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.
The run time doesn't deter me. The soy-faced ex brony who made the video is what deters me.
Let me save you some time, then. Based on that comment, I'm gonna say Brooder.
Digibro says that people in this category make for good doctors, lawyers, and killers–but which am I?
Your marketing lesson for the day, boys and girls.
The answer is none, Mr. Niemeier; I wouldn't do well as any of these things. This is what happens when you give publicity to bronies.
lol
Johannes sounds like a killer to me.
> "For a Human Calculator, it can be absolutely nothing less than Legend of the Galactic Heroes."
I am in this video, and I am distinctly uncomfortable about it.
Welcome to the party.
I watched a few minutes of it, and find myself wishing for a transcript. I haven't even heard of most of the anime he's referencing, so while a few of the bigger names are illustrative, the balance of it doesn't actually clarify anything.
Agreed.
Hear hear. I'll take a chance on a massive essay; I can always skim of I have to… An overlong video means I have to sacrifice time when my family isn't around. And I save that time for important things!
Like vacuuming.
Now that everyone is his own janitor, vacuuming is very important.
A transcript would really help. I had to manually transcribe the quote above.
On the plus side, he did upload a shorter explanatory video.
I appreciate the shorter video option and will probably watch it today. I have a feeling I'm mostly, but not exclusively, lexical, and probably about half-and-half on the linear axis. I often think without a verbalized interior monolgue, but I don't consider a thought truly crystallized until it's been codified with words. Using my approach to troubleshooting as a model, new problems require lexical, linear thought, while I can take educated leaps toward the right answer on issues I recognize, or even familiar-adjacent problems.
Didn't link to an online quiz where I get to talk about myself to myself: 4/10. Disappointed.
This would work great in quiz form.
Intuitively (not having finished the video) this seems like a very legitimate matrix, but Light Yagami at max 145 IQ? I think this guy seriously overestimates what a supposed "genius" IQ is capable of. 145 is not much higher than mine, and Light displays machiavellianism and foresight that makes Lex Luthor look like Homer Simpson.
Likewise, L at *only* 160 minimum? He deciphers murders committed by a criminal genius using supernatural powers that should be both impossible and basically undetectable, if these things were to occur irl I doubt whether any mere person who has ever lived would have been able to solve them, 200+ minimum.
Also, what does it say that I thought it could be fun for me to organize final fantasy characters on this matrix?
Yeah, he doesn't have the firmest grasp of IQ benchmarks. L's should be the highest of any character on the whole chart.
Then there's him calling 90-100 IQ folks "idiots". That's right around average in the US.
And before anyone says "Yeah, average IDIOTS", a bit north of 95 IIRC is about right for a Registered Nurse or RN, and 100 will get you through an accountancy degree.
The problem with very smart people, and I say this as a relatively smart people, is that they often value their own intelligence so highly that they make intelligence the measure of personal worth. I have learned to be concerned when I catch myself thinking of another person as useless or stupid, because that's a step down the path to dehumanizing him. Our Lord said, "…And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire."
Ya measuring people's worth by intelligence is pretty stupid. I know way more smart assholes then dumb ones.
@Reader an apt observation, considering death note is itself about a genius who thinks his brain power makes him deserving of becoming a literal man-god with power over life and death.
Speaking of that, that was one of the reasons Death Note was the only program in my adult life to make me genuinely angry while watching. Light kept getting away with it on the verge of being caught, and I wanted that little shit to get his comeuppance so bad.
@Athletic:
I wasn't even thinking about Deathnote, but you've hit the nail on the head. Light's satanic mindset – "I will become the god of this world" – and the fact that it makes sense to the primary audience says something about the Japanese understanding of the spiritual realm that the folk animism of the Ghibli movies doesn't. Totoro, Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke make sense even to a Western monotheist, because they're fairy tales. Light's boast, by contrast, is nonsense and illustrates his moral bankruptcy and spiritual moribundity.
This is why I don't take the Based Japan memes seriously. Yeah, the country is ethnically homogeneous, but the virtue of religion has been nearly annihilated there.
And the culture is massively over-invested in corporate business success, and finally, they don't have kids.
So just eyeballing this, I'd peg myself as very lexical, and the only question is where on linear/lateral. Roll tape!
*****
Ok, so I have to come down as on the Analyst side, but close to the four corners of Analyst/Quick-Witted/Human Calculator/Technician. I think I started in Human Calculator, but started applying analytical and lexical techniques to impressionism itself.
And I can do a stunning emulation of a Bookkeeper.
Alas, I didn't find any of the anime characters relatable as examples of these thought-types, because I haven't seen any of the series.
According to Digibro, you'd make a good animator yourself. That explains why your BaMs are so good 🙂
Couldn't listen to him ramble. Between his lack of focus and his voice, I just couldn't make it.
He did a shorter version. Try that one.
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That's the one I tried to listen to. Yes, I'm a bit amused, as I know that types me somewhat.