I have this info from Koyama Shigeto, one of the designers, during Fanime
Quote:
-There are actually three character designers, but (and there’s a big hint here) Yoshida Kenichi designed “characters who have a direct connection to the first series” – i.e. Ao and Naru. Oda Hiroyuki handled most of the rest
-Among the stuff Koyama designed for AO are Noah and the Secret.
-The staff is working on AO “24/7” at the moment, and hates him for leaving the country now. Kyoda-sensei promised serious bodily harm if he revealed any spoilers (not that a couple of yahoos in the crowd didn’t try).
-He said certain elements were written into AO to “make sure fans of the first series will enjoy the connection. There are hints about this in every episode”. (heh)
-He said one of the things the creators tried to do is make the music of E7 reflective of the time, and that each series is quite different musically for this reason.
-Among other gigs, Koyama-san works with Studio Khara on the EVA films (he designed Asuka’s plug suit). He also did the character design for Joey on Heroman. He said Stan Lee’s directions were “He’s 13 and poor” and that’s it. When he showed his final design to Lee, Lee said “He looks like a girl!”
-If he had to pilot only one, he’d rather pilot Nirvash over an EVA – but he loves both.
Biggest influences were designers like Okiwara Kunio and Izubuchi Yutaka. But one of his favorite mecha designs is Eve from “WALL-E” – because it’s so incredibly simple.
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