Sora Takenouchi

Sora Takenouchi (武之内 空) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. First appearing in the film Digimon Adventure (1999), Sora has made regular appearances in the television series as a main character and also in other supplementary medias.

As one of the DigiDestined, Sora is partnered with Biyomon and is also the rightful holder of the Crest of Love (愛情の紋章).

Description
Sora is Tai Kamiya's best friend and was on the same soccer team as him and Izzy. Despite being somewhat of a tomboy, she takes caution in the Digital World because of Tai's recklessness. She is the mother figure of the DigiDestined. Sora is the daughter of a famous ikebana artist and an anthropology professor at Kyoto University.

In the sequel, Digimon Adventure 02, Sora has a more feminine appearance. She has taken upon tennis instead of soccer after receiving a leg injury, causing her mother to request her to quit. At the same time, Sora begins learning flower arranging from her mother. She adores the younger DigiDestined as an older sister, but worries about her relationship with Tai.

Pilot film
Sora first appeared in the short pilot film Digimon Adventure (1999), which was combined as the first part of Digimon: The Movie (2000) was localized. The film depicts her first encounter with a Digimon as a young child.

In the television series
Succeeding the film, Sora is a main character in the television series Digimon Adventure (1999). In this series, Sora is in fifth grade and is eleven years old.

In the sequel, Digimon Adventure 02, Sora appears less frequently due to relinquishing her abilities to Yolei Inoue, but still volunteers when needed. Taking place roughly four years after Digimon Adventure (three years in the original version), Sora is now in tenth grade and fifteen years old (eighth grade and fourteen years old in the original version). Near the end of the series, Sora falls in love with Matt, and in the epilogue they are married with a daughter and a son, both of whom are partnered with a Yokomon and Tsunomon respectively. She has also become a famous fashion designer.

In the video games
Sora makes a cameo as a non-playable character in the WonderSwan game Digimon Adventure: Anode/Cathode Tamer, where she is captured by Milleniummon and jailed with T.K. until Ryo Akiyama comes to their rescue.

In the game Digimon Tamers: Brave Tamer, Sora and Biyomon are attacked by Meramon, and Ryo has the option to save her over Yolei and Rika. Following the end of the battle, he allows Biyomon to join his party.

In other films
In the film Our War Game! (2000), the second part of the localized Digimon: The Movie, which takes place on the spring break after Digimon Adventure, Sora appears but does not participate in the battle due to an argument with Tai.

When the film featurette release of Digimon Hurricane Landing! and its second part, ''Supreme Evolution! The Golden Digimentals, which also made the third part of Digimon: The Movie'', Sora is captured by Wendigomon during his search for Willis and is de-aged until Davis and Willis defeat him. Due to ''Digimon Hurricane Landing!/Supreme Evolution! The Golden Digimentals being heavily cut when the movie was localized for Digimon: The Movie'', this subplot was removed in the English version.

The sequel of Our War Game!, Revenge of Diaboromon (2001), takes place on the spring break after Digimon Adventure 02. Again, Sora is unable to participate in the battle due to her train being halted at tennis camp.

In the CD dramas
Sora is featured in supplementary audio dramas released on CD during the television series' run, most of which consist of miscellaneous adventures with the other DigiDestined that do not relate to the overall plot of the show. These include Sora having her own radio show.

In an audio drama released years after the end of Digimon Adventure 02, which takes place between Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, Sora is heard getting closer to her mother and learning how to play tennis.

Development
Sora's character was designed for the pilot movie storyboard by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru. In an exclusive interview released with the Digimon Adventure DVD box on December 21, 2007, producer Satoru Nishizono revealed that as the staff had agreed on deciding Tai's name, he had tried to name the other characters similarly with kanji that related to "luck."

In Japan, excluding the pilot film Digimon Adventure, all of Sora's appearances were voiced by Yūko Mizutani. Ai Maeda and Umi Tenjin had also auditioned for Sora, but were casted as Mimi and Izzy respectively.

In the English dub, Colleen O'Shaughnessey provides her voice, although she did audition for other roles in the show.

Merchandise
During the run of the television series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, Sora was included in merchandise such as trading cards. In Japan, her character was also given three theme songs: "Ashita wa Motto" (明日はもっと), "Shiny Days", and "Sorairo no Kaze" (空色の風). All songs were performed by her voice actress, Yūko Mizutani. Her character CD single, Shiny Days: Best Partner 6: Sora Takenouchi & Biyomon (Shiny Days ベストパートナー⑥ 武之内 空&ピヨモン), which also included Biyomon's (Atori Shigematsu) solo "Watashi no Gosenfū" (私の五線譜) and their duet "Futari de Habatakeba" (ふたりで翔けば), was released on July 26, 2000. It failed to chart on the Oricon Weekly Charts.

Reception
In a series of online polls conducted on Toei Animation's Digimon website, Sora was ranked 5th by Japanese voters as Favorite DigiDestined. When the same question was asked two more times, her rank remained at 5th but fell to 8th. . In addition to this, Sora is ranked 1st as whom the voters would want as an older sister and as the best-looking DigiDestined in the summer.