Sugar Apple Fairy Tale: How to Establish Character Chemistry #02

 

So a few days ago, I fell in love with a little ol' show called 'Otonari no Tenshi'. I really enjoyed the subtle dialogue shared between the two main leads, and I also came to learn a lot about how its author approach the concept of character chemistry. Now a few days later, I finally dipped my toes into another little show called 'Sugar Apple Fairy Tale', and to my surprise, came to realize that the techniques employed to establish character chemistry are congruous and perhaps even improved upon. With that said, I hope you enjoy reading part two of how to establish character chemistry.

Otonari no Tenshi-Sama: How to establish character chemistry

https://zxcaderu.blogspot.com/2023/01/otonari-no-tenshi-sama-how-to-establish.html

Disclaimer: I am an anime-only. This essay will only discuss events up to episode 4. The above is an essay that you do not have to read, but since this is a direct extension, I will still be referencing a lot of the previous concepts there. If you ever find yourself confused to what the hell I am talking about here, feel free to refer back.

Expressions

Let us begin with exploring the individual complexities of our two main leads. For me personally, one of my favorite metrics to a character's complexity is simply in how many expressions we are shown of them. Under that measurement, Ann Halford is perhaps one of the most fleshed out personalities we have this season.

Cute, pouty; Flabbergasted, sorry; Resolute and uncertain; Shock and broken. These are but a few emotions that Ann has portrayed in episode 1 alone, lest to say the subsequent ones. Why emotions are so great at measuring character complexity should be intuitive to most. On the character level, emotions help us glance into the inner workings of a person. Ann showing us her calm smile by her mother's grave informs us of her resolve and emotional maturity; Her being angry at the fairy hunter shows us her compassion and ideals; In contrast, her blushful and pouty faces characterizes her innocence befitting of her age, and her tearful dream reveals the fresh wounds of her heart. In the first episode then, we have come to understand Ann's dispositions, ambitions, contradictions and tribulations. That is all seven colors of the rainbows she is painted with. On the story level then, the writing decisions will also be required to be extra creative. The story's author, Mikawa-sensei, would have to conjure up various scenarios and exchanges that would justify each individual emotions, giving rise to a story that brims with variety and complexity. And of course, for us audience, we get to enjoy the full course meal, of having both sweet character traits and savoury progression.

It isn't to say that the variety of expressions is the sole indicator of a character's complexity. While expressions does give us a direct glimpse into someone's heart, the lack of expression can similarly hint towards the more implicit dispositions a character has. A good example is of course, Shall Fen Shall. Being a slave, he portrays an understandable disdain towards humans. Such hatred would of course be concentrated on his most immediate owner, the human currently in possession of his literal heart. Despite that however, his anger is fairly muted; Rather than the more explosive abhorrence initially shown by Mithril Lid Pod, Shall's anger takes the form of spitefulness. In our first introduction of him, he would pridefully mock his slave trader, provoking his ire. Such acts of defiance informs us of his age and his enduring enslavement, having suffered under abuse to the point of numbness. Despite that, he still hold steadfast pride and identity, being fearless in his provocations. When he chastises the slave trader for "assuming he was like him, a filthy human", it wasn't just an act of anger, it was an impulsive laugh by a fairy who thinks of himself as superior to his captor. That to me, is a showcase of how muted expressions has accurately fleshed out the complexities behind this supposedly "enslaved" fairy.

The Slave and the Slave Owner: Foundation

Character chemistry can be defined as the degree in which two characters interact with each other, explicitly and implicitly; The more intertwined two characters are, the higher their character chemistry is; The higher quality their interactions are, the better their character chemistry will be. In my previous essay, I consider positive/negative reactions and external/internal reactions as one of the ways to improve the quality of interactions. For a pair to successfully establish good character chemistry, they would need a healthy ratio of all four of those things.

On that basis then, it is easy to say that there is little to no worries on the department of internal negative reactions. Negative reactions are basically elements that creates barriers and distance in a relationship. Internal negative reactions sees such hindering elements to be born from personal and individualistic factors, rather than more circumstantial ones. Let us see it in action. Ann with the pressing ambition to become a silver sugar master, has deemed it necessary to buy a warrior fairy to protect her on her journey. We hence are greeted with a meeting between Ann and Shall, and from the beginning, we establish their dynamic to be that of a slave and the slave owner. Such dynamic is deeply entrenched in its internal negative reactions. From the very beginning, Shall would hold many prejudices about humans, deeming them to be cruel creatures who would enslave an entire race for their own gains. These prejudices would understandably be concentrated onto his new owner, and even if Ann is someone of compassionate character, she is still a person partaking in this twisted system -- A person who should be mistrusted. With the slave and slave owner dynamic, such internal negative reactions can be built on top of a significant portion of one's lifetime and the amount of abuse one has suffered as well. We can envision this from Shall. In episode 3, he has stated how he was born from a young child's gaze and would become a surrogate older brother to her for numerous years after. Though he did not elaborate further, I predict that fairy hunters had raided their mansion that day to capture him, a beautiful fairy of an obsidian gem. His sister was killed in that crossfire and Shall would hence come to fall under human oppression for many decades afterwards. One would not blame him for the hatred he must be harbouring. Similarly, our task at hand is almost impossible to fulfil. We now have to take one of the most jaded person in the world, and prove to them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Difficult stuff, but not insurmountable when we consider pushing forward equal if not more positive reactions.

For our positive reactions, the show has chosen to walk in the path of internal growth as well. Despite the dynamic as slave and slave owner, we can consider how both our leads have an ironic power dynamic. As discussed above, Shall is someone with a prideful personality and sly tongue, while Ann is someone who wears her hearts on her sleeves and can be quite innocent befitting of her age. One would not be surprised then when he becomes the dominant figure in their relationship, often taking jabs at the naivety of his young lady. He would make fun of her small and scrawny figure, calling her a "scarecrow"; He would tease her for being a child for not having her first kiss yet. Such interactions can be classified under playful banter, one in which Shall perhaps enjoys. 

This playful banter is what I would consider to be an implicit internal positive reaction. The label is starting to become humorously long, but trust me, there's a meaning to each of those categories. While internal positive reaction simply means individualistic factors that helps two characters bond, implicit/explicit reactions looks at whether those reactions are directly expressed or are subtle. What we see with this playful banter is hence implicit internal positive reactions because Shall never directly tells us that such banter allows him to grow closer with Ann. While this arguably can be an overread on my part, I think it makes sense if we consider the hypothetical. Would you be quicker to lower your guard to a cute girl who would blush upon the mention of a first kiss? Would you be quicker to trust someone who carries her heart by her expressions, showing you her anger, her happiness, her tears?

Why I think the distinction of implicit and explicit is important is because regardless of what type of show it is, it will always benefit from a little bit of subtlety. In the example of Shall above, while the idea that he may enjoy the banter is a conjecture, it no doubts add a bit of mysticism to him. For a character who is suppose to encapsulate the byronic hero, not being expressive is not only in character, it challenges the audience to constantly question and theorize his demeanor, further cementing his mystery status. Implicit reactions can often bolster certain climatic pay offs as well. One of my favorite examples lie in episode 4 when Shall pursued a romantic gesture of kissing Ann's hand. This actually carries a lot of romantic meaning if we consider the few instances of yearning he portrays. In the first episode, we learn about how he notices that Ann carries the same silver sugar scent as Liz, his sister. In episode 3, he comments on how it is Ann's fingers that carries that nostalgic scent. And now, in the climatic episode 4, we receive its pay off, with him satisfying his yearning by kissing her hand and highlighting the trust he now shares. If we consider hypotheticals, it isn't as if the distinction of explicit and implicit in this case is pivotal. If we have Shall directly mention that he kissed Ann's hand with such intentionality, it wouldn't have ruined the scene per se. After all, just a while back, we have a near exact scenario with him allowing Ann to touch his wings, to great effect. However, it will always make a difference to the audience. For attentive viewers, being rewarded with pay offs where they have to connect their own dots, will always be much much more satisfying than a reward that was simply presented to them. Good shows will always go out of their way to challenge their audience to find more meaning in the implicit, to form different conclusions that can each carry their own flavor.

My favorite scene in these four episodes has to be Ann's breakdown in episode 4, in which it showcases an extremely complex and poignant moment of implicit internal negative reaction. Perhaps one of the biggest conditions that shackled Ann and Shall's relationship is in how she had promised that she would release him when they reach Lewiston. This condition was first established out of her own compassion, of giving him certain freedom in choosing whether he wants to remain with her or to be free. However, in this particular moment, she faced great weakness. Having been betrayed, with her dreams shattered, and being unable to honour her mother, she was drowned in a state of emotional turbulence; One whereby she would relinquish to rash decisions; One whereby she would even give him back his wings, resigning to the fact that "even with him here, she wouldn't be able to do anything". Such is a classic example of internal negative reaction, of her emotions getting the better of her and distancing herself from Shall. But perhaps what is the most complex emotional showing is what comes after he left, when she revealed a poignant expression.

This single expression quite possibly carries a million meaning behind it. It can represent shock, in how she has brashly pushed aside her only pillar of support. It can hint at regret, of desperately wanting to take back what she just said, but being unable to do so. It can even carry an undertone of disappointment if we consider how she may have thrown a fit in a childish attempt to garner pity; She wanted Shall to tell her that he will stay by her side; She wished for him to reassure her in her time of need -- Despite that, she received nothing, only the shadows that reaffirmed that all her efforts were for naught. Such a childish desire may be an assumption on my part, but even then, it remains so incredibly human in my eyes. I, too, have pushed away those close to me in my trying times because I wanted some twisted reaffirmation that I was loved. And when they ignored or failed to reciprocate, I reacted exactly the same as Ann did, telling myself that --

Even if such reading was not a part of the author's original intention, this expression and spoken line has still reinvoke such a deep feeling within me, one in which resonates with me profoundly. Similarly to that refutation, I would simply say: Death of the author. Perhaps one of the greatest usages of implicit reactions is in creating meaning out of ideas that even the author had not planned for. In almost all cases, the author's intentions no longer matter as you are the stories' sole consumer. Your opinions are the one that would matter the most and your own emotions are what you will feel the greatest attachment to. One of the greatest reason to why authors should always introduce subtleties then is to hand the audience the power to think and feel, to trust them to find their own meaning. And well, in this case then, 'Sugar Apple Fairy Tale' has done me a great service. Thank you.

Negative reactions as its base, implicit and explicit internal positive reactions as the driver for growth; From this point then, an extremely contrasting dynamic is formed, one that can easily be classified as a push and pull relationship. Such dynamic is classified by frequent interchanges of positive and negative reactions. On one hand, Ann and Shall's banter helps them gradually learn about each other. On the other hand, a single misstep by Ann will sneak in and cause our relationship to take a step back. Cycle that a few times and what you would have is a relationship akin to a tug-o-war, characterized by their peaks and valleys. 

For any show, having peaks and valleys is perhaps the most important aspect to keeping your audience engaged in a relationship. It creates the elements of unpredictability, it injects high tension and energy, it seeks to ambitiously fuse both the fun and the depressing, bringing forth a character chemistry that always brims with catharsis. We do not even have to look very far to consider how pronounced these effects are. In 'Chainsaw Man', this is the dynamic between Denji and Aki, giving rise to an extremely fun dynamic of the older sibling and his bratty little brother. In 'Nagatoro', the relationship between Nagatoro and Senpai began with mean-spirited teasing and evolved into loving quips, propelling their relationships into romantic heights. And hell, isn't that the entire appeal of tsunderes as well, to masquerade the positive reactions behind the negative ones so that we can be swooned at every turn? The thing is I don't even need to say that much about why the push-and-pull dynamic is one of the most effective character chemistry templates out there. We have all seen it, we have all loved it, and 'Sugar Apple Fairy Tale' does it pretty damn well.

As for now, I still many more ideas I want to share about this wonderful series, but for now, I'll leave a pin on our discussion of character chemistry. Hope you enjoyed reading this piece and stay tuned.