Otonari no Tenshi-sama: How to Establish Character Chemistry

 

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 story elements. One of the more interesting comparisons I have thought a lot about is the difference between 'Otonari no Tenshi' and 'Koori Zokusei Danshi'.

The premises between these two shows are actually much more similar than meets the eye. Both feature the meeting of a guy and a girl who slowly grows closer with the interactions they share. Both place heavy emphasis on the kindness that the characters display, to which their partner appreciates and grows a fondness for. Tonally speaking as well, both are light-hearted and simplistic in its progression, without heavily relying on the melodramatic. Despite such similarities though, I came to the gut reaction early on that I much prefer the chemistry between Amane and Mahiru, as compared to Fuyutsuki and Himuro.

The difference is what I would like to call 'positive and negative reactions'. For a pair to successfully establish good character chemistry, they need both positive reactions and negative reactions. Based on their names alone, the ideas should be quite intuitive. Positive reactions are basically the reaction that bonds two characters together. A good example of a positive reaction can be seen in 'Koori Zokusei Danshi'. As Himuro is a descendent of the Yuki-Onna, he has a tendency of freezing up the flowers that he touches. This is pretty sad because he is fond of them and yet has to distance himself to avoid ruining them. Fuyutsuki, being the kind person that she is, decides to buy some straw mulch so that the flowers he touches won't instantly freeze over. Himuro would come to greatly appreciate this gesture and would develop romantic feelings for her after. Simple, effective, these kinds of positive reactions should be no stranger to any of us who consumes media. However, perhaps why I felt this show was rather weak in its chemistry was due to the lack of its opposite; The negative reactions.

Negative reactions aren't necessarily the breakers of a relationship. On a more fundamental level, they are simply reactions that puts some distance between the couple, which often sets itself to be resolved for further development. For 'Koori Zokusei Danshi', the first episode had numerous positive reactions, all which allowed the main pairing to grow fonder of each other. However, there wasn't any barriers, conflicts or internal rifts that may act as possible indicators of distance. In essence then, Fuyutsuki and Himuro's relationship was that of a smooth sailing, without any rough waves or friction that may beset them. 

In contrast, we have Amane and Mahiru's relationship. In the first episode, Amane started out with preconceptions of Mahiru. He treated her as the school angel which his peers label her as, and with that title, comes with many ungrounded generalisations of her personality. On the innocent end, he would tease her with her saintly nickname, and on the less tactful side of things, he would rudely assume that she would possess multiple male attachments. These served as the initial friction of their relationship, a form of cold shoulder and caution our characters harbor. While it is true that Amane would come to quickly dispel these preconceptions, this rift is still effective in cementing progress in observable and impressive metrics. For the audience, it has usually been a case that we are much more appreciative of a pair that disliked each other and turned couple, than a couple who are nice to each other and will continue doing so. The sheer contrast from the then and now are simply much grander, a difference between crossing the clear seas and challenging the brave waters.

On that point however, we can point out that these initial friction dies off quickly in Amane and Mahiru's case, as they would butter up to one another at astounding pace. By the second episode, Amane has celebrated Mahiru's birthday, gifting her a cute teddy bear while receiving a fair heart throb in return. By the third, Mahiru has free access to his apartment, while also promising to continue fulfilling her duties as his live-in housewife. And by the fourth, they might as well had tied their hands in matrimony and have a couple of grand kids running around the living room. Despite that, one should not mistake it to be a clear coast. While both characters welcome the rather flirty gestures of the other, they both still put up a thin veneer of distance. These negative reactions, while not as potent as their initial friction, still act as barriers to the desired romance, and perhaps more interestingly, are barriers that carry a lot of self-reflection. For Amane, we can see active attempts to fight against the romantic feelings that wells within him. In episode 2, his first reaction to seeing Mahiru's blushful gratitude was that he "shouldn't have looked". Similarly, his apt comment of her at the end of episode 4 was that she was "dangerous for his heart". Such reactions makes sense when we consider how their relationship formed at the beginning. Initially, Amane had wanted to end contact with Mahiru after she had nursed him back to health. He was aware of the type of misunderstandings that may arise from their engagements, both between themselves and with onlookers, and hence would rather avoid any of such complications. However because of their physical proximity, and with certain vested interest, Mahiru began slowly engaging with him more, cooking for him, cleaning, and even accompanying him on his quieter nights. When he directly questions her on the possibility of those complications, she had this to say --

Curt, dismissive, almost challenging the notion with passive-aggression; She throws the question right back at Amane as if to gibe at him for ever carrying such a silly idea. But it is because of this one response has an implicit contract been signed and the conditions carved to stone -- We will continue with this mutually beneficial exchange so long as we avoid harboring further ideas of romantic pursuit. Amane, as discussed, has been putting an elephant on the lid, fighting against the volcanic cuteness that is Mahiru. Similarly, Mahiru herself has enforced clear terms throughout, often reciting the fact that she is "not Amane's type" and that their relationship "is not romantic and will never be as such". Why? Because anything otherwise would mean that the contract has been broken, complications have awoken and their relationship will be ruined. 

What you essentially end up with is a complex romance of two characters that are "more than friends, but less than lovers". Because of their proximity and their kindness, they both inevitably grow fonder of each other, but because of their self-imposed restrictions, they still hold out an arms' length, afraid to take that final leap; The push-and-pull; The positive reaction and the negative reaction. 

A note that I do want to clarify though is that the formula of a good character chemistry does not always necessitate both positive and negative reactions. For many slice of life shows like 'Koori Zokusei Danshi', audience members may tune into such shows looking for comfy wholesomeness, rather than any of the more melodramatic elements that may cause unwarranted tension. However, what is undeniable in my eyes is the level of complexity between both shows in contention. While Fuyutsuki and Himuro has a fairly cute relationship, their interactions often fail to reveal any further depth to their characters. With all their reactions, Fuyutsuki would always enact her role as the kind girl and Himuro would do so as the titular cool guy. While the scenarios and certain emotions may be tweaked for variety, the vast majority of reactions are conclusive and predictable in nature. You would, for example, rarely see circumstances whereby Himuro may be upset at Fuyutsuki for a particular reason. In contrast, Amane and Mahiru's relationship reveals a lot about the personalities of both our characters. In my previous essay for example, I noted how Amane's acts of clarifying distances reveal his mindfulness to social cues and atmosphere, and that in contrast to his usual social aloofness, characterizes him with an adept sense of genuineness and maturity. Similarly, Mahiru's resolute denial of any romantic undercurrents hint us towards a greater conviction towards male attachments, or even men in general. These clues can begin once we ask ourselves why Mahiru may be obstinate about getting into a relationship with a boy. Perhaps it could be her difficult family circumstances, perhaps it could be how most of her male peers approach her with unruly reverence and enthrallment, perhaps it could be both or neither. But that's the point -- It gets you thinking, theorizing, questioning the intricacies of their relationship. While character chemistry is often lauded as the quality of character interactions, I think there's also the audience angle that we can consider. How we piece together the cogs of a relationship are acts of active participation on our end, a means of exercising our attention to details. The more we are challenged, the more we are engaged; And the more we are proven or disproven, the more complex and intriguing does our character chemistry get.

External and Internal Catalysts

Negative reactions are in essence, the creators of romantic tension. On the character level, such barriers often give rise to more melodramatic conflicts. On the audience level, the dramatic irony of seeing a couple like each other and yet are forcefully divided, leaves a potent sense of yearning and paves the way for future catharsis. However, I believe at more fundamental levels, the quality of those negative reactions also come under scrutiny, namely under the concept I will call external and internal catalysts. 

External catalysts can be treated as outside forces that created the reaction. These outside forces often range from coincidental circumstances, to environments and people. On the other hand, internal catalysts allows reactions to come from personal factors, considering things like clashing personalities, incongruent goals, caution and fear etc. One of the current ongoing mangas, 'Blue Box', presents both external and internal catalysts very well. We begin with the romantic shenanigans between Taiki and Chinatsu, our main couple. Taiki has always admired Chinatsu's passion in regards to basketball. He is inspired by her work ethic of always striving for the nationals and arriving early to practice, to which he adopts in his own passion for badminton. This, coupled with the fluffy interactions they share in their quiet mornings, gives rise to Taiki's big crush on Chinatsu, and us audience members as well root for Taiki's feelings to reach through. The first showcase of internal catalyst can be seen from Chinatsu's outlook on romance and basketball. Because she is so focused on the nationals, she has admitted to Taiki that she is disinterested in partaking in romantic pursuits as that will distract her from time that could otherwise been spent shooting the hoop. Taiki, while initially disheartened, shows great respect and admiration for that cause, for that is the ambition that he fell for to begin with. And with that new found determination, he himself would strive for the nationals as well, walking in the same pathway as his beloved Senpai. 

Now this is all fine and dandy, if it wasn't for its older brother, the third interest, which would join the party. Enter Hina, who started out as mere friends with Taiki. She had never juggled the thought of pursing further romantic relationships with him, but through their last few interactions, have begun developing something more concrete. As she is the first to admit to such feelings as opposed to Chinatsu, for a large chunk of the manga, she acted as the main aggressor in the relationship, using bolder and bolder means to sway Taiki's heart, even confessing her love. How this influences the main couple's relationship then, is in how Chinatsu often catches sight of Hina and Taiki's interactions. She would mistake them for being attached, she would hear rumors of such, and perhaps more importantly, she herself would possess jealous tingles in her heart, often which she dismisses as a strange wind of an unknown source. In this scenario then, Hina is the external catalyst to Taiki and Chinatsu. Hina makes Chinatsu question her distance to Taiki, and Taiki as well will be swayed in his own commitments to Chinatsu.

Perhaps without diving any deeper, you may have come to your personal opinions regarding the differences between external and internal catalysts. External catalysts are often deemed insufferable due to how arbitrary and predictable they can be. In the case of our trio from 'Blue Box', the series already had a significant internal catalyst that drives a wedge between our main couple. Adding an external catalyst, may seem to many to be a form of arbitrarily extending the length of the story by the author, of adding conflict for complications' sake, of adding conflict for interesting stakes. While it may no doubt influence Chinatsu in the future to hasten her own romantic inclinations, the process that lead up to it may still seem overly scripted and unnatural to some's taste.

However, adding an entire third party may just seem like an over commitment in the name of external catalysts. What if we scale down its effects and consider more circumstantial events? Well, in that case, we may have a show like summer 2022's 'Mamahaha no Tsurego', or perhaps more notably, 'My Stepmom's Daughter is my Ex'. The synopsis of this show is adeptly shown in the title itself, quite literally, Mizuto's mother remarried into a new family, giving Mizuto a new stepsister Yume, who used to be his ex-girlfriend; Hence, hijinks ensue. On the premise alone, this is built on an external catalyst. Mizuto and Yume becoming step siblings is a circumstantial deux ex comedy that could only have been the joke of the gods. However, perhaps a new consideration we can think about is the comparison between the external catalysts between 'Blue Box' and 'Mamahaha no Tsurego'. At face value, the premise of two lovers who turned step siblings may be at the height of absurdist comedy, being too arbitrary for us to dip our toes into. However, despite that, I think such external catalyst is actually much more tolerable than the appearance of a sudden wheel. Why? Well, first and foremost, we can consider how 'Mamahaha no Tsurego' sets it external catalyst as its premise. From episode one itself, any audience member who stumbles upon this show are faced with the immediate crossroad. Do you engage with this ridiculous premise? If you do not, then you can turn around now. If you do, then you can stay tuned for the interesting developments that will occur despite this seemingly insurmountable dilemma. On the other hand, 'Blue Box' from its initial premise promised a cute story about two dorks who are tunnel-visioned by their ambitions, and yet gradually grows closer for the very same reason. Fans who stayed for such a love story then may feel betrayed by the sudden intrusion of a third party, one who was not forecasted nor appreciated. The difference between the series then can be boiled down to introducing external catalysts as your premise and introducing one in the middle of your developments; One delivers on its promises, while the other is a detour from the promised destination. 

 

Perhaps more interestingly then, is this question: What is the difference between 'Mamahaha no Tsurego' and 'Otonari no Tenshi'? At first glance, there are some similarities we can consider. Both shows start off with external catalysts in their premises, with a couple being brought into close proximity with each other through circumstances. Both couples would then gradually grow stronger feelings for each other due to such proximity, and yet have to actively maintain a distance due to complications. However, the similarities seem to end there. Both shows seem so tonally different that it may even be hard to put them side by side. Why that is so is due to a very simple distinction. 'Mamahaha no Tsurego' base their interactions off external catalysts, while 'Otonari no Tenshi' bases itself on internal catalysts.

In the first episode, 'Mamahaha no Tsurego' has already went full throttle on relying on circumstantial incidents to bring out reactions. In perhaps a power display, our dear Yume walks out in a scantily loose bath robe, all so as to tempt Mizuto into some sort of submission. Mizuto is undoubtly confused and aroused, but things took a sudden turn when Yume realized how embarrassing the moment actually is. Her bath robes began to slip, and Mizuto, like the gentlemen that he is, gives her a coat to cover herself with. But all that is frivolous in the face of deux ex comedy, and they slip and fall, landing in a precarious position that was but a mere inch from fourth base. In this case then, our reactions can be boiled down to a simple formula: Embarrassing circumstances = Romantic reactions. While we can argue that such incidents only took forth out of Yume's wish to compete (ie. internal catalyst), it is important to consider the encompassing essence of the entire scene. Is it Yume's wish to compete that created the romantic reaction, or was it more due to the embarrassing situation which contributed to it?

We can bring that philosophy to scrutinize various scenes from 'Otonari no Tenshi' as well. Consider the scene whereby Amane gives Mahiru a teddy bear as a present. We begin with Amane finding out through coincidence that Mahiru's birthday was around the corner. He then wishes to give her a good present but is uncertain of the kind of gifts that a girl her age would prefer. He probes for answers and requests for friendly assistance, and come the day of her birthday, he courageously presents the teddy bear to her. Mahiru greatly appreciates the gift and Amane shows his sign of romantic inclination. In this scenario, our reaction formula is as such: Amane's desire to give present = Romantic reactions. While it can be argued that Amane found out about Mahiru's birthday by coincidence, that point is trivial to the greater dedication and effort we see him go through to pick a present for her. And come the day itself, there wasn't any reliance on incredible circumstances or hijinks to distract us from the original wish. Amane simply gifted his present, Mahiru graciously accepted it, and both the characters and the audience can come to appreciate the fruits born from a simple wish. 

It isn't to say that both series only does one and ignore the other. 'Mamahaha no Tsurego' had some wonderfully introspective scenes like its aquarium date in episode 4, and 'Otonari no Tenshi' does have its fun share of "unlucky" circumstances from the discovery of their relationship by their mother and their friends. However despite that, it is clear that the former is more kin on creating hilarity through circumstances, while the latter bases its main emotional beats around the kind acts of our characters. It's basically the 80/20 approach, but flipped between both shows. 

With all that said, I think it is easy to break down why 'Otonari no Tenshi' feels so down-to-earth and pure in the character chemistry of our main leads. Their chemistry feels complex due to the balance of both positive and negative reactions. While our characters thus far have a reason to grow close very quickly, the show has persistently drop hints of greater conflicts in the horizon, whether that is with Amane and Mahiru resolutely turning down any suggestions or with Mahiru's difficult circumstances. These hints serve to create romantic tension, and while our ship is currently sailing full speed ahead, the audience still can't predict what turbulent seas may lie ahead. That keeps us intrigued, guessing, anticipating at the edge of our seats. 

What sets these reactions apart as well is in how simplistic they are in nature. While other shows rely on circumstances like happy coincidences or third wheels to push forward a reaction, Mahiru and Amane is more content with simply sitting on the couch all day and chatting about the weather. This effect is even more intentional and amplified when we consider how the author has cleverly structured the personalities of their casts. Amane and Mahiru are both teenagers with a comparably modest disposition. Amane is neither a social butterfly nor has any crazy hobbies. He similarly isn't thrown off into the other end as well, being overly bitter or socially paralyzed. He is in all aspects, a pretty normal guy who is just slightly less ambitious than his other male counterparts. Similarly, Mahiru is fairly unassuming as well. She likes to cook, clean and mostly studies in her down time. While she does have an impressive reputation in her school, most of our exposure to her are times when she doesn't put up the angelic front, and simply carries herself like a normal girl. In all honesty, these two leads may be the chillest and most down-to-earth couple we have had in a long time. However, when we consider things from the story-telling perspective, we often come to question whether that is enough. If all I wanted to do was write a love story about two unassuming teenagers, then I doubt that would be a popular story. To mix it up then, the author of this series cleverly shifts the more excitable personalities onto her side characters. People like Chitose, Itsuki and Shihoko all add an element of chaos to spice the story up. But the stroke of genius lies in the effects that such a clear distinction has on overall tone of the story. As we may have noticed, this structure takes the 80/20 approach as well. 80% of the story is focused around the cute interactions between Amane and Mahiru, while the other 20% has the occasional side character act as external catalysts. At least from these four episodes, we'll get a sense of reassurance that there will never be an external catalyst that may bust into the scenes and distract itself from its original premise. We aren't worried that there may be a third party, we aren't worried that the show may suddenly take a two episode detour to suddenly explore a character we don't really care about. It has already cemented so much attention and effort into establishing our main couple, that we should be hopeful towards it delivering its promise. And in cases when we may expect such external catalyst, the author has already carefully laid down the flags for us to brace ourselves for, as with the foreshadowing of Mahiru's family.

Perhaps then the last point, and to many, the most pivotal point to why the character chemistry between Mahiru and Amane is so good, lies in their dialogue. I've analyzed this in my previous essay and thus I won't dive too deep into it. But the essence is that the author has an incredible sensitivity to subtle dialogue. Another passage of dialogue I found myself fawning over is this simple exchange in episode 4.

Amane: Should I watch over you until you fall asleep again?

Mahiru: Yes, please do.

Amane: Eh?

Mahiru: It was your idea.

Amane: I guess it was... But...

Mahiru: Are you going back on your word as a man?

Amane: No way.

And one more time, with annotations.

Amane: Should I watch over you until you fall asleep again? (Teasing, attempting to make her feel embarrassed)

Mahiru: Yes, please do. (Straight-laced, unaffected)

Amane: Eh? (Caught off guard)

Mahiru: It was your idea. 

Amane: I guess it was... But...

Mahiru: Are you going back on your word as a man? (Notices he was flustered, counter teases back)

Amane: No way. (Resolute and acts on it)

It is extremely simple banter, and other shows have written much more complex ones at that. However despite that, this type of banter is befitting of the modest dispositions of Mahiru and Amane. They will never be at each other's throats making demeaning jokes like buddy cops do, but there are small windows in their interactions whereby they will slip a tease or two in just to arouse a cute reaction out of the other. And honestly speaking, kudos to the author for not going overboard with it, leaving us with just a little surprise that will delight us every time.

And hence, there you have it, the formula to writing good character chemistry. Negative and positive reactions; External and Internal catalysts; And with the icing that is cast allocation and good dialogue.