In “Why Hideaki Anno’s Characters Feel Like Real People”, I described why a constantly adapting and changing character is more compelling than one whose development happens in short spurts. Even more compelling are an entire system of characters that become defined by their interactions with each other. Everything is changing, and reacting to everything else, it’s a teeming ecosystem of personality. This is one of the many things Kare Kano does so well.

These characters are not forever-stuck in paradigms or lifestyles that don’t work, and are willing to see their folly and change by using each other as inspiration. This not only is better than the triteness of typical archetypal characters that change little, but gives a superior moral message of self-improvement as well.

Kare Kano does this exceptionally well with many of its characters. However, in the beginning, the scope of development is mostly restricted to Yukino Miyazawa. At first, we see that she is a “perfect” girl blessed with beauty, intellect and a pleasant personality, but quickly come to find that this is just a mask. In reality, she’s driven by the vain desire to maintain a flawless image; Miyazawa even says herself that she experiences a mild high when classmates and family sing her praises.

Arima, another precocious freshman, then comes into the picture and spites her by being more perfect than her and outshining her by gaining the favor of other students. Instead of being the sole trustee of the students and teachers, Miyazawa now has to deal with a threat to her image. In his mind though, he had to be perfect to prove his former abusive parents wrong when they said that he would never amount to anything and to please his new parents for being so good to him. Through blackmail and tasteful misunderstanding, they eventually come to a mutual understanding of each other.

Together, they then embark on the mission to remove each other’s’ masks until they reach their real selves. Immediately, they begin to express their true feelings and reflect on the forces that compelled them to cling to their masks in the first place.

The first quarter of the show is heavily focused on these two, and lovingly depicts their struggle to be honest with themselves and each other. Eventually, she reaches out and grabs his hand at a school meeting; her way of returning his confession of love that elevates their relationship.

After depicting their rapid development, more characters are added to the mix, but only at the rate that they can be properly developed and incorporated into the ecosystem; a feat of pacing that’s much better than milking their misunderstanding until the season finale.

Another reason it was skillful to develop Miyazawa and Arima first is because they become the center of gravity for which the other characters revolve around. It even feels natural because they are two people with prior influence and that retain their strength as individuals despite undergoing rapid change. Even when they begin to take off the layers of their mask in front of their peers, they can still charm them with their wit, maturity, and self-awareness.

Tsubasa, the archetypal short, angry and cute girl, is a character who in a lesser show would only hate Miyazawa because she took Arima from her, but we come to find that she has a past who makes her attempt to pick on Miyazawa understandable. At first her actions seem binary and poorly thought out, but we come to find out that she was hospitalized early in the year and that her father is attempting to remarry after the death of her mother. She is simply lonely and feels that love is being sapped from her in all directions, so she takes it out on Miyazawa.

It becomes obvious that this level of depth would be present in most characters, but also impressive is that the standard of interaction established by the development of Arima and Miyazawa is upheld by the supporting cast. Miyazawa’s new friends after she makes peace with her angry classmates all have a very specific way of interacting with each other (two are evil, one is troubled, and the other is a “toy”). Maho often uses Rika to watch movies with her and never sees anything she wants to see or indulges in her wishes, yet Rika is still undyingly affectionate towards her. Maho, who then feels like a horrible person, can’t stand that she can be so nice to her despite how poorly she’s treated her, and is brought to tears at the continued affection she receives.

These characters, who each have unique talents such as literary ability and craft work, cause Miyazawa to reevaluate her place at the top of the social hierarchy, and for the first time she considers that there is more to life than studying.

On the most basic level, characters who would hardly get any development (for lack of time) show their true colors by the way they interact and react to certain situations. Such as Miyazawa’s younger siblings’ varied expressions and opinions on Miyazawa’s ideas about her life that make them feel inadequate by comparison.

One of the best examples of characters’ interactions is a rather extended scene in which the thoughts of the entire Miyazawa family are expressed in a fun and cartoony way as they discuss Yuki’s new love interest. Her father sweats profusely at the idea of anything beyond holding hands, but both kids, and even the mother, agree that times have changed. Miyazawa is bright red throughout, and curses her family for being so tactless. By layering the scene with various reactions, characters are developed simultaneously, creating an effective and efficient scene.

The development of Miyazawa and others’ being intertwined with each other makes it easier to believe in their relationship as a whole and provides an optimistic look at friendship as a means for improving and understanding each other.

I can only hope this quality of writing continues to the end, as I’ve heard it gets bit rocky from here on out, and I’m at the point where the directing is handed off from Hideaki Anno to Kazuya Tsurumaki. I’ll report back with an overview of the anime as a whole later.

But I must say, I’m loving it so far.