#hrmmm.

I wonder if the reason why Julie hangs around Frank isn't just because he was the first person that she met, but also because he is someone that she can't be, which is a grouch and, well, frank, to be frank (teehee~). I think that adds more to their friendship, at least on Julie's side, because she always has to mask herself to be joyful all the time, while she clearly is going through some sort of personal trouble. Probably something like a form of inferiority complex that she suffers from as she compares herself to her siblings and friends, or if the theory that the actors are bleeding into their characters is correct, the actress herself feeling unable to act properly as Julie Joyful. (Both could be true, thinking about it some more.) There is something more going on with them, actress and character, than I think, which could lead to the other characters and their actors/puppeteers going through their own sort of troubles too.

But I may be misinterpreting something here.