[inhales]
Nanahoshi Ren is a genuinely good person who wants to help others and loves the people he cares about dearly, but he's also not entirely selfless, and I like that a lot about him.
like, he has his own goals and ambitions and he WILL try to follow them, he just often doesn't know how to on his own. sometimes he goes directly against someone's wishes because it's the better thing for them (Yuuto, Rio), and sometimes he, well, shows up unannounced at Nayuta's apartment to tell him to sing with him because he WANTS TO and won't go down without at least trying. Yuuto shut Mashuu down at DesFes for understandable reasons, but Ren was never really behind that, and when given the chance, he quite literally jumped at it. he was focused on Nayuta's songs & skill to the point where he didn't see that what set Argonavis apart from Nayuta was the fact that they're a group until Wataru pointed it out (though he probably subconsciously knew, it's always "I want to catch up with him", not "I want US to catch up with him").
it's very realistic writing and makes him all the more relateable. a lot of the shy, soft-spoken, "pure" type characters don't tend to have that strong of a drive, so they appear a lot nicer than most people are irl, but Ren balances it perfectly without ever seeming like a bad person. he's just human. I've praised similar things about Yuuto's writing, but I've never addressed them with Ren, when it's imo one of the strongest parts of his characterisation. he's a beautiful pure soft boy who needs to be protected, but he's not JUST that. and I love that.
BanDori & argnv are excellent at writing characters that are flawed without rubbing their flaws in your face, because people don't tend to do that (unless they're like, giant jerks, which argnv also has to be fair lol). because a lot of the time, it's not that clear-cut what even is a flaw. ambition could mean selfishness. quietness could mean being just very careful. positivity could be grating or uncalled for. turning down a chance could be standing up for your ideals ... or pride making you short-sighted. which is it? it depends.
when I started writing, it was common (in the circles I was in at least) to map out your characters completely with separate Personality sections for assets and flaws, but people don't really work that way. characters have TRAITS, and whether they help or hurt them or the situation depends entirely on what that situation is. I read that once and it changed my entire outlook on writing ...
tl;dr BanDori / argnv writing good
