Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie stars a seemingly perfect heroine, the pink-haired Shikimori herself. Over time, however, the anime has been slowly deconstructing Shikimori’s image as a larger-than-life perfect girlfriend, and that includes her private insecurities about being tough vs being outwardly beautiful. Luckily her brother is there to help.
Shikimori has a complex about being the little sister to a much older brother, but it’s not all bad. Even if they annoy each other sometimes, Shikimori and Fuji understand one another, and Episode 11 shows the vital role Fuji plays in his little sister’s character growth. He may be annoying, but he’s always there when she really needs him.
Fuji’s character is developed mostly in the context of his popular little sister, and most of what he says and does here is in relation to Shikimori herself. Episode 11’s flashbacks reveal that Fuji once got into karate, only for Shikimori to follow in his footsteps and become a formidable martial artist in her own right. While she thrives as a young martial artist in these flashbacks, she also contens with some insecurities due to being made fun of for being a tomboy. Then Fuji remarks that Shikimori can’t follow in his footsteps forever and must carve out her own identity — even if she has to build one from scratch.
Fuji plays a passive but oddly helpful role in his little sister’s life, giving her a few pieces of advice while staying out of Shikimori’s business so the latter can get to work without interference. He has a hands-off attitude about his insecure younger sister and often annoys her, but he is not a neglectful brother or a jerk. Fuji is more like a mild tsundere character, acting standoffish and punkish at times while secretly caring a great deal about his sister’s happiness.
Clearly his strategy worked as the present-day Shikimori is a more confident and happier 17-year-old girl. While she may still have minor self-doubts, there’s nothing too serious. Fuji’s work has paid off, and now the siblings can interact as a more conventional brother/sister duo. They are much closer to being equals now — which is what Fuji always wanted.
Fuji’s character is best defined by his somewhat hands-off approach for empowering his younger sister. That said, he still has his own identity, and Episode 11’s events make up for lost time. Fuji made some cameo appearances as a bonus character in earlier episodes, but here he gets much more screen time so Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie fans can see who he really is.
Unlike the competitive Shikimori, Nekozaki and Inuzuka, Fuji is an odd combination of tsundere and dandere, being a bit sassy around his sister while also being horribly shy around strangers — especially the many girls who admire him. Despite being a cool and confident karate expert, Fuji is a total dandere and can’t even get a word out when around strangers. Therefore, it falls to Shikimori to bail her brother out and gently tease him about it later.
In a way, Fuji might remind Shikimori fans of the side character Komi Shosuke, the titular heroine’s silent younger brother in Komi Can’t Communicate. It turns out neither sibling can express themselves very well, though Shosuke’s silence is more of a choice than anything. Meanwhile, Fuji is somewhere in between Shoko and Shosuke, having the incredible shyness of Shoko and the cool, detached nature of Shosuke. What if Shoko couldn’t communicate but also had her brother’s cool-guy confidence at home? That’s what Fuji is in Shikimori, and he makes it look good.