Maybe the rags she's wearing mean she's still under the previous cruel master?
By that logic, why is Saki dressed like that? Sure her life before the story kicked off wasn't super happy but I wouldn't exactly call it living in suffering.
By that logic, why is Saki dressed like that? Sure her life before the story kicked off wasn't super happy but I wouldn't exactly call it living in suffering.
I think it's because their respective appearances at the start of their stories are so iconic as to be representative of the general majority of their stories -- for Sylvie, it represents the suffering she endured before her story begins; for Saki, it represents the suffering she endures after her story begins.
Hell, the "glasses and braids" combination by itself is enough to make people go "Oh no".