Yomi Takanashi (TV Anime Character)

Takanashi Yomi is the protagonist/antagonist of the OVA Black★Rock Shooter. Her "other self" is Dead Master.

She is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese) and Leighton Meester (English).

Appearance
She has green eyes and wavy dark hair and wears the same uniform as Kuroi Mato. Her beauty is comparable to an adult's. Mato often commented on how tall Yomi is; but Yomi says she has a "complex" about being tall. In the anime series, she now wears eyeglasses.

Black★Rock Shooter (OVA)
Yomi is a gentle, good-natured girl who speaks politely and calmly; she is very mature for her age. She is supposedly a member of a well-to-do family, staying for some time in Germany before moving to Mato's neighborhood. She also revealed that her frequent moving from one place to another has caused her to develop a sort of distant attitude towards others.

However, she is prone to having very dark feelings of loneliness and jealousy; she tends to keep these to herself. Yomi has 'another self' which is known as the Dead Master.

She seems to enjoy volleyball, which she picks up out of a desire to be with Mato on the court.

Black★Rock Shooter (Anime)
Yomi's personality is somewhat different in that while she is still calm, reserved, and polite, she is also extremely aloof to the point where she is unwilling to make friends. Part of this is her attachment to Kagari Izuriha, both due to the fact that she blames herself for Kagari's injury and because catering to all of Kagari's demands was initially easier than coping with the mental trauma.

Unlike her OVA incarnation, she is more interested in things like art and bracelet making. Like Mato, she likes the book Li'l Bird Li'l Bird Colorful Colors.

However, like her OVA incarnation, she seems to be depressed at the idea of Mato thinking more of Yuu than of her. The reason is finally detailed: she feels like she is being kept as a secondary friend to Mato and that Mato values Yuu more than her, which she finds natural since they have "lived and cried" together and that their bond will be like this in the future.

Black★Rock Shooter (OVA)
She is first seen by Kuroi Mato on the first day of school walking out of a car and continuing on alone. After the school's welcome ceremony, Mato catches up to her eventually and introduces herself, and while Yomi is initially startled by Mato's up-frontness, she warms up to her quickly. She introduces herself as simply "Takanashi". She and Mato go on to become inseparable, although she is much more passive in her speech and thinking than Mato.

Mato's skill on the basketball team encourages her to join the volleyball team, and they start to hang out together. Mato eventually shows Yomi a place near her neighborhood where there is a large view, and buys her a phone charm identical to her own.

However, when Mato and Yomi are put in separate classes, they start to drift apart. When playing volleyball one day, Yomi sees Mato get injured and be tended to by Yuu. Later, Mato tries to introduce Yomi to Yuu and have the three of them hang out together, but Mato ends up spending more time with Yuu.

Yomi starts to feel left out, and ends up spending more time watching Mato and Yuu hang out far away from her. Internally, she begins to feel jealous, allowing her "other self", the Dead Master, to take over her and possess her. This causes Yomi to vanish from Mato's world.

Black★Rock Shooter, fused with Mato, fights against Dead Master, with both being seemingly equally matched. The Dead Master traps Black★Rock Shooter in a web of chains, and it seems the Dead Master will win. However, Black★Rock Shooter gains the strength to break the chains with her bare hands and confront the Dead Master. Black★Rock Shooter embraces her in that instant, and the Dead Master attempts to resist; unable to handle it, she flies out of Yomi's body and disappears, leaving an unconscious/sleeping Yomi in Black★Rock Shooter's arms.

The post-credits reveal that Yomi and Mato have reconciled, although while both invite Yuu to come with them, they are still oblivious to Yuu's dark state...

Black★Rock Shooter (2012) (Anime)
Yomi grew up with Kagari, and they were very close to each other; Kagari in particular was very attached to Yomi. However, at one point, Yomi's family had to go overseas for a few years because of her father's job. Kagari chased after Yomi's car, getting hit by a car herself.

The injury did not physically harm Kagari, and the doctors found nothing wrong with her; however, Kagari became convinced that she was now crippled, and began to rely on Yomi. Yomi found it easier to give into Kagari's demands than to face what had happened, as she blamed herself for Kagari's injury.

Yomi first appears in the anime when she helps Mato back to her feet when she has zoned out. Mato remarks on her bracelet, which Yomi says is "a simple chain stitch". She does not tell Mato her name, leaving Mato to read it as "little birds playing".

She returns home dejectedly and speaks to Kagari Izuriha through a cup-and-string phone. She "reports" that she met an "interesting girl" who has a "variety of facial expressions", but Kagari instructs her that she "must not" make friends with her.

The next day, Mato finds her, discovers her actual name, and asks her if she wants to join any clubs. Yomi feels suddenly awkward and leaves the room.

Later, Yomi sees Mato running after Arata Kohata during her "preview" of the basketball club and calls it "beautiful".

When walking home, Yomi sees Mato with a phone charm of the book Li'l Bird Li'l Bird Colorful Colors, to which she shows interest and shows her a wallpaper of the book she painted based off of a picture found in the first edition, which Mato does not have. She takes Mato to her house to look at it, where she also gives Mato her red chain bracelet.

Kagari interrupts the meeting by coming in and violating hospitality to Mato, causing Mato to quickly excuse herself and Yomi to, later that night, send a text message saying "I'm sorry". She speaks to Kagari over the cup phone, and Kagari tells her that she is "hers" and she must "take responsibility".

Yomi isolates herself in the art room, painting a picture, when Mato approaches her to ask her to go to the festival with her. Yomi protests, saying that Mato will only be hurt and that it's impossible to become friends with her, but Mato insists, causing Yomi to cry.

However, Yomi ends up not attending the festival, as Kagari forbids her from going on the grounds that she herself is unable to go. Yomi is only allowed to send Mato three text messages, all saying the same thing: "I'm sorry." Kagari tries to feed her macaroons, but Yomi refuses; Kagari thus takes a needle, orders Yomi to undress, says that she will "carve out her pain", and carves a heart-shaped scar on Yomi's chest.

The next day, Yomi sees Mato and unsuccessfully tries to hide the scar from her. Mato tells her that she is not acting like a "little bird", and is not exercising her potential to take them to different worlds. Mato shows up at Yomi's door later, and Yomi runs down, only to see Kagari at the top of her stairs, having waited for her. Kagari stands from her wheelchair and threatens to fall down the stairs, saying that Yomi will be blamed if she is killed, and will be killed too.

Kagari survives the fall, however, and emerges with only a twisted wrist, but claims that she has lost her ability to use her hand. Yomi's mother tells Mato Kagari's story, and, knowing this, Mato comes to Yomi's door and tells her that Kagari is only pitiful because Yomi has made her pitiful. Understanding this, Yomi tells Kagari to get out of the wheelchair, come to school, and make friends with her and Mato, where she will never be lonely. Kagari, hearing Mato try to get in, throws a tantrum at those present, but, as Black★Rock Shooter beheads Chariot, Kagari suddenly stops, and Yomi opens the door for Mato, a tear coming down her cheek. Mato comes in and Kagari looks at them and smiles. She then promptly falls over, and Yomi finds that she has fallen asleep.

The next day, Yomi talks to Mato and says that Kagari is now undergoing walking exercises and seems more calm. She sees Yuu pull Mato over to rush to their meeting, and Mato quickly says goodbye to Yomi, to which Yomi seems dejected. Yomi calls Mato later that day for no reason other than to talk to her, but the conversation ends up being all about Yuu and Yomi finds herself not invested in the conversation. She quickly excuses herself and ends the call.

While Mato is away at her sports trip, Yomi makes a blue bracelet and walks by Saya Irino's "Dawn Counseling" room. Saya asks her if she wants coffee, but Yomi quickly refuses and runs off.

Mato returns with a box of sweets for Yomi, and Yomi gives Mato the bracelet she made. Mato notices that Yomi is reacting badly to mentions of Yuu and tells her to talk to her if anything's wrong, and Yomi mutters that she's not Mato's best friend; Mato does not understand but Yomi shrugs it off.

She and Mato end up witnessing Arata Kohata being publicly shamed when her love letter is posted up publicly. Together, she, Mato, and Yuu mull over things, and Mato and Yuu start to cry about it. Yomi watches, thinking that they have probably spent their life living and crying together and will do so that closely in the future. Inspired, when in art class, she paints a picture of a crying Mato.

While Mato is at basketball practice, she walks out of school when she sees Saya looking out a window, calling to her and offering coffee. She obliges and, when Saya asks her what kind of coffee she wants, she asks for two teaspoons of sugar; however, when Saya gives her coffee, she finds it bitter, and Saya says she gave it to her black.

Suddenly, as Black★Rock Shooter beheads a mysterious hooded figure that looks like Arata, Saya goes completely blank with tears trickling down her eyes to the horror of a shocked Yomi.

Trivia

 * A potential kanji writing of Yomi (ヨミ), 黄泉, means "underworld".
 * Her surname, "Takanashi", is written with the kanji "小鳥遊" for "little bird play". Mato, not knowing how to read Yomi's written surname correctly, refers to her as "kotori-asobi" (小鳥遊), which literally means "little birds play". Yomi later explains to her that her last name is read as "Takanashi" (鷹無し), which means "no hawks", and tells her that her surname stems from the saying that "When the hawks are away, little birds play".
 * The surname "Takanashi" could also be spelled with the kanji for "takai" (高) for "tall" and nashi (無) for "not", i.e. (高無) "not tall". It can be seen as a pun since Mato, right before Yomi's name is explained, mentions that she thinks Yomi is, in fact, tall.