Miyake Shinobu (三宅しのぶ, Three house endure?) is a major character in Urusei Yatsura.
History
Shinobu is Moroboshi Ataru's childhood friend and classmate at Tomobiki High School, Class 2-4. This aspect of Shinobu has even been relied upon by the others during some serious situations. A neat and clean young lady, she has horrible luck with men, usually only attracting monsters and perverts.
Personality
Shinobu usually acts like a cute, fragile teenage girl who isn't afraid to speak her mind. However, when her temper is pushed too far, she gets violently mad, having able to lift school desks and then throw them to others, usually Ataru. Ataru and she have known each other for long time and they had feelings toward each others in beginning side of the series. She even proposed Ataru if he can win Lum. However even though Ataru tried to meet and date Shinobu countless times, she always got disappointed or jealous of Lum, who she disliked a lot.
After Lum got transferred into school, Shinobu started to lose interest in Ataru and grow more affection toward Mendou Shutaro. She still gets disappointed by him as well, since everyone she actually likes seems to like Lum even more. When she forgets Ataru, she accepts Lum as her classmate, though not as her friend.
Appearance
Shinobu is shorter than Lum is. She has long straight brown hair and black eyes (which were ironically stated by Lum). She usually wears her sailor-suit uniform as she is mostly seen in school. She however wears dresses and many t-shirts outside the school.
Powers and Abilities
- Incredible strength - Usually very calm and quite normal (compared to the rest of the cast), when angry she seems to become superhumanly strong and throws large objects, usually a desk. This strength also seems to be derived from her anger towards men when they do something she finds wrong.
Relationships
- Moroboshi Ataru - At first Shinobu was Ataru's girlfriend. When Ataru was selected to go against the Oni princess Lum in a game of tag with the fate of the Earth on the line she promised to marry him if he won. But when Ataru caught Lum he shouted "Now I can get married", which Lum mistook as a proposal referring to herself, and their engagement began. Even after this, Ataru tried to meet up and date Shinobu many times, but usually Lum got between them, resulting in Shinobu getting the wrong idea and mad on Ataru. When Lum got transferred into same school, she started to lose interest in Ataru, though Ataru still likes Shinobu a lot.
- Mendou Shuutarou - When Mendou Shuutarou transferred to Tomobiki, Shinobu fell for him (as did all of the other female students) and completely gave up on Ataru. Mendou liked her, but he was in love with Lum so nothing ever developed between the two of them. Shinobu was sometimes asked to travel with him, Ataru and Lum so Ataru could change Lum for Shinobu and Mendou would get Lum, but these plans failed.
- Inaba - near the end of the series, she meets Inaba from the Fate Production Bureau. In his second appearance, Inaba asks Shinobu to help him recover a flower from the space-time forest while it blooms, as he needs to bring a girl with him. They go through many obstacles but the flower isn't blooming when they make it. However, when Inaba reveals that the only reason he undertook the task in the first place was to spend time with Shinobu, the flower blooms, true love being it's "fertilizer". After that, the two begin dating and are often seen drinking tea together at coffee houses.
- Lum - Shinobu disliked Lum a lot in the beginning of the series, seeing her more as an obstacle between her and Ataru. Even though Ataru tried to date her many times, Lum always managed to ruin everything. When Lum got transferred into Tomobiki High-School, Shinobu started to lose interest in Ataru and grow affection to Shutaro. This led her not hate Lum as much as she used to, but they haven't done much to be friends.
- Fujinami Ryuunosuke - Shinobu can be seen supporting Ryuunosuke at the sideline when she's arguing with her father. She also gets flustered when Ryuunosuke touches her hand. Since she's starting to hate men anyway, it's possible that she started to feel something for Ryuunosuke.
Speech
Appellations
| Name | What They Call Shinobu | What Shinobu Calls Them |
|---|---|---|
| Ataru | Shinobu | Ataru-kun |
| Lum | Shinobu | Lum |
| Mendou | Shinobu-san | Mendou-kun |
| Ryuunosuke | Shinobu | Ryuunosuke-kun |
| Kousuke | Shinobu | Unknown |
| Ten | (Shinobu)-neechan | Ten-chan |
| Cherry | Unknown | Cherry |
| Sakura | Shinobu | Sakura-sensei |
| Ataru's Mother | Shinobu-chan | Oba-san |
| Onsen-Mark | Unknown | Sensei |
| Hanawa | Unknown | Sensei |
| Principal | Shinobu-kun | Kouchou (Principal) |
| Ryuunosuke's Father | Unknown | Oji-san |
| Kurama | Zashiki-Warashi (once) | Kurama |
| Inaba | Shinobu-san | Inaba-san |
| Souban | Shinobu-san | Unknown |
| Tsubame | Unknown | Tsubame-san |
Quotes
- "Men be damned!! / Who needs men!"
- "You flirtatious scum!"
- "I must go to my sweet Ataru! He needs me! He loves me! Even though I know Lum will be with him, I can't keep away from my beloved, my precious. Although, if he's shagged her... I'LL KILL HIM!"
- "You've got... a bun in your oven???"
- "What ceremony of love? This is just a sick collection. The warm love between a man and a woman can't be frozen like tuna."
Trivia
- Shinobu's voice actress, Shimazu Saeko, has voiced roles in all four of the major anime TV series based on Takahashi Rumiko's works, with her other notable Takahashi role being Kunou Kodachi in Ranma 1/2.
- In Urusei Yatsura 3: Remember My Love it is shown that without Lum being in Tomobiki, Shinobu can't use her herculian strength as she has no reason to be angry.