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Old 2012-03-14, 13:11   Link #162
TinyRedLeaf
Moving in circles
 
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyfall View Post
And I find it pretty unfair that someone would support Izumi in her unjust accusation over Mei simply because they have a thing for hot readheads in overknee socks that make twintails look good.
I was being sarcastic and was intentionally "trolling", but I think the intent didn't come across very clearly. My mistake.

That aside, the interesting point is the different ways in which we "see" a character despite ostensibly looking at the same thing. And to a certain extent, this has been an intentional set-up throughout the series, most especially in Mei's case. She has gone from possible phantom to creepy to cute to detached to tragic and, finally, to being genuinely afraid of her circumstances. As I've brought up earlier, I believe this to be one of the themes of the story, that is, the juxtaposition of "seeing" and "perceiving". The way the Class of 72 "perceived" the original Misaki despite no one actually "seeing" him. The way a non-existent student is not supposed to be "perceived" even though everyone can "see" the individual.

The fact that the story invites viewers to ask such questions is what makes this series a cut above the norm, I find.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord of Fire View Post
I'm still not justifying her behavior, but I can see the reason behind it more clearly than I could before. Still, why didn't she blame Kouichi, if she needed a scapegoat that desperately? Did she merely pick Mei because she was pretty much an outcast from the get-go, or is there more to Izumi than we're led to believe?
The joke answer, of course, is that Ms Twintail Redhead Tsundere was suffering a bad case of the jellies!

The better answer is that Kouichi can't possibly held responsible for doing something no one told him not to do. That's not the case with Mei. She was asked to take up a specific role which entailed certain responsibilities. She could have chosen not to do it, but since she did, Mei had a duty to her classmates to perform the role to the best of her ability. Izumi wasn't the only one who felt that Mei hadn't completely fulfilled her end of the bargain — there were murmurs of assent from others in the dining room. But those students chose to keep quiet about it. Rather than trying to pretend that the bad feelings don't exist, Izumi made a stand and vocalised what many students already clearly felt. In doing so, and by receiving a sincere apology from Mei, Izumi's hope was probably that everyone could then move on.

Last edited by TinyRedLeaf; 2012-03-14 at 13:22.
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