What kind of leader are you? In this month’s OC Analysis, we’ll compare the leadership styles of four characters from the Eternal Rain universe.
Takeshi: Inspirer
We’ll kick things off with the Keyholder team’s young leader, Takeshi. A previous post already discussed the factors that shaped him, but here’s a quick recap of some of his good and bad qualities as a leader: charismatic, idealistic with little practical experience, and book-smart. Because he’s by-the-book with little experience at the beginning of his journey as a leader, he starts off being fairly inflexible. He pushes too hard too fast and rubs his teammates the wrong way. However, he’s a quick (and humble) learner, and he takes his teammates’ concerns to heart. As he grows, his leadership style develops into one of collaboration and mutual respect as he works together with his team to achieve their shared goals.
Sharon: Pragmatist
Taking the reins when Takeshi’s out of commission, Sharon is the team’s super-substitute leader. The aforementioned post touched on how she became rather inflexible as she tried to fit an idealized image of how she should behave. Her rigidity manifests as a more administrative leadership style than Takeshi’s, but she’s still down in the trenches with the team every step of the way – fighting, taking care of her teammates when they’re injured and even pitching in to rebuild homes that get damaged during their battles.
Shūichi: Mentor
A dimension away, we have Shūichi running a volunteer daycare center with his friends in the Fire Gate’s Llania region. The same post mentioned above also discussed Shūichi’s background at length, but in brief, his chief trait pertinent to this discussion is that he plays the role of older brother in his friend group. He’s less a boss than a mentor, with a casual style of leadership that focuses on support more than on telling others what to do (though he will do that when the need arises). While Takeshi has to learn to be more collaborative, Shūichi has this trait from the start, being more practical and down-to-earth in the way he deals with people in general.
Nasim: Authoritarian
Last but not least, we have a leader from the Earth Gate, Nasim. Considered an adult at 16 and training under her mother to be the Earth Gate’s Key Guardian, she has a surprising amount of authority in her hometown of Dharmísh. Highly strict and rule-oriented, her leadership style is best described as authoritarian. With her bodyguard, Yousef, at her beck and call, she is used to giving orders while she is relatively out of the line of fire. That’s not to say she’s any stranger to risk or hard work, but oversight and diplomacy are her forte. Her expectation of propriety earns her the nickname “Miss Prissy” from a certain younger member of the Keyholder team.
