Jujutsu Kaisen: Kento Nanami (ISTJ)

Like Satoru Gojo, Kento Nanami is another character whose personality type is not typically disputed. Most people readily accept that Nanami is an ISTJ, and we saw plenty of evidence for that conclusion as well. His character is portrayed in such a way that his entire cognitive function stack shows up quite plainly. As such, we had no other major contenders for his Nanami’s personality type, beyond our final conclusion of ISTJ.

Si:

“We have to balance the pursuit of profit with the risks. No need to do anything special at the start. Just be sincere with the clients.”

“I simply made the safest choice.”

Nanami emphasizes caution and moderation. He always makes decisions with the risk factor at the forefront of his mind, which is why he tries to keep Itadori out of certain fights. Of course, anyone putting their life at risk might be more cautious, but Nanami is like this before, while working an average office job. He counsels people to balance the pursuit of profit with the risk. He’s not one to rush into anything or expend energy unnecessarily.

Nanami follows his routines consistently. His backstory reveals this when it flashes back to before he returned to working as a sorcerer. An employee at a sandwich shop points out that he always has the exact same sandwich every day. Similarly, Nanami determines to clock out at the same time every day, regardless of what’s going on around him. He even fixates on this in the middle of an incredibly dangerous battle with Mahito.

In addition, Nanami makes an excellent teacher, not only because of his cautious approach, but because he is very specific and detailed when he speaks. He spends a lot of time explaining things to Itadori, and doing what he can to prepare him. (This is in stark contrast to Satoru Gojo, who ultimately gives very little practical advice.)

Te:

“I may hate the way higher ups do things, but I still believe in rules and regulations.”

“It’s my policy not to bring personal feelings into my work.”

“I don’t praise or disparage anyone. I adhere to facts and judge on that basis. That’s who I am.”

Nanami easily separates the facts from his feelings. This is why he doesn’t tend to respond to situations with any apparent emotion. (Although, Mahito does call him a liar for acting unbothered by the transfigured human.) When dealing with Itadori, Nanami emphasizes his focus on facts over feelings when explaining that he doesn’t praise or disparage anyone. He judges based on facts, and points those out to the individual. In other words, he’ll point out if Itadori did something wrong or if he did something right, without bringing emotion into it. As a result, he typically comes across as blunt or matter-of-fact.

Subsequently, Nanami defaults to making decisions with his head rather than his heart. He views the job of sorcerer as being only for crazy people, due to the risk and demands. He ends up quitting to go to work a normal job in the business world. During that time, his plan is to make enough money to retire early and then move to an area with low cost of living, in order to maximize the effectiveness of his retirement money. It all made complete sense, but ultimately gave him no meaning or sense of purpose.

Nanami believes in rules and regulations. In other words, he values order. This is especially so, due to his Si-Te combination. He may hate the actions of authority figures, but he still doesn’t think rules should be flippantly disregarded. As a result, he can’t respect Gojo, even though he values his abilities as a fellow sorcerer.

Fi:

Nanami is very principled, which leads to him having a lot of strong opinions concerning what’s right and what’s wrong. In spite of his natural tendency to separate feelings from his job, Nanami readily expresses strong value statements about a variety of things. For instance, he expresses strong opinions about Jujutsu sorcerers, and why he dislikes them, in spite of being one himself.

Nanami knows who is he, and what he feels about things. He has a strong and rigid sense of self that is common for tertiary Fi users. However, one of the struggles from his past concerns his low Fi. Namely, he struggles to find anything of worth or purpose, and doesn’t value pursuing that enough in the beginning. As a result, he settles into a meaningless existence as a businessman. However, through helping an employee at a sandwich shop, he realizes that going to work as a sorcerer will fill the void in his life. As a result, he returns to the job he’d previously abandoned.

Ne:

“I hate abstract questions that leave interpretation to others.”

“What kind of idea is that?”

Nanami prefers to sticking to the standard way of doing things, because that is safest. He hates leaving things open to interpretation, which is likely why he’s so detailed and specific with others. Nanami specifically states this, that he hates “abstract questions that leave interpretation to others” when dealing with Mahito. This is a common way inferior Ne manifests.

Another way inferior Ne might manifest is in the tendency to dismiss ideas that seem too wild, impractical, or out of the ordinary. Nanami is specifically shown doing this with Gojo, who thinks and acts the complete opposite of Nanami. Gojo presents a really strange idea to Nanami, because he’s bored, in which they play catch with a stale rice ball while discussing economic policies, post the video, and then go trolling. Nanami acts confused by this idea, and dismisses it instantly.