She was nothing, to be used and abused and forgotten.
And then her power woke up when she was faced with
her own survival ? and from that, the organization called Talon found her,
and changed her, and gave her a place and a purpose and the power to defend
herself from ill use. And more than that, they made her Somebody.
If there were one thing to convince me that Akai Kiba Blue Sonnet is made to appeal to the fans of Andre Norton, it is the character of Sonnet. Coming from a disadvantaged ? or even hellish ? childhood, strong because in those fires one is either burnt to nothing or compressed into diamond, even without the esper powers she would be a fitting sister to such as Shann Lantee, Ross Murdock, or Nik Kolherne; as it is, she reminds me of nothing so much as an even harsher Ziantha. (Please excuse the yarbling on about Andre Norton; I only recently realized *why* I liked this show as much as I do, and not enough people yarble about Andre Norton anyway.)
She has been encouraged to care nothing for others ? indeed, to be as emotionless as possible ? in part because Talon sees its cyborgs as game pieces with no feelings of their own, and in part because no one can hurt you if no one can touch you. She is not so much disillusioned with humanity as laboring under the equally wrong illusion that no one will do anything for you unless they want something out of you.
And the disproof of that illusion is a traumatic event for her. She's not accustomed to other people caring about her just because she's there. She's not accustomed to being liked.
Sonnet is loyal to Talon; in part because she believes that she will help to make a better world, in part because she is grateful to them for giving her her abilities and teaching her her skills, and in part because she just doesn't have anywhere else to go. She seldom has anything against those whom she is sent to oppose; it's just her job, so she'll do it.
However, despite her loyalty to the organization, she often disapproves of its methods. On at least one occasion she has used her own powers (which are considerable; the first OVA began with her easily defeating three army tanks and one of its helicopters) to keep them from doing something they had meant to.
One of the subtexts of the story seems to be Sonnet's own quest for humanity. First she learns to like herself. Then she learns to like other people; to have friends her own age with whom she can talk about nothing in particular.
And then she learns what it is to have a close friend, someone to whom one can pour out one's heart.
Sonnet is confused about most of her emotions, including what she feels for Bird. She is struck by the similarity between the two of them; she saves his life, in a situation where shortly before he had been her enemy. (To be fair, he too had saved her life in between.) She feels tender about him, and doesn't understand why.
I don't think she's in love with him, but I think she may love him. And, regardless, he is the only one who can understand most of what she is and has been.
Sonnet is voiced by the famous Tsuru Hiromi, who is known for the tough
but goodhearted Madoka from Kimagure Orange Road, the cyborg Kiddy Phenil
from Silent Möbius, Lufy and Score from GallForce,
and Buruuma from Dragonball.