Idle Master

  I think character chemistry has always been a slightly vague term for me. It's an easy term to use and we often find it handy to label a delightful cast of characters as a cast with good chemistry. However, for me, that has always been done on an instinctual basis; A gut feeling born out of a sense of completeness, depth and fulfilment. But here in my blog, we always seek to get down to the technical details of story-telling and thus for today, our simple question is: What is character chemistry?  Disclaimer: I am an anime-only, who will be discussing events up to episode 4. I have also written a previous essay talking about the use of subtle dialogue in the show, however the ideas are congruous, and hence you can treat it as a loosely associated piece. https://zxcaderu.blogspot.com/2023/01/otonari-no-tenshi-sama-sweet-spot-in.html Positive and Negative Reactions With the myriad of romance stories this winter season, I have been pondering upon how each series structure their...

I think 'Otonari no Tenshi' has my favorite written dialogue this season. I usually attribute dialogue into two categories: Overt and indirect. Overt dialogue can be seen from a recent manga I read called 'Kaoru Hana no Rin to Saku'. Its dialogue style is overt in the sense that every chapter is adamant on having the characters spill out their feelings in explicit terms. When the characters are nervous, they would loudly confess that they are nervous. When the characters are happy, we will be presented with two pages of flashback to the times when they weren't happy, so as to distinguish the then and bolster the now. Often times, emotions take the bulk of its content, while big moments of expression are the climaxes that the author wants you to feel. Character growth or character beats in these type of dialogue is hard to miss specifically because of how plastered in your face they are. At any of these emotional moments, you would understand exactly what the charact...