Talk:Karao Saeki/@comment-178.62.104.33-20160628223702/@comment-10733658-20160629042556

I think a large part of it is the overall presentation and some of the aspects of the crimes.

Torso has been presented throughout the series as a strange, violent, or frightening character. A large part of his story focused on him as a predatory being, but in a manner different from other ghouls. He didn't kill to survive, he killed to satisfy a specific emotional/sexual impulse and that kind of thing naturally creeps people out. His actions also hit a little close to home, in terms of being things that happen in the real world. (Stalking, domestic violence, sexual assault) And we really only got his story at the very end, after so much focus on him as a negative force in the story.

In contrast, throughout the story, Mutsuki has been presented as a positive character. We got to know Mutsuki as the Quinx that supported everyone else, and kind of helped hold the entire group together. As a character that was kind, caring, and worried about everyone else and even helped Urie begin to open up to the others. We also mostly saw Mutsuki as someone that was struggling to be stronger, and faced a lot of dangerous situations. Up until the revelation of Mutsuki's insanity and past, the character was (much like Kaneki in the original series) a "good person bad things kept happening to". Now, we see that things are more complex.

But those first impressions, and how Ishida built them both up kind of sticks with people.