Talk:Takako Sugiura/@comment-94.191.186.199-20140627182622/@comment-397235-20140628062919

Mei's character design is such that she's meant to be cute, but not in a sexual way (that's why she's the only one of the girls who wears a one piece bathing suit, for instance). She's meant to illicit a strong parental urge to protect her in people (I forget what this is called, but it really is a thing in Japan; you see it everywhere, including places where it makes no sense, such as road work signs and military warnings). Mei is cute, and we, as human beings, feel a strong urge to make sure cute things stay safe.

Takako (and Izumi, to a lesser extent) both attempt to harm her, and I think that's why a lot of people dislike her. Couple that with her lack of personality, very few lines, and the fact she's a rather unlovely individual, and the vast majority of people find her an easy person to hate. I think, if you compare her to the average fan reaction to Tomohiko (who is far, far, far worse), you'll see my point: Tomohiko never once directly threatens Mei at any point in the story; he just goes after Kouichi and anyone else he happens to stumble across. On the other hand, he killed more people than any other individual in the series, unlike Takako, who killed no-one, yet Tomohiko gets a pass and she doesn't.

Then there's also the stereotype that most anime fans are girls, and tend to be more charitable toward male characters (the same, of course, being true for the reverse). My co-admin and I disagree on this: I despise Tomohiko in the anime, but she likes him. Don't know if the opposite is true in her case, because we've never talked about it, but there it is.

Granted, I'm sure I've just replied to an IP address that will never be back here to see this, but oh well.