iamandragon, I hope you don't mind my budding into your translation efforts....
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Disclaimer: I am only performing a chinese > english translation of the interviews, the original japanese > chinese translation was performed by KeyFC. All credits for the original translation go to them.
Since I only translated from Chinese -> English, expect a loss of quality...
Anyways...
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Part 7 - Misae Sagara
Spoiler for Misae Sagara - Story Spoilers:
=== Misae Sagara - On the brink of being buried, a miraculous last minute revival ===
-- Now, after talking about the main characters, let's move onto our secondary characters. To start off, let's talk about Sagara Misae
U1: In the initial stages, the thought "If Sunohara was the only one in the dorm he'd be pretty lonely, how about we add a pretty female dorm manager?" popped up.
Maeda: Though we were considering the removal of her scenario throughout the development process.
-- eh? how come?
Maeda: Misae's scenario was originally U1's, but since Kotomi's scenario was giving him a hard time I took Misae from him. Unfortunately I couldn't come up with much of a story either.
Kai: He (Maeda) even told the production crew that "even though I introduced her in the HP, I can't think of a story for her"
Maeda: At that time, I watched a particular anime, and realized that I could make a character that likes to take care of others. Using that as a starting point, I was finally able to complete a complete story.
-- Halfway through Misae's route, we're brought back to Misae's past. This really left an impression.
Maeda: To be honest, the decision was made because I felt that there wasn't any development available between Misae and Tomoya, so I used a flashback to escape from the issue.
However, upon entering the flashback, I was able to connect Tomoyo to Misae through the usage of 'former student council president'. Furthermore, I was also able to develop the relationship between Yuusuke and Ibuko-sensei. As a result, this flashback broadened the horizons of the CLANNAD world.
-- In Misae's route, the story ended without solidifying Tomoya's relationship with Misae. Is there a meaning to this?
Maeda: It is true that there was no closure on Tomoya's relationship with Misae in her route. However, instead we have Tomoya seeing Misae's past through the eyes of Shima the cat (spirit). That is to say, Shima has accepted Tomoya and is willing to leave Misae in Tomoya's care. In a way, Misae's conclusion is similar to Tomoyo's, where the true relationship of the couple has yet to begin.
I opted to use Tomoya as the main character's name (for many reasons)
If there are translation errors, please PM me and I'll fix them ASAP