#flameshe

Beginning with the concept art from the art book - like majority of LOM's NPCs, Flameshe was designed by Nao Ikeda. As usual, I'll be typing in the illustrator notes, since the text in the photos always are out of focus for some reason...

There's quite a lot of notes to get through here, most of which relates to the cut quest line involving Flameshe.

Her primary character concept appears to be "Mermaid Princess with Burning Scales," which is elaborated on in the text to the right:

Her upper body resembles an angelfish, symbolizing her pure heart, like that of an angel. However, her creator gave her a lower body with "cursed, scorching scales." While she's underwater, the water acts as a membrane, sealing her flaming scales, but it turns to vapor once she is exposed to air. Her tail then ignites, causing her entire body to burn, transforming her into the "enchantress of purgatory." Land where introduced ->Birdcage Lighthouse

The lower left text repeats some of these info for emphasis:

Her burning scales are covered in a membrane, and when that membrane disappears, she becomes a demon that burns everything. She has an angelfish motif, and as the name implies, she's an angel - but she's also a mermaid princess who was given the lower body of a demon. (Ikeda)

The bit about Flameshe's scales having the ability to burst into flames is cut out from Legend of Mana's story proper - there are bits and pieces remaining in LOM that could refer to Flameshe's innate nature as a destructive fire, with Drowned Dreams implying that the soldiers were searching for Flameshe in the quest for the ultimate firearm in Polpota.

However, this isn't definite, and in A Siren's Song, Monique seems to say that Flameshe simply dries out if she exposes herself too much to the sun. The player takes advantage of the fact Flameshe has to warp away to be able to sneak inside the Birdcage Lighthouse.

Back to the concept, Flameshe and Elle are closely tied together and I guess these two characters were always written to share a story, and it carries over somewhat in LOM, since Flameshe talks about Elle more than she does about Monique. As noted above, Flameshe was even planned to be introduced at Birdcage Lighthouse.

Monique doesn't have an entry in the concept art, so I'm guessing she actually wasn't designed by either Shinichi Kameoka or Nao Ikeda (my evidence for the latter is Monique is not present in the anniverary art Nao Ikeda made for the series, which features everyone she designed). Monique also seems to be a character that was made later on in the game cycle - and if I have to guess, Monique being added to cast changed the story, and in a way she seems to have saved both Elle and Flameshe.

I say this since the event quest featuring Elle and Flameshe for Echoes of Mana seems to have been a restored version of their original questline, and it plays out like a fairytale with bittersweet ending. I think that bittersweet ending was averted in LOM because Monique was there to be a voice of reason for these two (and also because Shiloh/Serafina helped out).

I didn't actually play this EoM, however, so I think it's best to look elsewhere to find more information about that story, but in any case, it's interesting to think about how the original lore of the character is displaced because of writing other stories. There does seem to be a nod to the original questline in Nao Ikeda's anniversary art, though:

The fact that Thesenis is reaching out to Flameshe seems to be a reference to the fact Thesenis was also involved in that story. This anniversary art came out before Echoes of Mana though, so I'm not sure.

Now, to talk about Flameshe's actual design:

Nao Ikeda included some chibi versions of the characters, with her saying she does it to figure out character silhouettes, and this chibi version is labeled "A devoted angel with tropical colors. Angelfish + clione sea slug mermaid."

I was initially confused about the whole description of Flameshe having an angelfish motif because she doesn't like a freshwater angelfish - but then I realized there are marine angelfish, which come in bright colors like Flameshe's, and marine angelfish also sometimes have long, trailing ends to their dorsal fins, which may have been the inspiration for Flameshe's head fins and back/shoulder fins.

I think it also is a pun of some sort - Flameshe's back/shoulder fins look like angel wings! Angelfish character = angel wings, but fins.

The chibi version also mentions clione sea slugs as an inspiration - which are also sometimes called sea angels, so it's double the angel reference for Flameshe. Clione sea slugs have bright, orange centers with their bodies being transparent, and it's reflected in Flameshe's tail design which has an outer membrane of water and is brightly red within - the ruffly shape of her tail fins also evoke the clione sea slug.

Man, I will never be not impressed by Nao Ikeda's design game, she's so good at reimagining natural sights into characters.

Flameshe also has an interesting color palette, being predominantly bright red-orange as a symbol of her nature as a fire, and then with green and purple touches as contrasts and complements.

If one does compare the concept to the official art, there are a few changes:

The bulk of the design was kept the same, Shinichi Kameoka is actually very faithful to Nao Ikeda's concepts -

However, in the final artwork, only the topmost head fins were kept, her back/shoulder fins aren't as long, and the fishnet-like waist belt/ shawl was also removed. In Nao Ikeda's art, it's hard to pick out in the concept since Flameshe's arm covers her chest, but her back/shoulder fin actually extends down to cover half of her chest (it's easier to see in the chibi version - though, oddly, this asymmetrical detail swaps positions between the chibi and the concept).

In Shinichi Kameoka's version, Flameshe wears green chest pieces on both sides.

If I have to guess for why that is - I love asymmetrical designs and layered details, don't get me wrong, but Flameshe's design is very crowded, and removing some elements doesn't change the overall shape of her already distinct silhouette. The additional head fins are cute, as well as the fishnet accessory, but it does add more visual noise without contributing to the character's storytelling, so for the sake of simplicity I think it was a good call to cut down some design flairs.

I'm just a hobbyist digital artist and art enthusiast though, so definitely don't think I'm an authority on anything ahaha, feel free to diasgree with me.

Seeing the full concept and then looking at the official art did make me realize Flameshe still wears a water membrane over her tail, but it's not as clear as in the concept. I always wondered why her upper tail section had these smoke-like patterns, but now I know about Flameshe's water membrane and fiery scales, and it's a good way to combine the two concepts.

I am sorta struggling drawing Flameshe and picking whether to go with the Kameoka version or maybe use some of Nao Ikeda's design choices knowing all these now whoops.