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not_sophieIn this other Tales of Graces book I have, there's these nice character profiles, and all of the playable characters as well as a handful of other major characters have comments from creators there. Those creators are Mutsumi Inomata (the character designer), Go Tanaka (the main scenario writer of Graces), and Hideo Baba (the producer of Graces). Since the book was published for Tales of Graces f, rather than the original Wii release, there's discussion of the future arc and commentary on characters from it, too, in case you haven't played that part yet, I guess.
I don't know why I wasn't posting these as I translated them, but I only just thought about how that's unusual for me with multi-sectioned things like this, like, yesterday. So here's all of those comments, all at once.
Asbel Lhant
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
To make his outfit not seem strange given his position within the Knight Academy, I gave him a uniform with an added touch of Japanese taste. I was asked to change his coat and pants, since them both being white would make it hard to understand his pose, but I insisted "Please make it white!" and they let it slide (laughs).
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
Asbel was born to become the protagonist, from the way he looks, to his behavior, to his circumstances. But I think that's boring if I don't also write some parts that are muddier, like his persistence towards becoming a knight, crying in the rain, coming down with a fever, entrusting his body to Lambda, etc. He met with some pretty tough situations. I think he's a magnificent protagonist to always give off this brilliance without becoming overshadowed by the other party members with all their distinctive characteristcs.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
I think the gap between the mischievous boy Asbel and Hubert, and the changes and growth the two underwent in the years before their reunion, was done very well. Asbel is a character I'm attached to, because he's far from his little brother, but as an older brother, his growth was centered around and portrayed through the word "protect." Not to mention... we have to study the hearts of women more, Asbel!
Sophie
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
She's an inhabitant of another world, so to make her feel that way, I brought out an inhuman kind of atmosphere. I imagined her as having twintails from the start, and thought I wanted her hair to be super long, so when that was actually realized, I thought "I did it!" (laughs). In the "Lineage and Legacies" chapter, her clothes were made to resemble the feeling and coloring of Asbel and Cheria in Lhant.
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
If I had to explain Sophie in few words, it would be "the ideal girl." Gentle, sweet, and despite that, strong. I think that even though she's young, she's a character who has a strong maternal side hidden in her. At the outside of the project, she was planned to meet with Asbel during his childhood with the form of an adult woman, and she would be in her girl form when they reunited. But for many reasons, it was eventually decided that she would always be a girl. That gave her a bit of a sense of mystery as an "eternal girl." I like her character a lot, and she's one that makes me excited to write about what will happen to her in the future.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
Sophie is truly cute, isn't she? During development, we played through countless times to check various specific things, and I can tell you now, just between you and me, that Sophie's casual mannerisms healed my exhaustion. In her own way, she showed her anxieties and troubles clearly in the game's events. I love the scene where we go to meet Fodra Queen. Perhaps it's natural for a little sister to get caught up in her worries that way.
Hubert Ozwell
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
I worked off the image of a school inform and military uniform to give off the feeling of a by-the-books little brother from a wealthy family. I was worried because if his glasses had obvious rims, his eyes would become hard to see, but if his glasses had no rims, then his glasses would be hard to see instead. In the end, I gave his glasses dark rims, but no rim on the top. I wanted him to be a studious type (laughs).
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
When I thought about the family theme, I wanted to have a party member who is also the protagonist's brother, and from that, Hubert was born. For some reason he had something like a bob cut and glasses when I pictured him in my head, but thankfully, Ms. Inomata drew him in a way that looked cool. If he had kept the hair I thought of, he'd probably look closer to Raymond... (laughs). His own troubles with his family and fighting, as well as romance, make him something of a shadow protagonist. But he's a good character.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
During the childhood part, we had him be this timid boy that makes you think, "If I had this kind of little brother, I'd want to protect him." The episode where he wets himself is one way that who he was as a child was expressed clearly. But it's also true that Hubert got to his present-day position by stacking up months and months of effort to erase that timidness and weakness. You can do it, little bro!! By the way, should you really just neglect Pascal like that??
Cheria Barnes
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
Since Asbel has clothes that are like a uniform, I made Cheria's clothes vaguely resemble a school uniform, too. I wanted her to be really cute as a child, but it felt like the miniskirt would be no good there (laughs). For her present day outfit, I took inspiration from my mother and gave her flashy colors. Once I saw her completed model, I though, "she's so cute."
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
In the early stages of the project, she was a childhood friend character who was a militant nun. This character was scrapped later, but Raymond took over some of her parts in the story. When she was still a nun, she was going to be a little bit more girly, but I think her role as the mom of the party was a better way to bring that out than the way her original character was. The feminine parts were really brought out in the Groovy Chats written by the other scenario staff.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
For some reason, the name we initially gave Cheria, Julia, is still stuck in my head. Even with her position as the party's mother figure who cares for everyone, there's a long time where there's distance between her and Asbel that's maddening, and it makes you want to cheer them on. From the moment I read the draft scenario, I was thinking, get your act together, Asbel! Though I left that part as it was. Her skirt is way too short!!
Richard
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
Since you come to fight him as an enemy, I used the opposite ideas from Asbel and made the basic tone black. I put in some orange as an accent, which brought out the villainous look while being beautiful. In "Lineage and Legacies," he became King, so I made his face gentler, and gave him green clothes to bring out a more relaxed feeling.
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
Richard had many of the marks of a perfect prince, and it is that perfection that made the work of breaking him down so satisfying. I felt bad for him while writing about his body and mind both falling apart due to his extreme circumstances, but I also thought his two-sided personality's appeal was brought out best when I was being ruthless. I wrote so much about his hardships during the main story, I wanted to write about something happy in his life, too, so I tried to do that and shine a light on Richard in this extra chapter of the story.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
Richard is portrayed as the ideal prince. But instead of portraying him simply as a prince, we tried to show through him what sorts of worries and suffering only someone who is royalty would understand. And since every human has weaknesses, it's his weaknesses that enabled him to be possessed by Lambda. Richard is a character who, beneath his cool exterior, stinks of human weakness. The thing about Richard is, is being a prince the life we should dream of??
Malik Caesars
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
He's Asbel's instructor, so I gave his outfit a bit of a military uniform sort of feel. To give his face more of a simple refinement, we had him grow out his facial hair. The image I was asked to create was something kind of like Hideo Baba (laughs).
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
As the one who represents what Asbel could become in the future, Malik is a character with a lot of freedom to act, despite his position as the adult of the party. You might think of him as a good-looking mature character, but sometimes he's mischievous, and he has a flexible open-mindedness that makes him an "adult" in a real sense, which actually helped me quite a bit as I was writing. but it was precisely for those reasons that I also wanted to write about when he was still young and inexperienced.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
I remember that when I was giving Ms. Inomata the illustration orders for Malik, and about how it was decided that he would have facial hair, we talked about how it would be similar to mine. After that, I also gave her some reference materials showing the ways actors overseas kept their beards. Sometimes he acts as a guide, sometimes he warmly watches over the party, and every now and then he fills Sophie's mind with nonsense. I might want to become a humorous, cool old man like Malik. A lot happens as the years pile up!
Pascal
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
Since she's a bit of a free spirit, I didn't make her clothes uniform-like. Instead, they're casual and easy to move around in, and seem like they'd be easy to work in. The most important thing to her is to do the things you want to do. There isn't much in terms of ornamentation, since she's the type who doesn't care much about appearances. Also, she doesn't take baths (laughs).
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
Pascal has the same kind of role as Norma in Tales of Legendia, which I was also in charge of, so up until the script was completed, she would be thought of as a person who would read the atmosphere and force a laugh to try to lighten the mood. Though, unlike Norma, Pascal is genuinely very spontaneous (laughs). Also, her relation to Fourier as sisters subtly mirrors that of the Lhant brothers. If you look closely, her personality has a lot of similarities to Asbel's from when he was a child, so it was inevitable that Hubert would take an interest in her.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
Please, just take a bath, already!! I'll keep saying. I'll also say that you should clean up your room. Pascal is a moodmaker that helps calm down various emotions in the story, and she's the kind of character who would probably be a lot of fun to have as a friend. But man, take a bath once in a while.
Cornel
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
When thinking about what kind of person would understand Lambda best, I didn't want a relationship with any feelings of obligation like a lover, I wanted a close relationship as completely equal friends. I felt like the kind of person who would be able to open Lambda's heart would have to be a broad-minded man, and so that's the form we settled on. Asbel unwittingly used the same successful approach of dealing with lambda as an equal.
Emeraude
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
At the start, there wasn't anything to Emeraude other than just being a female scientist who developed Sophie. But the other scenario staff were able to come up with a lot of ideas that I think made her into a very interesting character. Tales of Graces truly doesn't have many mature women, so in that sense, she gave more color to the story. I'm grateful for everyone's help in creating her.
Little Queen
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
As Sophie's prototype, I made her resemble Sophie like they were sisters by giving her the same facial expression and hair color. In terms of the coloring, I wanted her to have a strong feeling of nature, and to evoke a mythical atmosphere, so I based her outfit on the color green. I imagined ivy and leaves along her arms, but it ended up being more like watermelon (laughs).
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
When the commission for the "Lineage and Legacies" scenario came in, I wanted to have another being like Sophie, so Little Queen was born. Since she was planned to be the basis of Sophie, she can be viewed as a sort of sister figure to her. I would have liked to expand on that and have more scenes where she talks with Sophie.
Fodra Queen
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
Just like with Little Queen, I imagined her to be something like Fodra's protector god, and designed her with a storng nature image. I felt that if Little Queen is grass, Fodra Queen should be flowers. When they first showed me the boss battle pattern, I felt like it was beautiful that they had her riding on a flower, so I made the character beautiful, too.
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
When I thought about what to do for the last boss of "Lineage and Legacies," I thought about how the mother planet should equate to a female character, and with that being the case, she should be a queen. That's how Fodra Queen took form. Since she's now sleeping inside Asbel along with Lambda, it's fascinating to think what kind of influence she will have on him over time.
I don't know why I wasn't posting these as I translated them, but I only just thought about how that's unusual for me with multi-sectioned things like this, like, yesterday. So here's all of those comments, all at once.
Asbel Lhant
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
To make his outfit not seem strange given his position within the Knight Academy, I gave him a uniform with an added touch of Japanese taste. I was asked to change his coat and pants, since them both being white would make it hard to understand his pose, but I insisted "Please make it white!" and they let it slide (laughs).
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
Asbel was born to become the protagonist, from the way he looks, to his behavior, to his circumstances. But I think that's boring if I don't also write some parts that are muddier, like his persistence towards becoming a knight, crying in the rain, coming down with a fever, entrusting his body to Lambda, etc. He met with some pretty tough situations. I think he's a magnificent protagonist to always give off this brilliance without becoming overshadowed by the other party members with all their distinctive characteristcs.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
I think the gap between the mischievous boy Asbel and Hubert, and the changes and growth the two underwent in the years before their reunion, was done very well. Asbel is a character I'm attached to, because he's far from his little brother, but as an older brother, his growth was centered around and portrayed through the word "protect." Not to mention... we have to study the hearts of women more, Asbel!
Sophie
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
She's an inhabitant of another world, so to make her feel that way, I brought out an inhuman kind of atmosphere. I imagined her as having twintails from the start, and thought I wanted her hair to be super long, so when that was actually realized, I thought "I did it!" (laughs). In the "Lineage and Legacies" chapter, her clothes were made to resemble the feeling and coloring of Asbel and Cheria in Lhant.
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
If I had to explain Sophie in few words, it would be "the ideal girl." Gentle, sweet, and despite that, strong. I think that even though she's young, she's a character who has a strong maternal side hidden in her. At the outside of the project, she was planned to meet with Asbel during his childhood with the form of an adult woman, and she would be in her girl form when they reunited. But for many reasons, it was eventually decided that she would always be a girl. That gave her a bit of a sense of mystery as an "eternal girl." I like her character a lot, and she's one that makes me excited to write about what will happen to her in the future.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
Sophie is truly cute, isn't she? During development, we played through countless times to check various specific things, and I can tell you now, just between you and me, that Sophie's casual mannerisms healed my exhaustion. In her own way, she showed her anxieties and troubles clearly in the game's events. I love the scene where we go to meet Fodra Queen. Perhaps it's natural for a little sister to get caught up in her worries that way.
Hubert Ozwell
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
I worked off the image of a school inform and military uniform to give off the feeling of a by-the-books little brother from a wealthy family. I was worried because if his glasses had obvious rims, his eyes would become hard to see, but if his glasses had no rims, then his glasses would be hard to see instead. In the end, I gave his glasses dark rims, but no rim on the top. I wanted him to be a studious type (laughs).
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
When I thought about the family theme, I wanted to have a party member who is also the protagonist's brother, and from that, Hubert was born. For some reason he had something like a bob cut and glasses when I pictured him in my head, but thankfully, Ms. Inomata drew him in a way that looked cool. If he had kept the hair I thought of, he'd probably look closer to Raymond... (laughs). His own troubles with his family and fighting, as well as romance, make him something of a shadow protagonist. But he's a good character.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
During the childhood part, we had him be this timid boy that makes you think, "If I had this kind of little brother, I'd want to protect him." The episode where he wets himself is one way that who he was as a child was expressed clearly. But it's also true that Hubert got to his present-day position by stacking up months and months of effort to erase that timidness and weakness. You can do it, little bro!! By the way, should you really just neglect Pascal like that??
Cheria Barnes
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
Since Asbel has clothes that are like a uniform, I made Cheria's clothes vaguely resemble a school uniform, too. I wanted her to be really cute as a child, but it felt like the miniskirt would be no good there (laughs). For her present day outfit, I took inspiration from my mother and gave her flashy colors. Once I saw her completed model, I though, "she's so cute."
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
In the early stages of the project, she was a childhood friend character who was a militant nun. This character was scrapped later, but Raymond took over some of her parts in the story. When she was still a nun, she was going to be a little bit more girly, but I think her role as the mom of the party was a better way to bring that out than the way her original character was. The feminine parts were really brought out in the Groovy Chats written by the other scenario staff.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
For some reason, the name we initially gave Cheria, Julia, is still stuck in my head. Even with her position as the party's mother figure who cares for everyone, there's a long time where there's distance between her and Asbel that's maddening, and it makes you want to cheer them on. From the moment I read the draft scenario, I was thinking, get your act together, Asbel! Though I left that part as it was. Her skirt is way too short!!
Richard
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
Since you come to fight him as an enemy, I used the opposite ideas from Asbel and made the basic tone black. I put in some orange as an accent, which brought out the villainous look while being beautiful. In "Lineage and Legacies," he became King, so I made his face gentler, and gave him green clothes to bring out a more relaxed feeling.
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
Richard had many of the marks of a perfect prince, and it is that perfection that made the work of breaking him down so satisfying. I felt bad for him while writing about his body and mind both falling apart due to his extreme circumstances, but I also thought his two-sided personality's appeal was brought out best when I was being ruthless. I wrote so much about his hardships during the main story, I wanted to write about something happy in his life, too, so I tried to do that and shine a light on Richard in this extra chapter of the story.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
Richard is portrayed as the ideal prince. But instead of portraying him simply as a prince, we tried to show through him what sorts of worries and suffering only someone who is royalty would understand. And since every human has weaknesses, it's his weaknesses that enabled him to be possessed by Lambda. Richard is a character who, beneath his cool exterior, stinks of human weakness. The thing about Richard is, is being a prince the life we should dream of??
Malik Caesars
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
He's Asbel's instructor, so I gave his outfit a bit of a military uniform sort of feel. To give his face more of a simple refinement, we had him grow out his facial hair. The image I was asked to create was something kind of like Hideo Baba (laughs).
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
As the one who represents what Asbel could become in the future, Malik is a character with a lot of freedom to act, despite his position as the adult of the party. You might think of him as a good-looking mature character, but sometimes he's mischievous, and he has a flexible open-mindedness that makes him an "adult" in a real sense, which actually helped me quite a bit as I was writing. but it was precisely for those reasons that I also wanted to write about when he was still young and inexperienced.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
I remember that when I was giving Ms. Inomata the illustration orders for Malik, and about how it was decided that he would have facial hair, we talked about how it would be similar to mine. After that, I also gave her some reference materials showing the ways actors overseas kept their beards. Sometimes he acts as a guide, sometimes he warmly watches over the party, and every now and then he fills Sophie's mind with nonsense. I might want to become a humorous, cool old man like Malik. A lot happens as the years pile up!
Pascal
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
Since she's a bit of a free spirit, I didn't make her clothes uniform-like. Instead, they're casual and easy to move around in, and seem like they'd be easy to work in. The most important thing to her is to do the things you want to do. There isn't much in terms of ornamentation, since she's the type who doesn't care much about appearances. Also, she doesn't take baths (laughs).
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
Pascal has the same kind of role as Norma in Tales of Legendia, which I was also in charge of, so up until the script was completed, she would be thought of as a person who would read the atmosphere and force a laugh to try to lighten the mood. Though, unlike Norma, Pascal is genuinely very spontaneous (laughs). Also, her relation to Fourier as sisters subtly mirrors that of the Lhant brothers. If you look closely, her personality has a lot of similarities to Asbel's from when he was a child, so it was inevitable that Hubert would take an interest in her.
Hideo Baba (Producer)
Please, just take a bath, already!! I'll keep saying. I'll also say that you should clean up your room. Pascal is a moodmaker that helps calm down various emotions in the story, and she's the kind of character who would probably be a lot of fun to have as a friend. But man, take a bath once in a while.
Cornel
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
When thinking about what kind of person would understand Lambda best, I didn't want a relationship with any feelings of obligation like a lover, I wanted a close relationship as completely equal friends. I felt like the kind of person who would be able to open Lambda's heart would have to be a broad-minded man, and so that's the form we settled on. Asbel unwittingly used the same successful approach of dealing with lambda as an equal.
Emeraude
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
At the start, there wasn't anything to Emeraude other than just being a female scientist who developed Sophie. But the other scenario staff were able to come up with a lot of ideas that I think made her into a very interesting character. Tales of Graces truly doesn't have many mature women, so in that sense, she gave more color to the story. I'm grateful for everyone's help in creating her.
Little Queen
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
As Sophie's prototype, I made her resemble Sophie like they were sisters by giving her the same facial expression and hair color. In terms of the coloring, I wanted her to have a strong feeling of nature, and to evoke a mythical atmosphere, so I based her outfit on the color green. I imagined ivy and leaves along her arms, but it ended up being more like watermelon (laughs).
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
When the commission for the "Lineage and Legacies" scenario came in, I wanted to have another being like Sophie, so Little Queen was born. Since she was planned to be the basis of Sophie, she can be viewed as a sort of sister figure to her. I would have liked to expand on that and have more scenes where she talks with Sophie.
Fodra Queen
Mutsumi Inomata (Character Design)
Just like with Little Queen, I imagined her to be something like Fodra's protector god, and designed her with a storng nature image. I felt that if Little Queen is grass, Fodra Queen should be flowers. When they first showed me the boss battle pattern, I felt like it was beautiful that they had her riding on a flower, so I made the character beautiful, too.
Go Tanaka (Main Scenario Writer)
When I thought about what to do for the last boss of "Lineage and Legacies," I thought about how the mother planet should equate to a female character, and with that being the case, she should be a queen. That's how Fodra Queen took form. Since she's now sleeping inside Asbel along with Lambda, it's fascinating to think what kind of influence she will have on him over time.
