#creator interview

—What did you want to place most importance on when creating the game?

What I most wanted to place importance on was how the keywords for this work, “despair” and “salvation” applied to the characters. It must be hard for the players as they see these characters feel pain, joy and sorrow, laugh, despair and experience salvation.....that said, I believe we have brought across the greatest possible despair and salvation they could arrive at from their personalities and situations.

Apart from that, the other thing I wanted to do was to absolutely not use the word ‘happy end.’ When each end is presented, it was done so the words ‘despair end’ and ‘salvation end’ were used in place of ‘bad end’ and ‘good end.’ There is no such thing as an all-out happy ending, that was something I couldn’t compromise on.

—Please tell us if you experienced any difficulties that you can talk about now.

More so than it being difficult, there was a lot of pressure since it was the first time Yomi-san was creating original art for Otomate, but right now as I think about it looking back, 90% of the development period was a tough time. However, back then I was full of adrenaline so I didn’t really realise it myself. It was a sad state of affairs that I realised only when those around me said, ‘You sure went through a lot!’ (laughs). It must have been that the fun I was having was greater than the hardship.

About the visuals

—How was Yomi-san chosen for the role of character design?

From the beginning of planning this project, I felt that I “didn’t want to make the characters feel fictional.” When I saw other works that Yomi-san had created the original art for, from the expressions to their fingertips, they all looked so ‘real’ and unexaggerated I was captivated. Even since then I kept thinking I would like to have Yomi-san work on some original art someday.....I suppose I can say now I did the planning with the feeling of a passionate one-sided love (laughs). After that, my wish miraculously came true when I was coincidentally blessed with the opportunity to get in touch with her.

—Please tell us about how the characters were created.

For the most part, all I did was tell Yomi-san the character’s basic information, their circumstances and situation up until the beginning of the story, along with the essential elements for the character (for example, for Yves it is his mask, Mathis, having a pale complexion from spending all his time inside, and clothes that were easy to move in for Adolphe) and then leaving the rest to her. The characters were mostly exactly as I imagined right from the first draft, so I think now in that respect I was fairly spoiled. What I remember even now is that at the very first meeting I was asked, ‘If possible, I’d like a chronological table’ and that it made me feel even more determined to make these characters feel life-like. 

-Is there anything that changed from your initial plans for the story because of ideas that came about during the character design stage?

There were quite a few, but the one who had an especially important addition was Lucas. The weapon for Bourreau was originally to be only a short sword, but the first design Yomi-san submitted, which had him carrying a spear, looked so very cool we ended up having it become a halberd. I asked that it be designed so that it could fold up much like a three sectioned staff so it wouldn’t be a problem when it came to running around and sneaking into the mansions of Shudie.

—I think one of the standout points for this game is how the fashion suits the setting’s worldview.  How did you decide on things like what accessories the characters wore?

 When it came to characters that were close to the research institute and the center of Arpéchéle, I requested that there be a strong cyber influence. Scien and Mathis’s outfits would be the ones where this is most obvious. Because Arpéchéle is a closed country, I asked for a gothic design for characters who aren’t close to the center. Therefore, for that reason, Ceres, Yves, Lucas and Adolphe, the characters that live in the common district, don’t have a single cyber element. Mathis is in the middle point as far as the ratio between cyber and gothic go, so for him Yomi-san and I compared and contrasted the designs together and used that as a base thereafter. The cyber feel for this game uses electronic circuits as the image, so I had her use that as part of the designs.

—Please tell us if there was anything you paid particular attention to when it came to the general flow and direction of the event CG’s.

There were many times where I would hand over some truly rough notes along with the scenario and mood to Yomi-san and entrust the rest to her. Basically, the same as with the character designs.... Whenever there were any points she was unclear on, she would always ask questions, so production progressed without any worries on my end. She would draw everything as I wanted right down to the finer details so most of the CG’s were done in one go, without any need for retakes. 

—Are there any CG’s that you are particularly fond of?

I am fond of all of them so it’s hard to choose. The first salvation end in the third act in which Ankou gives Ceres the flower bouquet, or the one with Adolphe and Ceres smiling at each other in the field of white lycoris....after much thought, if I absolutely had to pick one, perhaps it would be Mathis’s smile at the end of his salvation end. As per the title, the game is quite serious with many dark scenes, however I feel like this bright CG with its white and yellow colours most suits the words ‘beneath the light of the sun.’ It felt as if it was expressing a single ray of light shining down on their future, no matter how many troubles were to await them from there on, so I remember not being able to help breathing a sigh because I was so moved the first time I saw it.

—What points regarding character settings did you not want to compromise on?

 I am repeating myself, but it would be that they are “living humans.” Although it is a story with the unique set up of ‘memory downloads’ and ‘relivers’, for better or worse, the characters of Arpéchéle, including the ones without sprites, are all human-like existences who fall in love, hate others, want to protect the ones important to them, make compromises, and fear and loathe the things that they cannot understand. “Life” is one of its most important themes, so when it came to portraying humans who are its vessels, I was conscious of the fact it was something I couldn’t treat as unimportant.

—Please tell us if there were any particular aims and themes you had when it came to character settings, interesting inside stories during production or ideas that were rejected partway through.

Ceres

The line “Dear God, I have killed many people” that was used in the first promotional video was what I came up with for her at the beginning and is where her image grew from, making her development process perhaps a little different from the other characters. Ceres’s image flower is the immortelle, small yellow flowers which mean ‘undying love’ and ‘immortality’ in flower language, and that was how I decided her character.....but it came to me later that yellow certainly has a cheerful image.

Her original personality is that of a bright normal girl who smiles often, but she grows melancholy after she starts being called a grim reaper, I would be happy if she could become the kind of main character you would want to cheer on as she regains her original self through her interactions with the other characters. 

Yves

Speaking from a variety of different points, his image was that of a ‘traditional knight.’ Due to his burns, Yves lost the ability to feel pain, was abandoned by his parents and treated as a monster. So that those around him would love him, he had no choice but to become a ‘knight-like existence whom everyone would seek out and depend on.’ That said, even knights are human too, so course I think he would still have his own worries and trials. Because there is no such thing as a perfect knight like in the stories, one is all the more human and beautiful for being imperfect. Yves’s burns are also the result of the human-like emotion of ‘wanting to save a single girl from a fire.’ I believe that such scars are a symbol of beauty, not ugliness. Speaking of behind-the-scenes stories, the first design image that Yomi-san came up with is now the vigilante corps uniform. The inner shirts and trousers are the members’ personal clothes. 

Lucas Proust

I received various opinions regarding his salvation end, but a person who took away so many lives must be punished…..that was the point I absolutely could not concede on. Lucas dislikes when things are not done the proper way, so the rule I decided on was that he would not use casual abbreviated verb forms in his speech. The only time he purposely deviates from that rule is when he says, ‘I love you too,’ just before credits roll for the salvation end. Completely abandoning the version of himself that those around him had wanted, and the rules he had decided for himself, we see that he is finally able to face Ceres head on as his true self, I think that this was a scene with a lot of impact. By the way, the daggers he stabbed into the hearts he extracted were modelled after crosses (they are also shaped like them too!).

Mathis Claude

For me, he was the first character whose setting I had firmly decided on. Because he is an irregular existence who is neither human nor a reliver, I believe we were able to write a story that displayed Arpéchéle’s twisted way of life and view on romance from a different perspective. We weren’t able to have it come up in the game, but the idea was because he keeps his knife hidden behind his right thigh, he has rather bad manners when sitting on chairs, sitting with his arms up around raised knees like a gym student. That said, if we had included it, it would mean having to keep writing scenes where Jean or one of the other characters tell him off each time, so it was with a heavy heart I decided not to. His character tagline is ‘The man spurning his fate to forgive’, but the hidden story behind that becomes pure humans ‘do ○○’ and the character who wasn’t ‘did ○○.’ I thought that it would be nice if people were able to notice this after finding out Mathis’s true identity as a homunculus.

Scien Brofiise

I spoke about this on the official blog, but initially he was a character that spoke politely in front of his subordinates. But as he is now, he is certainly not the kind of man to worry about appearances (laughs). He is said to be someone that can resolve almost anything, but it must be remembered that is only in cases where a cause has been established, and it is something that has caught Scien’s interest, in the game those conditions just so happened to come together. He does not involve himself at all in things he isn’t interested in, or that go against his personal principles.

By the way, as he is the only character that fights barehanded, I imagined his fighting style to be similar to savate (TL note: french kickboxing). Seen from the point of view that it is something he started doing and learnt on his own initiative, it’s sort of like he just so happened to pick up the skill as he trained in self-defence from being targeted so often. Speaking of which, although he is a short sleeper and rarely sleeps in front of others, once you have his trust, he will sleep while leaning on your shoulder.

Adolphe

Truth be told, right up until the end Adolphe was the character whose setting I had most trouble deciding on. It is mentioned in the story, but since he is the only one amongst the characters who is able to live longer than 23 years, he is the character most similar to the viewers. As I pondered on how to make sure such a character held his own amongst the others, I thought there was no other choice but to turn the tables and make him “normal.” If you think about it, dying at the age of 23 in and of itself isn’t normal, and so once I arrived at the conclusion that the existence of such a person in that situation would become special, the rest of his characterization followed on very smoothly.

People were rather surprised with regards to Adolphe’s intonation, but the reason for it was because I wanted it to be one point in common for ‘Adolphe = Ankou.’ Incidentally, as he has spent such a long time living at the institution and on his own, he is the most able cook amongst all the main characters. 

Ankou

I believe there are people who may have realized this, but the origin of his name is that of the grim reaper spoken of in the Brittany region of France, which is why I had him appear in the prologue scenes of the first and second acts wearing the wide brimmed hat and cloak from the legends. Even now when it comes to Ankou, I feel an indescribable emotion. Actually, the original plan for his setting was even more beyond saving.  He had continued to fight for the sake of Ceres’s smile, but after spending so long despairing he grows twisted and his greatest wish instead becomes for him and Ceres to die together. In order for that wish to come true he tries to have her make the wrong answer when it comes to Arpéchéle’s curse…..that was the plan, but it was too dark so we changed a lot of things partway through. The title ‘Shuuen’ (eternal demise) bears various meanings, but one of them is in reference to Ankou. When I was directing Ankou’s final scene in the third act, even now I have a strong memory of praying all the while that he would rest peacefully.

Salome

I received a lot of comments saying, ‘Even just her name is scary!’ (laughs) I believe the Salome everyone is thinking of is the one who was written as a villainess in the play (TL note: Oscar Wilde’s play ‘Salome’), but actually it is the one from the Bible that I had in mind. In the play, she is the one to ask for Jokanaan’s head herself, but in the Bible she asks for it because her mother, who holds a grudge against Jokanaan, commands her to, she is being used by those around her. I borrowed her name thinking that it was similar to the way [Salome from the game] is betrayed by her own relatives, the royal family. No matter what kind of life one lived, it may become something different in posterity depending on other people’s interpretations and hearsay, I think she became a character with that kind of story.

Perhaps getting off topic, but the one to douse Bourreau with sulphuric acid in the fifth chapter of the common route was Salome. She had been following them with the thought of helping Ceres and the others should anything happen, and took action once she realised Bourreau was still able to move. The words, ‘You let your guard down too easily’ were directed towards Ceres and Adolphe.

Hugo

The one person who clearly hates Ceres for being Death. In a different way from Adolphe, he is a man with normal emotions who is afraid to have the girl said to bring death next to the people he is close with, but because he seems to have lived for a long time it is not easy for him to say so openly. I think once you become an adult it gets difficult to tell the person you hate to their face that you hate them. I really did receive a lot of feedback on the emotions that he holds, and there were many things I was made to rethink.

Speaking of background information, he talks about having younger sisters in the game, but he actually has an older brother, making for four siblings in total. His reliver mark is on his back, with the meaning of bearing a household, his older brother also has his in the same spot.

Dahut

As an existence who would not even have been born in a world in a country with a lifespan of 18 years, because of his appearances throughout the second act, to Ankou he could be called an ‘error.’ He is the mastermind behind everything but if not for Dahut, Arpéchéle’s citizens would likely have continued to live closed off from the world, not realising its abnormality as a nation until the day they were invaded by other countries.

His background is that he has a younger appearance than his peers due to the stress he endured when he was younger, but Dahut doesn’t see this as a bad thing and instead uses it as a tool so that those around him will dote on him (let their guard down).

Nadia Proust

‘How could such a thing happen to such a good girl…..’, I received a lot of comments such as these and truth be told, I also agree. To the point that I was racking my brains when coming up with the plot trying to think of a way she could be saved. However, making up my mind that it wouldn’t be ShuuViru if I wrote something so convenient, I decided on that ending.

The scene where Nadia is set free in Lucas’s salvation ending was revised to be as it is at a truly late stage towards the end of development. I believe that it perhaps expresses the scene title ‘Blade of Release’ in the fullest possible way.

It is a regret of mine that we were not able to have a sprite of an older Nadia in the third act.

Capucine

Being the founder of the Exorcist religious organisation while also holding the position of a doctor, nowadays I think he really was a troublesome character. Because he deals with patients out of goodwill on the surface, wanting the fact that he is actually after money to not be too obvious, Capucine is the single character who had his design completely changed from the first draft. Although he has the role of being the villain who is most beyond saving in the game, as his motivations are firmly set it was very easy to move him around in the story.

The background that was most fun to come up with was actually his research lab.

Jean

Despite only ever being written from Mathis’s POV in the game, I had readied a personal history for both his false identity as Jean and his true one as Camille. Not only is it important when creating a story, I believe it shows just how serious “Camille’s feelings about reviving Rosalie” were, that he would go to the lengths of coming up with a history as Jean. It also adds to the feeling of a meticulous plan being put into place.

I also included various small details such as the words ‘Ma cherie Rosalie’ being written in blood on the wall of the underground research lab at Claude Manor along with engravings of the number of victims that wasn’t revealed in the game.

—Please tell us if there were any points that you were particular about when establishing the relationships between characters.

Perhaps it was that they wouldn’t only have positive feelings towards one another. That goes for the other characters towards Ceres, and also the other way around as well. Humans are not made up of only beautiful emotions, because it is not possible to be loved by everyone, I took care so that could be clearly seen, whether as individuals or as groups.

Also, there were actually relationships that came to light after we began writing the scenario! Unexpected chemical reactions occur when different characters come together, and that was especially true for the drinking party scene in the common route. That scene became the decisive blow for Adolphe’s becoming the long-suffering character in the group (laughs).

—Speaking of which, were there any scrapped characters that didn’t end up appearing?

In my first draft notes there was a con-man who had the tagline “The man who celebrates the fate of deceiving others”. His story was that he swindled people in order to save money to treat his sick sister, but once we had decided on Arpéchéle as the setting, thinking that, ‘If you continuously ran scams in a such a small country, you’d soon be found out’, the character was scrapped. The sick sister storyline was inherited by Lucas.

About the story

—Please tell us if there were any specific considerations you had in mind or things you were particular about in the process of writing the story.

It would be the point about, as much possible, not having everything turn out conveniently. In ‘ShuuViru’, an ending where all characters including the sub characters survive does not exist. You could say that it is realistic for happiness to be built on the sacrifice of others, I personally think that it is not possible for everyone to become happy. Nevertheless, when it came to the salvation routes, so that the characters who lost their lives in the events leading up to the ending wouldn’t become mere sacrificial pawns, I always kept it in mind to make all the lives and deaths feel meaningful.

And also, as it is an otome game, no matter the route, I took care not to neglect the “love” aspect.

—Please tell us if there were any troubles you experienced while writing the plot and scenario, or any interesting episodes that occurred during the writing process.

The foreshadowed reveals were really difficult…..the main writer Satomi Nakayama and I brought everything together after a lot of groaning and intensive discussion. There was also quite a bit of fine tuning on where to draw the line when it came to the despair. Going this far might be too much for an otome game, but at the same time since we’re talking about despair, we didn’t want to take a half-hearted approach to it.

As for an inside story, the truth is Adolphe was alive in the first draft of Scien’s route, but thinking that there wasn’t enough despair, and also so that Ankou would be able to talk about the truth after the end, we ended up changing it. Nowadays I think that perhaps might be one of the main reasons people who have played the game often tell me, ‘You’re heartless.’

—Please tell us if there was anything you were particular about in regards to the game system.

That the other salvation ends wouldn’t unlock until the third act’s salvation end was cleared was something that was decided on from the first. I’m sure it must have caused the players a lot of distress [doing it this way] but Ankou being the first one to be saved was a point I couldn’t compromise on. My thought was ‘Who on earth would I save first while leaving behind Ankou, who has continued to fight for the sake of Ceres’s smile for so long?’ Also, another reason was that I wouldn’t be able to write all that I wanted for each of the character’s salvation ends without all of the truths being revealed first. 

This isn’t related to the system, but I took as much care with how things were arranged in the game as time would allow me. From facial expressions, to the timing of changes in the BGM, the movements of the sprites…..I was very conscious of creating a display screen that allows players to immerse themselves in the story without losing interest. By including a lot of sprite cut-ins, not just in the everyday scenes, but in the fight ones as well, I hope that I was able to create a feeling of actually being at the scene.

—Please tell us if there was anything you were particular about when it came to romantic scenes.

Romance is but one aspect of human emotion, so I took care that the flow of the story up until that point wouldn’t feel unnatural. The aim wasn’t to create romantic scenes, but ones that expressed love.

My thought was that as [it is a game with] an overall brutal atmosphere, if I were to forcefully make it romantic, it might cause the kind of heartburn one gets from adding an absurdly large amount of sugar into bitter coffee (laughs).

I also took a lot of care that each of the characters would express their love in a way that was unique to them. 

—Please tell us about a love scene and ending that you were particularly fond of.

I am fond of all of them, but [for love scenes] it would be the proposal amongst the flames in Yves’s salvation route. The reason Yves is able to have the determination to accept everything, both good and bad, is because he is the type of person who has continuously accepted both kinds of emotions. Ceres’s responding with, ‘…..Idiot’ to Yves’s confession, is something I am particularly fond of as it is a response appropriate for a girl her age, in contrast to her usually constrained manner up until that point.

When it comes to endings, it would likely be Lucas’s despair end. Although it is a bad end seen objectively, from Lucas’s point of view it is a happy end in which he is able to become family with the person he loved and live out his last days together with them, as we had the BMG match up with that, I believe it became a scene which left an impression. Also, a ring on a white bony finger is a scenario that I have always wanted to do, I was glad I was able to make it happen.

—Apart from the love scenes and endings, were there any other scenes that you would like people to play close attention to?

It would be the scene where Ankou and Ceres meet, and he smears her lips with blood. It was something I had wanted to do right from the beginning of planning, and when we did, it really stood out visually, so it is a favourite of mine. I think it became a scene with two facets, on your first playthrough, it gives the impression of Ankou as someone suspicious, but when you look back on it after finding out the truth, you are able to feel his emotions and love [for Ceres]. 

—Finally, were there any scenes or routes that ended differently to what you had originally planned?

The same goes for each of the routes, but particularly for the third act, the number of scenarios became much more than we had envisioned. When it came to writing Adolphe and Ankou’s story it ended up becoming longer by necessity, both Nakayama—san and I sobbed over it together (laughs).

When it comes to something I can talk about now, there was actually one more pattern that we came up with for Lucas’s despair end. Roughly explained, it was that Lucas would decide Ceres was a ‘bad girl’ for trying to kill him and cut her down instead. He would raise a baby that was born at the moment of her death as Ceres’s reincarnation, and then when he was near the end of his lifespan, take her along with him in death saying, ‘Next time, let’s be reborn together’…..but it really wasn’t the kind of material that should appear in an otome game so I refrained.

About the sound

—Please tell us if there was anything you were particular about in regards to the BGM production. 

The fairly challenging discussion we had was to create a synthesis of ‘classical compositions that use string instruments and the like’ with ‘cyber techno style noise.’ I had the main theme ‘Shuuen no Virche -ErroR:salvation-’ created first, and even now remembering getting goosebumps hearing the part where the techno noise comes in just before the climax thinking, ‘This is it!’ Just like with the character’s clothing, the techno noise was used as the main music for things with a strong connection to the research lab and relivers, while the classical sound was used for the Drifter legend and everyday life scenes.

Parts of the BGM also feature arrangements from the main theme, which I think is most obvious in tracks like ‘Kaihou no Katsuro -Break-.’

For this game, we asked Ichikawa Jun-san, who has created a lot of BGMs for anime and dramas [to be the composer], his work further expands on the imagery of the scenes for which it is used, there were truly many compositions that went beyond my expectations. There were very few retakes, most were given the OK from the get-go!

-Please tell us if there were any incidents that occurred during the voice recording stage that left an impression.

The voices we heard during the tests were pretty much as I had imagined them to be, so there wasn’t much by way of finetuning. Everyone had thoroughly read through the scenarios and materials, so it felt as if it wasn’t necessary. It was very reassuring when Yoshimasa Hosoya, who voiced Scien suggested, ‘I think this kind of atmosphere would be good for this scene.’

Another event that left an impression was the commotion caused in the booth by how overly realistic Lucas’s voice actor Daisuke Hirakawa’s acting was in the scene where he vomits blood. We were all on edge saying, ‘He isn’t really vomiting blood, is he?!’ (laughs)

—Is there a scene that became more impactful once the voice acting was added?

It would be the scene in Mathis’s route where different memories are downloaded into him one after the other. Along with Kouhei Amasaki’s blood curdling performance, it becomes more obvious that, ‘Mathis’s personality is being replaced’, increasing the atmosphere of despair.

Another is the scene in the third act with Ankou’s line, ‘I want to see Ceres, I can't see Ceres.’ Because of Kazuyuki Okitsu’s performance, I think the amount of pain he went through for centuries feels all the more real. …..If I were to speak about everything in detail, I could go on for quite a while, truth be told, everything became more impactful (laughs).

—Please tell us if you had any special thoughts in regards to the main theme songs, or if you have any anecdotes regarding their production.

OP: Lycoris no Ai (Lycoris Love)

I had a number of detailed requests when it came to the lyrics, so I ended up causing a lot of trouble for LOVERIN TAMBURIN-san…..

I think people who have played the game must have noticed, but the lyrics have a small trick to them, the first time you hear them it is from Ceres’s POV, and then once all has been revealed, become lyrics from Ankou’s POV. I would be happy if my aim to have everyone enjoy even the lyrics was at least slightly achieved. ‘The flowers of demise are an illusion coloured by death’ and ‘I will love you forevermore’ are phrases I am particularly fond of.

Despair ED: Shuuen no Yume (Dreams of Demise) 

From the image of being bound hand and foot, rendered immobile by a fate of death, the discussion was to make a song with a tempo and rhythm that was difficult to take up and hard to sing. Fundamentally speaking, the despair ends are situations in which [the characters] have lost to Arpéchéle’s twisted technology and way of life, so it is noisier and has more of a cyber feel than the OP…..it was that sort of atmosphere I asked them to emphasise.

Salvation ED: Junpaku no Kyuuzai (Pure White Salvation)

The keywords for the song were without a doubt ‘salvation’ and ‘normality.’ For this one, with the meaning of being released from a twisted way of life, I asked that there be none of the [electronic] noisy feel from the OP and despair ED. Also, in the OP there is a line, ‘Taken away by errors, I lost my emotions (heart)’, but in the salvation ED there is, ‘I will live tomorrow following my emotions (heart)’ ….. I am particularly fond of the fact it feels as if part of the phrases in it are in opposition to the OP.

*

—What was the response like after the game released?

Since I challenged myself with this title in creating different kinds of themes and endings, character relationships and behaviours, I had steeled myself to receive all types of feedback. However, after receiving passionate messages and comments of support, I was honestly as much surprised as I was happy as I hadn’t expected that so many people would end up playing the game. We have received many comments from those who are looking forward to new developments, so as staff we feel blessed to be in such a position.

—Were there any reactions or requests from fans that particularly left an impression?

It would be [comments about] liking not just one of the characters but all of them. There are many who say they are ‘hako oshi’ (TL Note: people who are fans of all of the characters) when it comes to ShuuViru….I am conscious that is something to feel very gratified about.

Another thing is that there were many comments about wanting to know the origins of the characters’s names as well as their birthdays. It would take a very long time to talk about the origins of all of them, as each of the characters has a meaningful name. If I am blessed with another opportunity at some point, please allow me to take the time to talk about them properly.

In this book I am also introducing the birthdays for the sub characters for the first time as well. Since it has still been only slightly less than a year since this title was released and making them official would constitute spoilers for the third act, we haven’t yet been able to celebrate them, but please allow me to leave behind my ambition of celebrating all the characters someday here.

 —[The fanbook] this time includes Yomi-san’s omake comics and illustrations, how did the creation of those come about?

Yomi-san kindly sent them to me saying, ‘So I’ve drawn these as a bit of fun.....’ However, each time I look at them I tilt my head in puzzlement, ‘She did these “for fun”.....? Aren’t these beyond the level of mere doodles?’ During the busy development period I kept them on my PC desktop as a source of encouragement.

There weren’t any back sketches of Yves, Adolphe and Ankou at the time of design, so once it was decided this book would be created, I had her grant my selfish wish to have some drawn.

—Please tell us if there is anything you have planned for the future, or anything else you would like to do.

In September, [Virche] is in the lineup for Otomate Party 2022, so speaking of the near future that would be one of them.

When it comes to something I would like to see, it would be the characters moving around on stage in a play or musical. Because the clothing designs are very showy and splendid, I think the fight scenes would really stand out!

No matter what form it may be in, I would be happy to be able to show the world of ShuuViru once more. I am striving forward with it firmly in my mind that no matter what kind of new developments there are, it must be something that is able to answer the expectations of everyone who has shown their support.

—Lastly, please give us a message for the fans.

To those holding this book, and those who have played ‘Shuuen no Virche’, I am truly grateful. The reason I have been able to work on these various developments is solely due to everyone’s support. Let me take this opportunity to thank you all once more.

Going through material from the first stage of development in the process of creating this book, thinking, ‘How nostalgic, there used to be these kinds of scenes, I would liked to have written this,’ has been very emotional. I am happy from the bottom of my heart to have been granted this opportunity.

When and why did you begin creating?

I couldn’t say. I’ve written stories since I was tiny. There have been times away from it, but I always return to stories. They are a unique frustration, challenge, and reward.

Art is different. I drew a little bit when I was young but I found it very frustrating that I didn’t have natural talent: ie, I wasn’t perfect out of the gate. I came back to it in 2018 or so.

The more I create, the more I WANT to create, the more things I want to try out. I just created my first podfic. I’ve made quilts. I like to cook. Creation is a vital part of the human condition, and I’m embracing the hell out of that.

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How did you pick the name you create under?

My name has ties to my fandom name, which I’ve had for over 20 years, so it’s an homage to that. The rest just sounded good. Sometimes that all it takes! At one point I thought I would separate out all my different creations: the T rated from the E rated, the art from the writing, all with different names… But it feels like a lot of effort. I think, in theory, it’s good to have people out there who admit they don’t have a singular focus.

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What do you consider to be your strengths as a creator?

I think I’m better at shorter, punchier writing, and I feel good about my ability to dig into a character and understand their motivations, so their choices feel like a natural extension of themselves. I also really enjoy studying and working on structure, so that thematically, a story works well and has a consistent thread. I’m getting better at editing with these things in mind, so my stories are always getting stronger.

As an artist, I’m still very ‘young.’ I think my real strength is that I love it, and I keep practicing, and I have a pretty good sense of where I’ve gone wrong.

Overall, I’m trying to be better at taking feedback, because I know it makes me better! And being on the editor side of things has really helped me understand where that’s coming from, so I think I get better at taking and integrating feedback with every submission.

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What do you consider to be your weaknesses as a creator?

sweats

Well. On the one hand, everything, but on the other, I know that I can’t compare myself to my favorite creators and say that I fall short of them.

I think that struggling to take feedback and integrate it has been a weakness, and I’m working on that, now.

I find it hard to focus on any project or media type for a long period of time, and this is a real struggle because it means that my progress is very stop-and-go, and then, as I move from project to project, I lose time and progress because the iterations are interrupted. However, this is also a good thing, because every type of creation feeds every other type, and I learn a lot that I CAN transfer to the next project, even if I do have to take time to get back to speed. I mostly accept that this is how my brain works, but it can be very frustrating.

With writing, I think my lack of iteration holds me back. I get a decent first draft, but it’s hard for me to rewrite it more than once, and so I find it hard to reach a fine polish.

With art, I need to work on composition and accurate figures, especially in more interesting poses. I’m always thinking about composition, contrast, interest, and while I have decent ideas on how to improve it, the technical ability isn’t there quite yet.

I recognize a lot of weaknesses in my work, but I also recognize that I’m getting better, and that my progress is always going to be slower than people who are able to concentrate on one form. Accepting where I am helps me work on the weaknesses without getting down on myself.

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What do the phrases “writer’s block” or “art block” mean to you?

I have, more with art than writing, a block on finishing pieces I’m excited about because I have a fear of ruining them, I think. I don’t want to close down the potential of what it COULD be by making it something inferior. Done is better than perfect, and my head knows it, but my heart is holding out for perfection. Or maybe the other way around.

Writer’s block is so much about expectations, deadlines, getting into my own head about how something will be received before I’ve completed it. The more pressure is on, the harder it is to finish.

I think all blocks are just grasping, at their core. I kind of think all the things that hold us back are that: trying to control things that aren’t ours to control.

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Are you a pantser, a planner, or a planster? What’s your process look like?

I could write about process forever, but I’ll try to summarize it, here.

I’m a planster. For short stories, I tend to have a good sense of where I’m going, but not necessarily how I’m going to get there. Once in a while I’ll just be stuck on a single moment or scene, but most of the time, it’s a general sense of the arc of the story, and I have to fill it in to make the ending feel natural. I write the story based on the idea, and then, often, it turns out that’s not what the story was about. When I read it back, the core character change, or story arc, or fallout, is not what I’d intended at all. I love when that happens, it feels like I took a side road and came upon a beautiful pond with water lilies.

The rewrite is where I dial in on that new information, that new reason for the story. The first draft is where I usually, by the end, understand what the story really wants to be about.

I don’t always rewrite. Often, I just tweak. I’ll rewrite a scene or two, change transitions, and update awkward sentences.

For novels… well, if I ever figure it out, I’ll let you know. But I have used the snowflake method before, just for a bit of a sketch, and that has been the most helpful process so far.

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Which of your own creations is your favorite? Why?

I think anytime I have a favorite it’s because I feel like I explored something in an interesting, engaging way. I’m thinking of a specific fanfic that used a crack premise to explore a character’s self-loathing, and to help them process it. It was heartfelt and it had a weight to it that I liked, and some moments that made me really emotional.

For Duck Prints, I wrote a story in the anthology, A Truth Universally Acknowledged. That story, A Constant, Fearful Longing, has a specific Austen-esque voice, and a specific and challenging character shift. I love the language use and the way the character changes in small increments throughout the story. It was very challenging to write, I scrapped another version that was too complicated and wrote this one. Making the story lighter on plot created a lot of space and allowed for a deeper exploration of each moment.

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Which of your own creations is your least favorite? Why?

There is a lot of writing (and art) that isn’t my favorite. Typically, they’re the pieces where I’m learning. I’m trying to execute something I’m not completely sure how to do, yet, and I fail for a while. That’s learning. That’s growing. I mean, the result isn’t my favorite, but that doesn’t really matter. I have to practice to get good, there really is no other way. Talent means nothing to me. Practice is the only thing that’s gotten me anywhere, and it improves me as a person, so… Yeah, the pieces aren’t my favorite, but they’re just sort of–the proof that I’m doing the work on the way to a better creation.

Okay, well, actually, there is one piece I have that is published (I won’t tell you which one!) that I’m unhappy with because it was tentative. I couldn’t sink into the characters because I was writing in an environment I wasn’t familiar with, and my research didn’t give me a comfort level that made any of it feel natural. I felt like I was one word away from showing my ignorance as every turn. And that piece is weak because I was afraid of showing my lack of skill and knowledge, and every sentence in that piece tells the reader that. They say write what you know, and I think this is what they mean. Know enough not to be tentative. If you’re not comfortable with the subject matter, you cannot fool your readers into thinking you are.

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Describe your ideal creation space.

Comfortable, cozy and ergonomic! I haven’t found it yet, but I’m on the hunt!

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What are your favorite tropes?

I love a two-person love triangle, a case of ‘I want you desperately but I must resist’, and mutual pining. Honestly, I love a million tropes, and there is basically nothing that can’t be done in a way I enjoy, even if I don’t typically like it. I’m easy for good writing, what can I say?

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If you could give one piece of advice to a new creator who came to you for help, what would that advice be?

Creating things is about two things, as far as I can tell: doing the thing, and living a life that feeds the thing. So, if you want to write, you need to write things down. Don’t think about them for years until they’re perfect, don’t wait to watch the right tutorial: write it down. Do it again. When you’re tired and run down and have run out of ideas, go do something that feeds your brain with something new. Have a deep conversation with a friend, read a book (not a craft book on ‘how-to’), watch a documentary, go down a weird wiki rabbithole, visit a new place, learn a new skill.

The spark comes from living. The skill comes from doing. There’s a lot you can do to hone a craft, but those are the only things you need to actually create and get better.

Beyond that, from a writing perspective, nothing has leveled me up like reading a lot of other peoples’ first drafts, and then their second and third drafts, etc. Other peoples’ stories, their mistakes and blind spots, are much easier to see than your own. Through that lens, you can see where you can level up. A writer’s group is invaluable in this way, and I highly recommend it.

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What motivates you to create?

I would love to say I create in a vacuum, that I create for myself and nothing else matters. But, even when I am creating something incredibly personal that is changing me (and this happens… not infrequently, but not every time), I’m still making it to share.

I went to a retreat, once, and came out of it so full of peace and equinimity that I didn’t create anything for two months. I had no need to. I had nothing to prove, nothing to explore, I was just very happy, being.

Creating for me is often about expressing something personal, but it’s creating something personal as a way of connecting with other people. Offering a shared experience. And sometimes, it’s not so much the personal as it is meeting a challenge (writing to a prompt or a call for submission). Doing something hard just to work through the puzzle of it. Explore the way it all fits together, what works and what doesn’t. Finding satisfying ways to fit the pieces together. And then, yeah, showing it to other people. Hopefully getting some recognition that I did something good or clever or fitting.

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How do you maintain your work/life balance? How do you fit creating around your other responsibilities, time commitments, and challenges, such as job(s), family, and disabilities?

I have a chronic illness and it doesn’t affect me in ways that other people recognize, but it exhausts me fairly regularly. I can go months where I’m exhausted, messy, overwhelmed and experience brain fog. I have a full time job, and just getting through the day there is more than enough to keep me busy on most days. So, I fit in creation where I can. Just as my inability to focus on one project or type of work for too long causes problems with my creative process, so does my disease. I’ve had to just accept that it will happen, and I try to communicate about it clearly when there are deadlines coming up.

Balance is not about applying myself in equal percentages. At any point in life, something will require more of me than other things. Sometimes my health takes 80% of my energy, and the job takes the rest. And sometimes I don’t know if I’m in a place where I need to work harder to get through a block, or take it easy. It’s just testing it out, every time. Take a nap and see if it’s any better. Work through it and see if it’s any worse. Accept that my body won’t always let me do all the things I want to do, and neither will my mind (that fickle beast), and so I just have to work with them both, challenge them from time to time, and apply myself where the largest percentage of me in that day or hour.

1. How long have you been creating KakaIru fanworks?

I have been creating KakaIru fanworks since December of 2021.

2. What are you working on right now?

I am currently working on a piece for pride month, I haven’t figured out all of the details yet.

3. What is your favorite trope to create for?

My favorite trope to create for would probably have to be Rivals to Lovers/misunderstanding. I always find myself doodling Iruka and Kakashi being a bit fractious towards each other. I made up an entire B-plot for my magical girl AU just for this trope. It’s kind of a slow burn, Kakashi and Iruka horribly misunderstanding each other and then can’t stand each other as a result. It slowly clears up and they fall in love with each other in the end.

4. Which of your creations is your favorite, and why?

My favorite creation is this one I made about Mermaid Iruka and human Kakashi.

This is older art for a February prompt in the KakaIru discord server, I was thinking about that scene in The Little Mermaid where Ariel saves Prince Eric from drowning. I remember being really proud of it when I finished it.

5. Do you have any WIPs you’re excited about?

There is this one fic that I have been working on for a while, it needs some reworking and an ending but I am really confident about it.

6. Do you have any original characters? If so, tell us about them!

Haha I have way too many, a handful of them I have made just to ship them with my favorite characters. My most recent one is Yoshi Amamiya, she is 27 and a Jounin sensei who specializes in transformation jutsu (more specifically animal transformation) with water nature Chakra. Her birthday is July 19th, she has short red hair (heavily inspired by young Chariot Du Nord from Little Witch Academia), yellow irises, she is tall, 5’9 or 175.26 cm, yet slender with a more rectangular body type. She has a prosthetic arm and leg on the left side due to an ambush involving excessive paper bombs.

Yoshi is a sensei to a team of 2 girls, Suzu and Mai, and 1 boy, Akio. She is very close to her team but she has the tendency to mother them instead of being a teacher to them. Her favorite meal is Tamago Kake Gohan (a bowl of rice with raw egg). Her favorite thing to do when she isn’t on missions or busy training with her team is going for walks in the forest and finding a nice soft area of grass to rest in. She also knits occasionally.

7. What was your hardest piece to create, and why?

The hardest piece I have created was my Secret Santa gift, everything had to be just right, or at least close to it. The lights, the snow, the height differences, I wanted this to look good for the person receiving my gift and it took a long time to finish because of that. They loved it though and that’s what matters.

8. Do you have any favorite scenes from something you’ve created?

Yes, there is this one scene in my fic “Squeeze You” where Kakashi is messing with Iruka and mocking the Hallmark movies she is currently watching. It’s so sweet and I love it.

9. Where does your inspiration come from?

My inspiration for my more moodier pieces comes from my personal experiences, songs that really speak to me on a more emotionally raw level, and anime with a deep meaning and emotional maturity. Houseki No Kuni and Violet Evergarden are a few examples.

The others I create are inspired by scenery, pieces of fiction, and upbeat anime. Ghibli films are a big inspiration, I hope to one day be able to portray whimsical or comforting scenes, wonderful scenery, and also tell an enjoyable story like the creators in this company does.

10. Which of your creations is the most meaningful to you, and why?