What I love about Kemutai Hanashi is how it allows the characters who are opposites and parallel each other to have a lot of small similar traits. Like we have Arita and Takeda, who are our main character duo, right? Usually any author would jump to opportunity to make them completely opposite in every way, only leaving a few core similarities to keep the parallels going, but not here.
They are both neutral towards cats and dogs, but love their cat. They are both good listeners and in general patient, calm people. This makes them good with kids. Both are pretty okay in cooking, no "excellent chef - can't cook to save their life" dynamic. Both have a sweet tooth(a trait they also share with Hinako). Both are not really ambitious in job or traveling aspects, content with their small lives. Both are labeled strange by others, while they feel like there is nothing special about who they are.
When characters are made to be different in every possible way, it screams fiction, gives you a "yup, that's a story!" thought, because in real life, we have so much more in common with other people than we notice. And Kemutai Hanashi reflects this, since it is, first and foremost, a story about people and about connection.
















