Part Ten - A One-Winged Bird
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"I worked hard in 「Tsukihime」 to maintain the story and the characters."
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Editor |
(To Nasu) So 「Tsukihime」 was your first attempt at an erotic game.
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Nasu |
I had no confidence. I told Takeuchi, "I'll leave the erotic bits to you. You can think about the situations, the flow, everything." So Takeuchi would sketch something up and show me. "It's going to start like this, continue like this, and finish like this."
"Yes, sir!" I said, and just wrote what he told me to. Erotic parts are hard.
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Editor |
Interesting. So Takeuchi really did all the erotic parts.
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Nasu |
He also thought up the themes and everything else.
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Editor |
So then when Shiki transforms during an erotic scene...
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All |
(Laugh)
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Nasu |
We thought about whether putting an erotic scene in during a life-and-death situation would make it more arousing. Shouldn't both Shiki and the player be thinking "Now isn't the time for this!?" It had the possibility of ruining the flow of the story.
But on the other hand, there would be no point to an erotic scene if it wasn't in character. People often say that the main character in 「To Heart」 suddenly turns into a perverted old man during the erotic scenes, and I understand what they mean.
It has to be erotic, but if it's too erotic then it destroys the story. This was a way to prevent that. I thought that this way, Shiki's character wouldn't be destroyed, the erotic scene could hold up, and the story could still continue on. That's one the parts of 「Tsukihime」 that I worked hardest on... or so I try to nicely finish up this explanation.
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Editor |
I see... Shiki wasn't a virgin, right?
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Nasu |
No. (Laughs) There's proof of that in 「Kagetsu Tohya」.
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"Man, this guy's a genius." |
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Editor |
So you handled the erotic scenes, Takeuchi.
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Takeuchi |
I think of them as a way to show and express the cute aspects of the characters. I think there are a lot of games that only depict them in a sexual nature. But I'm not interested in that. I think the scenes should be erotic, yet in character for each specific character, emphasizing their personalities. So I would think up a concept for each character and then show it to Nasu.
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Editor |
I see. Personally, Hisui's finger licking really left an impression on me.
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Nasu |
When he showed me that, I thought "Man, this guy's a genius."
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All |
(Loud laughter)
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Takeuchi |
Oh, yes. I spent a lot of time on my own thinking about Hisui.
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Nasu |
"Thinking?" (Laughs)
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Takeuchi |
I didn't have any real plan. I just drew the first things that came to mind with Hisui. I really drew a lot, and I liked every idea. "I want to use this...and this, and this..." I said, when I handed them over to Nasu. There was no real coherence. And then this random finger licking scene comes out. "I don't care if we have to force it, let's use this. Please, just make something up," I said.
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Nasu |
I could sense there would be a lot of scenes with Hisui. (Laughs) So I was prepared. It wasn't just the amount, though, it was the themes and situations too. But I really was interested in working on this part, so I enjoyed it. It was hard to write though. (Laughs)
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Finishing Up |
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Editor |
Finishing up, we'd like to have you two to comment on each other. To Nasu Kinoko, what is "Takeuchi?"
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Nasu |
Hmm... if I were to explain it using a baseball metaphor, he's the catcher. I'm the pitcher. Takeuchi is always the "first reader" to me. So I don't want to let him down. When I show him the story, I'm scared that he's going to say it stinks. I don't want to betray his expectations.
We were always rivals... so, it's embarrassing to say this in front of him, but he is my one and only working partner.
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Takeuchi |
That's true. I guess maybe I am the catcher.
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Editor |
Thank you. Now, Takeuchi, what is "Nasu Kinoko?"
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Takeuchi |
Ever since high school, I thought, "I'm never gonna beat this guy." From when I saw his very first work. It made me cry. And I think that's saying something, that some little story written on notebook paper made me cry. Ever since then...he's been my goal. It was fun working on 「Tsukihime」 together, because up until now...he's always been the rival I strove to overcome.
"If Nasu makes that, then I'll make this!" was always how I felt. Now we've sort of lost that rival sense, and are working together in a partnership. But whenever Nasu brings me a situation, I always think "Wait a minute. Is there anything I can add to this?" So the rival spirit still lives on there, I think.
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Nasu |
That's such a great help, though. I tend to get carried away, or get too deep into something menial, so have Takeuchi to call out "Hold on a second!" from behind my shoulder can really help me get a hold of myself.
「Tsukihime」 has so many of my bad habits in it, it's really thanks to Takeuchi that it's been received well by so many people. If it was just me on my own... it wouldn't have been so. (Blushing)
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Takeuchi |
Yep.
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Editor |
Thank you for the excellent comments. (Laughs) And I'd like to thank you for all spending such a long time with us.
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All |
Thank you!
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Part 09
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To be continued a little
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