Nobuko Kadoya (角屋 信子, Kadoya Nobuko) is a minor character in When Marnie Was There. She lives in the same rural town Anna Sasaki stays in for the summer and tries to befriend Anna.
Appearance[]
Nobuko is an overweight girl with black hair that has straight bangs and small, dark-colored eyes.
She usually wears her hair in a braid and loose for special occasions.
History[]
Nobuko helps the adults to keep the younger kids in check while they do the trash clean-up in their town. While she talks to her mother about how the kids drive her crazy, she spots Anna drawing near the river and the latter runs away when she notices she is being watched as Nobuko watches her in confusion since her hometown is small and seeing strangers around seems to be rare for her.
Nobuko with Anna at the festival
Nobuko's mother and Anna's aunt later arrange for the girls to go together to the Tanabata Festival. The following night, Nobuko attends the Tanabata Festival with Anna, some of Nobuko's friends and several other children. Nobuko initially attempts to befriend her and claims she is jealous that Anna lives in the city since have "great shopping" although Anna is reluctant to talk to her or any of the other girls. When Nobuko snatches Anna's card in which Anna wrote that she wanted to "live a normal life everyday" Nobuko questions her about it but Anna is embarrassed by her reading Anna's card out loud and to make it worse Nobuko points out that Anna has blue eyes, an uncommon trait in Japan and encourages her friends to look at Anna's eyes. Nobuko making Anna receive so much attention eventually led her to snap at Nobuko and call her a "fat pig". Nobuko is offended and states that Anna won't be able to live a normal life since Anna "[looks] just like what [Anna] is" but she still tries to be nice to Anna and attempts to invite her to hang out with her and her friends, but Anna slaps the card from Nobuko's hand and runs away.
After that, Nobuko goes home crying and tells her mother about the incident and lies about Anna threatening Nobuko with a blade and her angry mother immediately goes to Anna's aunt and uncle's house to tell them about Anna's behavior.
When Anna's adoptive mother comes to take her home, Anna apologizes to Nobuko for being rude to her, but Nobuko simply tells her to help at the trash clean-up next summer and walks away. This could imply that while Nobuko is still mad at Anna, she still hopes for Anna to come back.
Relatives[]
- Mrs. Kadoya (mother)
Etymology[]
- The name Nobuko means "trust, believe" (信) (nobu) and "child" (子) (ko).
- Nobuko's surname Kadoya means "corner, angle, horn" (角) (kado) and "roof, house, shop, dealer, seller" (屋) (ya).