#im not linking the ask with the explanation jic the original submitter wants it taken down but u can find it on ops blog

[lokh]

ok. so about 3 hours out i make my final appeal

first. some of us wonder why mob is in this tournament. characters are entered by nomination and someone made a compelling argument for mob being low empathy. i can respect that

however.

nagai kei is THE dogshit empathy boy

theres an argument to be made that there are different types of empathy and also that empathy ≠ compassion. affective empathy relates to actually being affected by others emotions. emotionally (personal distress and empathic concern). cognitive empathy relates to understanding others' perspectives and what they might feel and why. kei is totally fucked over in both of them.

he cant relate to other people and he doesnt want to. he outright says "i've never worried about anyone else unless it was for show." someone dies in front of him and he goes 'oh well! not my problem anymore and it wasnt my fault' and gets on with his day. his ability to understand others' perspectives is limited and goal-oriented, knowing for example that having a dying partner makes one desperate but not truly understanding what that feels like, only that it makes one easy to manipulate. he gets an arc where he begins to feel inadequate for lacking empathy not because he feels guilty over it, but because it might somehow make him less effective at achieving his goals

and he chooses to stick by his low empathy

i dont agree that hes morally bankrupt and its true also that having low empathy doesnt make you morally bankrupt. in fact i think his principles are all he has, and that they do drive him to act compassionately. because he IS capable of that! time and time again he acts in ways that seem at odds with his low empathy, saving people he has shown no attachment to and putting himself in danger over it. remember the guy from earlier that i said died in front of him? surprise! they werent dead! and the first thing he does is go 'oh fucking Hell' and he goes back to save them. why? because he can and to him its what he should do. i actually also dont think he has zero empathy but if its a contest between him and mob (and it is.) then he definitely has less of it

more to the point, keis low empathy is central to both him as a character and also to the narrative. as it has been pointed out, mobs whole thing is about accepting and processing his own emotions without repressing them, and about connecting with other people. keis whole thing is literally going fuck that we ball low empathy forever ive never met an emotion in my life. and he chooses this and it works for him and its something that isnt changed about him! THATS swaggy

vote for kei PLEASE

Round 2; Group 1: Nagai Kei (Ajin) vs. Kageyama "Mob" Shigeo (Mob Psycho 100)