(Check out the stickied post for the full bracket.)

In the inaugural matchup of our Charactology feature, we compare the appeal of a character who spends most of the series trying to go to space with a character who spends most of the series deader than a Hokuto no Ken villain.

Nanba Mutta

How is this character great in their own universe?

Mutta is the awkward yet steadfast champion of the middle-aged man. He represents a level of awkwardness, frowning and fretting over minor pebbles in his path and his self-imposed destiny of failure, that belies his impressively competent nature and significant leadership skills. Diamonds don’t get any rougher or any more beautiful, nor any easier to root for. And he has an afro, which usually counts for something.

How would they be great in the other’s universe?

Zetsuen no Tempest contained a truly deep and complicated love triangle, and there’s admittedly nothing more frustrating than a romance filled with indecisive characters. However, after a few months of clutching his fro in consternation, Mutta would be a contributor to the series. Putting him in the role of juggling two close male friends (one of them a passionate brother) would make for an entertaining show, likely leading to an intricate web of shallow bluffs that comes untangled at the most inopportune moment (as it always does in the Zetsuen universe). His appearance almost certainly flips the show from a funny drama to a sometimes-dramatic comedy.

Fuwa Aika

How is this character great in their own universe?

Her eccentricity and personality make her such an enigma that she has multiple main characters falling for her. Her actions, even after death, reverberate into the life and death of billions. She is definitely hard to size up at first glance, but her strength and wits, along with her sense of humor, make her a very interesting variable in any situation. Its very obvious why she quotes Shakespeare all the time, considering her personality and mannerisms are very much out of one of his more dramatic plays.

How would they be great in the other’s universe?

First of all, considering her track record with siblings, the relationship between her and Hibito will get really awkward. That being said, part of what makes her such a good character is how both chill and in control she is, so she would probably end up passing all the astronaut tests while seemingly doing nothing. The most interesting part of the series would be her interacting with others, as she is a really different person and the way that the kind of people who are taking astronaut tests react to her would be interesting.