Beauty/Beast
"Each of us is a little broken. We're lacking or missing something. A Resonance with a dragon grants our wish and gives it form. It compensates for something we lack."
an introduction to resonance
A Resonance is the pact formed between human and dragon. As mentioned here, it is this bond which bestows dragons with the ability to shift into human form. Exchanged during the Resonance are the human's thoughts/feelings/memories, which shape the dragon's personality and appearance. A Resonance between a dragon egg and a human (used to create Earth-born dragons, also seen with Garnet and Aasim) involves a violent process (complete with tentacles) whereas a Resonance between a human and a pre-existing dragon (as seen with the originals and their masters) can be initiated simply by touch. Earth-born dragons are also bound by the will of their master while originals are capable of making their own decisions (and defying their partners).
The key idea with the Resonance process is that dragons, lacking human forms and feelings, are able to bond with humans by compensating for something the human lacks. In return, the human supplies them with the basis for a new form and heart. As Sieglinde mentions in the quote above "Each of us is a little broken" and the Resonance process seeks to repair this damage by providing humans with a dragon that adequately fulfils their unconscious needs.
But what are the characters lacking? How do the dragons compensate? The following list covers the meaning and background behind all the dragon forms we see in the series, except where meaning isn't applicable.
dragon forms: stated outright
• Noted in episode twenty-two, Amadeus is "a precious family member" to Sieglinde, clearly filling her need for familial love (which is why he resembles her deceased grandfather and is named after her dog).
• Ravum "stole" Laura's appearance during her Resonance with Sakaki because he was "missing" his dead daughter. This is one of the clearest Resonances in the series: Ravum became the child Sakaki lost after the originals came to Earth. However, as it was entirely subconscious, Sakaki lashes out at Ravum because he believes she intentionally stole Laura's appearance to taunt him.
• Howling Star and Raina are "partners" (ep 22) because apparently, a cool guy needs an energetic buddy. Although not stated outright, Howling Star's similarity to Jin's father (who had once been Raina's mentor) is made fairly clear - with Jin himself recognising his father in the dragon (hell, they shared the same seiyuu).
• Machina embodies everything feminine, contrasting with how Akira views herself (decidedly unfeminine). She is the beautiful woman Akira is unable to be, yet cannot help but admire.
• Gio was created as a means to protect Jin, which Kazuki states in episode twenty-three: "All I wanted was to protect you (Jin). Gio was everything I wanted. He was the power to protect you."
• Itsuki states plainly that "Otohime is another me". Well duh.
Dragon forms: implied
• Toa appears to embody relief from loneliness (as the constant "I am no longer alone" remarks from Jin suggest). Given that she Resonated with Jin as his world was being torn apart, she is the exact opposite of his fear and insecurity during the crash. She is beauty, stability, and love combined — basically, all the positive things Jin lost with the death of his family. Also, tits.
• It's difficult to pick the specifics regarding Garnet and Asim's Resonance, but as the pair Resonated when Asim was only a toddler, she is almost like a sister or mother to him. Like Toa, Garnet represents a very general lack of "something" — in Asim's case, a nurturing (and indulgent) female figure in his life.
• Thanatos herself is also implied to be a beautiful woman when shown in the final episode (she appears as a blonde-haired female figure surrounded by an ethereal glow). As Thanatos hasn't had a direct Resonance, how far these implications go is debatable. What is known for sure is that she is female and given that all the dragons are her children, a motherly form makes some degree of sense.
dragon forms: *~MYSTERY~*
• Widow's original master is deceased, so what inspired her human form is never revealed.
• As Yuuya only formed his Resonance with Ostrum in an attack that also resulted in his death, the exact meaning behind the dragon's form is never really explored.
• Nothing was ever revealed about Amagi's Resonance (and by proxy, Spirytus's form).
The one Resonance I've left off this list is the Resonance I'd like to explore further in this article. The above gives you a good reference point for the general concept of Resonances and what they entail, which should come in handy as you progress further into this analysis.
the invention of nozaki kasuga
The Resonance not covered above is (of course) the one held between Nozaki and Kitajima. Although she doesn't realise it at the time, Kitajima states exactly what Nozaki is meant to embody during her outburst in episode twelve. Over the course of several episodes leading up to this moment, the Professor had been secretly undermining Kitajima's research in the hope of guiding her away from Album. After Kitajima is left for dead at sea by Nanami and has Album taken from her custody, she arrives back at the ISDA facility only to witness Nozaki throwing out what she perceives as her only remaining link to Thanatos: Ravum's corpse. Kitajima feels betrayed by his actions and quickly sinks into a distressed state, shouting in outrage:
Why?! Are you that averse to me accomplishing anything?! You were my ideal... my model scientist! That's why I...
And so the truth behind Nozaki is revealed. Kitajima created him to be what she perceived as the "ideal" scientist. In this scene, it is not just the immediate betrayal of peer trust that upsets Kitajima — it is the betrayal of an ideal she's fostered over a period of years. Her image of perfection appears to be shattered: Nozaki isn't who she thought he was.
But what exactly was he supposed to be? What, in Kitajima's mind, constitutes a model scientist? This is where things get a little complicated.
a rationalist's inner turmoil
Very early on in the series we are introduced to Kitajima as a woman of pure, unadulterated scientific obsession. Rather than a mute academic hidden away in a lab, she is brash and vocal in both her approach to understanding dragons and in her championing of scientific research. Kitajima constantly butts head with Sakaki over the use of ISDA resources and is not above bringing up his dead family in order to push her own academic agenda. Focused and unrelenting, Kitajima is a staunch rationalist who values physical evidence over vague hypotheses.
Nozaki is about as far removed from Kitajima as you can get. While he definitely has a passion for dragons, his interest is entirely personal and has few scientific correlations. In many ways, Nozaki could be viewed as an anti-rationalist presence in the series. While he is stated to be the ideal scientist, he openly values the preservation of "mystery" over knowing something disturbing or damaging. Nozaki wants peace, love and understanding but has no interest in the related academic details. This is the opposite of Kitajima, who is obsessed with details and who values first-hand research and experiments. It is telling, perhaps in her lack of self-esteem or general self-value, that she sees someone so not her as being academically superior. Someone with no inclination toward science whatsoever.
What makes the anti-rationalist line Nozaki represents so powerful is that it essentially wins out over Kitajima's traditional (though antisocial) scientist persona. It is Kitajima who must learn from Nozaki, the rational mind that must take lessons from the ID. Kitajima is the one who is damaged and in need of repair, not Nozaki who is the manifestation of her "brokenness". While there's little doubt that Nozaki has a positive impact on Kitajima's overall perception of the world, he also seems to be championed for corroding her unflappable pursuit of scientific evidence. This exchange in episode eleven is particularly telling:
Nozaki: What good will come from examining her?
Kitajima: What good will come of it? Well...
Nozaki: I hope you won't get me wrong. I'm not trying to steal your chance at recognition by the scholastic community out of spite. Haven't you ever thought that maybe mankind would be better off not discovering some things, or that sometimes, it's better not to know certain things?
Kitajima: What exactly are you...
Nozaki: You are outstanding. Do not be hasty. Someday, you will be recognised.
What kind of scientist dismisses first hand material and encourages a promising peer to "not know"? Why a magical space dragon scientist, of course! Nozaki, while pained and beautiful, is not really expressed as much of a scientist outside his professor title. Nozaki speaks generally and with relatively little scientific prowess. Kitajima is shown to handle all the actual research, including general relations with the ISDA and the broad political environment. It is Kitajima at press conferences and board meetings, it is Kitajima who meets with Kamishina Jin and debates with Sakaki — Nozaki is notably absent in almost every one of these situations.
Yet it is reasonable to assume that Nozaki knows everything Kitajima knows. After all, the dragons seem to have an innate understanding of their partners fostered through Resonance. So if Nozaki knows his science (or at least knows of Kitajima's passions), why does he not utilise this knowledge? In a lot of ways Nozaki plays a role not unlike Dumbo's feather — he's not out to make Kitajima look bad (as she initially assumes), he's out to make her believe in herself. Kitajima is often remarked to be cold and selfish by other characters in the series. Sakaki calls her "greedy" and suggests several times that by wanting everything, she will gain nothing. But as her interaction with Nozaki reveals, it's not that Kitajima lacks compassion or empathy, it's that she's chosen to repress her emotions in favour of her academic pursuits.
Nozaki, in his anti-rationalist approach, is trying to get her to realise that she can be a good scientist and still feel things. He doesn't want her to be him, the apparent ideal (who is in fact, not actually that ideal). Rather, he wants her to be a blend of them both — a rational scientist who can also think and feel independently when required. At the end of the series it would seem that Nozaki succeeds in getting Kitajima to find this ever-elusive internal balance. She forgoes her academic accomplishments in order to help preserve the Earth — yet she manages to do this without losing her talent as a scientist. With the ideal crafted from her inadequacies gone (RIP, Nozaki), Kitajima has become a genuine model scientist. Nozaki, the faux-ideal, was a means to self-realisation. Kitajima ends the series as a woman of both emotional fortitude and considerable academic drive who now knows she can achieve anything.