The main reason that Mineta is hated.
We of this subreddit are all aware of the severity of the hatred towards Mineta.
We've seen that this hatred has even reached the point of Mineta being ranked among the likes of Shou Tucker, Griffith, and the Celestial Dragons.
I believe that one of, if not the, main reasons that Minoru Mineta is hated so severely, is that unlike most of the pervert characters that are of the same Archetype as him, he lacks a positive trait to balance out his perversion.
The YouTube video I've linked talks about the difference between Gregory House (House M.D.) and Velma (Velma), and how House is the Archetype of Lovable Jerk done correctly while Velma isn't.
In this video, Merb talks about what he refers to as the Asshole Equation, which boils down to 3 things to keep the audience invested:
Humor, Value, and Misery.
- Humor (The Bribe)
Humor acts as the initial transaction to buy an abrasive character's right to exist. It serves as a dopamine deposit to offset their toxic behavior [00:40].
- Value (The License)
Psychologically, audiences reject unearned arrogance. If a character acts like a god, they must perform miracles [06:05]. This value generally comes in two forms:
Social Value (Status): Characters who are functionally useless but socially indispensable. Examples include BoJack Horseman (whose celebrity offers a gateway to relevance), Pierce Hawthorne from Community (whose wealth makes him an un-liquidatable asset), and Mr. Satan from Dragon Ball Z (whose status as world champion is the only thing that can mobilize humanity to save Earth) [06:51].
Functional Value (Skill): Raw, unadulterated competence that makes a character entirely irreplaceable, such as Rick Sanchez, Jaime Lannister, or Eric Cartman [09:03].
- Misery (The Tax)
The human brain demands a "blood sacrifice" or cosmic balance to tolerate a jerk, which manifests as either external or internal misery [14:37].
External Misery: Commonly seen in comedies (e.g., King Julien or Zapp Brannigan), where the universe constantly slaps the character down through bad luck and slapstick karma for our amusement [15:12].
Internal Misery: Found in deeper protagonists (e.g., Rick Sanchez or BoJack Horseman) whose toxic behavior is a byproduct of an already rotting soul. Punishing them feels redundant because they do a better job of it themselves [15:44].
| Humor | Value | Misery | |
|---|---|---|---|
| House | House's Success: House's jokes are sharp, cruel, and highly functional. In cases like a disputed "virgin pregnancy," he says to the girlfriend who tries to lie that she didn't cheat, "I believe him." His wit is weaponized to dismantle lies and reinforce his core philosophy that "everybody lies" [03:35]. Furthermore, House punches up at authority or at the literal stupidity endangering a patient. Because he operates in an "ecosystem of wit" where colleagues can and do fire back, his interactions feel like high-velocity banter rather than plain bullying [04:51]. | Conversely, House is an irreplaceable diagnostic genius [12:31]. The writers make him earn his status by letting him make near-fatal mistakes first, showing the grueling, brilliant process required to find the truth and save a life [13:56]. | House, however, is chemically dependent on his misery. His physical leg pain is a permanent monument to his own stubborn hubris. His emotional stuntedness causes him to chronically self-sabotage, ultimately driving his car straight through his ex-boss/ex-girlfriend's dining room wall when he cannot cope with vulnerability [17:06]. |
| Velma | Her humor relies on "counterfeit currency." In the pilot, she spends a minute breaking the fourth wall to lecture the audience on their media tastes [01:20]. The ultimate breakdown happens when she discovers a classmate's mutilated body and immediately cracks a superficial joke about the girl's weight and intelligence [02:15]. This violates the basic rule of comedy by punching down at a defenseless victim. | Velma has zero social status and completely fails at functional value. She routinely jumps to wrong conclusions, and in one episode, completely sidelines an active serial killer investigation to obsess over high school popularity rankings [11:51]. | Velma’s internal trauma (her mother's disappearance) is treated like a superficial post-it note excuse rather than a profound wound, making her look like a privileged kid using minor issues to treat people poorly [16:22]. |
Sorry for the seemingly unrelated tangent.
The point I'm trying to make is that Mineta, unlike Master Roshi and Jiraiya and such characters, lacks the positive qualities that make people like them.
He's not as powerful or competent as Jiraiya or Master Roshi. And while he is very much intelligent (since he ranked himself 9th in the class based on the midterms, I think it was), that intelligence isn't showcased too often.
Mineta could have easily been given these traits, but Horikoshi choose not to.