Entry tags:
APPLICATION / cerealia.
Applicant Info
◎ Name: rem
◎ Journal:rind
◎ Contact:cardiac / palpitatingly @ aim / pm this journal
Character Info
◎ Character's Name: Makoto Tachibana
◎ Character's Canon: Free!
◎ Character's Age: Seventeen (17)
◎ Canon Point: Free! Eternal Summer (S2), POST EP-8 ("The Locomotive of a Twist!"), right before the regional swimming tournament.
◎ Background/History: article @ tvtropes / free! @ wikia / makoto tachibana @ wikia
◎ Is the character a hacker and/or do they have a sixth-sense? negative on both counts! in terms of the latter question, while makoto's exceptionally good at reading people (to the degree that his friends joke around that he's telepathic), he isn't actually clairvoyant, just extremely observant.
◎ Personality:
In more ways than he'd feasibly be willing to admit, Makoto Tachibana is reactive.
It isn't that he's particularly loud or rambunctious (the status for hyperactive bundle of joy, at any rate, reserved for his long-time swimming mate Nagisa), or that he stakes his entire livelihood on pitiless swimming competitions and impressive feats of speed and dexterity (Rin more than fulfills the quota for hotheaded zealousness for the Samezuka team). If anything, Makoto remains even more firmly grounded in his sensibilities, only equaled by Rei during his more levelheaded moments of pragmatism. Makoto's a sweet boy at heart, unduly so, and yields easily for the sake of others, likened to more of a concept than a person: the idea of commitment given flesh and form, reliable by manner of intuition rather than self-realized cognizance.
As the eldest son in a close-knit household of five, he's always taken the role of responsible chaperone for the sake of protecting others to be a given, whether it's meticulously safeguarding the well-being of his twin siblings or amicably encouraging and assisting his friends through their various endeavors. Warmly attached to his younger brother and sister, he's (literally) gone the extra mile to support them, walking them to the schoolbus while they were in kindergarten and easily capitulating to playing lighthearted games like 'house'. And as evidenced in one of the various drama cds, Makoto's not against simultaneously being the puppy, the vegetable shop owner, and the fish store owner in order to entertain them. But as a double-edged sword, however, his passive allowance of their sometimes-wild antics is more than capable of becoming a genuine source of internal conflict. This aspect is clearly demonstrated in one such particular instance where he ignores his debilitating fear of the sea to supervise Ran and Ren as they row a rubber boat out on open water, only for them to later drop their oars and warrant rescuing at the expense of their eventual savior, Haruka.
Furthermore, his type of altruism is inherently second-nature in form and construct; Tachibana readily prioritizes the welfare of those closest to him even if it places his own wellbeing at risk, going well out of his way to be compassionate with zero expectations for any sort of reciprocation. Inevitably, his even-tempered disposition helps him to come across as non-confrontational, courteous, and unswervingly committed: the boy-next-door archetype set to new extremes. Accommodation without perceivable limits. And Makoto's greatest adversary, for all intents and purposes, is himself: he's a touch ruined by the need to compensate for what he feels he intrinsically lacks (in regards to his capacity for withstanding fears).
This notable impulse to please isn't to say that he immediately obliges to every single solicitation as an unrepentant pushover (for example, he only reluctantly proceeds to clean the Iwatobi swimming pool with his friends at the relentless urgency of Miss Amakata and Nagisa), but rather that he's plagued by an almost pathological desire not to let anyone down. He doesn't regard himself as a leader (or even a particularly skilled swimmer) by any discernible degree, but hesitantly takes up the mantle as Iwatobi Swim Club's captain with enough vehement urging; he's deathly afraid of the ocean, but wholeheartedly agrees with Gou's proposal to host a training camp swimming kilometers on a daily basis through the very same waters he fears because he believes it'll solidify his team's improvement, and more than that, help them grow closer as friends from their shared experience. Tachibana's indecision is represented primarily by his inability to turn down genuine requests within his capacity to humanly grant in direct inverse to what he sincerely lacks in terms of mental, physical, and emotional strength.
But Makoto does have dreams of his own he strives to someday accomplish, it's just that his aspirations don't orbit around notions of reaching the pinnacle of prestigious acclaim, a yearning arguably latent in any individual whose life has revolved, more or less, upon a singular sport from a very young age. This distinct lack of worldly ambition isn't downplayed in the slightest by his friend Rin either, who on one occasion inquires about the reason why Makoto decided against swimming on a professional threshold. The question, in the context of a narrative lens, implies an unspoken realization: Makoto is neither governed by competitive airs nor a desperation to be earnestly realized for his merits with "a rough but dynamic backstroke that leaves everyone behind". Content with his current standing as far as school-wide notability goes, Makoto makes no attempt to contact any talent scouts, to aspire to become an Olympic athlete, or even to pursue swimming beyond high school upon getting in touch with his homeroom teacher for possible universities to apply to.
However, what delineates this clear-cut disparity between his fervent diligence to maintain the Iwatobi Swim Club and his perceptible lack of personal motivation to swim for public endorsement is Makoto's camaraderie: he swims solely for his friends, no more, no less. They are the reason he's progressed thus far, the reason why he's able to withstand the all-encompassing fear of inadequacy. On a larger scale, Makoto's actions and behavior are tempered by an inordinate repression of his want/desire for any assistance in lieu of looking after everyone else, which is expressed by the number of instances where he extends his hands (and sympathies) to those around him. Their happiness, to no inconsequential degree, is his own. For much of the series, Makoto defines himself by his usefulness in relation to others to the extent that his self-worth revolves around being needed, as he takes on substantial compunction when he's unable to live up to preconceived expectations.
Under normal circumstances, he's easily spurred to bouts of anxiety or nervous flailing as per the situation — he scares quite easily, whether it's the dark, half-imagined monsters, a partially-subdued phobia of the ocean, or his ever-present insecurities. However, he's able to look past what frightens him and embody the role of a mediator for the sake of someone else as a source of continual encouragement and compassion, even when things get wildly out of hand (as they often do). Optimistic and (undoubtedly) maternal, Makoto motherhens his companions constantly, usually the one goodnaturedly critiquing them for their mistakes with gentle but firm persistence. He's the Iwatobi Swim Club captain as much as he's the centralized, stabilizing influence in his position as the heart of his team, of his friends. If they're the veins threaded around and through the artery of cooperation, then Makoto's the intermittent capillaries facilitating that continual exchange; if they're the bloodstream thriving with vivacious energy, then he is the steady, unwavering pulse that works as a fulcrum and directs the flow as needed.
This tacit inclination to be of aid to others is particularly evident in the relationship he shares with his childhood friend Haruka Nanase, a bond which is deeply rooted in admiration, among other things (one example being the desire to emulate a sense of perfect autonomy unhindered by any wayward phobia). Makoto continually involved him in club activities as a source of positive reinforcement, demonstrating that he understood what Haru needed to pull himself out from psychosomatic stagnation (thus accrued from guilt left in the wake of Haru defeating their shared friend, Rin Matsuoka, in a swimming match during one vacation in middle school). Upon Rin's return from Australia, Makoto, alongside the rest of his friends, helped renew the fractured bond between Rin and Haru so they could all continue moving toward the future without regrets. His consistency in being a bulwark of support as well as assisting Haru with reintegration into swimming once again delves into who Makoto intrinsically is as a person: a source of grounded conviction, naturally attuned to the thoughts and feelings of others.
However, it's impossible to talk about Makoto Tachibana without mentioning how his empathy all too often intermingles with his terror when his weakness gets the better of him, how that very same proclivity for reaching out toward others is capable of leaving him awash with fears he's taken great lengths in the past to obscure. At a young age, he experienced the loss of someone indelibly dear to him — an old fisherman he'd played with as a child, who had once presented him with goldfish to care for, who drowned out at sea only three kilometers from shore during a storm. In the wake of a funeral procession, he'd clung to his childhood friend Haruka Nanase as a means of support, only to nearly lose him later on to the same fate when Haru unwittingly went to retrieve his classmate Aki's scarf from a surging river. This harrowing event was soon followed up with the death of his goldfish in spite of all that time he'd spent earnestly taking care of them, even forgoing leaving on time with his friend Haru en route to school to regularly feed and clean their bowl as necessary.
The cutthroat succession of those traumatic incidents without any lapse for proper acclimatization (even more so necessary for an emotionally sensitive boy) left an indelible mark on his psyche, and in time he'd began to associate that kind of depthless loss with the ocean ("it feels like there's something unknown hiding in the water"). And that very same trepidation was a point of contention that eventually came to a head when he disconsolately froze up in the middle of frothing waves after Rei's night swim had gone horribly awry, unable to either save his friend nor retreat to safety. He'd initially attempted to conceal that consternation with just a smile when pressed with Haru's inquiries prior to the trip and nearly overcompensated for that fear with his demise when he brazenly ventured out into the water that evening, knowing full well that he could barely tolerate the sight of a turbulent ocean without becoming completely immobile from cowardice.
That singular instance, among other things, alludes to Makoto's implicit dependency on acutely defunct cycles of self-sacrifice with the potential to give rise to more harm than help.
But in the same vein, his greatest asset is his willingness to persevere and rise against obstacles that would otherwise put him at a complete loss — to continue pushing forward and improving himself. By confronting the issue with the support and reassurance of his friends, Makoto was able to eventually address and overcome the fears that once held him back. Subsequently, his swimming endeavors throughout the series are indicative of that culminating growth, from remaining entrenched in static cycles of one-sided support from his end to mutually realized camaraderie on the winding road to maturity.
◎ Powers/Abilities: Makoto's an ordinary human being with no supernatural capabilities or noteworthy combative skills whatsoever. On the flipside, he's a fairly decent swimmer, specializing particularly in backstroke, and as evident from his physique, exercises on a regular basis.
◎ Weapons & Other Special Inventory:⚬ (1) set of clothes | undergarments + regular attire + pair of sneakers.
⚬ (2) school uniforms | iwatobi summer/winter version.
⚬ (1) gym duffle bag | replete with team uniform, jacket, cap, towels, goggles, and leggings.
⚬ (1) set of digital accouterments | cellphone, digital watch.
CEREALIA-Specific
◎ Element: EARTH.
◎ Sense: TOUCH. It's the sense that Makoto's most reliant upon, whether as a form of steadying reassurance or as a representation of his need to maintain a reciprocated state of connection with those around him.
◎ Seven Character Traits: + (Altruistic, Diligent, Empathetic) | - (Cowardly, Insecure, Dependent) | +/- (Honest).
Samples
◎ First-Person Sample: this one and this one should work! let me know if you'd like additional examples.
◎ Third-Person Sample: exempt! i already have elliot nightray (
◎ Is your character retaining any previous game memories? nope!