Oregairu: Hachiman Hikigaya (INTP)

Ti:

“You have eyes like a dead fish.” – Hiratsuka

“People who are nice to me are also nice to everyone else. I almost end up forgetting that. If the truth is cruel, then lies must be kind. That’s why kindness is a lie.”

Hikigaya appears to be a Ti dominant. He has the stereotypical “dead inside” demeanor that many fictional Ti dominants possess. He’s logical and critical, generally appearing to be a Thinker. He doesn’t struggle with stating his opinion, no matter how others feel. Throughout the show, he makes several individualistic statements that sound almost Fi in nature, but can also be attributed to Ti since both functions are individualistic. However, where his Ti nature really shines is in the way he rationalizes.

Hikigaya is constantly rationalizing internally (and sometimes externally) throughout the show. His logic has a very “this means this, which subsequently means this, and then that” type nature. It’s essentially relative logic or chain logic, which is what Ti is known for. Hikigaya is great at twisting concepts and statements to make them mean something completely opposite of what they should. For instance, he rationalizes that failure to make friends in youth is okay because youth itself is marked by sin. In another instance, he finds a way to rationalize that kindness is a lie. This is shown in the quote above this section.

Hikigaya gets called a “monster of reason” because he finds a way to rationalize that he never truly liked Orimoto even though he clearly did. Yukino, who is a relatively obvious Te user, proclaims that Hikigaya is really convincing with logic that makes no sense, which could easily be how a Te user might view a dominant Ti user’s logic. Hikigaya even catches himself rationalizing lies, and berates himself for it.

Ne:

“If what I wished for was granted to me, if what I wanted was given to me. Then, as I thought, I wouldn’t wish for anything nor want anything. Because the things you were granted and the things you were given were surely shams that would one day be lost. The things you wished for had no shape and the things you wanted were untouchable. Or possibly, they might be the most wonderful treasures that would become nothing if you were to touch them.”

“If I were to be reborn, I would definitely want to be a bear.”

Hikigaya’s Ne is less prominent than in some other INTPs due to the fact that he is Ti-Si looping. However, you can still see evidence of it in several different ways. For instance, his Ne comes out in the way that he interprets his writing assignments. Instead of just writing a normal paper on the subject matter, he always manages to make the actual subject secondary, making the main subject of the paper revolve around his isolated loner view of the world. This leads to his assignments ultimately not being done right and the teacher making him do them over again.

Hikigaya also tends to see a lot of different possibilities as to how different situations could play out. You can see him throughout the show speculating over them. An example of this can be seen right in the first episode when he runs over the different possibilities of how to win the challenge the teacher has set forth between him and Yukino.

Another example of his Ne is when Yui falls into him. He tries and fails to keep his mind from racing from one possibility to the next about what it could mean and reading into the situation. He internally monologues that a normal male would have fallen in love with her right there, (mostly because that’s where his own mind wanted to go), but he stopped himself using his jaded reasoning. Ultimately, he talks himself out of thinking that it means anything, but his Ne still ran him through the possibilities in spite of himself.

Other weaker evidence of his Ne are when the show alludes to the fact that he used to both journal and cosplay. These both are possible ways that he outleted his Ne creativity and then ultimately decided to abandon whether out of boredom or embarrassment.

Si:

“He has a good grasp on risk and return and self-preservation.” – Hiratsuka

“Plus, finding fault in people is one of my 108 talents.”

You see a lot of negative reinforcements coming from Hikigaya’s Si, because he is most likely looping. The most obvious examples can be seen in the way he crutches on certain past events, using them to explain his situation in the present. He always hails back to his one failed attempt at professing love in middle school, using it as an excuse to never try again. He remembers that past bad experience and now desires to avoid that same bad experience by going extreme and taking a jaded view on romance. He handles his accident on the first day of school in a similar manner. He is shown flashing back to vivid memories of the event every time he sees Yukino’s car, and uses that incident as an explanation and justification for why he has never made any friends. His tendency to avoid repeating past failures can also be seen when he advises Yui to never bake again when her cookies turn out badly (you can’t fail at something you don’t attempt to do).

It is also mentioned at some point in the show that Hikigaya has a “never forgive” book which indicates that he is remembering and holding grudges against those who have wronged him. While this behavior is not exclusive to Si users, he does seem to go about it in a rather Si way, by writing them down and keeping record of them in a book.

Another small anecdotal evidence for his Si would be the way that he seems to throw out extremely exact percentages or numbers when making statements (see quote above). Being overly detailed when giving information when something more general could have sufficed seems to be an Si trait.

Fe:

“When I get serious, groveling and even boot licking is no problem.”

“Instead of looking for Tobe’s good point, let’s change him into Ebina’s type.”

Hikigaya’s inferior Fe comes out in several ways. One of the more prominent manifestations is how he is very anti-group. (Granted, this viewpoint is being fed by Si bitterness.) He acts very proud of his solitude, and expresses a general hate for social groups and norms. However, in unguarded moments, he catches himself accidentally yielding to certain social cues. For instance, he nods back to a popular student and then internally freaks out about yielding to the social hierarchy.

Beyond that, Hikigaya is prone to using mild social engineering techniques when completing requests, many of which involve making himself out to be the bad guy or falsely representing himself in some way. This displays Fe in a couple of different ways. (An example of him falsely representing himself can be seen when he pretends to confess love to a girl for the sake of salvaging the request, and an example of social engineering is when he makes Rumi’s group turn on each other at summer camp.) Ultimately, his Fe is not high since he typically twists public perception to the same result every time, which is to view him as the bad guy so he can make a world where no one gets hurt but him.

Finally, it’s noted that he’s good at erasing his presence, effectively being invisible, which is a tendency of Fe. He also suggests that Tobe should change himself into Ebina’s type, rather than highlighting Tobe’s good points, which is anti-Fi. He also later freaks out after getting emotional in front of Yukino and Yui.