Talk:Ritsu Tainaka/@comment-26243186-20150325122309/@comment-25799557-20150326015727

Interestingly enough, Ritsu's character is almost proportional to her popularity. What you see is what you get. Despite this, it is not something shallow or anything to be dismissive about. Rather, it's very much the contrary.

She's cute but won't dazzle large crowds with stunning looks; she's not as big of a looker as Mio or Mugi is. She's passionate with her play but won't electrify you with her drumming just conventionally; her choice of instrument is largely overshadowed by Yui's Les Paul. She certainly won't stun you with her taste in fashion; she's too casual. Yet it's this stark contrast from all the others that makes her feel more fleshed out as a real human and therefore much more admirable than the other four, especially when you consider how hard-headed she is and her reluctance to show any 'sappy' sentiment. She does her own thing and holds little regard to consequences. This can be considered textbook rebelliousness but it also says quite a bit about her willingness to be her own person and not someone who just follows a crowd like a lot of people tend to do.

If I had to sum up Ritsu in one phrase it'd be "hiddem gem". Simply by being overlooked when comparing her appearance to, say, Mio's is enough for those polls to be unsurprising. There's also a ton of weight thrown into looks, but if you stop to think about how fit of a leader Ritsu really is the polls would be vastly different. Underrated like Aaron Rodgers being taken a good couple of dozen spots in his draft year, or 198 teams being foolish enough to pass up on Tom Brady.