totooria helmold and why she is best, by evangeline of sky

totori is one of a kind, in this study we shall analyze totori in three sections, appearance, personality, and character, with this we shall paint a picture on why totori is objectionably the best.

section 1) appearance: totori's design like many characters has gone through extensive itterations, but each is inherriently unique and expressive of her role within the games narrative.. in atelier totori her outfit while looking flowery and majestical still bears signs of her heritage and her journey.. with the extensive frills it is easy to see this as an outfit of some rich nobles daughter, which wouldnt be implausible when we consider roronas reputation and this point and it was given to her by her as part of her training.. but as we zoom in we can see the besides the lacey frills and gold trim, the pink segments of her dress are made of relatively low quality cloth, still keeping true to her roots in a backwater town.. her hair, as youd expect from the hair master kishida himself, is a finely detailed light brown, trending half way down her back.. an easy aspect to overlook however is her sleeves are not actually part of the rest of her dress, but its infact an overcoat worn over it, this is a very common trope in japanese media for the freelance adventurer, thus forshadowing her entire character arc.. in meruru her design goes through a drastic overhaul while still being immensely familiar, her face is of course less child like her now entering adulthood, her hair is fuller and her outfit becomes far more inctricate, gone are the aspects of her upbringing and now we see golden and gemmed trim, as opposed to the overcoat she wore she has now taken up disconnected sleves, giving a similar aesthetic but  showing she has devoted herself to her alchemy over the life of an adventurer she had in her younger days, even her trademark sachel is bigger and now gem embroided to better reflect her experience and status as one of the lands top alchemists.. in lulua her design while still carrying her trademark asthetic reflects her maturity and having settled down in life, she doesnt as prominently show skin as she did as a teenager and has a more formal look opposed to the fairy tail look of her previous itterations, reflecting she has settled down in life and her reputation as arlands greatest alchemy instructor..

section 2) personality: it is through seeing totoris personality and behaviour we can so easily see just how much she grows, going through more personal growth throughout her lifetime than any other alchemist.. when we first meet totori she is shy, scared girl who will easily break into tears and lacks self confidence, but with a solid work ethic and a dream.. she then becomes an older sister figure, she becomes more confident and actively tries to console others when they themselves are in tears, and she has become confident in her ability while still identifying her own limits and need to grow and develop.. in the final transition we see her develop into a strong independent woman, with the arland government personally requesting her advice, long gone are her days of lacking self confidence and no longer suffers the fear or panic attacks she used to.. but despite how much her personality elements and presentation change throughout her life, her kind caring nature, desire to help others, and general deamnor make her easily recognizable

section 3) character: totoris growth is immense.. its not uncommon to see characters take minor changes in role in atelier, but their character mostly remains intact.. escha in shallie is still escha, just older.. same with ayesha.. meruru in lulua is still mostly the same girl she always was.. rorona in totori was once again, just an older more expereinced rorona.. totori, actually changes.. her journey in her first game as immensely personal, a desire to find the truth of her lost mother, but that can be said about any atlier protag, its always a personal goal.. totori however truly gains a lot, if we look at her presentation in meruru the events of totori werent just something that happened, they truly shaped her as an individual, every interaction she has she took something from and grew.. this is something atelier has a very hard time with traditionally, properlyu reflecting continued and consistent character growth between games, but with totori they nail it head on

this has been a preview of the essay on why totooria helmold is best, thank you for reading

~~ u/EvangelineOfSky