Early in Season 2 of Netflix’s Badly in Love, there is a neat reversal.
The obvious candidate for “scary” is usually the person who raises his voice, steps closer, stares people down, and broadcasts, “Do not mess with me.”
Awich, one of the hosts, focused instead on Ma-kun, who stayed remarkably fresh and composed even when others postured at him.
Viewer records of her comment capture the idea like this: if someone can remain that relaxed because he does not need to bluff, he may possess real confidence and strength. That can be excellent when directed well — and frightening when directed badly.[1]
That leads to the Chihuahua theory.
Bark bark bark! I am alarmed! I am angry! Stay away!
Posturing can look frightening, but it also provides a huge amount of information. The person is practically live-streaming his internal state.
The scarier possibility is someone who understands exactly why the other person is barking and still calmly chooses what, if anything, to show.
The core idea of this article is simple:
Composure is not proof of goodness or evil. It is a capability that can amplify whatever goal a person is pursuing.
Directed toward a good goal, it is deeply reassuring. Directed toward a bad one, the same capacity can become difficult to read and difficult to stop.
1. Awich was not asking who was the loudest — she was asking who did not need to bluff
Season 2 of Badly in Love began streaming on August 4, 2026. Awich joined MEGUMI and Nagano as a host.[2]
Awich has said that she approached the role less as an outside judge and more as a kind of translator who could explain the participants’ world to viewers.[3]
That perspective matters.
A conventional “scariness ranking” might reward volume, intimidating appearance, pressure, and immediate retaliation.
Awich’s interpretation went the other way:
Maybe this person is not failing to look tough. Maybe he simply does not need to look tough.
A bluff is an external strength display. If status feels threatened, the sign lights up again: DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE ME.
But when someone’s sense of competence or standing is more secure, he has more freedom not to join the barking contest.
That freedom can look powerful.
2. Acting tough is scary — but it is also extremely informative
An openly aggressive person may be intimidating, yet easy to read in one important sense.
The voice gets louder. The body moves closer. The face tightens. The warnings become explicit.
In effect, the person is displaying subtitles:
My pride was hit.
I want control of this interaction.
I feel threatened.
That is why the Chihuahua metaphor works. The bark is not harmless in every real-life situation, but it is legible.
Psychology distinguishes aggression that erupts after perceived threat or provocation from other forms. This is often called reactive aggression.[4]
In plain language:
“I got angry, so I reacted.”
The chain is short and visible.
3. Genuine confidence gives you the freedom not to compete
“Calm because of real confidence” does not mean emotionless.
It means something closer to this:
I see that you are pressuring me. I also know that I do not have to prove my worth by matching your volume.
That creates options.
Raise your voice. Stay quiet. Smile. Step away. Change the subject. Leave. Draw a firm boundary if needed.
The key is that emotion has not seized the steering wheel.
The person is not merely failing to react. The person can choose a response.
Research supports why that looks trustworthy. Across four experiments, people perceived others with higher self-control as more trustworthy.[5]
So composure naturally earns an initial “this person may be dependable” reaction.
4. The eerie version is understanding everything and still choosing what to display
Someone who is smiling because he has no idea what is happening is not especially frightening.
The interesting case is someone who can read the room:
- understands why another person is posturing,
- notices who is anxious about whom,
- realizes that anger right now would be costly,
- anticipates how different responses may move the situation,
and then chooses:
“I will smile for now.”
That is a different level of control.
The loud person may have placed all his cards face-up on the table: anger here, insecurity there, trigger here.
The composed person may be able to see those cards while keeping his own facedown.
That is not evil by itself. In a decent person, it can be exactly what makes someone excellent in a crisis.
5. What makes the “bad direction” frightening: the goal outranks the emotion
The dark version of composure is not a movie stereotype of an emotionless villain.
It is simpler:
Anger is not the goal. Anger is only one possible tool — and so is not being angry.
With a good goal:
Goal: get everyone through the situation safely
→ remain steady while others panic
→ establish the facts
→ protect people
→ make the necessary calls
→ finish the boring follow-through
With a bad goal:
Goal: dominate someone or secure an unfair advantage
→ do not explode when exploding would be costly
→ watch what the other person fears
→ act only when the situation is favorable
The engine is the same. The destination is different.
Researchers distinguish reactive aggression from more planned, goal-directed aggression, often called proactive or instrumental aggression.[4][6]
Reviews describe proactive aggression as relatively low in emotional reactivity and high in instrumentality or goal orientation.[4]
That is why the unsettling feature is not “having no feelings.”
It is being able to keep the goal above the feeling.
6. Calm does not mean secretly dangerous
One boundary is necessary.
It would be absurd to see a quiet person and conclude, “He must be plotting something.”
Proactive aggression is a classification of aggressive behavior, not a personality label for calm people.
Nor does Awich’s comment diagnose Ma-kun as dangerous. The point was conditional: if that kind of strength were aimed badly, it could be frightening.
The useful question is structural, not diagnostic:
How can the same composure produce reassurance in one person and unease in another?
Now we can return to the Chihuahua.
7. Why calm people often feel dependable at first
People use visible self-control as a clue when judging trustworthiness.[5]
A separate experiment showed participants a 45-second emergency vignette involving a car accident. Leaders portrayed as emotionally stable received higher immediate-trust ratings than leaders portrayed as emotionally unstable.[7]
So in a crisis, choosing the person who says,
“First this. Then that.”
over the person shouting,
“What do we do?!”
is not a mysterious preference.
Calmness can signal that someone is observing the situation, less likely to be hijacked by impulse, and able to plan a next step.
That is why calmness is reassuring when paired with good intent.
And it is also why the bad-intent version feels scary:
The capability that makes a person useful does not disappear when the goal changes.
8. The cleanest model is “composure × goal”
| Composure | Goal | Likely impression |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Good | Good intentions, but may panic or flail |
| High | Good | Dependable; strong in crisis and coordination |
| Low | Bad | Hostility leaks out; comparatively easy to read |
| High | Bad | Can prioritize the goal over emotion; harder to read and potentially more troublesome |
Do not mix the axes.
Calm does not equal good.
Angry does not equal evil.
Composure describes how a person can move.
A goal describes where the person is trying to go.
So the three cartoon versions become:
Posturing person: “BARK BARK! I AM ANGRY!”
Composed good person: “You are angry. Let us handle this safely.”
Composed malicious person: “You are angry. Interesting.”
At the third line, the soundtrack stops.
Conclusion — the Chihuahua looks scary, but it is reading its own manual aloud
Open posturing is legible because emotion spills outward: anger, insecurity, status threat, territoriality, triggers.
Someone with genuine confidence and self-control may understand the same situation while retaining the freedom to choose a response.
That is why composure can feel trustworthy.
It is also why the same composure can feel frightening when paired with a harmful goal.
Awich’s observation lands because it moves beyond visible intimidation to a more interesting question: What does strength look like when it no longer needs to advertise itself?
Composure is not a moral verdict.
It is a way of pursuing a goal without letting every emotion take the wheel.
For good or for bad.
And the Chihuahua, meanwhile, continues to provide full audio commentary.
Sources for the English edition
[2]–[7] refer to the shared bibliography at the end of this file.
Sources
- Yahoo!リアルタイム検索, 2026-08. 『ラヴ上等2』視聴者投稿に保存されたAwichのマー君評。爽やかさを保てることを、虚勢を必要としない自信・強さと結びつけ、悪い方向なら怖いという趣旨を記録。 search.yahoo.co.jp
- Netflix, 2026-07-13. 「Netflixリアリティシリーズ『ラヴ上等』シーズン2、8月4日（火）より配信開始！番組MCはMEGUMI&永野と、Awichが恋リア初MC！」 about.netflix.com
- BAILA, 2026-08. 「Netflixリアリティシリーズ『ラヴ上等』シーズン2――Awichが目指したのは『ヤンキーの通訳者』」 baila.hpplus.jp
- Romero-Martínez A, Sarrate-Costa C, Moya-Albiol L. 2022. “Reactive vs proactive aggression: A differential psychobiological profile? Conclusions derived from a systematic review.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 136, 104626. PMID: 35331815 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Righetti F, Finkenauer C. 2011. “If you are able to control yourself, I will trust you: the role of perceived self-control in interpersonal trust.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(5), 874–886. PMID: 21319912 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Belfry KD, Kolla NJ. 2021. “Cold-Blooded and on Purpose: A Review of the Biology of Proactive Aggression.” Brain Sciences, 11(11), 1412. PMID: 34827411 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Olsen OK, Heesch S, Søreide G, Hystad SW. 2020. “Trust After Just 45 Seconds? An Experimental Vignette Study of How Leader Behavior and Emotional States Influence Immediate Trust in Strangers.” Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2926. PMID: 31998185 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
