Talk:Izumi Akazawa/@comment-25409301-20140911182738/@comment-397235-20140912193423

Oh yeah, I pick on my friends all the time...but there's a certain point at which it becomes inappropriate. Junta's clearly miserable, and Izumi clearly doesn't care. I always got the impression (and the manga more or less backs this up) Izumi kept Junta around because...it's nice when a member of the opposite sex is giving you attention.

I don't think Izumi's out and out abusive toward Takako...in the anime. In the film, she's a horrific bitch to her and Mei both (she yells at Takako when she rather stupidly tries to sit near Mei and Kouichi at dinner, and when Takako finally stands up to her Izumi's response is to stab her in the throat).

The impression I always got of their relationship in the anime is Takako feeds Izumi's ego. Izumi is a strong, charasmatic person and Takako is a weak, dependent one. She hangs around with Izumi because Izumi (not necessarily with malice) does all her thinking for her.

As for Junta: The only person who really cared he was sick was Takako, and when she saw him die, she screamed (she didn't do this when Yukari or Kubodera met their ends). Furthermore, at the funeral she's clearly devastated; Izumi has to walk her home, since otherwise she'd have stayed there.

It's obvious she and Izumi have talked about boys, since Takako suspects Izumi has a thing for Kouichi. For guys, conversations like this are usually reciprocal; Takako's probably told Izumi about whatever boys she's interested in as well. I've always assumed Takako had a thing for Junta (which is clearly not reciprocated); Izumi is apparently aware of this as well, since she manipulates Junta's sickness adroitly enough to rid herself of both her friends and Naoya. Izumi is already bitter toward Mei for her supposed role in activating the Calamity in the first place; I imagine her conversation with Takako following the funeral is less "I'm so sorry" and more "Isn't it a shame that Mei girl messed things up and got Junta killed?" That's not exactly a healthy attitude to feed someone who's just suffered a trauma like that; look what a similar even did to Tomohiko.