Leadership examples in anime / manga, other fiction and similar.
Some good leader qualities by good guy Bruno Bucciarati!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlgjcl9ggA8
The silent type of powerful seducer, over the top of course!
“Rather than ask yourself if you are correct, it is far more realistic to think about how you are mistaken. Most humans have not been designed to be right very often.” – VS Imaginator (Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator Part Two Chapter Two)
https://hanagasaitayo.wordpress.com/2018/09/22/analisi-boogiepop-phantom/
great anime, very experimental style, it have some good teachings about self development and other interesting phsycological stuff, and very DARK and eerie!
The OST is also very cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uwrDqYhufM&t=3792s
Anime is certainly not everyone’s thing. And, thankfully, it doesn’t need to be.
Watching this show gave me the opportunity to search for and point out power dynamics anywhere I could find them because, as it turns out, power dynamics is a core part of the show.
In this show, the Japanese government has established a special school dedicated to instructing and fostering the generation of people that will support the country in the future. The students are given a high degree of freedom in order to closely mimic real life and are nurtured to learn how to advance in real life (for when they graduate).
And, as part of their growth and preparation in learning how to climb the power and status hierarchies in the real world outside of school, they begin to learn power dynamics.
Case Study #1: The Networking Of A Manipulative Seducer
Kushida: "Um… Ayanokoji-kun, right?"
Ayanokoji: "Yeah. Um… Kushida?"
Kushida: (expresses gratitude to encourage him not to forget her name in the future) "Thanks! (dispenses the emotional rewards of a happy judge) I’m so glad you remembered my name!"
Ayanokoji: (seemingly skeptical of why she’s saying this) "Yeah... I guess."
Kushida: "Um… Can we talk?"
[Fades to black, transitions to them having their talk]
Kushida: "Ayanokoji-kun, you seem very close to Horikita-san."
Ayanokoji:"No, I wouldn’t say that...".
Kushida: (insists on her frame) "But, you’re the only one she ever talks to."
Kushida: (transitions from the Charmer style of dominance to the Seducer style of dominance: starts to behave more submissive while sending him IOI’s—”indicators of interest”) "I want to be friends with everyone in school. So, I asked Horikita-san for her contact information, but she turned me down..."
Kushida: (now looks disappointed at Horikita’s rejection) "She said she doesn’t want to be friends with anyone."
Ayanokoji:"Yeah, I think that’s just how she is."
Kushida: (starts to play the “damsel in distress” game on top of her Seducer style: jumps into his arms as if she’s desperate for help and incapable of making connections herself) "But, I want to be friends with Horikita-san, too!" (the “too” continues down her frame that they’re already friends). Won’t you help me?" (fields her request for his help openly and clearly, allowing him to collect his social credits if he says “yes”)
Kushida: (moves his hand closer to her chest as if to take the “who makes whom happy” judge role and communicate: “if you make me a happy judge by doing what I want, I’ll reward you with sex”)
Ayanokoji: "Help you? I don’t..."
Kushida: (now looks disappointed at Ayanokoji’s answer) "You...won’t?" (as she waits for his response, she uses no gratitude, social IOU, or future-value signaling and there’s no social capital—they just met—implying that, if he says “yes” now, she’ll give back with judge credit awarding: happiness, approval, compliments, etc.)
Case Study #2: Using Frame Control To Get What You Want
*Note: Watching more of the video’s beginning will provide further context on their relationship and further background on the key points of the analysis below.
Ayanokoji: "Hey. (power-protecting) If you’re on your way out, (fields request) would you come with me?"
Horikita: (looks skeptical) "What are you after?"
Ayanokoji: "(question transformation frame: changes the question from “what are you after” to “what are you really after”) Does an invitation from me suggest an ulterior motive?" (introduces a bad frame)
Horikita: "If you’ll tell me specifically what you want (the “tell me specifically what you want” asks for him to reveal his motives/intentions), I’d be willing to hear you out." (the “I’d be willing to hear you out” asks for a legitimate reason for her to say “yes”)
Ayanokoji: "You know that café in the mall, right? The one where lots of girls hang out. (frame ignores what she asked for and instead repeats the question) Would you go there with me?"
Horikita: "Why me?" (asks again for a legitimate reason why she should agree to go with him)
Ayanokoji: (plays to her ego) "I’m not brave enough to go by myself. It feels sort of ‘No boys allowed’."
Horikita: "And, there’s no one else you can ask? No, I suppose not..." (frames him as being a low SMV man with little to no options)
Ayanokoji: (continues to play to her ego by giving her the opportunity to help a “poor, low SMV guy out”) "It pains me to say it, but you’re right."
[Minute Mark 15:40 - Picks up with Horikita and Ayanokoji at the the café]
*Note: At the café, before Kushida enters the scene, Horikita plays the “you barely managed game” with Ayanokoji: nonverbally reminding him that she doesn’t like him by looking unenthusiastic, uninterested, and generally engaging in behavior that positions her as the prize (“I’m the prize” game) and that would push him to chase (“Chase me” game) if he was genuinely interested.
Kushida: "Horikita-san! (emotional manipulation: lying about it being a “coincidence”) What a coincidence! (continues down her frame that it’s a coincidence) You, too, Ayanokoji-kun!"
Kushida: (power-taking: sits down at their table without permission after inviting herself over) "Do you two come here often?" (continues even further down her frame that it’s a coincidence)
Ayanokoji: "Today’s our first time."
Kushida: "I see. I’m here alone—"
Horikita: (seems to see through their game) "I’m leaving."
Ayanokoji: (implies she’s being somewhat unreasonable to try and regain compliance) "Hey, we only just got here."
Horikita: (rule rewriting frame: changes Ayanokoji’s rule of “I need you to go with me” to “I only need a girl to go with me”) "If Kushida-san is here you don’t need me, do you."
Ayanokoji: (tries to inflate the closeness of their relationship to regain compliance) "Well… Kushida and I are just classmates."
Horikita: (agree and redirect frame control technique: sees his play and deflates their closeness) "That’s all you and I are, too."
Horikita: (seeming skeptical, she controls the scope of the conversation: takes it from being about her leaving to what game they’re playing) "Besides...I don’t like this. What are you after?"
Kushida: "C-come on, it was just a coincidence..." (continues with her emotional manipulation: lying about it being a “coincidence”)
Ayanokoji: (thinking that Kushida should have abandoned the burned manipulation strategy and used frame-surfacing instead) Kushida, you should have said, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
[Minute Mark 16:44 - Horikita finishes explaining how she figured out that the “coincidence” isn’t so coincidental]
Kushida: (now knows that the emotional manipulation approach is fully burned and is unsure of what to do) "Um..."
Ayanokoji: (changes tact for the both of them and moves for a new, healthier approach built on honesty) "I’m sorry, we set you up.”
Horikita: (calm and unsurprised) "I thought as much."
Kushida: (lowers her value, social power, and negotiating power by resorting to begging) "Horikita-san! Please be my friend!"
Horikita: (overly direct, high-power assertive “no”) "I want you to leave me alone. I won’t trouble the class."
Kushida: (changes tact from low-power begging—a competitive frame of what I want v.s. what you want—to negotiating for win-win by trying to set a collaborative frame: “if you give me your friendship, I’ll give you emotional and/or social resources so you’re not lonely) "But, you’ll be lonely all by yourself..."
--
In my opinion, this show gives a lot of entertainment value, so it’s not always the best in terms of educational value.
But, if you really look, there are lots of gems and learning opportunities scattered throughout that are valuable for a social power beginner like me.
I know this post is a bit far from the kind of posts I usually make and, if you've read this far, you might not have gotten value from it. So, I'm bringing something great to the workplace power dynamics section in a few days that, if you enjoyed my Yale review, you'll love this one too :).
https://9anime.to/watch/how-a-realist-hero-rebuilt-the-kingdom-part-2.3rqw8/ep-5
*Visit minute mark 8:25 for a good teaser.
This show is called, "How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom," and I love it.
To give you a quick background, a man is summoned to another world to be a "hero" as an ongoing war with the demon army has put the entire world in peril.
But, this man, Kazuya, decides to help the kingdom revamp its declining economy—not by way of adventuring or war, but through administrative reform. He uses the strategies and lessons from leaders and thinkers from his own world, such as Niccolo Machiavelli, to lead this kingdom into a new era.
If you want a good teaser (without too many spoilers), check out minute mark 8:25 of the episode above.