#over chrome

I can't get enough of these two, and in my quest for some scraps of background info I realized that the japanese wikipedia page for glass heart has quite a bit of stuff on them (based on the novels). It's actually pretty fascinating and informative, although i am glad they made Mahiro a somewhat more palatable character in the drama lol T/N: things in " " are what I am assuming were direct quotes from the novels or from the author.

Shinzaki Tōya (真崎桐哉) – born November 12, 24 years old by the final volume. Vocalist of the music unit “Oversight Cybernaided Chromatic Bladeforce” (commonly called Over Chrome). He also writes lyrics and composes, while arrangement and production are done jointly with Arisugawa Mahiro. He uses piano, synthesizer, and guitar for composing. On stage he sometimes plays guitar and blues harp. Possesses a certain kind of charisma. Smokes Virginia Slims. The unit name was influenced by works such as Blade Runner, and he hopes to one day work on film soundtracks.

His hobbies include movies, games, going to the gym, driving, snowboarding, shopping, dabbling in DJing, and "Fujitani-watching". Before forming Over Chrome he drifted from band to band, obsessed with singing, but because of the difference in passion between himself and those around him, he repeatedly formed bands only to disband them after a short time. When introduced to Arisugawa by Saeki Osamu, he was weary of human relationships and formed a unit aiming for “mechanical music” that did not use the raw sounds produced by humans.

He likes black, so his clothing is almost always all black (to the point that his fans, reaching 'cult-member' levels, also tend to dress all in black). He prefers silver rings and red earrings/piercings. Even when he hides his eyes with sunglasses, his outfit makes him recognizable to those who know.

He has a self-centered personality - if he dislikes someone he will either ignore the harassment directed towards them or let it escalate without concern, and he can casually say or do things that seem very cruel from the outside. He has a foul mouth, but he is the type to argue logically and stick to principles; when he was angry at a magazine interviewer, Akane described him as “getting angry in a way that’s like arming himself with logic.”

He does not trust people who use a lot of empty flattery or pretty words, and prefers those who speak their true feelings straightforwardly.

He has had a variety of part-time jobs in the past (in music, customer service, nightlife, delivery, odd-jobs, resort work, etc.). At the musical instrument shop where he worked for two years he was an excellent employee and still has a good relationship with the shop. He is apparently on good terms with Rage (t/n: romanization?) from Z-Out, which shows his more friendly side.

He is the younger half-brother of Fujitani Naoki. For certain reasons he was raised together with Fujitani until around age six, and learned piano from his mother. But his mother began paying attention only to Fujitani, the so-called “child of the mistress,” more than to him, and even called Tōya 'Naoki-kun', so much that he nearly forgot his own name. In response, his biological father had Fujitani adopted out, and the problem seemed resolved, but even now Tōya sometimes has nightmares and mutters resentments toward his mother; when he becomes emotionally overwhelmed he can only sleep under the grand piano. His stage surname Shinzaki is his mother’s maiden name. Because of this family background he does not really think of Fujitani as an older brother, though he understands Fujitani’s difficult personality to some extent and, especially regarding music, views him as a rival, sometimes sarcastically calling him 'Oniichan'. After Fujitani started keeping a cat at home, Tōya is sometimes summoned to care for it when Fujitani is away, and though he complains, he takes the responsibility.

He once declared, “I hate the members of TENBLANK and their individual musical styles,” and often teases Akane, whom Fujitani discovered, but after hearing her drumming he described her as the “one-and-only in Fujitani’s band,” sent her a sample disc of a new song by express mail, and even included a note giving her his home phone number. He often ends up helping her and seems genuinely fond of her.

From the start, Saeki thought he was suited to be a solo singer, and Fujitani offered to write songs for him on various occasions, but he always refused. However, after various events, near the end of the story he decides to work as a solo artist and dissolves Over Chrome (although even after the breakup he continues performing live and creating music together with Arisugawa).

He grumbles that “songs written by keyboard players don’t take the vocalist into account”, but boasts that he can manage thanks to the training he gained during the Over Chrome years.

-- Arisugawa Shin (有栖川シン) – Real name Arisugawa Mahiro (有栖川真広). He works under the stage name Shin because he dislikes people misreading Mahiro as 'Masahiro'. Partner of Shinzaki Tōya in Over Chrome, and was 27 when the unit was formed (at that time Tōya was 21). He met Tōya through music director Saeki Osamu.

The so-called 'mechanical' sound production is almost entirely left in his hands, and he even does the mixing himself. Because of his insistence on 'mechanical' music, he does not use live sounds, but from the middle period of the band onward he often used sampled recordings of Akane’s drums as material for sequences.

He his tall (taller than Tōya, which makes Tōya sulk when he has to look up at him). Usually wears black-rimmed glasses that give him the look of a university professor, and always speaks in a flat, detached, almost monotone manner, as if everything is someone else’s business. He refers to himself as boku and basically uses polite speech with everyone.

According to the novel author, he is “the biggest pervert in the story.” Since childhood his sensibility was different from that of normal people, making him look at others as if they were experimental material. Before meeting Tōya he had become a “psychological impotent” because of women and drugs. Yet he prides himself on being someone who will not be overwhelmed by the “stimulation/excitement” that characterizes Tōya [t/n this part is sending me]. Saeki later revealed that by pairing him with Tōya, he intended also to foster Mahiro’s growth.

Even after forming Over Chrome he remains promiscuous with women and even gets involved with fans, but is indifferent to their personalities and does not even remember the faces of the women he has slept with. By contrast, he is intensely fixated with Tōya: from the moment they met he was drawn to Tōya’s beauty and dangerous charisma, and harbors twisted feelings towards him, to the point of fantasizing in his head about Tōya’s death. However, this obsession is contained entirely within Mahiro’s own mind, so it is hard for others to see, and from the outside he seems to treat Touya as if he were indifferent to him.

Fans often gossip that the two members of Over Chrome do not get along, but in fact there is a kind of codependence between them. Saeki’s girlfriend Kaho described their relationship as “like addicts who can never get enough no matter how much they indulge.” Mahiro considers Fujitani, who tries to “take Tōya back”, a nuisance and openly says he dislikes him, but in their shared “relentless unwillingness to forgive certain things” Mahiro and Fujitani have a similar temperament.

When he learned that Tōya was accepting production and song offers from Fujitani and others, he had a major shock, but for the sake of Tōya’s growth he decided to dissolve Over Chrome. Even so, after the breakup he continues to respond when Tōya calls on him, participating in Tōya’s concerts and music production, so in practice things have not changed much from the Over Chrome days.

If you prefer Spotify, the full version of “Vibrato (/Citrus)” is here.

Honestly, I prefer the TV version. It has more depth (maybe bc I could see their faces). And with the number of times I listen to it, Masaki Suda’s voice is warmer than Takeru Satoh’s.

Damn it! Damn it! Expose the dark around me Give it to me, I’ll devour your scream

As Promised, OVERCHROME SKETCHES.

FInally I'm able to draw Toya. Man, Masaki Suda breathed so much life into this character and his Punk expressions were so much fun to draw. Other than that, Toya is probably my favorite Character in Tenblank. He honestly is such a brat and I love everything about it.

Mahiro (played by Reini 1998) was super difficult to draw and I even had to dig a little deeper outside of Glassheart in order to understand his facial features right. I also needed to be very careful with his design, because if stylized, he can easily look like Sho. And I wanted to avoid this at all cost. ....also idk why but my brain took a lot of inspiration from The Summer Hikaru died too while drawing Mahiro. Especially Yoshiki...

Coming back to OVERCHROME as a concept. Maybe I show my age a little but the moment Toya was on stage I had a "WAIT A MINUTE" moment. And the more he was on screen, I was convinced that his design was heavily inspired by Dir en Grey's Kyo...I mean:

Left is our boy Toya. On the Right, we see Dir en Greys Kyo (I believe this image was from the early 2000s around the release of Kasumi)

What sealed the deal for me was actually Toyas Neck Tattoo, which looked super similar to the Tattoo Kyo-san got later in life. In my headcanon, this was a Dir en Grey Easter Egg and this made me really happy. Same with Mahiro. He looks like a spittin image of Toshiya when he was younger... I showed it to a friend and they agreed with me ..