Talk:Izumi Akazawa/@comment-25409301-20140911182738/@comment-397235-20140912172935

Well, this may be the most lively discussion we've had. Good job, guys.

Now, let me make my case a little differently. I really don't like Izumi either. She's got a capacious ego and is thinking with that more than anything else. It's evident in how she treats her friends:

It's made implicitly clear in the manga (and I assume the novel) Junta has a massive crush on Izumi. Izumi likes that attention but obviously has no intention of returning that affection. When he's sick, she's about the only person who doesn't care; in fact, she and Naoya make fun of him. She's also not especially broken up he died.

I don't think she's really all that fond of Takako either; she just keeps her around because Takako feeds her ego. Takako's very first line (her page quote) is trying to console Izumi Yukari's death isn't her fault and she shouldn't be blaming herself. We don't really see them interact all that often thereafter (mainly because Takako doesn't talk much). Izumi takes her home after Junta's funeral, and we can sort of infer she was trying to help her...but how? We can infer Izumi's mentioned her feelings for Kouichi to her, and at some point she's probably commented she doesn't like. Given Takako's mental instability, which Izumi feels no qualms over gossiping about, she probably didn't need to be bothering her with her own problems (there are far too many pronouns in that sentence). As for why Takako's not smiling; she makes it abundantly clear she wants Izumi to be happy, and if spending time with Kouichi makes her happy, Takako's probably going to be okay with that. That's part of why I feel bad for her; she's genuinely a nice person in most adaptions...she just has terrible choice in friends and, like Yuuya, can't actually think for herself.

Having said that, Izumi's not behaving in an especially irrational way. She puts together what she knows and comes to a logical conclusion.

And on the whole "bowing" thing, you've got to keep in mind Japanese culture. Had Mei not bowed, it'd have been the equivalent of apologizing and then flipping Izumi off. Bowing makes it sincere. It's not a victory for Mei at all; if anything, it's the worst mistake she's made since not telling Kouichi to bugger off. Izumi's just told the entire class everything is Mei's fault...and Mei just agreed it was in front of everyone. That's not just a retreat. That's throwing down your rifle, striking your colors, and rolling over to play dead.

As for Yuuya...Jeez, where to begin?

If he's using his hormones and ignoring Mei, but this is acceptable, why is it unacceptable for Izumi to do the same thing? If Izumi is a bitch for being irritated when she's around Mei because it means less face-time with Kouichi, then Yuuya's not justified for doing the same thing to Mei in order to get alone time with Reiko. If anything Yuuya's far worse, because not only is he isolating Mei himself, he's also taking away people who are obviously happy to see her. Reiko's nowhere near when this happens. Yuuya's just being a jerk...and unlike Izumi, that's not his job.

And as for the tape: Yes, Kouichi's group handled that so well, didn't they? Kouichi didn't act on it at all, except to tell Mei (who, all this time, has known who the Extra was). Naoya decides to kill his best friend...but fucks that up like he does everything else and gets at least two other people killed as a result. And what does Yuuya do? He steals the tape and plays it for the last two people who needed to know about it: let's tabulate how many that act alone killed (Yumi, Makoto, Takako, Kenzou, and Izumi). That's five deaths right there caused by one person's idiotic decision.

If both groups had gotten together and listened to the tape at the Inn, there would have been more people to counterbalance Takako. If anything, they could've probably explained what happened right there. Tomohiko tries to do this with the girls in the movie, but Naoya fucks it up there too; it's a slightly happier ending there only because two people die, as opposed to the eight who were killed in the anime.

Back to the dinner scene, you pointed out nobody stood up for Mei but her friends. Let's examine that: even Reiko and Chibiki didn't take her side. The hell? Reiko at least redeems herself a little later on when she tries to keep them from outright killing her; apparently emotional abuse isn't as troubling...or Reiko thinks Izumi's right as well.

And what about Chibiki? He's supposed to be Mei's friend, isn't he? Where the devil was he during all this? "Classmates shouldn't kill each other." Yeah, sure, and teachers should protect their students, but where the fuck have you been?

As for that first picture I posted, here's the full image:



As you can tell, this is a reworked version of the outro...but they're all smiling here. It's still promotional art, but so is the outro; neither should be construed as canon.

Ignoring that, if the outro is all in Izumi's head, why is she imagining Kouichi and Takako unhappy at all? If Izumi's as self-absorbed as...well, honestly we both tend to agree there, shouldn't she assume Kouichi would be happier with her than with Mei, and Takako will just keep being the chipper bundle of fun she always has been? Why be honest with these two and dishonest with the rest?

As a last note, it's not Yumi in the outro, it's Yukari.