∟Kisaragi Shintaro - INTP
requested by anonymous
“Shadows of myself watched me as I turned into this person I have become.”
[ analysis under the cut ]
Introverted Thinking “Ever since I was a kid, the one thing I was good at was figuring things out.”
As a primary Ti user, Shintaro considers much of his life a puzzle to be figured out. This attitude is present in the lyrics of Toumei Answer, where it becomes obvious that he’s bored with his current life because he feels as though he has figured out the pattern, and nothing ever deviates from it. This point of view points to a preference for introverted thinking because it emphasizes his tendency to think in terms of patterns. If there’s one thing Ti loves to do, it’s find patterns and predict; his boredom is a result of his Ti function not being “challenged” enough by the life he is living to be satisfied because it is too easily predictable to him. In fact, his Ti is so confident that it has identified the “pattern” to life that he becomes isolated within himself and his own introverted thinking world, as in Lost Time Memory and the beginning of the anime. He demonstrates the danger of a Ti function without the temperance of the externality and the objectivity of the Ne (or Se) function, which he refuses to utilize healthily--he retreats so deep into his internal world of personal logic that he basically forgets that the outside world and unpredictable, “pattern-breaking” occurrences do exist. He basically thinks he knows everything when he obviously does not, and proper use of his Ne would dispel this attitude.
Extraverted Intuition
“If what I’m wishing for isn’t a dream that can ever come true, I’ll keep clinging to the past.”
Shintaro is a prime example of an INTP who struggles to use his secondary Ne at all and as a result finds himself in a particularly devastating dominant-tertiary loop. He has trouble seeing new and exciting possibilities that could motivate him to expand his boundaries. Instead, he stagnates, remaining cooped up in his room and never feeling surprised or challenged. One of the main conflicts of his arc, the difference between the Route 1 and Route xx endings, boils down to his ability to overcome this dom/tert loop and use his Ne properly. In Route xx, he fails because he is unable to accept that a future full of new opportunities still exists in a world without Ayano. In Route 1, however, he is able to let go of the past, cherishing his memories while still making new goals and hopes for the future. Holding onto this ability to look at all the possibilities in front him for what they really are is the key to his growth and maturity.
Introverted Sensing
“All of my memories... they were meant for this moment.”
At first, Shintaro’s Si usage is unhealthy. He constantly wallows in his past memories of Ayano before her death, and refuses to combat this bitterness and stagnation with the future-oriented Ne function. The two functions are frequently at odds with each other during Shintaro’s character arc, and the resolution to his growth is represented by his ability to use them properly in tandem. The most obvious example of his Ne/Si working in functional harmony is when he uses his power, the Retaining Eyes. Every memory of every single timeline is remembered by him, allowing him to simultaneously see and understand all of the different branching universes that have existed up to that point at once. It is an all-knowing and all-remembering power, perfect for an Ne/Si user.
Extraverted Feeling
“But an outsider could never understand.”
This may come as a surprise at this point, but Shintaro isn’t particularly good at using his Fe. Inferior functions are already difficult enough to access effectively until the user has matured enough to make proper use of them, but Shintaro’s decision to retreat so thoroughly into his inner world renders his Fe virtually nonexistent. He believes that no one can reach out to such a deep place inside of him and thus that no one can properly understand him, so he doesn’t bother maintaining his important relationships. While the efforts of Ene and the Mekakushi Dan in general are an important catalyst in getting him to realize that his understanding of the world is flawed, the decision to open up to others is ultimately one that Shintaro makes for himself. This can be seen in his decision at the end of the anime to rescue Ayano, when he tells her it’s time to stop fighting alone. This applies to him as well as her, since Shintaro is now willing to reach out and connect with others around him instead of remaining stagnant in his own personal world.