spoon.2Di Interview with Character Designer Oyo

Interview with Character Designer Oyo

What were your thoughts from when you were first asked to do the character designs for 18TRIP, and when you actually tried the game for yourself?

Though it’s difficult to get a full grasp on a project from just the proposal alone, I could feel a sense of liveliness from the “travel” theme. And when I played the game after it was released, I remember finding myself moved in a whole manner of ways by the time I finished reading the story, even though I already knew many of the details. I felt that it could be a story about the love that envelopes humans (and nonhumans, of course) as they go on trips to new places and through time. Maybe I’m exaggerating. Eitori is an adventure game about tourism.¹

When designing the characters, what concepts did you focus on or give special attention to?

I wanted each of the characters to be distinguishable by their eyes alone. Also, while Eitori does take place in the near future, the Heisei era (1989-2019) is also a pretty big motif for the project, so I tried to make the designs feel both nostalgic and a little futuristic at the same time. Overall, I aimed for the designs to be simple, polished, and stylish.

Since three members from the Morning Squad are on the cover, could you elaborate on some of the design details for each member of the Morning Squad?

Renga Nishizono—His design is one of the ones with the most little details included in it. I’m not sure if it will get brought up in the story, but there are reasons for his heterochromia and the parting of his bangs. Also, he has super long legs, since he’s a celebrity.²

Kafka Oguro—His design was figured out at the very start. I see Kafka as HAMA Tours’ starting point, and one of the anchors for the other characters’ designs. If you were to swap some of the strands of his defining bangs, he’d end up with a run-of-the-mill middle part. Since he’s full of attractive qualities, I wanted to add a down-to-earth touch, like “maybe even someone this capable frets over how to part his bangs each morning”, and this is how it turned out.

Ten Murakumo—He’s a lost cause, personality-wise, but I think his design came out looking rather neat. He looks clean on the outside but has some dirty parts to him on the inside, and I think his face having a downer vibe managed to capture that side of him nicely. Will there ever come a day where there’s light in his eyes? Who knows.

Yukikaze Kamina—I was asked to make him look like his eyelashes are practically sparkling, so I struggled with figuring out how to design his eyes. I didn’t want it to look like he was wearing makeup, so after some trial and error we settled on monolids and two lower lashes, which I think sets him apart nicely. Of all the characters, he’s one of the ones I try my best to depict handsomely, and I get a little nervous every time I draw him.

Liguang Lu—A lot of time was spent designing his outfit. I tried to give him a Chinese-style outfit that was a little rough and not too outlandish, which was a bit of a struggle. Looking back on it, I worry that I might have given him one too many accessories, but they help make him look more intimidating, so I think it was the right call. Also, his jacket is see-through.

Which illustrations of the ones you have drawn have been the most memorable and why?

Illustrations like the one on the cover this time around, where the characters are wearing new outfits, are a lot of fun to draw. I enjoy figuring out an outfit that shows a new side to them while also feeling like something they’d pick out themselves.

Is there anything you’d like to draw for 18TRIP in the future?

I’d like to draw more of the many side characters. A lot of them have less flashy designs than the ward mayors, so I think it’d be fun.

Could you close us off with one last message for 18TRIP’s fans?

Thank you for finding 18TRIP. To make sure everyone can keep enjoying the characters, stories, music and more both inside the game and out and look forward to more, I and the other staff will continue along this trip as excitedly as ever.

1. The term "adventure game" refers to story-focused games with less action-filled gameplay. Visual novels are an example of this genre. ↑

2. This issue was released in November 2024, but you can learn the reasoning behind the parting of Renga's bangs in his novel 1.5 update. ↑

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