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not_sophieApril 6, 2025 Update: Innomat's done. That name's still weird to me, since I've only played in Japanese. I'm also done with this section of the book, but I'll definitely do other things from it at some point (if nothing else, there's an interview with Inomata and you know I can't resist those). Who knows when, though.
March 2, 2025 Update: Artorius's turn. Of course it's all about his arm while Velvet was all about her boobs.
December 15, 2024 Update: Fujishima posed a good question: why would an Eleanor modify her uniform?
October 12, 2024 Update: EIZEN'S TURN and man I spent so unnecessarily long trying to understand this one word about hair.
August 21, 2024 Update: Added Magilou's. I had already translated most of it so um. I finished it seven years later I guess?
November 11, 2017 Update: Added Rokurou's. So Japanese it was difficult for me to translate... So I did a lazy job.
November 1st, 2017 Update: Added Laphicet's section. I can't believe it. Laphicet was an egg this whole time. I'm crying, guys.
Translations of the Character Image & Impressions blurbs from the Tales of Berseria Illustrations book. I'll get to doing the rest of the book at some point as well. I hope it hasn't been done before but also I don't care because I live in my own world and need to learn how to read and how to grammar, two things I have been slipping past most of my life. That's right, folks, I'm illiterate. And I'm translating your written word, right here, right now. So basically, this is all wrong. It's all frogs. Sorry but that's just how it is.
Note that this is a work in progress. I'll be updating this page as I progress in translating the text. Thus far all I've translated has been about breasts, so you can get excited despite the tiny amount of text it actually was.
Velvet Crowe (designed by Mutsumi Inomata)
Female protagonist who gives everything for revenge.
The image that came to mind initially was a woman burning for revenge. When I consulted with the art director, Minoru Iwamoto, I was given this idea: "Wouldn't it be good to show a lot of skin?" So then I said, "Can we put a lot of focus on her underboob?" (laugh). I thought it was too feminine to show off standard cleavage; it didn't seem like it would fit her. Iwamoto felt the same, so we showed off her underboob.
Regarding the costume, I was given the thought that, apart from black being the main theme, the clothes shouldn't be neat, so I said, "Then I'll tear them up" and so it turned to tatters. When I was wondering if it was alright, Iwamoto told me, "You've finally defiled it" and I thought, "It's fine to ruin it so much!?" (laugh). Her heart has deep scars and she thinks only of revenge, so it makes sense that she would be indifferent to her messy clothing. I thought about it a lot. While I was drawing, I suddenly thought, "I should change these clothes" (laugh). The costume design, the chest design, it was all becoming jaggy. Still, I liked it.
Laphicet (designed by Minoru Iwamoto)
My impression is an egg -- a boy with a promising future.
His motif is a Seraph boy who didn't have a will to live. Keywords are purity, a former slave, and a socially-withdrawn child. I was told to think of a puppy who began to run almost as soon as it was born. Furthermore, he would one day demonstrate the amazing power to utilize the planet in its entirety. From being treated as a slave, he would gradually grow into a man. To that end, I thought of a kid who seemed like he would have a promising future when I applied the concepts to his design. Great talents mature late, as they say. That's when I suddenly thought of an egg. An egg that had yet to break free from its shell. From the association with an egg, I made his silhouette round, with the colors white and yellow.
Since Velvet's silhouette was edgy with black as the main theme, there were thoughts that a shining child should be next to her. To contrast with Velvet's complexity, Laphicet is simple. To contrast with her harshness, he is soft and round. Since they spend a lot of time together, their designs form a pair.
Rokurou Rangetsu (designed by Daigo Okumura)
His motif is hanafuda*; an eccentric* who wears a kimono without hakama*.
He was born from the explanation: "a character who is not conventionally handsome and wears a kimono without hakama." When it comes to designing characters, I'm the type who goes into it from the outfit. This time, I was partway through when I suddenly thought, "let's go with a hanafuda motif" and from there I settled into the final look. The "moon and pampas grass" hanafuda became the base for the shoulder armor's design. I thought I would try to match that by going with red and black as the key colors, but art director Iwamoto told me he'd like a different coloring, so I changed it. Somehow he started to look very eccentric.
During the development of Tales of Xillia, I would meet with the president of ufotable (who handled the animated movies), Hikaru Kondou, and he would keep telling me "this is hard to draw" (laugh). So this time I wanted to do all I could to be nice to the animators, but I ended up making the animators weep with all the asymmetry and complex clothing. I'm very sorry, but I'm satisfied with the completed design.
*1 = hanafuda, literally "flower cards" are Japanese playing cards with floral art designs. I'm pretty sure just saying "flower cards" would have confused everyone so you get a garbage tl note.
*2 = this word can mean a number of things, but it's clear here that the sorts of meanings intended are along the lines of "dandy," "peacock," and a more specific one that refers to a type of person in the Edo period who were flamboyant and/or eccentric in dress and behavior. You know Rokurou, so I think you know well what he meant.
*3 = If you don't know what a hakama is, you can look it up. My note here is to point out that apparently hakama were required to be worn with kimono for men at some point, and I assume this is why it's continually emphasized that he does not wear it.
Magilou (designed by Daigo Okumura)
A witch whose skirt = grimoires.
I was told she was a young witch, so at first I was thinking of a small, childlike character, but part way through, I was told they wanted her body and head higher, so this design happened. With the image of a jester as the base, she was designed through trial and error. This character is a different genre from what we've had up until now, so she's the type to be out of sync with the usual format. I drew without really thinking about the connections to Tales of Zestiria.
The main point was that she had books instead of a skirt. At first I was thinking it might be cool if she had a scroll that unfurled, and then I replaced her skirt with books. If you've created the main idea of a design, it becomes the heart that everything else is balanced around. So after I got the idea, I adjusted it by shaving off components that it could do without. I was thinking her coluring should be white and blue, but that overlapped with other characters, so I submitted more patterns. The final version was a rearrangement of one of those colour schemes.
Eizen (designed by Minoru Iwamoto)
A Reaper whose appearance is reminiscent of Edna.
He is a Reaper who associates with human evil. He was designed by thinking of these keywords: Seraph living on the dark side, misfortune, lovers, nerd, and snake. Part way through the production, his image changed, so up until it was completed, there was honest discrepancies. He was always a Reaper, but at the start, he was a gloomy character who hunched over with his hands in his pockets while wearing a hood. As the scenario was refined, he was made to give a bit more of a smart look. There were a lot of difficulties with that.
His facial features are copied from his sister, Edna, from "Tales of Zestiria." The sharp eyes and straight hair leave an impression. From how Edna talks about him, Eizen comes across as a kind older brother, but he is actually quite burdened by the past. Everyone around him falls into misfortune, so he has no place to call home. But he sails the world in search of his own path in life, and since he has bounced back from hopelessness once, his life is not all misfortune. I thought up the design from the image of someone who has accumulated a lot of life experience, and whose personality is complete.
Eleanor Hume (designed by Kousuke Fujishima)
What kind of girl would modify her uniform despite being a model student!?
I drew Eleanor imagining a tsundere girl. A strong-willed model student type, like a class president. I thought of her as a girl who was too serious, and easy to fool. Her face came to mind first, and so I drew that relatively quickly.
What ended up being the most difficult was actually her uniform. I was told that each person who wears the Abbey's uniform alters it in various ways, but I thought, "Eleanor is the type to abide strictly by the rules, so how could she change it?" so I struggled right from the start to imagine it. In the end, I gave the skirt part a more rounded shape. The Abbey functions like a military, so I wanted it to give a feeling of cleanliness and proper discipline. In the game, she battles in this uniform, so Imagined it with combat in mind rather than strictly ceremonial dress. The design isn't really meant for battle, but the frilliness of the skirt is nice when fighting or running.
Artorius Collbrande (designed by Kousuke Fujishima)
One-Armed Boss Character
Artorius is the top commander of the Abbey. His desire to create a world of order according to his ideals may be just, but I don't know if I would call it that. Rather, I drew him as if he were a boss character without any thought towards good or evil. Since I was aware that this was the starting point of the Shepherds that would connect to Sorrey's story 1000 years later, I thought it would be good to bring out a divinity in his design.
In Artorious's case, it was difficult to design him with one arm. Bandai Namco Entertainment (hereafter "BNE") gave this request: "We want him to have one side's arm not be able to move, and also be in a state where it's fixed in place." I was troubled when thinking of how to keep his arm fixed in place, and ultimately went with something like a belt to hold it. His cape hides the arm, but below that, the belt supported it. I did have some concerns about having it beneath a cape, though. I did that in Tales of Zestiria, but I got the impression it was very hard to make it move when it came time to create the 3D model. BNE really did their best to animate its movement.
Innominat (designed by Mutsumi Inomata)
A jellyfish floating and flickering in the deep sea
Innominat was originally Velvet's little brother who, due to various circumstances, became a boss character... that's what I was told at the start. I did a quick rough sketch based on my image of him, but somehow it was giving me a feeling of deja vu. When I met with Iwamoto and showed him the rough sketch I had on hand, I asked him, "Have you seen this kind of character before?" We thought through a lot of different things, and then he realized it: "Maybe the hairstyle and white clothes make him resemble Yggdrasil from Tales of Symphonia?" That said, Iwamoto also told me, "Yggdrasil is an adult character, but Innominat is a child, so it has a different image. It's fine." Still, it was bugging me, so I changed some things like where the hair parts, and I made the sleeves shorter.
Innominat is a boss character, so he floats with a mysterious power (laughs). The image is based off a luminescent deep sea jellyfish. I went ahead with the design while thinking, "I want it to have a look of gently fluttering while floating, and idly shining."
March 2, 2025 Update: Artorius's turn. Of course it's all about his arm while Velvet was all about her boobs.
December 15, 2024 Update: Fujishima posed a good question: why would an Eleanor modify her uniform?
October 12, 2024 Update: EIZEN'S TURN and man I spent so unnecessarily long trying to understand this one word about hair.
August 21, 2024 Update: Added Magilou's. I had already translated most of it so um. I finished it seven years later I guess?
November 11, 2017 Update: Added Rokurou's. So Japanese it was difficult for me to translate... So I did a lazy job.
November 1st, 2017 Update: Added Laphicet's section. I can't believe it. Laphicet was an egg this whole time. I'm crying, guys.
Translations of the Character Image & Impressions blurbs from the Tales of Berseria Illustrations book. I'll get to doing the rest of the book at some point as well. I hope it hasn't been done before but also I don't care because I live in my own world and need to learn how to read and how to grammar, two things I have been slipping past most of my life. That's right, folks, I'm illiterate. And I'm translating your written word, right here, right now. So basically, this is all wrong. It's all frogs. Sorry but that's just how it is.
Note that this is a work in progress. I'll be updating this page as I progress in translating the text. Thus far all I've translated has been about breasts, so you can get excited despite the tiny amount of text it actually was.
Velvet Crowe (designed by Mutsumi Inomata)
Female protagonist who gives everything for revenge.
The image that came to mind initially was a woman burning for revenge. When I consulted with the art director, Minoru Iwamoto, I was given this idea: "Wouldn't it be good to show a lot of skin?" So then I said, "Can we put a lot of focus on her underboob?" (laugh). I thought it was too feminine to show off standard cleavage; it didn't seem like it would fit her. Iwamoto felt the same, so we showed off her underboob.
Regarding the costume, I was given the thought that, apart from black being the main theme, the clothes shouldn't be neat, so I said, "Then I'll tear them up" and so it turned to tatters. When I was wondering if it was alright, Iwamoto told me, "You've finally defiled it" and I thought, "It's fine to ruin it so much!?" (laugh). Her heart has deep scars and she thinks only of revenge, so it makes sense that she would be indifferent to her messy clothing. I thought about it a lot. While I was drawing, I suddenly thought, "I should change these clothes" (laugh). The costume design, the chest design, it was all becoming jaggy. Still, I liked it.
Laphicet (designed by Minoru Iwamoto)
My impression is an egg -- a boy with a promising future.
His motif is a Seraph boy who didn't have a will to live. Keywords are purity, a former slave, and a socially-withdrawn child. I was told to think of a puppy who began to run almost as soon as it was born. Furthermore, he would one day demonstrate the amazing power to utilize the planet in its entirety. From being treated as a slave, he would gradually grow into a man. To that end, I thought of a kid who seemed like he would have a promising future when I applied the concepts to his design. Great talents mature late, as they say. That's when I suddenly thought of an egg. An egg that had yet to break free from its shell. From the association with an egg, I made his silhouette round, with the colors white and yellow.
Since Velvet's silhouette was edgy with black as the main theme, there were thoughts that a shining child should be next to her. To contrast with Velvet's complexity, Laphicet is simple. To contrast with her harshness, he is soft and round. Since they spend a lot of time together, their designs form a pair.
Rokurou Rangetsu (designed by Daigo Okumura)
His motif is hanafuda*; an eccentric* who wears a kimono without hakama*.
He was born from the explanation: "a character who is not conventionally handsome and wears a kimono without hakama." When it comes to designing characters, I'm the type who goes into it from the outfit. This time, I was partway through when I suddenly thought, "let's go with a hanafuda motif" and from there I settled into the final look. The "moon and pampas grass" hanafuda became the base for the shoulder armor's design. I thought I would try to match that by going with red and black as the key colors, but art director Iwamoto told me he'd like a different coloring, so I changed it. Somehow he started to look very eccentric.
During the development of Tales of Xillia, I would meet with the president of ufotable (who handled the animated movies), Hikaru Kondou, and he would keep telling me "this is hard to draw" (laugh). So this time I wanted to do all I could to be nice to the animators, but I ended up making the animators weep with all the asymmetry and complex clothing. I'm very sorry, but I'm satisfied with the completed design.
*1 = hanafuda, literally "flower cards" are Japanese playing cards with floral art designs. I'm pretty sure just saying "flower cards" would have confused everyone so you get a garbage tl note.
*2 = this word can mean a number of things, but it's clear here that the sorts of meanings intended are along the lines of "dandy," "peacock," and a more specific one that refers to a type of person in the Edo period who were flamboyant and/or eccentric in dress and behavior. You know Rokurou, so I think you know well what he meant.
*3 = If you don't know what a hakama is, you can look it up. My note here is to point out that apparently hakama were required to be worn with kimono for men at some point, and I assume this is why it's continually emphasized that he does not wear it.
Magilou (designed by Daigo Okumura)
A witch whose skirt = grimoires.
I was told she was a young witch, so at first I was thinking of a small, childlike character, but part way through, I was told they wanted her body and head higher, so this design happened. With the image of a jester as the base, she was designed through trial and error. This character is a different genre from what we've had up until now, so she's the type to be out of sync with the usual format. I drew without really thinking about the connections to Tales of Zestiria.
The main point was that she had books instead of a skirt. At first I was thinking it might be cool if she had a scroll that unfurled, and then I replaced her skirt with books. If you've created the main idea of a design, it becomes the heart that everything else is balanced around. So after I got the idea, I adjusted it by shaving off components that it could do without. I was thinking her coluring should be white and blue, but that overlapped with other characters, so I submitted more patterns. The final version was a rearrangement of one of those colour schemes.
Eizen (designed by Minoru Iwamoto)
A Reaper whose appearance is reminiscent of Edna.
He is a Reaper who associates with human evil. He was designed by thinking of these keywords: Seraph living on the dark side, misfortune, lovers, nerd, and snake. Part way through the production, his image changed, so up until it was completed, there was honest discrepancies. He was always a Reaper, but at the start, he was a gloomy character who hunched over with his hands in his pockets while wearing a hood. As the scenario was refined, he was made to give a bit more of a smart look. There were a lot of difficulties with that.
His facial features are copied from his sister, Edna, from "Tales of Zestiria." The sharp eyes and straight hair leave an impression. From how Edna talks about him, Eizen comes across as a kind older brother, but he is actually quite burdened by the past. Everyone around him falls into misfortune, so he has no place to call home. But he sails the world in search of his own path in life, and since he has bounced back from hopelessness once, his life is not all misfortune. I thought up the design from the image of someone who has accumulated a lot of life experience, and whose personality is complete.
Eleanor Hume (designed by Kousuke Fujishima)
What kind of girl would modify her uniform despite being a model student!?
I drew Eleanor imagining a tsundere girl. A strong-willed model student type, like a class president. I thought of her as a girl who was too serious, and easy to fool. Her face came to mind first, and so I drew that relatively quickly.
What ended up being the most difficult was actually her uniform. I was told that each person who wears the Abbey's uniform alters it in various ways, but I thought, "Eleanor is the type to abide strictly by the rules, so how could she change it?" so I struggled right from the start to imagine it. In the end, I gave the skirt part a more rounded shape. The Abbey functions like a military, so I wanted it to give a feeling of cleanliness and proper discipline. In the game, she battles in this uniform, so Imagined it with combat in mind rather than strictly ceremonial dress. The design isn't really meant for battle, but the frilliness of the skirt is nice when fighting or running.
Artorius Collbrande (designed by Kousuke Fujishima)
One-Armed Boss Character
Artorius is the top commander of the Abbey. His desire to create a world of order according to his ideals may be just, but I don't know if I would call it that. Rather, I drew him as if he were a boss character without any thought towards good or evil. Since I was aware that this was the starting point of the Shepherds that would connect to Sorrey's story 1000 years later, I thought it would be good to bring out a divinity in his design.
In Artorious's case, it was difficult to design him with one arm. Bandai Namco Entertainment (hereafter "BNE") gave this request: "We want him to have one side's arm not be able to move, and also be in a state where it's fixed in place." I was troubled when thinking of how to keep his arm fixed in place, and ultimately went with something like a belt to hold it. His cape hides the arm, but below that, the belt supported it. I did have some concerns about having it beneath a cape, though. I did that in Tales of Zestiria, but I got the impression it was very hard to make it move when it came time to create the 3D model. BNE really did their best to animate its movement.
Innominat (designed by Mutsumi Inomata)
A jellyfish floating and flickering in the deep sea
Innominat was originally Velvet's little brother who, due to various circumstances, became a boss character... that's what I was told at the start. I did a quick rough sketch based on my image of him, but somehow it was giving me a feeling of deja vu. When I met with Iwamoto and showed him the rough sketch I had on hand, I asked him, "Have you seen this kind of character before?" We thought through a lot of different things, and then he realized it: "Maybe the hairstyle and white clothes make him resemble Yggdrasil from Tales of Symphonia?" That said, Iwamoto also told me, "Yggdrasil is an adult character, but Innominat is a child, so it has a different image. It's fine." Still, it was bugging me, so I changed some things like where the hair parts, and I made the sleeves shorter.
Innominat is a boss character, so he floats with a mysterious power (laughs). The image is based off a luminescent deep sea jellyfish. I went ahead with the design while thinking, "I want it to have a look of gently fluttering while floating, and idly shining."
