and the Guado. And once Yuna reaches Zanarkand, even that gets forgiven.
In a larger cultural context, she also comes from a world where teenagers are basically adults. Since Sin has a habit of destroying lives and killing people at unexpected times, people settle down and take adult responsibilities much earlier than they might in the real world. Which means that 17 year old Yuna is very much an adult in the eyes of her culture, both in the sense of the privileges she has, and the responsibilities she bears. So ageism and sexism aren't going to be problems for her asserting any kind of authority or power she has.
Plus, Spira appears much bigger in the sense of gender equality than our world is. As far as I can tell, there's really no intentional sexism in the way that Spira's drawn out, and it's possible to find women incorporated in the military, sports, and in the religion. That is, any sexism in X isn't so much within Spira, as it is in the people who produced it
On the other hand Kanzaki Nao has a much larger wall to contend with.
She's an eighteen-year-old in a culture where that's still not considered legal adulthood (In Japan, legal adulthood is 20 years). As far as we know, her family is minimal (she has a sick father), and her friend network is tenuous at best. Her situation requires that she confront a danger that absolutely nobody knows about, and which sounds completely unbelievable in the context of the setting, and one that she cannot handle on her own. Also adding to the problem is that the very people she's trying to help view her as an enemy. Yes, it's true that Nao is very open about her intent, but those around her either assume she's lying, or assume she's incapable of doing what she promised.
Plus, she also lives in our world (and Japan) where there's a very large difference between male and female equality, and the culture of the game itself, even more so. (Point 4) Nao functions pretty well within this framework, in that she can often get people to act as she wants them to, but she has to do so while delivering a certain level of respect to and tolerating a certain level of disrespect from them.
Yuna's sort of the clear favorite in her world while Nao is the underdog in hers. The Luca Goers vs. the Besaid Aurochs.
3. Born vs. Made
Yuna is strong and resolute. With Yuna, there always appeared to be no question about the path she would follow, even when Wakka, Lulu (and presumably Chappu) tried to convince her otherwise. There's little doubt in her resolve to beat Sin. I think the scene at the Macalania spring was the only real crisis she had, and that was solved by morning. And it's not really until Tidus and Auron start poking holes in the purpose of the sacrifice and the Final Aeon, that she even questions what's around her, and when she does, it's mostly in the direction that Tidus and Auron go. In her defense, she has seventeen years of experience within a thousand-year-old inertia (see, context).
Also, for better or worse, Yuna knows what likely awaits her at the end of the journey, and she accepted it going off. We also, in Point 1, don't get to see very far inside her head, so while she may have doubts about who she is and what she's doing on this pilgrimage, most of what we see is her resolve to end Spira's suffering and make everyone happy, even if it meant doing the same temprorary remedy everyone else did.
I guess, to me, Yuna's strength appears passive. Within the context of the story, I see where she is strong and determined, but I can't see what she struggles against internally or how the Yuna in Besaid became a stronger person over the course of her journey. It's not that it didn't happen (I'm sure it did), but that we really can't see the process in the context of the canon. This is Tidus's story, not hers.
Nao becomes strong and resolute. She starts the manga stuck in a situation she cannot handle on her own and being almost helpless to stop it. But as it goes on, she takes a much more active role in her situation, and basically makes many of her purported 'weaknesses' into strengths. The other thing is, Nao starts questioning, for herself, the framework that's been put around the Liar Game. Part of this is indirect influence from Akiyama, but anotherpat of it is, the idea that people will necessarily screw each other over in the hopes to win big does not fit with her worldview, and while she certainly does adjust parts of her outlook (like redefining doubt as something not necessarily bad), she does so on her terms, NOT on the terms of Akiyama or the Liar Game.
Unlike Yuna, Nao has no clue to her fate or what will happen whether she fails or succeeds. Heck, her original purpose in seeking Akiyama was just to get out, but it grew into wanting to save the other players. And in the little bit of off time, it's very explicitly said that she pretends that everything is normal and fine and that she doesn't worry about being hugely in debt, even though she really does.
And all this happens as a process throughout canon, to the point where it seems (almost) universal that even one doesn't like her in the first arc, one loves her by the fourth, just for the sheer level of growth. All without erasing her 'weaknesses'. Mostly, it seems that she's learned how to use her traits as strengths. And yes, I don't care how cool Akiyama is or how much he tries to explain things, this is mainly her story.
4. Other Female Characters
Oh let's see... besides Yuna, Final Fantasy X has two other major female party members both of whom I would consider to be active and strong characters in their own ways. In addition there are a good number of female NPCs who take active roles in Spiran culture. Lucil, Elma, Belgemine, Dona, and Yunalesca are the ones who come to mind. As far as more 'submissive' or 'passive' women in Spira, there's...Shelinda. And then, in the background, Spira appears equally populated with both men and women. Overall, it's a very rich landscape if what I'm looking for are awesome women.
Liar Game, in contrast, is a tundra. Besides Nao, there's Fukunaga in a major role (but only if one takes the view that she's a trans woman and not a cross-dressing gay man, who canonically has breast implants and takes hormones), but other than that nothing. There were six women in one game (out of 22 participants), all of whom but Nao and Fukunaga were eliminated early on. Three games with no female players besides Nao whatsoever. One game with a single female adversary (in a group of three). And then the latest game with three women, all of whom are implied to be devoted to a (male) cult-leader. On the corporation side of things, only Kurifuji, of all the countless employees is a woman.
Unfortunate implications anybody?
So, I think in many ways, without diminishing Nao for her genuinely appealing traits, there's a much larger variety of female awesomeness in FFX (and yes, I do gravitate to female characters) to pick and choose to identify with, of which Yuna's is only variety. In contrast, Nao is either the only, or one of the only, active female characters in Liar Game.
Conclusion, it's not really just about the character-type, but the context they're put in, that determines me reaction to them. I could probably go on more, but long post is long, and it's bedtime.
((BTW, if we're going to do the Liar Game to FFX analogies, Fukunaga would so be a less benevolent version of Lulu and Akiyama would be a combination of Kimahri and Auron, which gives me the uncomfortable realization that if Kimahri were a human, I'd totally ship him and Yuna.))
no subject
Yuna's flaws are also not very convincing. It makes sense that she has a crisis of faith when she does, but the scene isn't quite as well-written as some: you don't really believe she'll give up. There's a couple other places where she professes being at a loss (after Zanarkand, up top of the airship where Kimahri has a Bright Idea), but she's actually best when, say, giving a pep talk to Shelinda the Marshmallow by saying, "Yeah, honey, I'm not perfect either, but I can't let that stop me!" Except usually she totally is.
I loved Yuna because I love falling into the knight-in-shining-armor role and saving/protecting/serving Fair Lady, but that's not a role most players (particularly female?) enjoy.
Thingie. Oh yes. This quote of yours is the GRAND THEORY OF EVERYTHING and I must frame it and stick it on the Wall of Final Fantasy Fandom:
"Sexism in X isn't so much within Spira, as it is in the people who produced it."
Now I suddenly understand why all the teeth-gnashing and breast-beating happening in fanfiction fandom right now doesn't seem to apply at all. So many people are talking about how women characters aren't getting written in fanfic, and isn't a shame, and many people are blaming misogyny and various isms, while others are saying, "Well, yes, but our canon female characters suck/aren't THERE!"
But we have 'em. They are not perfect, because there is much fanservice, much cluelessness by game designers. Yet still. The Bechdel Test is passed with flying colors. There are not only women talking to each other, there are women with various different kinds of friendship. With each other. With the guys. And there are women in many different roles, and they're not all perfect, and there is the Marshmallow of Yevon to remind us that yes, some women, like some men (Clasko) are doormats. (Although even Shelinda has her moment of Being Strong, in a marshmallow way.)
Anyway, I have gone off, and don't know Nao, but I love your meta.
no subject
I actually love the knight-lady dynamic, but the Tidus-Yuna version of it, just left me flat for so many reasons. To drag in the Akiyama-Nao comparisons, they've got that same dynamic only a) I like (and identify with) Akiyama more than I ever did Tidus, and b) Nao has a larger effect on his (non-romantic) character development than Yuna has on Tidus, who gets most of his character development from Auron.
Plus, the stuff in the essay, which made it so much easier for me to fall in love with Nao, and so much more difficult to do so with Yuna.
Plus knight-lady seems to require a level of platonicness to really be effective. I guarantee, if the scene at Macalania spring had ended without the Kiss That Defied Physics, Tidus and Yuna's relationship would have been that much more powerful to me.
"Well, yes, but our canon female characters suck/aren't THERE!"
Indeed. This excuse does not exist in FFX. AT ALL. While it could be used in a lot of canons (though, probably not as much as many people thing), FFX is not one of them.
And the inclusion of male characters who aren't inherently more active or "interesting" than the women around them also counts.
no subject
Ponder think.
Random observation that is tangentially related: many of us who desire strong, independent female charcters whose main plot arc is not necessarily connected with "girl meets boy" found ourselves falling flat with Ashe of FFXII. Then feeling guilty, because lo, here is what we were looking for. But we don't get into her motives or POV at all. We barely understand her. She's a complex and uncommunicative person.
So your comment about how getting the story from Nao's POV versus seeing Yuna from outside applies also to XII, perhaps, where we have even less connection to the female lead.
I also think a "less benevolent version of Lulu" is a character I should get to know.
no subject
I personally think FFX-2 did wonders for Yuna's growth, though a lot of people say that it shouldn't really be "counted" because it was for fanservice or what-have-you. I think considering what X did to set her up, her character and adventure, X-2 seemed almost inevitable. I know X-2 didn't get addressed here, likely because it would completely alter the situations in which Yuna and Nao can be compared in.
I think part of fandom is filling in the blanks and answering the vague or unanswered questions with your own experiences and ideas. For me, I didn't mind the Tidus "Knight saving Maiden" role, because whenever I did deal with Yuna, the way she acted considering the world around her, her friends, family history, etc. made me very suspicious. Everything about her seemed a facade because she felt it was her duty: she didn't really have her own life or her own story, but letting that doubt show would mean she couldn't do what she needed. She, like your description of Nao, turned her weaknesses into strength, I feel.
Also: do you ever wonder why humans bred with Guado (creating lovelies like Seymour), but we never see Ronso half-breeds? *wiggles eyebrows*
no subject
I really left out X-2 not because I dislike it as a game or that it's fanservicey or because Yuna's character development there wasn't important (it was), but because the lighter tone of the X-2 would have made comparing their situations impossible, since at the very least, Yuna knows that she's gotten out of one huge, 'inevitable' situation, while Nao doesn't have the benefit of that experience.
Though I can easily see Nao making some very similar speeches in later chapters that Yuna makes. Especially any that might involve Akiyama trying to sacrifice himself.
I think part of fandom is filling in the blanks and answering the vague or unanswered questions with your own experiences and ideas.
This is a huge part of fandom, and the basic of pretty much all fic and meta. I guess from my point of view, I agree with how you describe her situation, except that it's not turning one's weakness into strength as Nao does, but more hiding them and not letting them get in the way, which isn't bad necessarily, but different.
And yes, I find a little problematic, personally, that the one who really should drive the plot and gets others to travel with her doesn't get to have her own life or story, at least within the context of the game.
Sorry, probably doesn't make much sense here.
I'd argue that Ronso + human is probably biologically incompatible as far as producing children, but then human-guado wouldn't be that plausible either...