I feel like I've bothered you enough but I'm curious to know if you have MBTI headcanons for Rei, Rin, and Nagisa. I have a strong hunch that Rei's INTJ, Rin is ESTJ, and Nagisa ESFP. What do you think?

Hello! Never a bother, thank you for asking and thank you for your patience in waiting for this delayed answer!

I don’t have any existing MBTI headcanons, so after looking up those three and doing a bit of poking around, here are my very inexpert thoughts:

Rei/INTJ: I can definitely see certain aspects of this working for Rei, particularly his focus on practical application, rationality and systems, as well as the effectiveness of his leadership. I’m not actually sure that Rei “has difficulty expressing [his] ideas, which are non-linear”, or that he is inexpressive at all in general, so that part of the description sits a bit funny with me, but I looked up ISTJ and of the two I think INTJ fits better.

However, I would like to play devil’s advocate and suggest that ESTJ, your headcanon for Rin, also fits well for Rei; in my opinion Rei skirts the E/I boundary and because Rin and Rei are very similar in some ways, the aspects of ESTJ that fit Rin also work for Rei. “They value competence and efficiency” is one such description, and also “the ESTJ puts forth a lot of effort in almost everything that they do. Theywill do everything that they think should be done in their job, marriage, andcommunity with a good amount of energy. He or she is conscientious, practical,realistic, and dependable.”

And there’s this, which I think is more Rei than Rin: “The ESTJ needs to watch out for the tendency to be too rigid, and to becomeoverly detail-oriented…If they neglect their Feeling side, they may have a problem with fulfillingothers’ needs for intimacy, and may unknowingly hurt people’s feelings byapplying logic and reason to situations which demand more emotional sensitivity.”

Rin/ESTJ: I’ve elaborated a bit above on the aspects of ESTJ that could work for Rin, and I think it’s valid enough an interpretation and certainly possible, but I submit ENTJ as my preferred alternative based on these points (quotes taken directly from the link):

The last point was really the clincher for me - I feel like it’s important to recognise Rin’s sentimental, romantic side, and ESTJ seems to lack a bit of that while ENTJ ticks that box.

Nagisa/ESFP: I totally agree with this! Nagisa is ESFP through and through, from how much he enjoys being around people to living in the here and now and relishing excitement, spontaneity and fun in his life. I especially like the bit about ESFPs being great team players and this: “ESFPs have very strong inter-personal skills, and may find themselves in therole of the peacemaker frequently“. It’s spot on for Nagisa and hits on one of the aspects of him that isn’t always immediately appreciated, but that is very much the kind of role he plays within the group. Also that ESFPs may be more focused on immediate gratification and avoid thinking about long-term consequences of their actions - that definitely comes through when Nagisa tries to run away from home. I have nothing to add at all here, I think this personality fits Nagisa completely :)

What MBTI do you think Haru would be? By the way I love your writings and meta!

I got no less than 3 asks relating to Haru’s MBTI, so I’ll answer them all together here! Thank you, curious anons, I will do my best with my armchair MBTI psychology ^^;;

Actually, I agree with last anon - I see Haru as INFJ. Here’s the main reason why (from the link), which probably explains INFJ better than I can.

This is Haru through and through. It is exactly how he functions, not just with swimming, but also with his friends; he knows his friends intuitively without always knowing exactly why, but he trusts his gut feeling, and it’s usually right.

I think Haru would score high on I and N, no doubt about it, and yes - second anon, I agree with you that the N aspect of Haru is one of the things Makoto values most highly in him. You can see it in the sunset scene in High Speed! where Haru intuits, without judgement, Makoto’s fear of the water, or in how they talk about Makoto’s problems with Hayato in S2E8, and Makoto trusts implicitly in Haru’s intuitive insight.

On the T-F spectrum for Haru I feel like it’s maybe a little less extreme, though still fairly clear that he’s a Feeler rather than a Thinker, and on J-P, I’m going with J because one of the marks of a Judging type is that they like having their lives in order, they like routine and proper closure, unlike the open-ended spontaneity of Perceivers.

Finally, two more minor INFJ facts that really seal the deal for me:

and most of all THIS, the INFJ’s approach to conflict.

That? Is Haru for you (see: slamming fists into lockers, that S2E11 scene).

Hey, could you pelase help me? I'm trying to figure out what kind of MBTI personality Makoto would have...

Hello! Okay OH BOY this is a tough one.

(Let me start by qualifying I’m no expert on MBTI, so anything I say about it is chiefly informed by curious devouring of much internet literature about MBTI types, which puts me pretty much on par with almost everyone out there in terms of my actual level of MBTI knowledge.)

I have answered this question before, actually, and my answer then was ISFJ, which I stand by still as a high probability. The hallmark characteristic of an ISFJ is that they are warm and sensitive, that they build close relationships and care a lot for others, but unlike the Ns and Ps of the world, they are grounded, tied to concrete realities; they are not dreamers. (Full disclosure: I am also ISFJ, btw)

Here is the ISFJ in a nutshell, from the link above:

More importantly, here is the ISFJ’s fatal flaw in a nutshell:

This to me really sums up Makoto - emphasis mine.

However, I will also be the first to admit that Makoto is not the easiest character to pin down. In fact, I think it is arguable even whether he is I or E. Personally, I see him as I because he seems to me to keep a small, intimate circle of friends rather than actively socialise, and to draw his quiet strength from being close to these friends and family. But I’ve also seen arguments for him being E because of how people-oriented he is, and I don’t think the show gives us enough evidence either way to really say for sure.

Another MBTI type I have seen applied to Makoto is ENFJ, which I think is also a perfectly legit guess if you focus on how good he is with people, coupled with how grounded he is. This description in particular strikes me as very Makoto.

And this too:

It’s actually very similar to the flaw of the ISFJ listed above, but I think the subtle difference is that the ENFJ’s priorities are dictated by a people-pleasing instinct, rather than an instinct of natural responsibility. The way I am reading it also is that the ENFJ is likely to bottle their feelings because they “may not be aware of their own needs”, whereas the ISFJ is likely to do the same to avoid burdening others. The ISFJ is in tune with their own feelings and knows exactly what they are. So it’s the same kind of outcome, but from different places of motivation.

I tend towards reading Makoto as the ISFJ, but depending on your view of his personality, I think there is definitely more than one type he can slot into. These are just two of them.

Any other thoughts from anyone who knows more than me about MBTI are much appreciated!

Hello! I am so in love with everything you've written, you're a true blessing to this fandom!!!! I-I wish you would tell us more about yourself tbh, as happy as I am with your meta posts, I also am really curious about what kind of person you are (/w\)///!! Could you do a post of which mbti profiles corresponds most to Makoto and Haru according to you? A-And Sousuke if you feel like it ;w;/// I also would really like to see a comparison post of the dynamics of makoharu and sourin one day!!

YOU ARE TOO SWEET omg why would anyone want to know more about me??? 

I don’t actually like talking about myself too much, I am pretty private on the internet :) but here are a few facts! I am female, I am older than probably 90% of the fandom (I graduated uni and have been working for about 4-5 years now so that should give you some idea), my favourite anime of all time is The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi followed probably by Fullmetal Alchemist (I haven’t seen Brotherhood yet), and my job is in the media industry. You can ask me if you want to know more and I’ll reply you privately!

But if you want to know what kind of person I am, tbh, you don’t have to look much further than Tachibana Makoto ^_^ Like Makoto, I have two younger siblings and my responsibility as the oldest is very important to me, and I test as ISFJ in the MBTI, the Nurturer type, which is where I would peg Makoto as well.

And our greatest flaw -

Now you know why I identify so deeply with Makoto. It’s because, honestly, we are scarily similar. (Haru and Sousuke under the “Read More”)

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