Design wise I really love Itoku, he really sticks out from a lot of the other characters (partly due to a friend I used to have helping me come up with his current design that I just happened to keep). Heās one of the few guys in the story that has short hair seeing as most of them have long hair which I kept as a moreĀ āculturalā thing the Demyra have.
I almost feel that DIVE follows him more than Robina spite her being the main character. I will admit that heās probably one of my favourite characters that Iāve come up with, thereās been a lot of tweaking to Itoku over the years. He actually started out as an antagonistic character but I completely flipped his role in the story, made him a lot more grounded and perhaps down to earth than what I had him.Ā
With regards to his physique I wanted to make him somewhat strong looking but nothing ridiculous, I didnāt want to make him as beefy as Isontaro or some of the other characters even if he is strong in his own right. I was very tempted to go fullĀ ādad bodā with him but I made him a bit leaner than that. I think with his job, the amount of travelling and moving he does he wouldnāt have time to be idle so I couldnāt see him being that type.
When it came to his outfit, I once again with something practical in mind. I wanted something to reflect what he mainly does for what heād wear. I also kept in mind where he normally lives (the realm of Tyrrenia which is typically fairly cold - winter is a big thing there) and the fact that one of his main elements is fire so being all snuggly and warm wouldnāt bother him (hence the fur hooded jacket). I actually kept his outfit I came up with a while underneath the coat (Iām sure thereās photos that Iāve drawn even fairly recently with him wearing it). I cannot see myself changing his outfit design overall. He wonāt be wearing the same thing 24/7 (I think itās strange that a lot of manga/anime have this for their characters but I digress) but this is what youāll primarily see him in.
His design overall is solid and wonāt be changing. I cannot see myself tweaking anything, heās one of the few characters thatās perfect the way he is.