:: MEAN STREAKS
You know how I always go on and on about people in Oofuri loving each other and being like Hamtaro characters? WELL, I just decided to do something DIFFERENT and wrote up this essay about the characters being JERKS.
Hatake
Let's start with the obvious. Hatake was introduced as the big meaniehead who chased Mihashi off Mihoshi, and he has a very mean and violent nature. Although he had his reasons, being mean to Mihashi is like being mean to a crippled homeless puppy, so there aren't really any excuses! He wasn't a jerk to Mihashi simply because he enjoyed it, though - he just loves Kano SO much and wanted him to be the team's pitcher SO badly. But I'm not accepting excuses while handing out points! Being a jerk is still being a jerk no matter WHY you're being a jerk, and let's face it, Hatake is a HUGE jerk.
Jerk points: 8/10
Abe
After being abused by Haruna for so long, Abe just LOVES to take advantage of Mihashi's dweebiness and slap him around like a big JERK. He is VERY inconsiderate of other people's feelings, and blows up a lot. STILL, he's very sweet deep inside, he's just usually too proud to show it. Aside from being a jerk to Mihashi, Abe has also been seen making fun of Hanai and snapping at Sakaeguchi and Tajima and probably everyone else. And did Abe EVER stop to think about HARUNA'S feelings back in middle school when he kept nagging? I think not!
Jerk points: 7/10
Mihashi
Quiet dweeby little Mihashi who would never hurt a fly... A JERK?? Well yeah, let's think about this for a second. Mihashi is EXTREMELY selfish. He LOVES pitching more than ANYTHING in the entire WORLD, and abused his powers to get the role as Mihoshi's pitcher even though the rest of the team didn't want him to. In other words, he's not a team player at all! He made Kano stay in the shadows, and frustrated the stuffing out of the other Mihoshians. STILL, Mihashi is a nice and completely harmless person, and he did absolutely not WANT to hurt anyone. He's just a very confused individual.
Jerk points: 5/10
Haruna
Haruna isn't as much of a jerk as he is totally self-absorbed and completely ignorant... although on the other hand, those qualities are obviously the qualities of an honest to goodness jerk. He KNEW how badly Abe wanted to work with him, yet he refused to play along because of silly selfish reasons. Haruna loves himself a bit too much, and as long as HE gets what he wants, he could care less about starving children around him. Haruna's jerkiness is very similar to Mihashi's in that he's not really hurting people on PURPOSE which is why he gets less points than Hatake, but he gets more jerk points than Mihashi because of his careless attitude.
Jerk points: 7/10
Kano
Although generally being the 'nice guy' of Mihoshi, Kano is very manly and has a tendency to explode. Like during Mihoshi's practise match against Nishiura, he went totally ballistic and ended up hurting poor Hatake's feelings! Kano knows Hatake is very obsessed with him, but he doesn't return the obsession which is just DISASTROUS for a battery. I guess Kano is too busy obsessing over Mihashi. So... yeah. Kano is nice, but he still has some slight jerk tendencies.
Jerk points: 4/10
Junta
Junta tends to enjoy a good laugh at people behind their backs, although he's polite enough to try to hide it. Other than that, he likes to make fun of Rio, but it's all in good fun and it's not like Rio doesn't DESERVE to be made fun of.
Jerk points: 2/10
Rio
Rio isn't really a jerk, he's just constantly in a bad mood. Chances are that if you don't bother him, he won't be a jerk. BUT WAIT!! I just remembered something. Even when Jin hadn't done anything to annoy him, Rio walked right up to him that one time and started making fun of him and he didn't stop even when Jin told him to cut it out and that is just UNFORGIVABLE because Jin is too adorable to bully like that. So I guess Rio is a huge jerk after all!
Jerk points: 6/10
Kazuki
Even though Kazuki is a gentleman, I can't very well list Junta and Rio and leave him out! Uhh... Kazuki... isn't a jerk. II HITO!!! Still, he gets a single jerk point for bullying Rio.
Jerk points: 1/10
Hanai
Hanai just... stresses around a lot. He may seem snappy and angry and stupidly serious, but the truth is, he's extremely insecure. Being the captain, it's obvious that he LOVES his teammates very much, but yeah. He's a bit of a grouch and he has NO sense of humor.
Jerk points: 3/10
Izumi
Izumi doesn't really have that much character development yet, but he SEEMS to be a bit of a snooty know-it-all. He has quite the jerkish relationship with Hamada - the two of them were pardners back in the day, and they're very open and honest with each other, which may or may not result in fights.
Jerk points: 2/10
Hamada
Really now. Next to Sakaeguchi and Tajima, Hamada is the nicest character in Oofuri, and he would never be a jerk to ANYONE except Izumi. Sure, Izumi may have started it, but it doesn't REALLY give Hamada an excuse to be a jerk right back.
Jerk points: 1/10
Sakaeguchi
If I'm listing Hamada and Kazuki, I may very well also list Sakaeguchi! Sakaeguchi is not a jerk. He's the biggest sweetheart in the entire world EVER, and although he's criticized Abe a few times, it's just something he does to defend Mihashi. GO SAKAEGUCHI, DEFENDER OF THE WEAK! But seriously, even though it pains me SO much, he gets one jerk point for being a slight jerk to Abe. Abe probably deserves it though. BUT HEY, like I said before, I am not excusing ANYONE here!
Jerk points: 1/10
Tajima
Tajima probably doesn't even know what the word jerk MEANS! He's REALLY nice to EVERYONE, but he can't really take a hint so he doesn't know when to stop when he's annoying people.
Jerk points: 1/10
CONCLUSION
Disregard this list, all the characters in Oofuri are STILL sweethearts! I'm not even sure what I'm trying to prove by writing this... OH I KNOW! They're only human, and their various tiny mean streaks make them more believable and interesting. I mean sure, cartoons about people who are nice and loving 24/7 are heartwarming and educational and all, but let's face it, they're frigging BORING.