Quote:
Originally Posted by DawnEmperor
Wolfenstein, I honestly think that likability is an iffy factor to judge upon. I know you feel that the way the series plays with tropes doesn't change the fact that certain characters may be presented as unlikable, but it's a matter of cogs in the overall story. I guess in the end we do have to separate our character preferences and plot preferences with the execution of the story and the way it makes us think.
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I don't know, bro. Obviously, there will always be people who enjoy Medaka's character for her traits...
But...I've never seen such a collected opinion on the fact that a character was meant to be terrible in a single fanbase.
I mean, she's definitely not supposed to be the character you cheer for. Let's type in "Medaka Box character popularity poll" on google and see what the first non-jump result yields us:
46 - Misogi(understandable)
27 - Heat(understandable)
6 - Medaka(understandable?)
5 - Others
http://forums.mangafox.me/threads/27...opularity-poll
That's a...pretty glaring disparity there. Even worst counting the fact the poor gal already lost top-three position in Japan. Maybe this was Nishio's plan. I mean, certainly could be given how his use of the character dosen't actually change much at all from the beguinning of the manga where she explicitly and undoubtedly was made the Mother of all Sue's, to later be deconstructed in the Election year(though admittedly, with very little results shown).
Maybe he's rectifying a mistake or just concluding his plan now. After all, this ending was incredibly out-of-the-blue and rushed.
What I mean is: to most, the side-characters are what makes and breaks the manga. People read
Medaka Box for Misogi and Heat(the majority at least), for Naze, for Shiranui, for Tsurubami, for Ajimu, for Emukae, for Kei, and most importantly, for
Nienami. I'm sure some people read the Manga singlulary for it's seeming protagonist, though, not saying those don't exist.
You kinda see what I'm getting at, don't you? She's, at the very least, not the kind of protagonist designed to be more relatable/likeable than her supporting cast.
To me, It's more like Medaka's cog, her usefulness, is that she elevates the characters near her. I can recognize and respect that she does, indeed, have a use to the story, but it's a sort of gimmicky form of story-telling that I think was never really nescessary.
Sure, it's just a hypothesis. but you must admit: it's pretty darn interesting one, when you think about it.