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I don’t feel like writing such a long deconstruction of Ibuki’s character as an in character letter is something Ibuki can respond to, so you have me.

From what I can see, you have one major problem with Ibuki’s character, and that keeps you from enjoying her other traits. And that’s fine. You don’t need to agree with popular opinion, and it sounds like you have a pretty good reason to not like her specific musical tastes.

I’m pretty sure that was what the joke was supposed to be. “She looks so fun and upbeat, oh, wait, she likes really traumatising music”. And this is apparently a really recent development, perhaps as recent as it being while she’s still on the island.

I don’t know how being a K-On character is supposed to be dark humour, unless you mean it’s because she mixed K-On references with death metal? Ibuki’s talent in Japanese is specifically “Ultimate Light Music Club”, and I feel that explains a lot about how pushy she is in her Free Time Events. Apparently, school clubs are expected to be like a second job, where you dedicate all your free time to them, and competition is fierce. So they get really aggressive about getting you to join, and that’s what Ibuki’s “Pick me!” thing is about. She’s exhibiting her talent, and that got lost in translation.

The main point of her free time events is that it shows her thoughts on music as a way to have fun with others, rather than being some high exhibition art that should only be done by people with talent, and I find that sweet. She also gives Hajime some life advice on loving yourself.

If you don’t like Ibuki despite the majority liking her, that is 100% valid. There’s plenty of characters that the majority like that I don’t. But I feel like it’s a bit shallow to say “I don’t hate you because you look good.” Maybe hypocritical of me to say, but I feel like if her portrayal of Death Metal weighs so heavily against her, then Looks good is a pretty poor counterbalance.