A Valentine’s Day with Haruka Oozora: Finding Happiness in Complementary Personalities

“The reason as to why we are attracted to our opposites is because they are our salvation from the burden of being ourselves.” ―Kamand Kojouri

Whereas it is common knowledge that Myers-Briggs test are only a rough indicator of how people of differing personality types get along with one another, it’s become something of a yearly tradition for me to now write about hypothetical relationships between someone of my personality type and the other fifteen personalities. I’ve already expended the INFP and ISFJ types for CLANNAD‘s Nagisa Furukawa and Girls und Panzer‘s Miho “Miporin” Nishizumi in previous years, so this year, I’m going to ratchet things up a notch and do something radical: I’m going to explore a personality type that’s the opposite of my own. Harukana Receive‘s Haruka Oozora fits the bill well: with a light-hearted and open-minded character, Haruka is quick to befriend those around her, has little patience for concepts and is shown to have a penchant for doing things rather than studying them. With a spontaneous and flexible mindset, Haruka has no trouble adapting to changes in situations. With a boundless amount of energy, Haruka brightens up the days of those around her, and is generally a fun person to be around. The sum of her traits mean that, despite being a novice at beach volleyball, she would make strides with Kanata as a team to even put an excellent fight against experienced players like Claire and Emily Thomas. Haruka would thus be considered an ESTP: Extraverted, Sensing, Thinking and Perceiving. In a relationship between an ESTP and an ISTJ, the dramatic differences prima facie imply a difficult time. My preference for order and structure means that I would have a tough time adjusting to Haruka’s flexible, spontaneous schedule. In conflict, Haruka tends to be very open and up front about how she feels, and would be adverse to anything that’s too rigid. Conversely, I am a believer in the idea that people should be true to what they say. Haruka’s carefree attitude, versus my rigid, disciplined outlook on problem solving and organisation could be tricky: I am rather picky about being on time, which I feel to be a show of respect, but Haruka would place a lesser emphasis on this and more value on being in the moment. Indeed, it means that Haruka and I would conflict on a great many things, but the reality is that both partners bring traits to the table that complement one another, as well. Haruka’s boundless energy and desire to try new things would push me forwards and allow me to experience things that would otherwise be missed. My love of organisation and order would help Haruka find ways of optimising her own day-to-day, as well. To make a relationship with Haruka work, someone like myself would need to be more open-minded, trusting and live in the moment more: the pay-offs are that people like Haruka are very passionate, energetic, as well, and so, beyond the initial hurdles, such a pairing could bring out a new-found synergy in many exciting and unforeseeable ways.

• This post has, believe it or not, been in the works since last year, when I made the remark that Haruka could be fun to write for. While it is the case that I have a natural inclination towards people with Nagisa or Miho’s personalities, in general, I get along with most everyone, and the opposites in Haruka do much to complement my own styles. Of course, with Haruka now written for, I’ll have a heck of a time finding a character to write for come 2021. In the meantime, I leave readers with this bit of art from Harukana Receive, which in no way, shape or form influenced my decision to write for Haruka this year, nor does said choice of artwork speak in any way, to anything, about me as a person.

What would a date with Haruka look like, one asks? Because Haruka is very active, and very fond of people, there are two dates in my area that could be one that she might find enjoyment in. The first suggestion would be a hike to the Big Beehive at Lake Louise: this 10.3 kilometre hike has an elevation gain of around 640 metres, and takes hikers through the Lake Agnes Tea House. The path up to the tea house, as well as the Lake Agnes Teahouse itself is well-tread, and busy. Haruka would feel at ease with the number of people, and also enjoy speaking with other hikers while at once enjoying the scenery around Lake Agnes. The next leg of the hike leading up to the Big Beehive is a bit more strenuous, tapping into Haruka’s love for physical activity: to reach the top of the Big Beehive and look back down at Lake Louise and the Chateau below would be a remarkably exhilarating journey. The other date that could prove appropriate would be a day spent at the Calgary Stampede. Touted as the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, the Stampede (as we locals call it) has rodeo competitions, midway games and rides, all sorts of wild foods, and interesting exhibitions. With an incredible amount of energy from the number of visitors, Haruka would enjoy everything from trying exotic carnival foods, to watching dog shows, trying her hand at midway games and taking rides together in the Ferris Wheel or the West Jet Sky Ride. While I personally regroup and rest on my own, usually with a good book or game, I have no qualms about hiking or attending busy events, so my own adaptiveness means that I could certainly keep up with Haruka. Of course, all of this remains a thought experiment: relationships of all sorts work out in reality, and their dynamics are driven by more than just personality types: trust, loyalty and respect are surer indicators of where things will go. Almost any relationship will work as long as love and communication are present, and this is an encouraging thought. With this being said, these Valentine’s Day posts are always fun to write for, and before I wrap up this shorter post, I’d like to wish all readers a Happy Valentine’s Day!

A Valentine’s Day with Miho Nishizumi: A Brief Introspection

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” – Charles M. Schulz

What would Valentine’s Day with Girls und Panzer‘s Miho “Miporin” Nishizumi look like? A first date would likely entail an afternoon spent at a Teddy Bear Museum, followed by a visit to a patisserie selling macarons and tea. A later date could encompass a quiet meal for two cooked together, followed by an evening watching a movie. Quiet, cheerful and shy, but utterly devoted to her friends, Miho falls into the category of an ISFJ, the defender archetype. Supportive, reliable and imaginative, Miho’s strengths are being able to rally her friends from difficult situations and devising creative solutions to challenges that she faces. She is, however, very reserved and quite unwilling to discuss her problems with others until she opens up, and she can be very stubborn despite her adaptability in Panzerfahren, being uncompromising about her friends’ well-being. Throughout Girls und Panzer, Miho is presented as being fiercely loyal and determined, even when it comes at the expense of her own well-being, and this is a personality flaw that makes Miho a believable character – putting others ahead of herself, Miho often forgets about her own happiness and takes on more responsibilities than she might otherwise be able to handle. Fortunately, in the company of friends like Saori, Hana, Yukari and Mako, Miho begins striking a finer balance and matures as an individual, coming to rediscover her love for a sport and a new reason to love it. Far from perfect, and far from invincible, Miho is a solid lead for Girls und Panzer whose capacity as a commander on the field is balanced by a very human, plausible personality off the field.

• Miho is strikingly similar to CLANNAD‘s Nagisa Furukawa in many ways; since I earlier wrote about the INFP-ISTJ dynamic, I figured to mix things up, I’d suppose that Miho is an ISFJ. The ISFJ-ISTJ relationship is a little more compatible than the INFP-ITSJ one, and so, this post is a little shorter: for my part, I am open-minded, can be more outgoing than my introverted preferences suggest if the situation demands it, and despite my preference for logic, I have found myself slowly becoming more attuned to my sensing side, as well. Perhaps for the future, I’ll take a look at a personality type that’s my opposite, such as Harukana Receive‘s Haruka Oozora, and see what the consequences of such a pairing are, to mix things up and produce more interesting discussion for readers.

In a relationship with ISFJ personalities such as Miho, folk like myself (ISTJ) would immediately respect one another’s desire for quiet time and also be able to share interesting conversations with one another. I’d find Miho’s compassion and warmth a major strength, while Miho would benefit from my ability to approach situations from a logical, structured manner. We’d make decisions based on a range of factors to reach a conclusion that’s best for everyone. From our personalities’ sums, our household would be organised, and there’d be a healthy respect for planning and schedules. However, there are drawbacks in the ISFJ-ISTJ pairing, as well: our mutual introversion means that we might not communicate enough. We also tend to overthink situations and jump to the worst-case conclusions during times of difficulty. My bluntness may also hurt Miho, whereas Miho’s aversion to conflict may make it difficult for her to be honest about how she feels about some things. However, difficulties notwithstanding, sustainable, healthy and rewarding relationships can definitely result from a ISFJ-ISTJ pairing. Good communication and a respect for one another is key here, and as partners get to know one another, they definitely could understand and support one another. Of course, these are just hypotheticals; while fun to write for, I’m sure that whatever happens in reality, a healthy dose of open-mindedness, a willingness to listen and communicate will mean that as far as romance and relationships go, any personality type will be compatible as long as the love is present. Finally, for having made it this far in the post, I would also like to wish my readers a Happy Valentine’s Day!

A Date With Nagisa Furukawa of CLANNAD as a Thought Experiment

“According to the Myers Briggs test apparently only 4% of the population got my result. Making it harder to find people I can “let inside” or truly feel connected with. It’s just a test but it often feels that way…” —Ab imo pectore

Having taken a look at the distributions, my personality type stands as one of the most common, with an estimated thirteen percent of all folks having it. The story behind my Meyers-Briggs test is simple enough: I was asked to do it as a part of a team-building exercise for work, and unsurprisingly, ended up with ISTJ. Known as the “Guardian”, individuals of this personality type are fiercely adherent to facts and rules, working hard to complete tasks delegated to them. Honest, direct and dutiful, ISTJs also tend to have a talent stack, excelling at nothing in particular, but possess reasonable competence in a range of different areas. They also can be unyielding and blunt, as well as less willing to deal with spontaneity than people with a different personality type. That captures my essence very succinctly, and it also leads me to wonder how I am projected to get along with different personality types, especially considering that in practise, I generally get along with most people in a professional sense. Describing my professional interactions would be too dull to warrant a post, but what if we added some flair to things? For this discussion, then, I will take a look at aspects of my own personality and use those facets to determine just how well I would get along with someone like Nagisa Furukawa, whose personality is considered either ISFJ or INFP.

• While I cannot truthfully say that Valentine’s Day is my favourite holiday of the year (that belongs to Thanksgiving and Christmas), I remain largely neutral about the event. Consider this: it is a bit disheartening to have no one special to celebrate it with (-1), but on the other hand, it means I can save a small amount of money and direct it to either my savings or spend it on something for myself (+1). With that being said, for those of my readers who are in a relationship, I wish for you a Happy Valentines’ Day, and for the readers like myself, I offer a Happy Singles Awareness Day!

The “Defender”, ISFJs are supportive, reliable and loyal (incidentally, the same things I would look for in a relationship), but can also be rather shy, find it tricky to express how they feel and can overburden themselves with challenges as they try to help those around them. These attributes describe Nagisa well, but she also has some elements of the INFP personality type: she’s driven by her sense of optimism, making the most of every situation, values harmony and holds a strong sense of creativity that allows her to resurrect the drama club and bring her dreams to life with a performance of Girl in the Illusionary World. Similarly, she does take some things personally, blaming herself for causing her parents to give up their dreams of being in theatre. For this discussion, we assume that Nagisa is an INFP: her creativeness in expressing herself in the play she likes and the Great Dango Family, coupled with her general desire to wish for everyone’s happiness and her response to learning about her parents’ past means that she can fit into this category. In general, an ISTJ and INFP relationship could function with effort and some compromise, although some folks say that such a relationship would be remarkably difficult, so this post aims to put that to the test, using the personalities as a starting point, and then determining whether or not someone with traits similar Nagisa’s is someone that I can appreciate as time passes, and we know one another better.

We suppose that Nagisa is an INFP, a personality type with a four percent frequency: the ISFJ personality, while one I am fond of, would not offer much in the way of interesting discussion. My ISTJ and Nagisa’s INFP means only one of our traits overlap: we’re both introverted — we would understand and appreciate the value of quiet time and share moments with a small group of close friends. I can hold interesting conversations about different topics, so if the right topics are available, fun conversations can be had. However, there’s always the possibility that there isn’t enough communications between the two. I’m not very good with subtle hints (scuttlebutt has it that I accidentally rejected some people without saying a word because I missed their messages) and typically, need to be hit over the head, as it were, to know how someone is feeling. My sensing component will find newfound perspective from Nagisa’s imaginative thinking, and at the same time, my practicality balances her tendency to go off into her own world. While projected to offer some challenges in conversation, I am a touch more imaginative than the average ISTJ, so I could follow her flights of fancy in a conversation.

Next up is my thinking to her feeling: warm and compassionate, one of the things that stand out about Nagisa was this side of her personality. She genuinely cares about those around her and supports them as best as she can, standing against my usual no-nonsense “let’s get it done” approach. These two opposite traits complement one another nicely, allowing for decisions to be made with a balance between compassion and reason. However, my way of speaking is very blunt: I call things as I see them, and could inadvertently hurt Nagisa, while she’s unlikely to speak her mind. I’m not good with subtleties, so miscommunications could arise. To make things work, I’ll need to be more sensitive, be more attuned to things and pick things up on my own, while Nagisa would find it useful to be a little more direct. The most interesting set of attributes to consider will be judging-perceiving: I’m very fond of schedules and well-designed plans, allowing for freedom and the unexpected only if some semblance of a plan exists. Spontaneity does not typically fly with me: I’ll turn down hanging out with friends if informed about it less than a day in advance, for instance, since that time was blocked off for something else. Similarly, my penchant to be organised can come across as overbearing for INFPs. Fortunately, while coming across as rigid, I am more adaptive than the typical ISTJ; I appreciate spontaneity if it falls within a plan. With an open mind, judges and perceivers can get along — the perceivers can bring a breath of fresh air into the judge’s life, while the judge can help a perceiver become more organised. On the whole, while the personality differences between a ISTJ and INFP would initially cause some conflicts, over time, I imagine that they could reach a compromise and find themselves in a happy relationship, truly connecting with one another.

• I have a special announcement to make with this post: CLANNAD is nearing its ten-year anniversary, and so, I will be doing posts on CLANNAD once the ten-year mark passes. Because there are a large number of episodes in CLANNAD, doing episodic reviews will be impractical. Instead, I will drop by on the date where an arc ends to take a look at the events and contributions of that particular arc in the context of the whole story.

So, supposing that both partners open-minded enough to make things work, the final realm that this discussion will explore what kind of first date might be suitable for an ISTJ-INFP couple: without it, this post simply wouldn’t live up to its title. Before we begin, I profess that I am not nearly familiar enough with Japan to properly consider organising anything resembling a date there, so we will suppose that I’m running home field advantage. Further, we suppose that language barriers are not a concern. Looking off the idea that Nagisa and I are both introverts, I think that Calgary’s Shakespeare in the Park at Prince’s Island park would be a good first date considering her interest in drama. A twenty hectare park on an island, it is located right at the heart of the city and offers an oasis from the hustle and bustle of the core, featuring flower gardens and paths set right underneath the cityscape of Calgary’s central financial district. The choice of something like Shakespeare in the Park is motivated by Nagisa’s love for the stage and drama. To be able to visit a performance of an old classic under the summer sun would provide a calm setting for enjoying a Shakespearean play and consider different perspectives on what things like Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet entail. Such a conversation might be shared following the play’s conclusion at the nearby Café Blanca over a cup of coffee (or tea, since I don’t do well with coffee). This is, of course, just one possibility; ideas for good dates are limitless. I would certainly enjoy an experience like this, but there is a reason why this post is dubbed a thought experiment — it is not actually possible to perform this particular experiment in reality.

The Gentlest Oblivion: A Valentine’s Day Reflection of Yuki Nagato’s feelings in The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi

“You found someone, and then you lost her. That’s a part of living. But, you’re not living. You’re wasting away, waiting for another chance to present itself.”

There’s a few hours left in Valentine’s Day, and the song “Yasashii Boukyaku” has entered my playlist rotation. It’s now a few hours since my exam, and prior to that, I was watching the Koi to Senkyou to Chocolate OVA while waiting for said exam, accompanied by a grilled chicken wrap and watermelon smoothie. It’s been a while since I’ve actually had a night exam (my last one was back in 2011 for organic chemistry, and with due respect, I prefer morning exams because that is when I’m most focused). When I begin following this train of thought, 2011 was also the year where I had the opportunity to watch The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi. It was a warm evening late in the summer, after hours on campus, and I was watching the movie while waiting for a friend’s LAN party to kick off. I would find the movie to be the cornerstone of the entire Haruhi franchise, revealing that for everything he’d said in the TV series, Kyon very much prefers an eccentric universe with Haruhi over a normal universe. Back then, I saw a movie about how knowledge of an alternative will help individuals understand the nature of their choices. I now additionally see the movie as a story about unrequited love, accounting for why there is an overarching sense of longing throughout the entire movie: the journey Kyon is thrust into undertaking in The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi might be to give him perspective on his choices, but perhaps more significantly, provides insight into the true extent of Yuki’s feelings.

• This post has an uncharacteristically long title, partly because it’s about something that I cannot readily condense into a short discussion. I first watched The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi during the summer of 2011. I’ve also broken tradition here: all ten of the images link to a 1920 by 1080 full-sized version.

• Because lyrics for “Yasashii Boukyaku” are so readily available everywhere, this post isn’t about the lyrics, but rather, what the lyrics entail and why the song suits the movie so well. Last I watched this movie, I was impressed. This time, I was fighting the dust in my eyes when Kyon makes the choice, choosing Haruhi over Yuki.

• The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi is a movie that ages well with the passage of time: my initial impressions of it were overwhelmingly positive, but today, the movie stands out for being able to capture notions surrounding unrequited love and weave that into a film format without driving it into center stage at all moments.

• Yuki’s gesture here was first depicted in the opening “Bouken Desho Desho?”, one of my favourite opening songs of all time. The music in the Suzumiya franchise varies from some of the best material, to some of the most disappointing. In The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi, the music stays firmly on the good side of the spectrum.

• Atmospherics and lighting contribute greatly to the different scenes in The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi. The alternate universe is dull and drab, while the original universe is immensely colourful. Near the film’s conclusion, the cold blue lighting of the foreground stand in contrast to the distant warm lights, setting off the mood between Kyon and Yuki’s conversation very nicely.

Despite being a stoic and seemingly emotionless character for much of the TV series, Yuki Nagato is perhaps the most interesting of the characters: she is the first to inform Kyon about Haruhi’s nature, and is also the one member of the SOS Brigade that Kyon trusts the most. Despite being present in the TV series as a construct to monitor and manage data, Yuki’s experiences with the SOS Brigade (and in particular, Kyon), lead her to develop a set of interests and understand how to express gratitude to those around her. Over time, Yuki grows sufficiently restless at the pacing and rewrites the logic for Kyon’s world, giving him another chance to make a choice between the two realities. This choice is fundamentally equivalent to choosing between Yuki or Haruhi; Yuki’s own conflicting feelings propels her desire to ascertain whether or not she would have had a chance with Kyon. While Yuki attributes it to error data with no known cause, Kyon realises that Yuki has picked up human emotions over her time, and of the SOS Brigade, she wanted to be closest to Kyon, disinterested in her original mandate and Haruhi’s existence. “Yasashii Boukyaku”, thus, resonates particularly strongly: Minori Chihara’s wistful delivery of the lyrics captures Yuki’s loneliness and simultaneous resignation to her duty despite longing for so much more. Yuki understands that in spite of her own desires, she also wishes for Kyon to be happy, hence her decision to offer him the choice between her and Haruhi. As the song draws to a close, Yuki’s longing becomes clear as Kyon chooses a different future, one where she cannot follow him. She is able to let go and accept this, but prays that Kyon will continue to think of her even as he follows his heart.

• Valentine’s Day is alternately known to some as “Singles Awareness Day”, and admittedly, this is my least favourite time of year owing to the frequent grey skies and icy days that accompany being single. If I could pick a day for Valentine’s Day, it would be somewhere in the middle of the summer, between early July and mid-August, where the skies are blue, the landscape is lush and the air is warm.

• If there hadn’t been an exam today, I would have hit a pub and ordered a rare steak. A good steak is sufficient to lift one’s spirits, providing a gain in courage…rich, tasty courage.

• I completely sympathise with Yuki’s situation because it is very familiar:  Yuki realises that for the present, patiently waiting it out and keeping faith in the future’s answer is all she really can do, even if the answer, once the time comes, is unfavourable.

• Patience is supposed to be a virtue, and for things such as love confessions, I prefer things that are face-to-face. I’m not alone in this brand of thinking: a recent article on Wired.com even outright states that online love confessions are about as ineffectual as it gets, devaluing the phrase entirely. Love confessions hold their value in rarity, hence the significance of reserving them for very specific situations.

• I might come back in the summer and do a second review of The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi in its entirety, given how much has changed since 2011. The review content is straightforward enough: the challenge will be to get a sufficiently different set of screenshots such that the post is unique.

While the lyrics in “Yasashii Boukyaku” ties in perfectly with Yuki’s modus operandi throughout The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi, they can be generalised to a more diverse range of cases, especially where unrequited love is concerned. In Yuki’s case, she’s willing to accept things as they are, in spite of all the injustices that she’s experienced, if it means that Kyon will be happy. From the personal side of things, I felt that the possibility of a relationship between Yuki and Kyon presented a superior story; this is explored in much greater detail in The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan. While I used to find myself wishing that this was the only universe in the Suzumiya Haruhi franchise, I realise now that The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan is particularly enjoyable to read because we know of what happens in The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi. With that, my Valentine’s Day post ends, and if I haven’t made myself clear, “Yasashii Boukyaku” is a brilliant song that enhances The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi to such an extent that I’m surprised I somehow missed this on my first watch-through. Of course, I would personally recommend against reading The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan or watching The Disappearance of Suzumiya Garuhi on Valentine’s Day itself if one is single, lest feelings of longing and loneliness overtake all else.

Singles Awareness Day 2012

“Singles Awareness Day” by those who do not have someone special to share the day with, usually as a humorous parallel to Valentine’s day. Individuals observe it for a variety of reasons, usually to either celebrate or to commiserate in their single status. The underlying objective appears to be reminding romantic couples that relationships are not necessarily the sole aspect of celebrating life. That said, I have several exams and assignments in my immediate future. My Valentines this year are my textbooks.

Team Fortress 2 released the Something special for someone special: costing a cool 100 dollars, it’s an engagement ring that announces to the entire community you and your significant other are ready to make a commitment. It’s a unique way of expressing your love, but as much as the gamer I am, I feel that buying a real ring for my significant other would probably do the job better. If I had a significant other, that is.

“You can explore the universe looking for somebody who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and you will not find that person anywhere.”