#kazzart

mizuena is a really interesting case to me where we have the seemingly standard setup of prickly tsundere x lighthearted smartass, but when you get to know the characters, they actually completely subvert your expectations.

The "tsundere" half who would normally be the more "difficult" and closed-off one ends up actually being the one who wears her heart on her sleeve, honest and passionate and fiercely loyal like it's the most natural thing in the world. Mizuki on the other hand, who is the more well-tempered and seemingly frivolous of the two, turns out to be the more guarded and distant and has the actual wider hard-set boundaries. Mizuki is the one who's actually 素直じゃない, not Ena. Ena, who approaches everything she does with an almost overwhelming level of intensity and claws her way to get what she wants even when it hurts, and Mizuki, with her low friction tolerance, who acts bratty and jokey to avoid any show of vulnerability. The only way into her heart is to pry it open but do it too fast or too forcefully and you'll scare her away. Ena starts to see the extent of these boundaries and struggles trying to figure out how to navigate them in secret distance - culminating all the way over in mizu5. It's all really interesting to me, who's more used to very standard, tropey versions of these character types.

Their vibes to me are more like... a grumpy but loyal & loving dog, and the cat who playfully rubs itself against your leg but gets in perfect out of reach distance when you reach out to try and pet it.

There's something about Ena's pure honesty that's just so charming to me - like, she's always true to how she feels even if it makes her look bad or if it comes at the expense of her own image. I always think back to that scene where Mizuki teases her by pretending to be a model scout. Ena reacts by getting mad, but she doesn't try to deny that she (and only she!) got excited at the idea of being noticed by a scout or even tries putting up a front. It's not the standard tsundere "t-that's not it, don't get the wrong idea!" but rather "yeah, so what? Got a problem with me??" Things like these, she consistently owns them, even the parts that make her look lame or like some desperate, jealous loser. I genuinely think that's really cool!

With Mizuki, you don't even need to get to picnic, in early release card stories Ena is honestly telling Mizuki she likes her more than she expected and has more fun with her around. To which Mizuki's immediate reaction is teasing her, and then when pressed by a frustrated Ena who goes "what about you? How do you feel about me?" Mizuki reacts with a dismissive "tbh idk" (ouch! lol - is she deflecting? or possibly she actually didn't think much about Ena that early in the story...? or she just likes being a tease? i'm still not sure!) In fact, Ena would probably be much more mushy with Mizuki the way she is with Airi or Kanade if Mizuki didn't tease her so mercilessly every time she tried, lol.

Unrelated but it's so sweet to me the specific, different ways in which they watch out for the other. Ena, our always straightforward girl, at the end of Picnic resolutely tells herself she wants (WILL) protect Mizuki's smile. I love the moment in Mizu6 when she sees Mizuki's sister and her first thought is "amazing! so that's the kind of person who can be Mizuki's number one ally. I need to be more like that!!!" LOL. Mizuki's support is a bit softer and mindful - she can't do anything but watch over Ena as she fights her own battles, but she mindfully tries to always provide a moment of respite in the inbetweens, like getting home to warm meal after a long hard day. The moment after the events of Ena4 where she gets her some cheesecake after the exhibition as a pick me up is super cute.

This time I want to focus specifically on what exactly they like about each other - what do they find attractive in each other?

So... what's their type? What kind of person do they like?

As usual, Ena is really straightforward. She is canonically stated to have a weakness for bright, cheery girls.

She openly states she can't say no to Emu's cute smile: and immediately folds to An's cheery approach on their first meeting:

If a girl is cute, has a bright smile, and is nice to her, then apparently she's meeting all of Ena's standards, lmfao. Special points if you throw her a compliment (she'll take anything tbh, but if it's about something related to a skill, to something that she put effort into, then it's 1000x more effective).

On top of this, she also shows a strong affinity for girls who display a strong sense of caring, gentle mindfulness. We all know how she is Kanade, but also look at her here gushing over the overwhelmingly kind and caring and cute Honami:

Mizuki: "Haha! It really was fun. And Honami-chan's such a nice person..." Ena: "Right? Honami-chan's honest, kind, and really cute!" Mizuki: "Why are you bragging about her, Ena?"

So….

Ena happens to like cute, cheery girls with bright smiles, as well as girls who have a certain kind and caring sense of mindfulness…

Is there anyone who happens to embody all these traits…?

Would you look at that?

It's a recurring theme that Ena finds comfort in Mizuki being a warm place of respite when she's exhausted from her grueling work and something she openly values. Ena even states this directly. These small interludes with Mizuki offer her warm moments of relaxation:

BTW tangentially related but while digging through the older card stories I found this Yuki/Enanan exchange that takes place pre-main story Mafuyu breakdown, where she gushes about how caring and mindful Yuki is:

"So unlike Amia" lol. It's just ridiculously hilarious how plain backwards she has it, considering what their overall relationships end up being.

I've said this before, but we don't even need to get to Secret Distance or Picnic or even Insatiable Pale Color, literally in Ena's first release 25ji card side story she's already telling Mizuki that she's more likeable than she thought and that getting to know her more has made it more fun to work together:

^ Ena's being pretty bashful about it which is super cute, but all the while Mizuki is running laps around her and teasing her as usual, it's almost sad to watch, lol. All it took for Ena to get like that was one (1) nice compliment from Mizuki btw. Our girl is THAT weak smh…. Also, this is a bit of conjecture, but considering that this happens only because they start hanging out in person, I wouldn't be surprised if seeing how cute Mizuki is IRL contributed at least a little bit in the way Ena suddenly started completely changing her tune, lol.

(Also, Mizuki openly stating that from her part she just hasn't given Ena that much thought is interesting to me. I've been mulling over it since the first time I read this interaction. More on this later.)

Also, one last thing about Ena I barely ever see mentioned is that she really cares about people being able to express their own individuality. This is a core value she strongly shares with Mizuki.

We consistently see her noticing and enjoying the way different characters express their own individuality through creativity.

And in the HonaEna art event, she's dead-set on wanting to encourage Honami to draw in whatever way lets her express herself best, even though Honami originally asked for help learning to draw in a more universally appealing style. It's something she always, ALWAYS encourages and tries to nurture:

This clip captures this part of Ena perfectly. Mizuki witnesses some random girl try to force her own sense of fashion on her friend which puts her in a glum mood for the rest of the day. Then she tells Ena about it, and seeing her react so openly furious is enough to cheer Mizuki back up:

Not only is this something incredibly, humongously, ridiculously important to Mizuki, but it's also something Ena clearly admires about Mizuki - the way in which she unapologetically expresses herself. We know Ena loves Mizuki's smile and feels more relaxed when she's around, but one consistent thing she always compliments whenever she praises Mizuki is her sense of stylishness, even when they don't particularly share the exact same tastes:

There's this mizu6 scene where Ena's praising Mizuki, and she's again honing in on her sense of personal taste and flawless skill at expressing it:

(caught you blushing there, Mizuki).

But okay, that's Ena's side. Ena is simple, easy, straightforward. She already likes Mizuki enough immediately post main story to go all dere-dere on her, and then Insatiable Pale Color happens, and while Mizuki doesn't have that big of a role there, just her showing up for Ena to lift her up at her lowest moment is enough to have Ena get like this moving forward:

(OK girl….)

So, what about Mizuki? What's her type? What does she find attractive?

Mizuki is loud and friendly and has a mischief-loving personality, but she also tends to be more guarded than Ena, and in general it's just really hard to catch her getting flustered or swept up by others. Still, she does get several moments where we can catch her admiring others in her head or even getting outright weak-kneed in front of them.

Here with Kanade, for example:

She admires Kanade's utter and complete devotion, her intense dedication, even despite the pain she's been through. She almost sounds wistful here, like she wants some of that devotion for herself.

In Ena5, Mizuki says she hates when people walk on eggshells around her, which initially gave me the wrong impression that she hates when others go out of their way to look out for her. But while revisiting her other interactions, I noticed it's actually quite the opposite.

Mizuki shows very positive, strong emotional reactions whenever people stick up for her, especially if they do so while showing consideration to her boundaries and making sure she's comfortable.

Look at her getting all soft here when An does exactly that for her:

(btw look at our girl An rizzing up both Mizuki and Ena, what a queen, lol).

Also in this scene where Shizuku does this super sweet, considerate, gentle gesture for Mizuki, and a similar moment with Toya:

Mizuki loves feeling understood and being looked out for. She loves when people gently make sure she's comfortable. It's something we consistently see her get all weak and soft over. Honestly, it's so consistent with her that it's almost impressive that I failed to notice this before.

Speaking of Toya, here's another sweet scene where, like with Kanade, Mizuki is charmed by his strong drive and passionate dedication despite all his struggles:

Also! Let's not forget, there's one last important thing about Mizuki. Yes, this girl is an otaku!!! She loves anime, and not only that, she has an anime waifu that she adores!

Here's the scene where she fawns over her waifu Mia from hit anime MiraMagi:

It completely tracks with what we've seen! The things she consistently admires in people. She's determined, works hard and devotedly does her best despite struggling (Kanade, Toya), and she sticks up for you when it matters (An, Toya, Kanade).

But, hey, wait a minute…

A girl who you start out "rooting for when she was doing her best despite struggling" but end up "totally falling in love with" when she shows her dependable, admirable side as she dives in to save you… Doesn't that sound like someone?

She's determined, works hard, doesn't give up, and dashingly dives in for you when you need her, huh?

If we look at the whole timeline, from Mizuki's side… Well, unlike Ena who explicitly likes Mizuki a lot as early as immediately post-Main Story, it's hard to find any evidence for early-story Mizuki. Of course, Mizuki is always friendly and nice and very caring (despite the merciless teasing), but there's also no moment where she seems to notice Ena in a particularly positive way…?

And let's not forget this:

Ena: And what about you? Did your opinion of me change since we started hanging out together? Mizuki: Hmm... I haven't thought about it.

Immediately post main story Mizuki, who has explicitly shown a strong admiration for Kanade and connects on a strong, personal level to Mafuyu:

In comparison to them, she apparently hasn't "given much thought" to Ena.

We see in the backstory her immediate first impression of her is "that girl who's insecure about her drawings despite being this good."

On top of that, early stories Ena has a penchant for putting her foot in her mouth. The "scary selfie girl" joke is funny, but let's not forget that it all started as a way for Mizuki to indirectly defend Mafuyu when Ena starts talking smack about her behind her back. It might seem like the usual lighthearted teasing at first glance, but this HAS to have had struck a nerve for Mizuki, who has been on the receiving end this exact same thing (with this context in mind that final "You do? I'm surprised." feels especially icy. She really went after Ena's throat here.)

Ouch.

There's also this pre-Ena1 area conversation. Mizuki's not targeting Ena specifically here, but she still makes it very clear how harshly she sees people who only do things for attention. (Mizuki's using particularly harsh language here, which is unusual, and Ena says that last line in a clearly hurt tone too). It tracks though. Of course Mizuki, who values authenticity and self-expression more than anything, who has explicitly being accused of "attention seeking" in the past just for trying to be herself, would feel like this:

While Mizuki's teasing can be pretty merciless, it always has some nugget of truth to it. Whether it's an actual objective fact, or something that gleams some light into a genuine belief she holds. (Not just with Ena btw, it always follows this pattern even when she teases other characters, including those outside of N25.) In early stories, Mizuki's feelings about Ena's attention-seeking ways at certain points seem to go past just cringe to outright disdainful annoyance. Again, this is Mizuki, who values authentic self-expression more than anything in the world. It's even quite explicitly shown here in this early 4koma:

Anyways, the whole point of this endeavor was to find out how Mizuki feels about Ena early on. And in summary, what we seem to have is: good -> Her art is amazing and resonates with me neutral (?) -> seems insecure about her drawings (?) very no bueno -> mean girl who talks smack behind your back -> only cares about getting attention (at the expense of authenticity)

Oof. Not off to a great start, right? I mean, she clearly doesn't outright dislike her, otherwise she'd probably have bailed already, but at the same time Ena hasn't been making that good of an impression either… Especially compared to the other N25 members.

But then Insatiable Pale Color happens. Mizuki doesn't really have much of a role there, but it's still interesting how it reframes Mizuki's understanding of Ena.

This is the event where both the extent of Ena's passion for art and her insecurities regarding it get exposed to the rest of N25. On top of that, Ena even vulnerably goes in-depth about her own need for validation (which fuels the selfie account) and how much she hates herself for it.

Mizuki gets an important realization: She only does it for the attention → No, actually, she's really serious about her art. Her own need for validation is a deep-rooted sore spot for her.

It feels deliberate to me that episode 1 starts specifically with Mizuki's usual merciless teasing about Ena's need for likes:

"All you care about is getting lots of likes."

This is the last time we ever see Mizuki make this type snide remark about Ena "just wanting" likes by the way. Mizuki can be merciless with her teasing, but she's never trying to be outright hurtful. If she notices it's a real insecurity for Ena, then she drops it. Notice that she never even once teased her about her art. Ena being insecure about it was something Mizuki was able to pick up all the way back from their first meeting after all.

There may be an element of guilt too. In later events Mizuki reveals that in the past she's made others feel alienated because she's poked at things they may be hiding or be insecure about.

It's almost like seeing how much she cares and how hard she works on her art in Ena1 shifted Mizuki's view of Ena into someone you're "rooting for when she was doing her best despite struggling".

It's so clear post Ena1 the way Mizuki approaches Ena's desperate scouring for positive comments in a more gentle, compassionate way:

Also note how moving forward, even if her own personal values regarding authenticity and self-expression never change, she's still able to show Ena a lot of compassion, even as she teases Ena about the selfie account.

Post Ena1 Mizuki knows Ena's usage of social media shifted depended on her mental state, which heavily implies the reason Mizuki started watching over Ena's account more intensely was because she was using it as a way to keep track of Ena's emotional state (and as an extension, without it she has little way to know how she's doing when she disappears for days on end to work on her art assignments.)

If we see this whole thing in the context of Mizuki's mental waifu scale, Ena is only at level 1 at this point.

She does her best despite struggling → I'm rooting for her! But she hasn't still reached level 2.

She reliably dives in for you when you need her → I'm in love!!

She explicitly starts worrying and "rooting for her", but she still doesn't see her as someone dependable. Unlike Kanade and hell, even Mafuyu, Mizuki is the only member who doesn't even seem to trust her to pull through post-Ena1.

If Ena1 is the event that turned Ena into "someone you're rooting for", then Picnic is the event that opened up the idea that she could even be someone Mizuki can depend on.

Airi does a lot of legwork here by outright wingmanning for Ena, but the cool thing is how this recontextualizes some of Ena's rougher moments in Mizuki's mind. Specifically the "two-faced mean girl" part. Ena is blunt and awkward, but she's also always honest and has this inner caring side.

^ (Airi wingman of the century).

Anyways she's not quite there yet though. Mizuki's image of Ena has improved dramatically and by now she really likes her (we even see Mizuki show this soft, tender tone when she talks about Ena's cringy flaws, almost like she's started to find them charming), but still, she doesn't trust her. Doesn't trust N25. We can see Mizuki scolding herself for even considering the idea of getting closer to N25 - she's still approaching the group with a mindset of "I'm going to squeeze all of the fun I can possibly get out of this before it inevitably implodes". The thought of actually relying on Ena is still out of the question. Whenever she has an inner positive thought about Ena, it usually comes in the form of: "she's really nice. She just can't leave me alone…" with this specific troubled look.

The next event where their relationship takes a step forward is "My Footsteps Your Destination", and if Ena1 is the event that places Ena in the "someone I'm rooting for" category and Picnic opens up the idea that Ena may be someone reliable, then Mizu2 is the one that puts her squarely into the "I'm totally in love!!" category.

There's also another last important checkpoint on the path to Mizuki's heart we haven't covered, and it's the issue of her boundaries. Mizu2 addresses this. Ena has the best, sweetest intentions, but up to this point, and specially throughout this event, we see her just... coming on too strong. Mizuki has very strong, hard-set boundaries. Sweet Mizuki, who we've explicitly seen likes people who make sure she's feeling comfortable and safe while giving her the space she needs. But here comes Ena, who just keeps trying to jam herself in like a freaking brute. In Mizu2 she ends up making Mizuki feel so cornered that she's literally puking from stress (!!!!!). It's honestly very hard to watch. The stress she's putting her in even has Mizuki thinking things like "everyone (including N25) should just vanish and leave me alone", and this event is one of the very few times (pre-mizu5) we see Mizuki lash out in this desperate, almost angry way:

This might be my hottest take yet, but I genuinely believe Meiko telling Ena to stop trying to force herself in was the right call here. I know the event ends as kind of a downer when Mizuki ends up feeling like the leeway Ena is giving her means she'll just drag out the lie forever, but still, thanks to this Ena does get one VERY important concession. Ena frankly expressing how she feels, while also giving Mizuki room to breathe and letting her decide the pace at which she moves forward is actually what gets Mizuki to FINALLY admit that there IS in fact something she's worrying about, instead of constantly deflecting with jokes. A hypothetical scenario where Ena just kept pushing and pushing doesn't feel like it would have resulted in a "good ending."

On top of that, this is actually the fist time Mizuki decides Ena is someone she could actually rely on. She WANTS to rely on her!

Ena has always had a caring side despite her prickliness, but post Mizu2 we get to see an Ena who also start developing this very tender gentleness that is just really effective on Mizuki. We see her almost real time start smoothing out some of those rough edges of hers, until she becomes someone who's able to be like this for Mizuki:

It's such impressive growth it's almost hard to believe she's the same awkward girl from earlier stories.

Mizuki's attitude completely flips too. Up till now she's been rooting for and worrying about Ena, mostly been thinking of her as "nice" (with a slightly troubled expression), but post Mizu2 we get scenes like this one, where Mizuki is admiring Kanade's dedication and the sense of romance in her bond with Mafuyu, and then her mind wanders to Ena instead "I guess my K is…"

(ok girl omg why don't you smooch her while you're at it!!)

(Also, remember that early Mizuki quote where she almost wistfully talks about Kanade's intense dedication? Waow!)

The first Ena event post Mizu2 is Blank Canvas, and that also happens to be the first time we ever see Mizuki genuinely admire and look up to an aspect of Ena's character that goes beyond "she's nice and can't leave me alone." Her grit, her resolve, how she keeps walking forward even when it hurts. There's a scene where Mizuki gets all soft as she outright calls Ena cool.

Mizuki who wants to be loved for who she is without having to prove anything, without having to fight for it, and Ena our local struggler who wants her efforts to be recognized, who needs to believe her efforts mean something, as she unconditionally pours every inch of herself into what she loves… it just works, they click perfectly, it's like they're made for each other.

They make each other better people. Mizuki's delicate mindfulness makes Ena develop this gentleness that gives her a very tender, almost prince-like quality in later stories. It starts in Mizu2 but keeps developing through the stories, and I mean, just look at how soft she is post Mizu5! Not just with Mizuki btw it trickles down to how she interacts with the rest of the extended cast. Meanwhile Ena's blunt intensity inspires Mizuki to finally, for maybe the first time in her life, lift up her eyes and find in her the resolve to walk towards a future she thought was impossible. This goes beyond her interpersonal relationships btw, it's only post Ena5 that Mizuki finally starts looking past merely surviving day to day and starts actually giving some thought to what she loves doing, her craft, and what she wants to do with her life. (yes this is Mizu6 propaganda it's so good read it pls).

Regarding Physical attraction

I wanted to address some interesting things I found regarding how each of them seem to experience physical attraction.

Ena has canonically shown some VERY strong, gayass reactions to attractive women in general. Just look at her reaction to Haruka here:

(pls someone help my poor girl omg, she left all her dignity at home……..)

And here's Ena getting all stuttery as she admires Shizuku's beauty:

Anyways there's no need to beat around the bush, here's Ena just straightforwardly calling Mizuki attractive:

Ena is up there with An and Minori as one of the characters who has shown these super strong, physical, bumbling gayass reactions to very attractive women. (Interestingly, unlike the other two who are very vocal about it, Ena tends to keep it inside her thoughts most of the time which might make her come off as a bit more closeted.)

Anyways yeah, unlike Ena, I could barely find any moment like this for Mizuki. Even when meeting what's basically the in-universe incarnation of Aphrodite herself, Shizuku Hinomori (if anyone will get a reaction, it's her, right?), Mizuki's one of the very few characters who doesn't seem to go weak-kneed at her godlike attractiveness, instead going for a "waow, famous people!! BTW look at my favorite outfit!!"

Like seriously, compare that reaction to the way Ena immediately loses her composure just by laying eyes upon Shizuku's beauty, it's quite the contrast.

Mizuki doesn't go awooga at Shizuku like most of the cast does, but she does call the idols cute. She has a strong sense of personal taste, and she's always expressing it. She's not shy about complimenting other's looks either (especially in the context of cuteness), and she's especially prone to praising when someone's choice of outfit/makeup really suits them.

When it comes to Ena, while Mizuki canonically always shows very unimpressed, sometimes almost mean reactions (especially early on) to Ena's attempts at fanservice shots, she has zero issue complimenting her appearance when she does like what she sees, usually when it's in something that she feels suits her:

In Mizu5 there's this short scene where Ena dresses as this fanservice maid and Mizuki again shows this very milquetoast, unimpressed reaction. Hell, she shows a much, much nicer reaction to the idea of Ena being all embarrassed about wearing the "lame" squid shirt (a shirt that "feels like Ena" according to Kanade):

Hell, even when Mizuki's gushing about her anime waifu, she never mentions the slightest bit about her appearance, it's all about her character (it wasn't love at first sight with her waifu either, but more of a slow-burn… just like Ena?). This just makes makes Mizuki come off to me more as someone who needs to have an emotional connection with someone before she can even start seeing them in "that way". Very unlike Ena, who has canonically shown very strong, visceral reactions to women's physical attractiveness.

Mizuki also happens to be an idol fangirl!! And her oshi happens to be Minori, of all people:

It's interesting to me that while Ena has shown strong gay reactions to the looks of the more beautiful idols Shizuku and Haruka, the one who immediately turned Mizuki's head was Minori, who may be the less "polished" of the idols, but her whole idol persona is just "being herself." Her whole thing is that she perseveres despite all the adversities. It just seems to really support this reading of her, and completely tracks with everything else we've seen from Mizuki (and falls perfectly into her waifu strike zone too!)