Thoughts About Link Click And Its Great Characters (major Spoilers)

thoughts about link click and its great characters (major spoilers)

I think what I really like about Link Click is the emotional maturity of its characters. Granted, our protags are all adults, and so we expect them to react to serious situations with more emotional intelligence than a child or teenager (even if they are goofy in other circumstances), but I really liked how Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang never truly blamed each other for their actions. If this were a more generic/trope-y story with teenagers as the protags, we would probably see the two split and monologue dramatically about their ideologies and how the other is wrong (Lu Guang for focusing too much on the “big picture” of events, and Cheng Xiaoshi for being too emotionally invested in each client’s life). But besides Cheng Xiaoshi’s (justified) outburst of pain and anger after what he experienced from eps 3-5, he never blames Lu Guang for trying to be neutral, because he understands deep down that Lu Guang is right to a degree, and that they can’t fundamentally shift the past if they want the world to exist as it is now. Cheng Xiaoshi is also responsible enough to see and acknowledge the negative consequences of taking independent action from Lu Guang’s instructions while in the photos. He never uses the differences between him and Lu Guang to create a rift between them, because he trusts Lu Guang, has a deep friendship with him and Qiao Ling during a period of his life when he had no one else, and knows that Lu Guang is ultimately looking out for his (Cheng Xiaoshi’s) safety. There’s no drama and misunderstanding for the sake of drama and misunderstanding, because they have the same goal of helping their clients and friends to the fullest degree possible. 

Additionally, Lu Guang, despite looking like the trope of “cold/detached/cruel white-haired boi who is juxtaposed with his emotional dark-haired counterpart,” is very much empathetic and driven by his emotions himself. When Xu Shanshan goes missing, he immediately takes the lead to find her, because he knows Cheng Xiaoshi is in a terrible emotional state and doesn’t want him to get hurt. Lu Guang isn’t above being silly and enjoying Cheng Xiaoshi’s and Qiao Ling’s company. He always tries to protect Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling, just like Cheng Xiaoshi always tries to protect everyone he meets. And his reserved nature seems to stem from loneliness and the burden of seeing the inevitability of outcomes in the clients’ photos rather than “edginess.” I think a nice example illustrating his personality is in the chibi specials: 

Even though it’s a silly episode, like all the chibi specials, this is a nice microcosm of all the stress that Lu Guang needs to take on whenever he looks into a photo. He needs to be the calm one who guides Cheng Xiaoshi through the photos, because he knows Cheng Xiaoshi will be experiencing all of the unwanted turmoil of whomever he possesses. Even when he sees the misery of others, Lu Guang has to push that aside in order to ensure that he can at least save one person (the client or whomever he knows can be saved within the photo’s timeline). And considering how quiet he is by nature, Lu Guang has likely kept this burden all to himself. Yet Lu Guang never turns his back to helping someone when it is possible for him to do so.

That is to say, I fucking love Link Click and its wonderful characters - the writers, VAs, animators, etc. really knew what they were doing and they honestly deserve so much more credit for this show