Schoolgirl

More than 50,000 votes have been tallied and the results are in! Which girl do you think won at the polls?

Japanese illustrator and Twitter user @niichi021 has been conducting a number of popular polls online, asking followers to choose between the two girls depicted in his artworks — both appealing but totally different in character. Early last year, he broached the topic of sensible-looking vs. non-sensible-looking girls, followed shortly by a poll for girls who bundle up in winter vs. those who don’t, and then a look at girls who prefer to cook or give hugs. Now he’s back with a summer festival edition that asks the question “Who do you prefer – girls who take up a boyfriend’s request to wear a yukata summer kimono or a girl who decides to beat the heat in a western outfit instead?”

The girl on the right is dressed up in traditional summer festival attire, often worn by young lovers on evening dates to help make the night extra romantic and memorable. It might be the first time for her to dress herself in the fiddly garment, perhaps even taking up to two hours to perfect, and while it can be hot to wear, she’ll carry things like cotton hand towels and a parasol to help stay cool, and might even attach cold packs to her arms and the nape of her neck to keep comfortable during the hot summer evening. Her motto is “Sure, it’s a little hot, but it’s worth it because it’s a special evening”.

The girl on the left is equally gorgeous but totally opposite in character. She prefers to stay cool above all else, wearing lightweight clothes that are easy to move around in, wanting to enjoy the date rather than having to worry about the heat. Her motto is “Oh, were you hoping I’d wear a yukata? I’ll wear one next year. It looked hot so I thought I’d wear a cool outfit instead.”

As the votes were being tallied, the two summertime character types were neck-and-neck for quite some time. After the first 5,210 votes, and with 23 hours left to go, the split was an even 50 percent between the two.

After just one day online, the poll closed with more than 57,000 votes received. The winner was the yukata-clad girl on the right, who just scraped into the lead at the end with 52 percent, or 29,700 votes, compared to the free-spirited character on the left, who scored 48 percent, with 27,400 votes.

Whether the girl in yukata won for looks, demureness or romanticism, or perhaps a combination of all three, it’s hard to say. While we’re glad the strong, independent woman on the left didn’t lag too far behind the traditional girl on the right, now we’d like to see a female illustrator take up the brush with a poll of her own. If the question was reversed to ask “Which do you prefer – the man who’s upset when you don’t wear a yukata on a summer date like he asked or the man who isn’t?”, we wonder what the results would be!

Source: NariNari
Top Image: Twitter/@niichi021