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Posted here to put my thoughts in one place and in case I accidentally broke a rule and get edited:
Oops, I had meant to put that section in my previous comment in spoiler code, not bold.
[spoiler]I agree we didn't get enough on her - that was a disappointment. But I liked how terrible at social graces she was, despite being an exemplary student. She didn't just lack social graces; she seemed to genuinely not understand how the more 'normal' students worked. (I write 'normal' this way to denote that I'm questioning the term even if I still use it with the unquestioned meaning it has for others.) She was also severely misunderstood by people who didn't mean wrong but projected their fears and discontent onto her easily. This is something I identify with a lot, more than I identify with many female characters. That is, I identify with characters who have little in common with me because that's what I get and I've learned how to, and Kanade is one of the rare ones that actually is close what I was like and am still like. Not exactly the same: for one thing, she's definitely much cooler, much prettier, and I would never be a president of anything. Still, her words, expressions, and behavior are very realistic for a certain kind of person.
Now, she isn't explored enough, and she does suffer from both the show's length and the rushed way she was made to support Otonashi's storyline. Kanade pinged me hard in the first half of the series and I wish there'd been more of her. Which is not to say I disliked her relationship with Otonashi - that was exciting to me in those first six episodes, that a girl like her was being offered unconditional caring and even a love interest who was the normal lead, without her having to change. It was just taken through shortcuts in the second half. A few more episodes would have been great.
She is somewhat moe, but I can't hold cute against her - it's highly common for female characters to be physically appealing in one way or another, and I don't feel like it was emphasized. I know sometimes I feel looks are overly emphasized in female characters others like more than I do (to the point of seeing those looks as expressions of personality and fierceness while I can't), so this might be reversed now. The physical appeal of female characters (and male ones to a lesser extent) seems to stand out when one doesn't find the rest of her interesting or actually present.
Along with the accepted beauty standard for female characters, Kanade might have been made moe to offset her internal differences and keep her appealing. That's also common for female characters. Take Regina from OUAT. I love her for reasons unrelated to her beauty and clothes, and others do too, but some of her appeal is meant to be attractiveness. There's a lot of gushing over how fierce, hot, and regal she looks in this and that picture. She is very conventionally pretty and I don't disagree with that. Nor am I immune. I think her glamour makes her more palatable and interesting to fandom, and is probably required. Particularly if the intention is to get the audience to feel curiosity and sympathy when it comes to the rest of her character.[/spoiler]
Oops, I had meant to put that section in my previous comment in spoiler code, not bold.
[spoiler]I agree we didn't get enough on her - that was a disappointment. But I liked how terrible at social graces she was, despite being an exemplary student. She didn't just lack social graces; she seemed to genuinely not understand how the more 'normal' students worked. (I write 'normal' this way to denote that I'm questioning the term even if I still use it with the unquestioned meaning it has for others.) She was also severely misunderstood by people who didn't mean wrong but projected their fears and discontent onto her easily. This is something I identify with a lot, more than I identify with many female characters. That is, I identify with characters who have little in common with me because that's what I get and I've learned how to, and Kanade is one of the rare ones that actually is close what I was like and am still like. Not exactly the same: for one thing, she's definitely much cooler, much prettier, and I would never be a president of anything. Still, her words, expressions, and behavior are very realistic for a certain kind of person.
Now, she isn't explored enough, and she does suffer from both the show's length and the rushed way she was made to support Otonashi's storyline. Kanade pinged me hard in the first half of the series and I wish there'd been more of her. Which is not to say I disliked her relationship with Otonashi - that was exciting to me in those first six episodes, that a girl like her was being offered unconditional caring and even a love interest who was the normal lead, without her having to change. It was just taken through shortcuts in the second half. A few more episodes would have been great.
She is somewhat moe, but I can't hold cute against her - it's highly common for female characters to be physically appealing in one way or another, and I don't feel like it was emphasized. I know sometimes I feel looks are overly emphasized in female characters others like more than I do (to the point of seeing those looks as expressions of personality and fierceness while I can't), so this might be reversed now. The physical appeal of female characters (and male ones to a lesser extent) seems to stand out when one doesn't find the rest of her interesting or actually present.
Along with the accepted beauty standard for female characters, Kanade might have been made moe to offset her internal differences and keep her appealing. That's also common for female characters. Take Regina from OUAT. I love her for reasons unrelated to her beauty and clothes, and others do too, but some of her appeal is meant to be attractiveness. There's a lot of gushing over how fierce, hot, and regal she looks in this and that picture. She is very conventionally pretty and I don't disagree with that. Nor am I immune. I think her glamour makes her more palatable and interesting to fandom, and is probably required. Particularly if the intention is to get the audience to feel curiosity and sympathy when it comes to the rest of her character.[/spoiler]
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