(This is a repost of my translation of a sort of “interview” with Mutsumi Inomata that’s published in Tales of Graces’ Official Complete Guide. Original post: https://not-sophie.dreamwidth.org/11563.html)
We’ve received a lot of questions from players to ask you. Among them are even some from folks overseas.
Really? Thank you very much.
We’ll start from the most asked questions. First, what was the theme of this work?
I suppose it’s a feeling of facing a struggle head-on. It seems like it comes from the image of the protagonist.
Which character was completed first?
That would have to be the one created at the start, Asbel. He also took the least amount of time, because his image had already solidified. But there weren’t any big changes from anyone’s initial image… I had a vague one from each character at the start, and fleshed them out from that, but this time there wasn’t much that changed from there.
How do you bring those images to the surface of your thoughts? This was another question we received a lot.
Let’s see. The characters are, first and foremost, part of a game. So their roles and personalities have already been decided. From that already-extant clump, you carve things out, and dissolve things, and the character feels like it comes out from there. It’s really abstract.
When forming that image, do you try to have them speak their lines in your head?
I do, I do that a ton. The story is mostly fleshed out by then, but from that, the parts of the setting that don’t have information become a breeding ground for fantasies, and then I can’t stop doodling (laughs).
Where are you when these fantasies are playing out in your head?
At the workroom desk. The mental fantasies don’t have any form that I can submit for work, so I draw them while thinking.
How much do you hear about the character setting that you’re able to put into the illustration work?
I get information about the universe and the plot of the story, and I hear about the roles of major characters from that. mainly things like, for characters involved in battles, what types of weapons or fighting styles they use, or things like how a character’s clothes should give off this or that type of image. I also hear things like their hair color or height.
What was your image of this work’s protagonist?
Undeniably, a very clean feeling. Or should I say a virtuous feeling? With that being the image he had, I thought I should go with a white color scheme.
Were you aware of the fact that he has a brother?
Yes. They had different hair colors in the setting, so I gave them the same blue eye color. Also, since Asbel wears clothes that are like a white uniform, I gave Hubert clothes with a similar feeling in a darker color. Then, since I drew Asbel like a wonderful big brother type, I did the opposite with Hubert, and made him an excessively studious type with glasses (laughs).
There are also people asking if you’d like for Sophie to have had more attractive clothing.
In Sophie’s case, I didn’t want her to feel very feminine based on the setting, so I gave her clothes that weren’t attractive. Something that didn’t show any skin at all.
Her long hair is striking.
I was given a request to give her either a ponytail or twintails, something attached to her that would show a lot in motion. So I made her hair as long as I wanted. I thought they would tell it’s hard to model it at that length, but unexpectedly, they went ahead with that extremely long hair.
Unlike Sophie, Cheria actually shows quite a bit of skin on her legs.
Yes, unlike Sophie, Cheria would have a normal heroine look. I thought to cram her design full of cute feminine things, like an extremely short miniskirt and ribbons. But since she was from a good family, I also made her come across as a bit of a princess, and didn’t expose skin in places like her chest. Her skirt is really short to make up for that, so she looks very cute.
Including this entry, you’ve designed characters for a lot of the Tales of series. Are there any areas you have to be careful of to avoid overlap?
Not including myself, Fujishima (Kousuke Fujishima, who handled the character designs in a number of Tales of entries such as Tales of Vesperia) and others have made many designs for the series, so there is definitely a lot to be careful of… That said, there are still times when I inadvertently draw a character that resembles something someone else designed, and on a retake, I think, “Oh, yeah, it is similar.”
This question has also been asked an extremely large amount of times. What character do you like the most in the entire Tales of series?
That’s difficult. I come to like every character I draw. But I think, at the end of the day, I have the most attachment to the characters in Tales of Destiny, the first entry I designed characters for.
Incidentally, what would your answer be for Mr. Fujishima’s characters?
Let’s see. I think I like Kratos from Tales of Symphonia the most. Tachiki, his voice actor, really has such a wonderful voice.
Is there anything Mr. Fujishima designed that you think you would like to draw for yourself?
I try to draw his characters sometimes. Like, before, I had a conversation with Matsutake (Tokuyuki Matsutake, who does character design and animation direction work for Tales of series animation parts) when he was doing animation direction about how Lloyd’s hair is difficult. Other than that, I drew Tales of Vesperia‘s Yuri and it was well-received. But when I drew Flynn, it was No Good (laughs).
Do you interact much with Mr. Fujishima?
We met a long time ago, and he’d email me secrets to help me progress in games (laughs). Mr. Fujishima is fond of video games, too. So he’d always clear them really fast, and then tell me, “Ask me anything.”
Alright, then. When you draw a character, what parts do you focus on the most?
Definitely the face. Particularly the eyes.
Do you start by drawing the eyes?
It’s not set in stone. For example, if I get an order for a character to use a specific type of weapon, all I draw is hands. With Asbel, all I drew was his back.
You like muscles, but lately, we haven’t seen much of that or even bare skin. Is this because your tastes have changed?
Not at all (laughs). I’ve just been getting orders that say “do not show skin” (laughs).
When you’re designing clothes, do you look at things like reference materials?
It’s a hassle to look at them while drawing, so I don’t do it a lot. But I do like seeing those kinds of things. I’ll also go to things like fashion shows.
When drawing illustrations, what is something that has made you feel the most satisfaction?
When it’s completed. I drew it myself, and there’s a sense of accomplishment about that once it’s done.
When you see the characters moving in-game, and hear their voices recorded and dubbed over them, what kind of feeling do you get?
When I see that, it feels a bit like I’m letting go of them, so I can enjoy them myself. That’s the kind of feeling I get.
People also asked for you to tell about the time you were called by Michael Jackson.
That story is around 20 years old by now. When Michael Jackson came to Japan, he reserved a large bookstore and apparently did some shopping there. While he was there, he bought one of the books that collected my art, and seemed to like it. I was told he wanted to meet the person who drew those pictures, so I went to meet him. That art book seemed to be one with an ancient Japan fantasy theme, so there were things like khakkara staves and dragons winding through the air. He said he really liked that sort of thing. So he told me he’d like me to draw my face with that kind of touch. I couldn’t draw it on the spot, so I drew him a sort of portrait. Later on, I drew the illustration he wanted and sent it to him.
Lastly, what is your message for our readers?
A character doesn’t live as just a design. They start to be alive only when you play the game, so please spend a lot of time playing it!
THE TRASHLATION BLOG 
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