Name: Yukari Tanizaki
Series: Azumanga Daioh
Episode(s): All the ones worth seein’
Usual: Whatever’s in your fridge or on goin’ on your tab
Favorite dive: Chiyo Mihama parents’ beach house
Type of drunk: The Mooch, The Competitor, The Excesser
Quote: “I will be fine, madame captain. I must continue until the end!”
Merits/Excuses:
She’s a teacher! Show me a teacher who doesn’t drink, and I’ll show you someone who can (and therefore does, rather than teach). Generally carefree (usually to a fault), Yukari Tanizaki is a foreign (English) language teacher who always seems to be on the receiving end of things: frustration, mainly. Her self-aware obsession with appearing to be the epitome of every role she occupies – teacher, foreign language buff, friend, adult – inevitably leads to the exact opposite perception in all with whom she interacts. Except me, of course. I think she’s keen.
Yukari-sensei follows in the vein of that most time-honored of drunkard traditions: mooching. She’s got stories to tell and opinions to share, most of which would be rather banal would it not be for Yukari’s charismatic je ne sais quoi that manages to turn her abrasive competitive nature into something more intimately adorable. This side of Yukari’s nature comes out soon as some form of booze goes down her throat and she finds her happy place, usually at the expense of the kindness of a close acquaintance (namely her friend since childhood, Minamo “Nyamo” Kurosawa).
Once she’s had enough … Enough? There’s an “enough?” No, there is only sleep barfing! Hey, if you had to face snot-nosed little brats every Monday through Friday under the realization that they probably already know more than you do, you’d probably drink until you couldn’t feel self pity either. She may not be the ideal best friend, but Yukari Tanizaki is one hell of a great drinker to be around. If nothing else, her humor and reckless self-endangerment will leave you feeling like a better person for having known her.