Special Contents

Character Initial Design Collection #2

We're revealing early character designs by Mizoguchi! This time, in addition to characters we couldn't introduce last time, such as Ryuunosuke, Rita, Yuuko, and Koharu, we're also showing designs for the quirky first-years who debuted appeared in volume 7! We'll be presenting them along with comments from Mizoguchi himself.

Ryuunosuke Akasaka

Mizoguchi: "I decided on the character's background: a programmer who looks like a pretty girl on the outside but is actually a lazy recluse. Also, he has a terrible sense of fashion and his day-to-day outfits consist of T-shirts. That was decided by me. Kamoshida's a good person who's willing to go along with those things."

Rita Ainsworth

Mizoguchi: "While on the subject of blonde girls with huge boobs (outdated slang), I realized I hadn't drawn any characters with wavy hair, so I designed one. She doesn't appear very often, but I'd like to draw her again."

TN: The "outdated slang" that Mizoguchi uses is "パイオツカイデー" or "paiotsukaidē" which literally translates to "huge boobs." The term was apparently used as slang during the Showa Era but has since fallen out of style. For the sake of not translating it as something dumb like "bazongas," I left this TN here.

Yuuko Kanda

Mizoguchi: "I kept begging Kamoshida to let me draw Sorata's little sister as soon as I could, and who would have guessed that she'd turn out to be such a stupid girl (in a good way)! It's a secret that the ribbon I put on her is always a huge pain whenever I draw her from another angle."

Koharu Shirayama

Mizoguchi: "This gentle, innocent looking teacher gives off the impression of what a naturally charming adult woman is really like inside. Her hair grew a little longer during the redesign, I think it's within the realm of a makeover."

Iori Himemiya

Mizoguchi: "He was referred to as 'Hauhau's younger brother,' so his curly hair was already decided. But since it initially wasn't curly enough, we did a redesign to make it look more messy. He's an idiot, but he's still a good guy."

Kanna Hase

Mizoguchi: "I couldn't read Kanna's name at first. She has this hairstyle that curls inward like 'udon hair,' I wonder if 'udon hair' gets the idea across. It's kind of like Ken's 'yakisoba hair' from the original Street Fighter II. Lately, I've been seriously thinking that udon hair should be more popular."