Mone-san no Majime Sugiru Tsukiaikata - Vol. 7 Ch. 62 - School Trip 6

[Giga]

Spoiler

Hmmm I don't even hate Mone but the problem isn't that she's feminine and beautiful in the traditional sense is her problem. The problem is that she has no character arc personal to her. All the other girls go through some type of arc that shows them being a better person or understanding themselves better whether that be accepting themselves, finding a new interest, or fixing a character flaw. Mone goes through none of that. She's boring because she's given no character.

I think your analysis of her being best girl and the reason she's the least liked is incorrect. The reason she's the least liked is because she doesn't go through any basic character arc or has any character traits that are interesting outside of the basic appeal of the usual good feminine girl.

Like my interest in Tasogare (Gloomy shortstack) has nothing to do solely with her personality it's more a combination of both her looks and personality. The fact that she's pushed to be a better person as president and be more outgoing is a character arc that she goes through. Same with Asahina (Tomboy). She comes to accept herself as a tomboy and admits she has feelings for the MC. Kagerou (Shy girl) is trying to get better at speaking so she can confess to the MC. Yuuhin (Vice Pres) slowly develops an interest into the MC because of the feeling he gave her of putting her in her place. Every character goes through some type of arc that changes them in some way that makes them more interesting to look at compared to Mone who doesn't change at all. If Mone tried to make her relationship public with the MC and make that desire known that would definitely make her more interesting. Like seeing MC interact with all the girls makes her uncomfortable and jealous because they're touching her man and she puts up with it till it's too much and she snaps. That would be a character arc that would make her interesting than what she is now. Sure jealousy is "ugly" but having a character be jealous is not a bad thing especially when it comes to relationship they hold dear.

I think your analysis that people want ugliness because they were trained to like it or lust after it is wrong. People like that ugliness because it's interesting. Like personally speaking I'd like a girl like Mone in real life but I'd love a girl like Tasogare much more because she's just cuter because of her looks, personality, and flaws. She's the type of girl I would definitely help be a better person if she was real and were dating. She has flaws but she like any human is trying to solve them.

At the end of the day people want interesting characters. Whether that comes from ugliness or not does not matter. You can have her be the girly girl and still be interesting. Mone just isn't interesting.

Well, you say that the problem isn't her character design (physical appearance and personality), but her lack of characterization--due to the fact that she does not have an arc that would provide that characterization. That's true--she doesn't have much spotlight time. Very true, and very noted since very early on.

Why do you think that is?

Why do you think Mone does not have a character arc of her own, in this manga? The answer is simple: all of her characterization time was given to the Mob Squad. And I say it's hers with emphasis: Mone isn't supposed to have just a character arc. This manga is named Mone-san no Majimesugiru Tsukiaikata--this story is supposed to be about her and Nobuyasu; anyone else should have much less prominence than those two do. (This fact alone invalidates the basis of your argument.) It's particularly egregious in the fact that there are other characters that receive next to no characterization, but probably would have as side characters if the author wasn't so hellbent on pandering to the various fetishes already so aggrandized by and therefore prevalent in romcom manga like this one. Daisy is one, if I remember her name correctly, and another is the occultist whose name I don't remember at all. Speaking of that occultist, the next chapter details what Daisy, that occultist, and the Mob Squad have separately gone to do that day; in the corner, next to the occultist's inverted depiction, is the following:

冥界に退治に

The two particles 「に」 are my best guess, given their position in that sentence (itself as an answer to the question implied by that panel's dialogue, "What is she doing?") and the fact that the panel was about where each of them has gone. To translate, the text holds that that occultist went to raid the underworld (i.e., to subjugate it). Why would she do that? How could she do that? Speaking of both of those questions, how was she able to ensorcel a phone to trap those who looked at it beneath its screen? (This happened in a past omake chapter.) There's no answering any of these because the author was and is too busy pandering to people who like the Mob Squad--like the vast majority of mangaka out there.

Regarding what you said people and their (by the present era) very popular taste for ugliness, consider this: negative traits are exactly that--negative traits, especially as opposed to positive. Postmodern, morally relativistic thought be damned: objective good and and objective bad do exist--for example, a kind, thoughtfully helpful person is possessed of a good character trait; only cognitive gymnastics would allow one to say otherwise. With that established, the crux of what I posit for your consideration: why is it that good traits are not only insufficient to interest--boring, by the word of many like those on these very forums--but are even considered abhorrent, and why is it that it takes negative traits to generate positive regard in such people as the aforementioned bulk of society?

That interest is only in the ugly--in the vicious instead of the virtuous--is absolutely important. It says much about the people of whom it is true, and certainly explains the world's current state.