Talk:Mei Misaki/@comment-25250949-20150419211534/@comment-397235-20150521032049

As we've discussed, though, speaking up for yourself doesn't require any physical exertion. Somewhere along the way she's learned it's easier to just let everyone else take care of her.

She gets pissy about how controlling her mom is, but I honestly think that's where it comes from: Mei's never had to make decisions for herself her entire life, so she genuinely doesn't know how. It mentions in the novel she's ignoring the rest of the class the same way they've been ignoring her; you can take that to mean she genuinely doesn't see them as real people, so they can continue dying and it won't affect her in the slightest. You can interpret her relationship with Kouichi not as her growing as a person but transitioning from one caregiver to another (that wasn't an intentional pun); she'll expand her sphere to include him but only him. It's implied she's friends with Yuuya, but she's completely unconcerned when she hears him screaming in terror (contrast Izumi's reaction to hearing Naoya, who she hates scream, or the fact Kouichi went running when he heard Takako in danger and you start to see my point).

Even if she's weak and sickly there's absolutely no excuse for her at to at no point speak up in her own defense, except she's learned she'll never have to, because someone will always be there to do it for her.

This is something only present in the anime, since the only time she's ever put in a directly confrontational situation in anything else is at dinner, and that's a much different situation. Basically, I dislike her attitude. Mei doesn't care about what's happening; she's completely disconnected from what's going on around her. She might as well be watching it on TV for all the concern she shows.