Otonari no Tenshi-sama: The Sweet Spot in Dialogue

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 characters are feeling, what they fighting against and what they desire to change. Similarly, because their motivations and feelings are spelled out so clearly, anyone who subscribes to them are greatly inclined to empathize, root and even care for these characters. That is the power of having your emotions spelled out the F.E.E.L.

On the other side, you have indirect dialogue as showcased by 'Otonari no Tenshi'. What indirect means is as suggested, having certain subtlety in expressing emotions. When characters feel nervous, they will not spell it out in definite terms. This not only mean in their words, but in their general physical and mental reflection. One great moment from episode one is when Shiina accidently tripped and fell on top of Fujimiya. In most other anime, such an accident would be deemed the most cataclysmic natural disaster of the century, whereby both characters simultaneously explode into a flurry of emotions ranging from volcanic embarrassment to rageful blushing. However in our case, Fujimiya and Shiina, while both mildly embarrassed, was shown to brush it aside as a clear accident and moved on to never discuss it again. 

What makes this scene great is because we don't get the usual hoo-haa that comes out with melodramatic anime. I remember a time when I had a similar scenario happen to me. I was playing frisbee with my classmates when a girl and I knocked into each other in an attempt to catch the disk. When we fell, I instinctively wrapped my entire arm around her stomach to soften her fall and also accidently fell on top of her as well. Needless to say, we ended up in a much more embarrassing position than what was shown in the scene above. However, just like the anime, because we both understood that it was an accident, we quickly recovered, said sorry and just didn't think too much about it. We were like 17 years old at that point after all. It wasn't like we never had the touch of the opposite sex or lack the social aptitude to read the situation. We were mature about it and moved on, just like most normal people would. What is more strange to me when I watch other anime is just how furiously one can blush about such situations. They treat it like it was something worse than seeing each other in their birthday suits and they would proceed to be paralyzed by the accident for the rest of the day, like geez, chill out and just be mature like Shiina and Fujimiya here. Similarly, I won't say that it is wrong to be embarrassed as well. As we can see, Shiina does get affected by the incident, and as Fujimiya returned to his chores, we can see her holding her chest and commenting that it surprised her. She does get a little blushy out of this accident, but the key word is in its intensity. The accident did make her slightly conscious of the fact that she is alone with the opposite sex, however, she is mature enough to not lose half her mental faculties about it. In such cases, we can consider how the audience get to have their cake and eat it too. We get a slight blush from our angel, we get to establish romantic tensions between our couple, and yet we don't need to suffer a hundred pounding of cringe for it. This is why I'll always say: Subtlety is king.

Subtlety not only contributes to more human and relatable expressions, but also in exploring more complex character personalities. An interesting personality to explore in the first episode is Fujimiya. Perhaps one of the more strange traits he exhibits is in how distant and cold he is in his interactions. When Shiina was worried about his fever, he was shown to be irritable and avoidant in nature.

What is interesting about the nature of this avoidance is that the motivations aren't made explicit. We didn't get a clear monologue on how Fujimiya disliked Shiina or had any interactions between them that suggests why. In such cases then, we may even consider this avoidance of his to be weirdly uncharacteristic and rude of him. However, upon further exploration, we will realize that clues of such behavior has been sprinkled all throughout the first episode. In a previous scene, we came to understand Fujimiya's impression of Shiina: That of a perfect angel who is, perhaps more importantly, a person in "a world I'm not part of". In their first misunderstanding, he also callously assumed that her perfect demeanor would mean that she had or is currently in possession of multiple romantic relations. Furthermore, we can also consider his attitude towards the rest of his classmates as well, that of someone who keeps to himself, bar the one guy friend he keeps around. With all these clues in place we can then piece together a cohesive personality of one who seeks to distance himself from the cliques in his school life, and may even be bitter about them. Due to such friction, he feared that hanging around the "school idol" would bring him the unwanted jealous gazes of her pursuers, and hence was even defensive about it, as shown by his "rudeness" to her.

Perhaps what is even more fascinating is the social aptitude that this guy shows in spite of all that. Thus far, our reading of him portrays him as someone who is a loner, who is quite possibly bitter and lack social tact for any greater emotional bridging. However, that is not the case with Fujimiya. Throughout many of his interactions with Shiina, he has shown great sensitivity to the barriers between their relationship. When Fujimiya realized that his callous assumptions hurt Shiina, he quickly bowed his head and apologized, correcting his incorrect generalization of her. Afterwards, he also quickly corrected Shiina's assumption that he might be guilt-tripping her, telling her that it must be annoying for her to get guys who try to take advantage of her kindness.

What these two small interactions showed, was Fujimiya's sensitivity to boundaries. In his incorrect generalization, he realized he overstepped his line and apologized. In his later interaction, he made a clear attempt to clarify his distance with Shiina, showing both empathy for her struggles, and also honesty in possessing no ulterior motives. With such a display, we can no longer see him as just a bitter loner who avoids relationships as a coping mechanism, but rather someone who dislikes the farcical interactions of others and would rather pursue genuine relationships -- Yes, he is just like my boy Hachiman.

Perhaps what is even better is that this honesty runs both ways. Shiina is also one who will not falter in her ability to clarify their distance. When faced with the rather direct question about being misunderstood with romantic inclinations, Shiina quickly strikes back with her jab of her own.

Now a possible way to see this is that this is the opposite of subtlety. Both characters who actively clarify their distance with no uncertain terms does certainly sound on the extreme end of overtness. However, I beg to differ. The difference is once again, in its intensity. While both characters are conscious of these misunderstandings, they are neither paralyzed or are incapable of handling it with maturity. In fact confronting it directly shows just that, of having understood the greater subtleties of their relationships, and moving to set boundaries around them. We can contrast this back to our initial example of 'Kaoru Hana no Rin to Saku'. This manga has a relatively bad habit of trying to milk out a melodramatic response out of every emotional beat. In one of the scenes whereby Subaru tries to clarify her relationship with her group of friends, we get this chapter long confession whereby we run through every single doubt and concerns she has, with everyone carrying onerous faces against the backdrop of the setting sun.

While I understand the trauma she has lived before and also appreciate her struggle to change, I still find such scenes overbearing. Just think about it, how would you and your group of friends react when someone gives you a multi-prolong confessional that sounds like marriage proposal. You will probably be like "Okay cool, but we're just here to build sand castles bro, chill." The thing is, teenagers don't really engage with all these confessions and affirmations. When they harbor feelings, it is more often that they choose to hide them and just carry on with life. In times when they do express them, they often downplay their importance with certain amounts of stoicism or treat it like a joke, because being too serious is frankly speaking, pretty cringe. This is the reason why I greatly appreciate that 'Otonari no Tenshi' does the opposite. It clarifies relationships but it treats it matter-of-factly, maturely and with certain stoicism. Because that is what normal people would do. That is the "subtle" way of doing it.

So you combine everything we have learnt thus far, and what you will have is perhaps my favorite passage of dialogue in episode 1.

Fujimiya: I'm not stealing it or anything.

Shiina: I'm not worried about that. I can carry my own bags though.

Fujimiya: Sometimes people are cuter when they rely on others.

Shiina: Are you saying I'm not cute?

Fujimiya: I should go now. You wouldn't want to be seen walking with me right?

Shiina: (Mumbles to self) Thank you.

Did you miss that? Well no worries, let's do it again. This time, with annotations. 

Fujimiya: I'm not stealing it or anything (Clarifying intent with hint of sarcasm).

Shiina: I'm not worried about that (Not amused). I can carry my own bags though (Bothered by sudden act of kindness, indirect hints towards retrieving her bags). 

Fujimiya: Sometimes people are cuter when they rely on others (Notices hints and yet remains adamant, slightly teases to hide his desire to help).

Shiina: Are you saying I'm not cute? (Pouts)

Fujimiya: I should go now (Brushes it off). You wouldn't want to be seen walking with me right? (A tinge of kindness, hidden behind the guise of self-derision)

Shiina: (Mumbles to self) Thank you (Appreciation, hidden by shyness).

This show's dialogue is a treasure trove of such subtleties. When I was reading the impressions of other redditors, most of them agreed that this show is rather down-to-earth in its interactions, and I'll definitely agree. There aren't any exaggerated expressions or minute-long soliloquys about character motivations. Instead, both leads are fairly muted and hide their feelings behind defensive or clumsy pretences. We can tell that both of them are conscious and may even be shy about some of the interactions they have, but they never outright spell it out because doing so will be even more embarrassing, and they will much rather appear stoic to maintain the guise of calmness. Furthermore, both leads are also mature enough to understand the complications that their relationship may bring or may seem to others. To protect themselves from that, they actively clarify the distance they have with each other and establish rules to prevent any further feelings from arising. However, because of their own desires or their endearing qualities of kindness, they can't help but still reach out of each other when they are in times of need, hence inevitably forming the perfect bedrock for such feelings to foster. In this story then, this is a romance of two polar opposites who wants to keep their distance, and yet can't help be magnetized towards one another. A simple, and yet a wonderfully executed story thus far.

And perhaps then I have adequately proven my own saying: Subtlety really is king.