Anime review YouTuber Digibro has unveiled his magnum opus: a rival for the Myers-Briggs personality inventory that neurotypes you based on how you think.
And because he’s an otaku, he neurotyped a whole bunch of anime characters first.
Watch the video. Don’t let the run time deter you. Digibro’s profiles of the main archetypal character in each category are all you need. The plugs for other anime YouTubers and the exposition on other characters in each type are safely skippable.
Check it out!
For the more linear impressionists out there, here’s a handy chart:
To summarize, Digibro’s system classifies people’s thought processes along two axes: linear thinking vs lateral thinking and lexical vs impressionistic thinking. Of course, there’s a spectrum with several shades in-between.
Initially I was skeptical. But I gave Digibro the benefit of the doubt and subjected myself to his new method of anime neurotyping.
What Asuka desires more than anything is just for someone to appreciate the level of effort that she’s putting into accomplishing her goals while remaining true to herself.
But her trueness to herself isn’t appreciated by anyone else, who prefer that she turn off those abrasive parts of her personality in order to cooperate. What those people don’t understand is that the whole of the identity is integral to her ability to perform. Asuka can’t achieve the understanding which allows her to operate with the efficiency that she does without being in the flow state of being true to herself.
Evangelion suggests that the shadow guardians are only in the shadows because that’s where society has decided to put them. But the majority of these thinkers will come to this realization early and simply place themselves there and embrace the role wholeheartedly.
Confession time: Asuka has been my spirit animal ever since I first watched Eva. Digibro’s analysis goes a long why toward explaining why.
This silly little anime chart actually led me to a breakthrough in understanding my creative process. When it comes to writing, more important to me than the final product is that the reader enjoyed the story precisely because of how I told it. Like Digibro’s archetypal shadow guardian, I value integrity over any other personal quality.
That’s why I can’t chase the puck and crank out a book a month in the current flavor-of-the-month genre. It’s impossible for me to reach the necessary flow state if I don’t have total faith in what I’m doing. On the flip side, that also means I never give my readers less than my best. These are useful insights I’ll keep in the forefront of my mind as I work.
Anime neurotyping isn’t without its shortcomings, though. Its most obvious blind spot is that it strictly focuses on how people think. Myers-Briggs takes account of how people engage their senses and emotions as well as how they think, so Digibro will need something more robust if he wants to mount an effective challenge.
Then there’s this:
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| Not pictured: Any actual newtypes. |
All in all, I think anime neurotyping has potential as a tool for gaining increased self-understanding, especially paired with Myers-Briggs instead of substituting for it.
Do you think anime neurotyping is useful? Share your anime neurotype and your thoughts–linear or otherwise–below.
And bask in all the effort I put into Combat Frame XSeed.