Fridge / The Spectrum Game

Fridge Brilliance

• Tell Me How You Fight is very much in effect here. Every single Spectrum has a fighting style that reveals more about their inner character.
  • Inigo's fighting style is, to put it simply, highly indirect. He emphasises status effects, prefers to dodge than to block, and when he must attack, prefers to do so at a distance. At first, this seems highly unfitting considering he very much averts Pinball Protagonist, but it actually fits in with his tendency to take the path of least resistance. Inigo won't fight anyone he doesn't have to, and if he must, he prefers to cripple them slowly and lower their resistance to anything he has to say or do to them, seeing as he effectively goes around interrogating the rest of the cast.
  • Silas is rather direct in his fighting style, and prefers to tank hits head on rather than dodge them. He also has a skillset designed around defending his allies. Rather fittingly, Silas is a rather personable Nice Guy who is rather thick-skinned, and his ego is as hard to wound as his body. He'll have a more enraged reaction if you insult his friends compared to himself.
  • Azurine's fighting style is rather simple, as it revolves around mindlessly spamming attacks and hoping as much hits the opponent as possible. She's incredibly effective as long as she has the range advantage, but once an enemy gets in close, she's incredibly vulnerable. Azurine is friendly enough, but she can be rather shy around strangers. Her long-ranged style is less to do with wanting to push others away, and more to do with her Stepford Smiler tendencies - she doesn't want anyone to see the real her.
  • Scarlett is the resident Fragile Speedster, fighting up close and focusing on her mobility, but more curiously, she is also the resident Status Buff expert. Not only do both of these traits contrast Inigo, setting them up as foils, but even looking at just her, one can match up these parts of her fighting style to parts of her personality. She is a highly supportive individual even to those she should, logically, perceive as enemies, and she is quick to try and befriend people, but she tends to leave herself open to insults, and is secretly rather emotionally fragile.
  • Makoto's fighting style seems rather unfocused, being a Combat Medic who can't seem to decide whether or not he wants to focus on physical damage or healing. This is, in fact, a reflection of his character; an angry, reckless young man who is vindictive to his enemies (physical damage), but is also kind and warm to his allies (healing), with it being unclear which one is closer to his true self.
  • Minori fights using her puppets, preferring to stand back and let them do the fighting. If she has to enter the fray herself, she uses Ice magic and a dagger to do so. Minori is a Jerkass who doesn't like people, and prefers to deal with them by proxy, while only facing them directly if she really has to, preferring to remain cold and undermine them with her cutting wit.
  • Iago is much like Minori in that he prefers to let his Powers Do the Fighting, never letting anyone get close for even a second. He relies on the power of a demon, which seems at first glance to be a form of Spontaneous Weapon Creation until his Limit Break shows it's an actual demon assisting him. This is fitting because he relies on an organic being, unlike Minori's preference for the mechanical - he's better with people than Minori, and able to interact with them because he doesn't even come close to sociopathy like she does. The whole thing about his powers suggest that he shows his darkest side while portraying it as who he is normally.
  • Valerie has no elemental abilities, and focuses solely on her own physical power, taking up the style of a Bare-Fisted Monk who pummels her opponents with sheer speed and strength, essentially being a 'rushdown' character in a fighting game. This is indicative of her straightforward nature, as she is incredibly blunt and says things as she sees them, refusing to sugarcoat anything even a little unless it would be the snarkier option. She hides nothing from anyone, and her fighting style isn't all that defensive (despite her high Defense) to accommodate this.
  • In general, Azurine, Iago, Valerie and Minori are more offense-oriented, while Silas, Inigo, Scarlett and Makoto are more support-oriented. This fits, considering the former four tend to have more aggressive or antagonistic personalities, while the latter four are more levelheaded and prone to supporting those around them.
• It probably makes no sense how Libera gets the futuristic sounding Trouble - NEVER/ALWAYS as its encounter theme, considering that Apex is the scientist organisation and Libera intends to stop them. However, it makes sense when you consider that Libera, particularly its leadership, tends to see itself as the hero in the tale, which the aforementioned song actually reflects quite well. By contrast, Apex, for all its noble goals, tends to be well aware that they are the villains, especially Amino himself, so they get the more sinister-sounding Blood of Villain.
• In Book of Order Chapters 40-42, the heroes who attack Kotoba attempt to reason with her before doing battle with her, to varying effect. This can be explained if you examine the different approaches they use to try and reach her.
  • Makoto appeals to her sense of morality, drawing attention mainly to the innocents that she has endangered in pursuit of her goal. This has relatively minimal effect on her because she has already come to terms with the fact that the things she does aren't the most savory, instead rationalising it with her belief that she is Necessarily Evil, a belief he never actually challenges in any way. Indeed, when he briefly brings up that she's becoming like Amino, she is affected a little more, but largely unfazed. Not helping is her annoyance with the fact that he now knows about Amino ordering their father's death, but is still choosing to work with him.
  • Inigo appeals to her logic, asking her objectively if all she has done is worth it and directly challenging the reasons for her evil deeds, all while citing the ineffectiveness of her fear-based ruling system. This has more effect on her because Kotoba has to critically think about what he is saying, and ultimately decides he isn't entirely wrong. He doesn't actually talk about morality at all, too, so there is a lot less to distract her from his point.
  • Scarlett appeals to her emotions, reminding her of her principles, telling her she could have used her charisma to inspire genuine trust, and directly challenging Kotoba's belief in fear as subjugation by telling her that she's not afraid of her anymore. This has the most effect because she proves in her words and deeds that Kotoba's fearmongering is no longer useful, and in reminding her of her original principles, Scarlett reminds her how far she's fallen since she first started.
• The fact that Inigo's Elemental Powers and Elemental Motifs don't quite match up (ice in the former case, water for the latter) can be taken as a reference to the disconnect that Inigo feels regarding his identity.