In traditional folklore, the trickster challenges authority. In Madou Media’s universe, Ai Wan Xiong challenges the viewer's sensibilities. The character's design—often obscuring facial features or exaggerating physical traits—creates a blank slate onto which the audience projects their anxieties. In The Special Request , the character’s passivity in the face of bizarre demands highlights a thematic preoccupation with agency in a deterministic, and often hostile, environment.