In addition to being the story of the original “Amagami Challenge”, Amagami SS is also the story of one young man’s shift from a mentality of scarcity to one of abundance.
In a nutshell, an “abundance mindset” is a general belief that there is enough to go around. It’s the belief that even a significant setback isn’t the end of the world because what you had can be achieved again. In dating, it’s the belief that no singular person is your “soulmate.”
It contrasts with a “scarcity mindset,” which asserts that whatever resource you’re concerned with is extremely limited and that you must hang onto it for as long as possible.
Amagami’s Junichi Tachibana starts off in a scarcity mindset. Being stood up by his Christmas Eve date two years prior to the story’s beginning starts him in off in a haze of apathy for romance. The story follows him as he opens up his horizons and ends up in a relationship with one of the show’s six heroines.
What’s impressive about Amagami’s execution is that, even in a particular girl’s arc, it doesn’t neglect the other heroines. If it were to focus exclusively on one girl each arc, to a point where the other girls don’t even exist, it would only serve to reinforce a scarcity mindset. Having the world revolve around one girl each arc would give the impression that there really is only one girl out there for Junichi.
Instead, Amagami focuses on possibilities. Miya’s episode illustrates this perfectly, though it’s apparent throughout the series: Junichi is surrounded by cute girls. Like a visual novel, his decisions determine who he pursues, and his shift in mindset opens him up to new experiences. To get there, however, he had to give up feeling sorry for himself and open his mind to the possibility of a girlfriend.
Mindset is powerful. Changing the way you think changes the way you act, which changes your outcomes. For example, experimental psychologist Richard Wiseman ran a decade-long study of lucky people versus unlucky people.
Wiseman had people count up the number of photographs in a newspaper. People who considered themselves unlucky tended to take a few minutes to do so. People who considered themselves lucky took only seconds.
Why?
It turns out “lucky” people were more likely to notice the ad in the paper that read:
"STOP COUNTING--THERE ARE 43 PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS NEWSPAPER."
“Lucky” people, people in an abundance mindset, tend to see what they’re looking for more often than “unlucky” people, people in a scarcity mindset. As a result, they see opportunity more often, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of more possibilities and more “luck.”
Junichi’s simple decision to not let the events of two years prior prevent him from finding a girlfriend opened his eyes to a world of possibility. The decisions he made as a result, whether to help Sae gain confidence, join Tsukasa on the festival committee, or try his luck at impressing Haruka, led to wonderful outcomes for him.
It’s a valuable mentality to take on-board, not only for those on the Amagami Challenge, but for anyone looking for more out of life.
See opportunities, embrace positivity, and adopt a frame of mind focused on what’s possible.