Character Guidebook announced (in Japan)

[facets-and-rainbows]

Here's Izumo's commentary thing. Hooray for free time!

(click to show/hide)

Izumo Kamiki

—Concept—

I wanted to do my own take on the textbook tsundere character, so I studied moe manga when I was designing her. She’s also the opposite of Shiemi, both in appearance and personality.

I always feel the urge to draw characters who contrast with each other like that. Rin and Yukio, Shima and Konekomaru, Shiemi and Izumo…I keep setting up all these characters with all these complexes about each other.

—Visuals—

The goal was for Izumo to look like a straightforward tsundere, so I didn’t mess with her appearance that much. …I guess all the characters are sort of like that, since I took the path of least resistance for the series’ visual concept, but I was going for that classic tsundere look.

Still, I felt I needed to do something to make her stand out from the rest, so I gave her those eyebrows. Though I can’t say whether that was a good thing or not (laughs).

—Moving Forward—

There are a lot of areas where Izumo needs to grow; she has a whole pile of problems (laughs). But since it’s all tied to her past, I think there should probably be some resolution by the end of this current Izumo arc.

I can’t tell you much about what’s going to happen, but please keep an eye on her as well as Shima!

[majhoola]

Thank you facets again and again!!  > <

I'm disappointed that she didn't say a lot about her, or how she wants to move forward with her. It's understandable because when the guidebook was released we were still at the beginning of the Izumo arc. (Aaaand we still didn't progress much with Izumo's story/arc either)

"she has a whole pile of problems (laughs)"

This bit made me laugh too hahaha!
And yes Katou I will keep an eye on her and Shima  ʘ‿ʘ <3

[aspi_otaku518]

well as an aspi myself I can safely say Amaiamon obviously has aspergers and is basicly L + punk rock

[cottontailcake]

laughs ... that's what Katou does, eh?
  I bet it's maniacal.
... sadist!

[facets-and-rainbows]

Here's Angel's:

(click to show/hide)

Angel

—Concept—

Angel is an important character, but boy, was the fan reaction bad at first! (laughs) Of course, you can’t blame them; he’s a real extremist and seems perfectly fine with doing things that drive readers away, like cutting Rin’s foot off…

He’s a lot easier to write now thanks to Lightning being in about the same position as him. Lighning sees the humor in Angel, so he always messes with him for me. Shura’s also close to being Angel’s social equal, but her attitude is more like “Him? Ew, no” so if anything she might end up distancing herself from him (laughs).

By the way, it was Angel who came up with the name “Angelic Legion” for his squad, of course. He probably thinks it sounds cool, and Lightning gets a kick out of that.

—Visuals—

As you’d expect from his name, he’s meant to have an angelic design with a lot of aesthetic appeal. But I’m not that great at the hardcore aesthetic stuff, so he ended up with a sort of disappointing attempted-handsome-guy vibe (laughs).

The flashy, colorful cape was inspired by the angels in religious paintings. There are a lot of brightly-colored angel wings in old paintings, and that image stuck with me.

—Moving Forward—

Angel has a simple personality, but that makes him prone to extremism. Looking at what he’s done to Rin, you can’t exactly call him a true champion of justice.

I’m planning to delve deeper into his character in the future. How will the Angel we see on the surface now change? I hope the results will surprise you! So even though I think it’s still too early, I put Angel on the cover of volume 11.

I should have Lightning's done soon, they kind of say similar things.

[themoonlandian]

Thanks, facets!

I wonder why she made him as he is, though.
I'm kinda interested in the fact that she's planning to go into his character a little bit more in the future. He just never seemed like much of the type to do so with.

I'm surprised she threw him on the cover despite thinking it was too early as well

[MetallicArcher]

And now I can't avoid the feeling he is going to have an up to 11 fucked up back story. Sudden flashbacks to all the "Lucy is possessing Angel's brother" theories.

[Wikkelsoee]

I can't wait for his back story!
Based on what Kazue wrote I guess we can expect his character to change. In the end he might not be the biggest obstacle in the Vatican for Rin after all I want to see them fight demons side by side now...

[facets-and-rainbows]

And Lightning's!

(click to show/hide)

Lightning

—Concept—

I wanted Lightning to be the snarky character, but I don’t have a very good sense of snark myself, so it’s hard to make it actually work out that way. He’s very hard to write, at least at this point, and I fret about his dialogue a lot.

—Visuals—

In contrast with Angel, Lightning is very…I suppose you could say unconcerned about his appearance? He keeps showing up with the same stains on his T-shirt; has he even changed?! In the character profiles in the back of Volume 11, he was clean-shaven, but he usually has stubble. I figured he’d at least shave for his ID photo, so I cleaned him up a bit there. I guess he shaves…every three days or so? (laughs)

—Moving Forward—

Lightning is another character who doesn’t shift much. We’ll see more sides of him in the latter half of the series, and I’m currently planning out how I want to present them all.

I think I was able to show a bit of his cruel side in the scene where they tortured the spy. This is going to be more relevant later on, but I sometimes use Angel and Lightning to represent the Order of the True Cross itself, so I’d be happy if you kept an eye on them in the future!

Only three more left : O

[Wikkelsoee]

We're going to see more of Lightning too? My life is complete.

Who's left?

[NeeNee]

Kuro, Juuzou and Kinzou.

[tardar-sauce]

Juuzou and Kinzou were important enough to write an author's note about? o.o

[facets-and-rainbows]

Juuzou and Kinzou were important enough to write an author's note about? o.o

Yep, she sure wrote a lot of notes for someone who didn't write anything about Lucifer

They're the shortest ones though. Just a "concept" section.

[tardar-sauce]

Maybe they'll appear again. (Like in a Shima flashback.)

[NeeNee]

Or to beat his a$$.