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KYOKO_SUE

                                             March 9, 2022

I came across someone complaining
that Kyoko, the main character in      This was on reddit,
"Skip Beat" is a Mary Sue:             probably in 2020-21.

"She was a total mary sue (THE
  BEST EVER at anything anyone
  has ever done, like EVER!)

    (1) Of all the many and various silly things the
    fan world has come up with, the phrase "mary sue"
    is my pick for the absolutely most grating.  You
    could say "this character seems too perfect", You
    could say "this character seems like superman in
    need of some kryptonite", you could say any
    number of things that would be immediately
    comprehensible, without resort to this insider
    jargon that has some weird overtones of sexism
    (if not anti-southern prejudice).  Does anyone
    ever complain about male characters being a "mary
    sue"?

    (2) It isn't actually true.  Kyoko is more
    than a little bit of a nut, she easily gets
    lost in a romantic fairly tale world.  One
    of the things I think is interesting is the
    strong suggestion that one of the reasons          And quite a bit of
    she's such a good actress is her connection        Kyoko's success
    to reality is so loose.  She plays                 involves re-envisioning
    everything with conviction, once she gets          a role as something she
    herself to believe in the role.                    can do, in spite of her
                                                       limitations (e.g. the
    That's actually an insight I don't think you       Box R arc).
    see very often, in or out of manga/anime:
    people's strengths and weaknesses are often
    bound together.





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