In Defense of Tate Yuuichi [Mai-HiME anime]

IlliterateKoi wrote: Tate isn't my favourite character, but that doesn't mean that I dislike him, I just don't find his character all that interesting to be honest.

It does surprise me the sheer amount of people that hate on him though. I mean, it wasn't like he did anything horrific in the anime or anything...actually he was a pretty decent guy lol (I haven't read the manga so I can't comment on that)

As has already been mentioned though, a lot of it has got to do with Tate getting in the way of MaiKoto and ShizNat either in the anime or the manga. Which is a bit silly really, the great thing about shipping is the ability to completely ignore what's canon if you want to

Even though I don't find Tate particularly interesting, he's the only person I will pair Mai with. It just seems weird if Mai is with someone else to me for some reason. And MaiXReito is just...odd XD Besides, if I'm taking ShizNat as canon, I can hardly just ignore MaiXYuuichi lol

I have a question for you hildebrant, why do you like Tate? I've never really spoken to anyone who had Yuuichi as their favourite before, so I'm interested to find out why he's yours :3

I've had my say about the subject a million times, but I'd like to use one more example of Tate's unappreciative handling by Sunrise.

Remember or ever watch Kannazuki no Miko? The character of Soma Ogami is kind of like Tate. Good guy, not perfect, but is willing to protect his princess. You know, a prince on a white horse type. But we are at an age where that novelty wears thin (sadly), so Himeko came to a realization that she had true feelings for her female counterpart; Chikane. Even though Soma is ideal on the surface, he just didn't have that "certain something" which led to the pre-determined shipping of Chikane x Himeko.

Ever kiss someone who is incredibly nice to you, but no fireworks went off in your heart or panties? Maybe wishing it were someone else who touched your heart deeper? That's what happened with Himeko. She cares for Soma, but she wishes she were kissing Chikane instead.

This didn't happen to Tate per se, my point is that male characters in a series with a strong yuri following isn't going to stand out. Is that fair? Nope. A lot of fans would rather see Mai ditch the guy for Natsuki, Mikoto and even Shiho?! *looks at MidnightPersona* It's not a bad thing in the end, but if you ever wondered why Tate isn't accepted, there's your answer. There was a time when our fandom was a world for gay girls, made for gay girls, by gay girls. Don't kid me hildebrant, because that's exactly how you felt about the fandom to a degree.

Things are different now, obviously. *winks at the audience* Only without starting a revolution against yuri lovage, we've come to have all our shippings live in perfect harmony.

I think a famous dead person who probably fake his or her death and is currently living under a new alias in the Bahamas once said: Love is love.

Luu Sky Sapphire wrote:

IlliterateKoi wrote: Tate isn't my favourite character, but that doesn't mean that I dislike him, I just don't find his character all that interesting to be honest.

It does surprise me the sheer amount of people that hate on him though. I mean, it wasn't like he did anything horrific in the anime or anything...actually he was a pretty decent guy lol (I haven't read the manga so I can't comment on that)

As has already been mentioned though, a lot of it has got to do with Tate getting in the way of MaiKoto and ShizNat either in the anime or the manga. Which is a bit silly really, the great thing about shipping is the ability to completely ignore what's canon if you want to

Even though I don't find Tate particularly interesting, he's the only person I will pair Mai with. It just seems weird if Mai is with someone else to me for some reason. And MaiXReito is just...odd XD Besides, if I'm taking ShizNat as canon, I can hardly just ignore MaiXYuuichi lol

I have a question for you hildebrant, why do you like Tate? I've never really spoken to anyone who had Yuuichi as their favourite before, so I'm interested to find out why he's yours :3

I've had my say about the subject a million times, but I'd like to use one more example of Tate's unappreciative handling by Sunrise.

Remember or ever watch Kannazuki no Miko? The character of Soma Ogami is kind of like Tate. Good guy, not perfect, but is willing to protect his princess. You know, a prince on a white horse type. But we are at an age where that novelty wears thin (sadly), so Himeko came to a realization that she had true feelings for her female counterpart; Chikane. Even though Soma is ideal on the surface, he just didn't have that "certain something" which led to the pre-determined shipping of Chikane x Himeko.

Ever kiss someone who is incredibly nice to you, but no fireworks went off in your heart or panties? Maybe wishing it were someone else who touched your heart deeper? That's what happened with Himeko. She cares for Soma, but she wishes she were kissing Chikane instead.

This didn't happen to Tate per se, my point is that male characters in a series with a strong yuri following isn't going to stand out. Is that fair? Nope. A lot of fans would rather see Mai ditch the guy for Natsuki, Mikoto and even Shiho?! *looks at MidnightPersona* It's not a bad thing in the end, but if you ever wondered why Tate isn't accepted, there's your answer. There was a time when our fandom was a world for gay girls, made for gay girls, by gay girls. Don't kid me hildebrant, because that's exactly how you felt about the fandom to a degree.

Things are different now, obviously. *winks at the audience* Only without starting a revolution against yuri lovage, we've come to have all our shippings live in perfect harmony.

I think a famous dead person who probably fake his or her death and is currently living under a new alias in the Bahamas once said: Love is love.

IlliterateKoi: That's really what it all comes down to is they feel Tate gets in the way of the fan preferred pairings of Mai/Mikoto and Shizuru/Natsuki so they feel the need to lash out at him and make him their own personal victim in all of their rants, and fanfics. Yes the great thing about shipping is the ability to ignore canon if you want, but many many times, if you do that sort of thing and write about a non quite so popular fan pairing, you will be hassled for it. I've seen quite a few bad cases in other fandoms where this reached ridiculous heights. Mai HiME isn't quite that bad but its gotten close.

I'm glad you prefer to pair Tate with Mai, its one of the reasons why I like this forum where the people are alot more understanding. Now to answer your question, I guess it comes down to liking the fact that Tate is kind of flawed and non-powered and is the one of the only normal characters in the show and I find myself relating to that in that I don't consider myself all that special and I'm surrounded by people that are, and in some series I find myself drawn to the normal characters that aren't that special.

Luu: I'm well aware of Kannazuki no Miko and I like Soma for pretty much the same reasons. To me he's like the Yuuichi of the series but with far worse luck. I also like to think of myself as one of the few that truly feels sorry for his fate
You once again hit the nail right on the head Luu and yeah that was how I saw the fandom. It doesn't help that alot of my exposure to it was on fanfiction.net. That changed when I saw quite a few fanboys on there ripping into Yuuichi and writing yuri fanfics as well so I really did feel alone and with my hypothesis on what this fandom was made up of and what they all stood for.

thankfully this forum has helped me to salvage my opinion of the series and the fandom and I continue to be grateful for it.

Good quote Luu, and as another once said and I quote this in regards to love as well: To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.

IlliterateKoi wrote: Tate isn't my favourite character, but that doesn't mean that I dislike him, I just don't find his character all that interesting to be honest.

It does surprise me the sheer amount of people that hate on him though. I mean, it wasn't like he did anything horrific in the anime or anything...actually he was a pretty decent guy lol (I haven't read the manga so I can't comment on that)

As has already been mentioned though, a lot of it has got to do with Tate getting in the way of MaiKoto and ShizNat either in the anime or the manga. Which is a bit silly really, the great thing about shipping is the ability to completely ignore what's canon if you want to

Even though I don't find Tate particularly interesting, he's the only person I will pair Mai with. It just seems weird if Mai is with someone else to me for some reason. And MaiXReito is just...odd XD Besides, if I'm taking ShizNat as canon, I can hardly just ignore MaiXYuuichi lol

I have a question for you hildebrant, why do you like Tate? I've never really spoken to anyone who had Yuuichi as their favourite before, so I'm interested to find out why he's yours :3

I ignore it every second. I wish more people did so it doesn't grow stale.

Jack wrote:

IlliterateKoi wrote: Tate isn't my favourite character, but that doesn't mean that I dislike him, I just don't find his character all that interesting to be honest.

It does surprise me the sheer amount of people that hate on him though. I mean, it wasn't like he did anything horrific in the anime or anything...actually he was a pretty decent guy lol (I haven't read the manga so I can't comment on that)

As has already been mentioned though, a lot of it has got to do with Tate getting in the way of MaiKoto and ShizNat either in the anime or the manga. Which is a bit silly really, the great thing about shipping is the ability to completely ignore what's canon if you want to

Even though I don't find Tate particularly interesting, he's the only person I will pair Mai with. It just seems weird if Mai is with someone else to me for some reason. And MaiXReito is just...odd XD Besides, if I'm taking ShizNat as canon, I can hardly just ignore MaiXYuuichi lol

I have a question for you hildebrant, why do you like Tate? I've never really spoken to anyone who had Yuuichi as their favourite before, so I'm interested to find out why he's yours :3

I ignore it every second. I wish more people did so it doesn't grow stale.

Sorry to ask this but what do you ignore every second Jack? Not trying to be mean just curious

hildebrant wrote:

Jack wrote:

IlliterateKoi wrote: Tate isn't my favourite character, but that doesn't mean that I dislike him, I just don't find his character all that interesting to be honest.

It does surprise me the sheer amount of people that hate on him though. I mean, it wasn't like he did anything horrific in the anime or anything...actually he was a pretty decent guy lol (I haven't read the manga so I can't comment on that)

As has already been mentioned though, a lot of it has got to do with Tate getting in the way of MaiKoto and ShizNat either in the anime or the manga. Which is a bit silly really, the great thing about shipping is the ability to completely ignore what's canon if you want to

Even though I don't find Tate particularly interesting, he's the only person I will pair Mai with. It just seems weird if Mai is with someone else to me for some reason. And MaiXReito is just...odd XD Besides, if I'm taking ShizNat as canon, I can hardly just ignore MaiXYuuichi lol

I have a question for you hildebrant, why do you like Tate? I've never really spoken to anyone who had Yuuichi as their favourite before, so I'm interested to find out why he's yours :3

I ignore it every second. I wish more people did so it doesn't grow stale.

Sorry to ask this but what do you ignore every second Jack? Not trying to be mean just curious

Easy. Go to the Mai HiME section of fanfiction.net. Most of it is boring. Same parings over and over and over.

Jack wrote:

hildebrant wrote:

Jack wrote:

IlliterateKoi wrote: Tate isn't my favourite character, but that doesn't mean that I dislike him, I just don't find his character all that interesting to be honest.

It does surprise me the sheer amount of people that hate on him though. I mean, it wasn't like he did anything horrific in the anime or anything...actually he was a pretty decent guy lol (I haven't read the manga so I can't comment on that)

As has already been mentioned though, a lot of it has got to do with Tate getting in the way of MaiKoto and ShizNat either in the anime or the manga. Which is a bit silly really, the great thing about shipping is the ability to completely ignore what's canon if you want to

Even though I don't find Tate particularly interesting, he's the only person I will pair Mai with. It just seems weird if Mai is with someone else to me for some reason. And MaiXReito is just...odd XD Besides, if I'm taking ShizNat as canon, I can hardly just ignore MaiXYuuichi lol

I have a question for you hildebrant, why do you like Tate? I've never really spoken to anyone who had Yuuichi as their favourite before, so I'm interested to find out why he's yours :3

I ignore it every second. I wish more people did so it doesn't grow stale.

Sorry to ask this but what do you ignore every second Jack? Not trying to be mean just curious

Easy. Go to the Mai HiME section of fanfiction.net. Most of it is boring. Same parings over and over and over.

This is true, sooo so much. The same pairings or situations over and over again. Didn't help that FF.net pretty much helped to form a really bad opinion I have on the Mai HiME fandom completely. Thankfully you guys have helped to change all that

Everybody must have said this umpteen times already but I'm gonna say it anyways.

When I had first watched Mai-Hime episode 1 (and saw Yuuichi's male gaze) I was like "Oh, god, here's the dorky love interest." However, few episodes later, Tate didn't seem so terrible. In the second half of the show, I have more respect for Tate now since Episode twenty-four, when he was willing to die for the sake of Mai and Shiho.

Bluholic711 wrote:When I had first watched Mai-Hime episode 1 (and saw Yuuichi's male gaze) I was like "Oh, god, here's the dorky love interest." However, few episodes later, Tate didn't seem so terrible. In the second half of the show, I have more respect for Tate now since Episode twenty-four, when he was willing to die for the sake of Mai and Shiho.

Not just for the sake of Mai and Shiho, but he was also willing to die so they wouldn't fight anymore. He noticed the little bond of friendship they had in the past and didn't want that destroyed. He's more unselfish than people realize. But you know men in the Mai-Series, they're "just there" /end sarcasm.

M.I.Y.U. Greer wrote:

Bluholic711 wrote:When I had first watched Mai-Hime episode 1 (and saw Yuuichi's male gaze) I was like "Oh, god, here's the dorky love interest." However, few episodes later, Tate didn't seem so terrible. In the second half of the show, I have more respect for Tate now since Episode twenty-four, when he was willing to die for the sake of Mai and Shiho.

Not just for the sake of Mai and Shiho, but he was also willing to die so they wouldn't fight anymore. He noticed the little bond of friendship they had in the past and didn't want that destroyed. He's more unselfish than people realize. But you know men in the Mai-Series, they're "just there" /end sarcasm.

Good to see some life getting injected back into my favorite topic again. Yeah I think I can see how people would get the idea of Tate being a boring, perverted male lead after being caught starring at Mai's breasts the way he did. Though to me he redeemed himself via his behavior with Mai. I loved watching him argue with her and seeing her tease him on the boat while she seemed to troll his behavior with Shiho to seeing her usual response to him: Sticking her tongue out at him.
Despite how much fun it was to see them fight with one another it was even better to see them both grow closer when they were chatting in the rain by the playground, and even Reito revelaed that even at her most vulnerable and with all his manipulations, her heart would still belong to Yuuichi. It truly is sad that the males in My HiME are "Just There". It also doesn't help that their roles consist of:

Weak: Takumi
Evil: Obsidian Lord
Manipulative: Nagi
One Dimensional: Kazuya
Token Comic Relief: Takeda
Unappreciated Male Lead: Yuuichi
Scheming: Ishigami

I'd say the only one in the series that has a respectable role is Sakomizu who's work as a teacher and an informant. Sorry to go off topic like this but good posts from the both of you once again

Sakomizu is the only one who actually does anything however it is not to say that passive role isn't a bad thing. Takumi did learn to not depend on Mai so much, Tate did redeem himself for not being honest with himself to Mai and Shiho and Nagi was a trickster anyway but I cannot say the same for the other men especially in Otome. To be fair, the whole men being passive thing is present in other mahou shoujo and female oriented action series but back on topic I would wish that they would be more involved int he story.

GAP wrote:Sakomizu is the only one who actually does anything however it is not to say that passive role isn't a bad thing. Takumi did learn to not depend on Mai so much, Tate did redeem himself for not being honest with himself to Mai and Shiho and Nagi was a trickster anyway but I cannot say the same for the other men especially in Otome. To be fair, the whole men being passive thing is present in other mahou shoujo and female oriented action series but back on topic I would wish that they would be more involved int he story.

Men being passive in both series doesn't bother me as this is a playing field for the ladies. More so in Mai-Otome with only women being able to obtain powers. When I was on a Sailor Moon message board a long time ago, male fans would make threads that read "why can't guys be Sailor Senshi too?" Not everyone can be a Tuxedo Mask or in our fandom's case, a Manga Tate without being involved in a major storyline. The girls take the cake in every field as it was originally meant to by Sunrise. If it's dominating men you're interested in, Dragon Ball and Naruto fandom is right down the hall.

I guess I never really thought about it, I always had a little annoyance at Tate, but now I actually think I understand him a little better...though I still think the romance was slightly rushed

Midori Sugiura wrote:I guess I never really thought about it, I always had a little annoyance at Tate, but now I actually think I understand him a little better...though I still think the romance was slightly rushed

Rushed in what way? Maybe because he had his eye on Mai from the start and vice versa? In episode one, there was already a connection between the two, so I can sorta get where you're coming from.

Luu Sky Sapphire wrote:

Midori Sugiura wrote:I guess I never really thought about it, I always had a little annoyance at Tate, but now I actually think I understand him a little better...though I still think the romance was slightly rushed

Rushed in what way? Maybe because he had his eye on Mai from the start and vice versa? In episode one, there was already a connection between the two, so I can sorta get where you're coming from.

It kind of felt like when they made a connection they would go from hate to love and back to hate for a while, the more I think about it the more it may just be that I wanted Midori X Mai so badly that no matter the outcome I was disappointed with Tate

Midori Sugiura wrote:

Luu Sky Sapphire wrote:

Midori Sugiura wrote:I guess I never really thought about it, I always had a little annoyance at Tate, but now I actually think I understand him a little better...though I still think the romance was slightly rushed

Rushed in what way? Maybe because he had his eye on Mai from the start and vice versa? In episode one, there was already a connection between the two, so I can sorta get where you're coming from.

It kind of felt like when they made a connection they would go from hate to love and back to hate for a while, the more I think about it the more it may just be that I wanted Midori X Mai so badly that no matter the outcome I was disappointed with Tate

Well at least you can say you have some support in the whole Mai/Midori shipping area. Mai/Tate not so much for me.

hildebrant wrote:
Well at least you can say you have some support in the whole Mai/Midori shipping area. Mai/Tate not so much for me.

The scenes between Mai and Midori were entertaining. If they were a couple, the running joke would be the following: Midori would be the one trying to get away with certain selfish needs. Mai would be the one to catch on quickly and punish her for it. Remember the Linden Baum scene from episode 6? It's established that Mai cannot be fooled and that she NEVER forgets Midori's "promises".

I think I'll stick with Mai and Tate, not everyone may like them but I do

hildebrant wrote:I think I'll stick with Mai and Tate, not everyone may like them but I do

*laughs* Don't worry. It's not like Midori x Mai will happen anytime soon. Maybe in 20006...