Wait what is unsettling? She coveys gender based violence and a horror based narrative of patriarchal society. What women endure everyday.
For me, Tomie characterises as not exactly feminist but more of a symbol of how it feels like to be a teenager as a girl. You're thrown in the patriarchy, every girl becomes your enemy, every man is the centre of your world- and you keep getting betrayed and disrespected by the men until you eventually grow out of pleasing them.
I'm not saying she's exactly anti- feminist but she lacks the nuance and intersectionality to be a feminist icon.
It's the way it's repeatedly mentioned how out of the world her beauty is. The "empowerment" feels written by a man. It's also the way other female characters are treated, by others and tomie herself- as ugly and therefore deserving of what happens to them.
Every single reincarnation of the original tomie has one sole purpose - to receive attention of men and then get mutilated for it.
I love the story and I love her character but she's not the feminist, boss bitch character people make her out to be. Feminism is when you go against the patrirachal structure, tomie plays right into it. All she wants is male attention and validation. And the mangaka makes her keep going through that same cycle again again without any growth.
I see this same explanation everywhere tbh, so I get what you mean. Someone said this too on TikTok in a really long thread. I love deep diving I don’t think she’s a feminist either, thanks for telling me why so I have more of a reason to think so :)). People see her as an aesthetic character more than just an empty soul. But yeh I was just confused on what you meant by unsettling thanks for this explanation!
yes no problem, i read her more as a tragedy than a boss bitch, so the general discourse around as well as the edits sometimes come as a shock
when you know theres something unsettling about the way tomie has been written (as a woman) but you can't prove it yet