In many ways we are connected to anime; through our thoughts and our feelings. Since anime is a creation of the mind, it is natural for us to share traits with the characters. We may have common birthdays, similar zodiac signs, and ideals. Perhaps we even share personalities.
Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on Psychology and personality types. The most fascinating aspect to me is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; a type of test to examine the way you think. It’s primary goal is to assist in development and create psychological understanding.
At first, this test might be off-putting. Being summed up by a couple of letters may feel weird, and some may find it hard to believe. The key aspect of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is not to categorize and box people-in, but to reveal how the mind works and most importantly how you think.
This is done by the use of a four letter system. Each letter is ranked similarly to an RPG character creator, with scales of mental and emotional characteristics. The first consists of E and I which are extroversion and introversion. The second letter combo is S and N, standing for sensing and intuition. Following are T and F; thinking and feeling. The type finishes with P and J, Perceiving and Judging.
After figuring out your preference, you’ll end up with set of four letters such as INTJ. This is your personality type. The system is not completely black and white, each aspect is in percentages. You can be a little bit of an extrovert or a huge extrovert; you’re definitely not limited to a binary category.
So how does this tie into anime you may ask? Well, MBTI also extends to characters in media. It may sound strange, since they technically can’t take the assessment, but it is definitely possible to type them.
I’m not going to delve too deeply into this, but the indicator works when observing others and their actions, alongside thinking. We usually know a character reasoning and actions, so it’s not too difficult to figure out the rest by following a type’s functions. Functions are basically extensions to the typing letters and delve deeper into thought processes and patterns.
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| Charts like these float around for different anime! Source Here |
After taking the test, I ended up the type ENFP. What really convinced me of the test was looking at the characters who share my type. I found characters such as Naruto Uzumaki, Honoka Kousaka from Love Live, Jaden Yuki from Yugioh GX, and even Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender. They were all commonly (since there is a chance for error) typed the same as me and were characters I am inspired by or relate to greatly.
At that point is when I realized that there was a bit of truth to the whole MBTI thing, and of course it became more apparent when I applied these realizations to my own actions. I began to use the test to look at my way of thinking from an outside perspective, and focus on improvements.
When it comes to anime, MBTI is another way to discuss characters and it’s just plain fun looking up types and their habits. You can also meet others with the same type or similar who enjoy things that you do! I think by taking the indicator seriously, but not too seriously, you can definitely benefit from it’s results.
As a parting gift, I’d like to leave you all a few links to take the test, and to look up character MBTI types. I hope you enjoy them, and if you have anything questions let me know in the comments!
Links for MBTI
As always, thank you for reading!