Midveil
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My personal thoughts + warnings about coly inc. and AI usage here. Just be aware that this doesn’t necessarily mean they will use generative AI for the final illustrations. ]
This is a continuation of my ongoing series where I react to the character designs of Spalik.
The series: UPbeats! | aMazINC | Endelore
PLEASE NOTE: I may not necessarily be super positive about the designs, so if you feel this will affect your enjoyment or excitement for the project, then I advise you not read.
An elegant three-person group based in Crystal Float, enchanting audiences with midnight dreams. They are ephemeral and beautiful, like lovers from within dreams.
Elie Cendrillon (Cinderella)
CV: Nobunaga Shimazaki
“Let me bring you a gentle dream, if only for a fleeting moment.”
His icon is ⌛️
Midveil’s center and leader.
He radiates a flawless brilliance on stage.
Dedicated to give those who support him the best, most dream-like experience he can.
LOL, everyone was right about Silver’s VA voicing this guy. (Does he get typecasted as the noble prince a lot or something?? Vil would kill him for this/j) JP fans have been joking that Elie is “golden” Silver and placing the two side-by-side to say, “It’s the same picture!!”
We already saw Cinderfella in an early promotional image, so I can’t say I’m all too surprised by his reveal here. I have to say, his hair and face are super generic. I like the outfit alright, but the only Cinderella elements I can really pick out are the carriage-esque brooch, the headband + earrings (which resemble hers), and maybe the colors. My favorite element is the jacket draped over his shoulders, it’s so regal and the interior lining is kinda fun to look at. Wish the pocketwatch he's holding was actually part of the outfit and not just an item he holds. It could easily hang off his waist, a pocket, etc.
Close enough, welcome back, Eichi—
The name for this one is simple enough to pick apart! "Elie" seems to be derived from the -ella part of Cinderella. His surname, Cendrillon, is Cinderella, but in French.
His description unfortunately doesn’t tell me anything about his personality?? If anything, Elie just sounds kinda bland and perfect at everything. I personally enjoy princely types and all, but it's an issue if he, as a character I'm supposed to get attached to, has zero flaws. I hope he has a chance to prove us wrong on this, cuz it would suck if the poster boy for your game is milquetoast💀
Ash Fragile (Glass Slipper)
CV: Shogo Yano
"Without good input, you can't have good output."
His icon is 👞
He maintains a cool demeanor towards everyone.
Gives the impression of being cold.
He places deep trust in those he lets into his heart.
Has a “younger brother” side in which he relies on others.
I was SO convinced that this one was going to be Drizella (based on the image color being a muted green) and the other one was Anastasia (since the remaining one is a muted pink). But??? It’s not??? I initially had no clue what this character was supposed to be until I saw the shoe emoji and the name ASH FRAGILE. That’s??? The glass slipper???
If this were not a “Disney inspired” character, then Ash would just look like another blue-haired anime pretty boy and I would be fine with the design. I actually do really like his gallant uniform, the shade of blue his hair is, the lashes, and the mole. Very Himmel the Hero coded/j
The style of the hair is… not great. It reads as “any shounen bishounen ever”. Like, it works, but it does not stand out. In fact, Ash’s hair looks like ASHE’S hair (a character from Fire Emblem: 3 Houses).
But… glass slipper??? Really? I don’t see it. A friend did point out to me that he has iridescent “shards” in his eyes and hair (which is very pretty), but that’s such a small—and seemingly only—visual detail to point to his glass slipper origins. I’m glad they didn’t just stick a shoe-shaped pin to his chest and call it a day, but I don’t know if the minimal visual cues is a good direction to swing in. I wish he had more iridescent accessories or sheer fabric to invoke the idea of glass.
At least the name is a dead giveaway? “Ash” like the cinders Cinderella is covered in. The German version of the story refers to Cinderella as “Ashenputtel” too. And then “Fragile” as the surname cuz the slipper is made of glass. In the film, one of the slippers breaks but Cinderella provides the other in the pair, which secures her a happily ever after.
The personality is… interesting? I’m not opposed to having a more aloof character; I think it adds variety to the cast and enhances potential for conflict. It’s also nice that we have a “little brother” type to help balance out the like 5 “big brother” types (2 from UPbeats!, all 3 in aMazINC) we saw before this. However, I do find it curious that the two characters based on objects—Ash and Sous, the rose—are the least… amicable? Like Ash is distant + distrustful and Sous is sarcastic. I wonder if that was intentional or if it’s just me thinking too hard about how they interpreted glass and thorns, which obviously wouldn’t be nice to handle.
Trein… they made your important historical thesis artifact into an otouto… 😔 My condolences.
Rent Fragile (Other Glass Slipper)
CV: Makoto Furukawa
“Those two always overwork themselves. Honestly, I wonder who they take after.”
His icon is 📷
A brilliant and versatile all-rounder, excelling in both singing and dancing.
Has a cool, composed, mature demeanor and a sharp eye for critically assessing situations.
Ash, a fellow member of Midveil, is his younger brother.
Oh look, grown-up Epel/j
… What is this… His surname matches Ash’s, so HE’S THE OTHER GLASS SLIPPER??? And another big brother figure? (Which makes 6 total in the cast!) What a waste of a perfectly good character slot 😭 I have nothing to say about this guy that didn’t also already apply to Ash; just what about this (other than the eyes and hair being slightly iridescent) says “glass slipper”?
What does the 📷 emoji even mean
They should have at least done something visually to indicate to the audience which of the glass slippers broke or which one was left behind. Maybe this could be done via their characters or interactions? Right now I’m suspecting Ash is the one that breaks/is left behind, since he has the “meaner” personality, which makes me think of the jagged edges of glass shards. (Update: you can sort of guess which brother is which if you look at the full-body art; Ash has a more detailed shoe on his right and Rent has a more detailed shoe on his left.)
Why is his name Rent 😭 I’m sure there’s some meaning behind it, but my brain defaults to “I let you live here for free and I don’t even charge you rent” from Wish.
Rent's personality is another bland, perfect one, which makes this group two for three. At least his cool and mature personality differentiates him from Elie a bit, but I feel like we’ve gotten so many “he’s so good at this” type statements in these brief character descriptions. If I were in charge of writing these, I’d make them more distinct?? Cuz I think being part of an idol unit to begin with already implies they’re crazy good to some degree…
General thoughts
I know the Mid- is from “midnight”, but it kinds looks like Mid- as in, “average, mediocre” 😭 WhICH pROBABlY iS NOT fWGat THEY AiMED FOR, but it feels that way because of how non-descriptive the group leader and center’s personality is.
Like with Endelore, I like their uniforms overall, but the characters themselves are not great.
Pastel colors are nice!! It fits the dreamy aesthetic.
It should have been the stepsisters and not the glass slippers… I would take the pumpkin carriage, Prince Charming, the Fairy Godmother, even the MICE. The image colors were so Anastasia and Drizella coded and I feel they would have played off of Elie better.
They really should have better differentiated between the glass slippers (one abandoned and broken, the other pristine). I should not have to stare at their feet to tell which brother is which.
The glass slipper bros were a huge disappointment in the context of them being based on Disney characters; they would otherwise be perfectly serviceable anime boys.
Ash is the second object-inspired character in Spalik, and Rent is the third. This may be a conspiracy theory, but I wonder if Spalik devs borrowed the idea of making characters inspired by famous Disney items from Yana, who has twisted things like the poison apple. Not saying that object gijinka is taboo or that Yana invented it, I just think most devs would go the obvious route and make characters based on iconic Disney characters rather than props with very few characteristics or personifications. If you look at Disney’s many other collabs with gijinkaizations, there’s like no collections where the Disney items are center stage, it’s always the super marketable faces of the characters. So my crackpot theory is that Yana proved personifying items works to make unique and effective characters, so Spalik tried to do the same.
I noticed a trend where some of the characters (like Ash, Lisse, Elie, etc.) have longer lashes than the other guys, I guess to make them look soft and feminine. I think a great way they could have differentiated the character designs is putting more effort into giving each guy their own eye shape and style of lash like Twst does. Every character in Twst is unique and it would be difficult to confuse them for another, even if the characters are blood-related/share features. Yeah, I know same face syndrome is the standard in animanga and Yana’s a huge exception, but if you’re going to make two Disney mobile gacha games inspired by the characters, then these comparisons will be made.
