/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>19504843
It's hardly a downfall. The number of characters in the poll grew by 50% since 2010 so it's naturally harder to stay on top.

If anything, the initial spike of popularity propably came from the "Reimu's better rival/foil" appeal and her suddenly becoming playable.

ZUN ended up not making her a full-time third heroine, so people looking for that exact thing propably lost interest, but she is still among the most important characters in the series not named Reimu or Marisa and still has that vibrant, eccentric personality to draw people in.

And it's not like she has no popular fangames. Sanae challenge and Fushigi no Gensokyo 2 come to mind. Hell, she just had a solid metroidvania title starring her released on Steam.

>>19504878
If anything, the slut meme helped her popularity even more. It's been around even before UFO and is a constant source of heated discussion around her. Not to mention it makes people more sympathetic towards her as a bullying victim.

In canon, Sanae makes a clear point on how dull was her old life compared to Gensokyo. And her backstory not being fully fleshed out is a double-edged sword if anything. Not knowing everything leaves enough of a wiggle room for multiple intepretations such as that "Though the Wind Cries" doujin, RAIN Project or the second episode of Hifuu Club Activity Record, each with it's own appeal..

Sitting out on latest games did a small number on her though. Her skipping HM and ULiL is outright unbelievable considering the plotlines of both games and ZUN barely handwaved the former absence in WaHH, but it's clear that ZUN wrote the fighting games' stories around the chosen characters and not the other way around. At least she shown up in LoLK.