Notes:
In contrast to Seymour's maladjustment, Kimahri, one of Yuna's Guardians, is not at odds with his marginality. As a Ronso, he is a minority in Spira, but he still has his tribe for his social group. He and the other Ronso seem to represent a sort of model minority; they dress primitively in loincloths and barbarian-like armor, speak in the third person, and yet are noble in their desires to sacrifice even their lives for Yuna. In order to prevent Seymour from reaching Yuna, the Ronso throw themselves in his path and perish in the act. Kimahri consistently places himself in front of Yuna to ward off danger. This dichotomy between his admirable actions and primitive demeanor is similar to the portrayal of blacks in Japanese pop culture, with the image of the “noble savage” being especially prevalent (Russell). He also represents, in a way, the desire to see minorities as “primitive” instead of just “different” (Morris-Suzuki, 92). Although this primitiveness could be explained by the Ronso's animal-like appearance, we are then left with the question of why they are animal-like. Minorities in Japan have often been derogatively compared to animals, especially the burakumin (Hane, 149) and the Ainu (Siddle, 27). This tradition of associating marginals with animals is often an attempt to make one's own culture seem more civilized, and the fact that this tradition continues into modern video games indicates that this tendency is not completely antiquated.