Rumination: Humanising your character with the least amount of effort

Watching K-On episode 13 has made me thought a lot about the act of rumination in anime. In the opening minutes of the episode, we get a view into the girls going about their daily routines detached from the presence of each other. Mio is brainstorming for ideas for a new song; Ritsu is walking to school; Mugi is waiting for the train; Azusa tries to pet a cat and Yui is together with Ui. Each of them don't have much dialogue or are engaged in anything interesting. They are separate of the influence of each other and are each engaged in their own actions, and in Mugi and Ritsu's case, they are even portrayed pensively in their own space.

I can't shake the thought of how relatable this makes them. Often times K-On is a show with many fun or chaotic high-jinks that makes for a sort of episodic high school adventure. But in moments like this when the characters only have themselves to engage with, it really adds a flavour into the characters that I find really humanising.

An actor off-scene

There is a reason why people find photos of famous actors taking the subway train so interesting. In our minds, we are only exposed to the high energy or performance given by them in their films or their interviews. They exude this sense of confidence in their speech and demeanour, and watching them engage with us or others is entertaining and striking. But it is when they are away from the camera, free from the pressures of having to entertain, that they are also so intriguing. When Keanu Reeves sit on the subway train, or eats a subway sandwich on a park bench, the internet literally exploded with reaction with how 'normal' he seems. 

I've only just realised how this applies to anime as well. Of course there are no real life actors, but anime characters are often actors in their own dimension. They are always interacting with the story and pushing it along, they are always engage in conversations with other characters, and even when they are alone, you can bet that the anime gods will throw them into something crazy not long after. It is extremely rare that they are just given nothing to do and simply allowed to ruminate.

And that is what we do a lot in our own downtime. When we sit in the bus, or walk, or shower, we just have a tendency to enter a meditative state and let our thoughts wonder. We get bored easily as our lives aren't interesting 24/7, and often times we even struggle to keep ourselves entertained by scrolling through social media or reddit. Our lives are mostly in a state of low-stimulation as compared to how much energy is given out in anime.

That is why when anime gives us rare moments of rumination, we instantly are grabbed by them. We instantly find the characters more relatable, more human as we see ourselves in them now. 

One of my other favourite examples is Konosuba's ending theme. After an episode of absolute chaos, it ends the day with a song that is like a lullaby that will put you to sleep. The ED shows our heroes each roaming around town, engaging in nonchalant acts or interacting with the townsfolk. Adding on with the overall scenic shots of the beautiful town rowing through the river of time, it really gives off a sense of tranquility to both the town and characters that live in it. Just seeing a day in the life of theirs, distinct from fighting demon lords and monsters, humanised even our kooky characters. If you ever told me I would relate to Darkness and Megumin, I would tell you that you are nutzo.

And if you want the ultimate extreme of that, look no further than Mushishi, which opens up with beauty shots of Ginko staring out into the wide expense of mother nature. No overreaction of 'ohs' and 'ahs', just simple quiet admiration of the beauty of his world.

Diving into their psyche

One of my favourite anime is 3-Gatsu No Lion, and I still absolute love the fact that the anime starts off its first episode by showing our protaganist Rei waking up, putting on his clothes and slowly making his way to the shogi hall for at least 4 minutes. I remembered thinking to myself then: what is he preparing for, where is he heading, why does he look so melancholic, what is he thinking about?

I think this curiosity I have towards this character was so important in selling me to the show. What a lot anime does nowadays is that they will immediately drop you into the episode by explaining the lore behind the show, or having the main character give a monologue about the message of the show, or simply putting a lot of recognisable elements and tropes so that it instantly feels familiar to the audience. 

3-Gatsu however allows us to see our character in a ruminative and vulnerable state of mind, not even allowing us to hear his voice for the first 8 minutes. Instead, the shows allows us to ask questions or even come to our own interpretation on who this character is or what the show is about. You can say that maybe Rei was thinking about the shogi match that he is going to have, or maybe he was brooding over the consequences of winning against his father, or maybe everything at once with his rough relationship with his sister, or maybe that he simply feels tired and lonely. We don't explicitly see or hear his thoughts but just us seeing him engage in his pensive routine for the first 8 minutes creates so many possible interpretations and intrigue. We as the audience are allowed to step into Rei's shoes and think about what he is thinking about.

And lastly, on diving into the psyche's of our characters, we go back to episode 13 of K-On. The ruminative state of our girls has given us so much room to interpret their thoughts. As you watch on you will realise the answers to each of these questions. Mio is simply having a bit of a writer's block with her lyrics. Ritsu is perplexed by her love letter, Mugi is thinking about her part-time job, Azusa is worried about her cat and Yui is, well, Yui. But ya know before all of those answers were given, I was thinking about how the K-On girls were actually feeling tired after their amazing concert. Having put in so much effort, sweat and joy into their performance, they may be slightly burnt out. Or maybe even because it was such an amazing performance that returning back to their normal school life has created a void in their heart, as if they were in the present, but their minds were still stuck back in that fleeting hour.

I love it when anime trust us enough to give us something open-ended like that. I don't need them to always blast me with action or jokes or excitement for me to care about the characters. In fact, giving me time to relate to their rumination or to delve into their psyche endears me to them so much more. Let your characters simply breath sometimes, that is how you humanise them.