Anyway, after a... whoa, whole three years, I finally got around to doing another character book for a change of pace... and translating interviews is still a pain in the ass. Makes you realise how whatever bright ideas you have in your mind don't always come out right in conversation... the mind is a messy place, after all... making sense of some of the long-winded remarks was a tough job...
Anyway, this character book covers both Liz and Silica... 'cause they're apparently as inseparable as Siamese twins and can't show up without the other being present too. I hope you'll enjoy the read.
For this weekend, I'm hoping Mtt will have a Progressive manga chapter for release. Fingers crossed.
-Gsimenas
Credits
Raws: SAO ScansTranslation: Gsimenas
Translation (choice/nuance) comments:
- I added the original Japanese text in parentheses in certain cases where I believe the Japanese text is either easier to relate to, or easier to look up. Such as when Kawahara goes on a tangent, spitting out several similar phrases in a row...or when Japanese puns come into play
- Since these are transcripts of actual conversations... which tend to not have a well-thought-out sentence structure and are plagued by sidetracking, you'll find quite a few awkward sentences here. I tried to play around with punctuation to bridge the gap between awkward leaps in logic or convoluted sentences.
- "that's quite the hardcore game." - the original text used the phrase シビアなゲーム (literally English words "severe game"), which doesn't sound right in actual English.
Reki Kawahara Interview: About Liz ＆ Silica
Behind-the-Scenes on the genesis of Liz ＆ Silica!
——In this edition we focus on Liz ＆ Silica, the two girls that enjoy a long-standing fanbase and calls for more DEBAN! Now then, for the customary practice: please share with us how these girls came about in the story of Sword Art Online.
Kawahara: Well, for starters, volume 1 of the novel, the 《Aincrad Arc》, was written as a submission for the Dengeki Novel Prize (電撃小説大賞, Dengeki Shousetsu Taishou) competition, thus this single volume ended up taking the story all the way to 《Sword Art Online》 being cleared. In the end, however, I never did actually submit it to the competition and instead published the story on the Net, but my serialisation there came to an end——though I was looking at the option of writing a sequel in the form of 《ALO》 due to reading comments asking for a continuation——but before that came to pass, I considered fleshing out the story of 《SAO》 in the form of several supplemental side stories (外伝, gaiden) or extra editions (番外編, bangaihen). And if I'm going down the road of extra editions, I figured they would warrant their own original heroines to interact with Kirito. That's how these two girls came about as the leads of their respective episode arcs.
——The two of them have some rather unique professions: Liz is a 《Blacksmith》, while Silica is a 《Beast Tamer》; how did such 『Jobs』, so to speak, or would 'profession' or some other word be a better turn of phrase……came to be associated with the girls?
Kawahara: Which of the stories did I write first, I wonder. I think I probably started with Silica's. In the main story, the plot focused entirely on combat professions and so I felt like writing some stories that focused on what wouldn't exactly be considered mainstream builds or roles in 《SAO》. Though, well, Beast Tamers are technically a combat profession as well (sweats). At the time, I had a strong impression of Tamers from 『UO (Ultima Online)』. Though Tamers were the kind of profession that necessitated filling up your skill slots with Tamer-oriented skills. But while pets were hella strong and could put up far more of a fight than the orthodox swordsman or mage if you had a Nightmare or Dragon on hand, they could just up and die on you surprisingly easily if you messed up (laughs). When a player dies in this game, it's not all that complicated to get back onto your feet: just dash back to your corpse after you respawn and if you get there in time, you can get back your items before they vanish; when a pet dies, on the other hand, it's gone for good. In later versions of the game, they did add a feature that allows you to revive them, but that wasn't the case at the very beginning.
——If your pet dies, that's that. You've gotta go out and catch a new one for yourself…… that's quite the hardcore game.
Kawahara: Back then, there was a black, horse-shaped thing known as a 'Nightmare'; it was a monster that was crazy valuable and barely ever spawned. Just imagine how you manage to tame it…… only for it to die on you right afterwards (laughs). Then they implemented Dragons, who were tougher than Nightmares, but even a Dragon dies when it dies (sweats). As such, I've held the impression that "a tamer has it rough when their pets die" in my mind, in which case: why don't I make Silica's story about how her pet dies (laughs). "The Black Swordsman" short story is a story about how Silica goes through hardship when Pina dies at the very start of the story and only comes back at the very end, you see (laughs).
——So that's how the story came about, I see! It's quite an interesting detail reflecting the times.
Kawahara: In Net games these days, not only do pets NOT die, they don't even have any hit points in most cases.
——You're referring to those games that treat monster taming as a "form of magic"? Or more like treating those monsters as a type of item, actually.
Kawahara: They do offer you the luxury of taking out and putting away your monsters at the flick of a finger. Back in 『UO』, you had to bring your pets to a stable yourself for that. What's more, stables had to be shared among all players, which meant that they had limited room. If there were no free space in the stable, you couldn't put your pet away. Hence players with the right know-how in this field had certain tricks up their sleeve: they would use a 『room-holding』 horse to secure stable room whenever they wanted to take their Dragons out for a walk (laughs). Now that I think about it, tamers sure were a pain in the ass profession. Yes, it was an awfully fun profession, but one wrong move and your pet is dead! (laughs). As such, I figured: why not write a story about it?
——The pains of online games can also bring fun, as they say.
Kawahara: Liz's blacksmithing was also based on my experience in 『UO』. I have tried out both the path of the Tamer and the path of the Blacksmith in 『UO』; I quite enjoyed the slow and steady work involved in the life of a blacksmith, from mining up ore to pounding down on an anvil to create a sword. What you got out of the process was quite random and you could make a pretty penny if you managed to get something good out of it. Also, the weapons that blacksmiths created used to be the strongest stuff you could arm yourself with back then. Though, admittedly, that all changed when an update introduced Artifacts, which then took up the top position in the power rankings. At the time, blacksmith weapons were very romanticised.
——And that's how you came up with a story for Liz where she needs to craft a sword as powerful as the monster drop 《Elucidator》.
Kawahara: Indeed. This is going to be a bit of a digression, but weapons in 『UO』 had five ranks, as I recall; there was a whole ranking system for them, the most powerful weapons of which would see a "『Vanquish』 Weapon" tag added to their description. For armour, the equivalent was 『Invulnerable』 for the toughest sets. These adjectives became the nicknames for the 《Blue King》 and 《Green King》 in 《Accel World》 (laughs).
——So your experiences in 『UO』 also had a strong influence over 《Accel World》, I see……! Now, speaking about Silica and Liz, I would like to enquire about the origin of their names. Is there anything that they are based on?
Kawahara: For Silica, the name 'Silica' just popped up in my mind out of nowhere; then I brooded over what to use for her real name. Since "Silicon = 珪素 (keiso)" in Japanese, I figured I'd go with Keiko (珪子, silicon girl). As for Lisbeth……
——As for Lisbeth?
Kawahara: I can't remember (sweats).
——(Gasp). B-but when this topic came up during the script meetings for the anime, I think I remember you mentioning that Liz was also based on something…… (sweat).
Kawahara: There's a book I like called 『Millennium』 that was released in Sweden. It's a trilogy written by Scandinavian author Stieg Larsson and I found it hella fun to read; the novel's heroine's name would be translated to Japanese as リスベット (Risubetto). And the English spelling of the name (Ｌｉｓｂｅｔｈ) matches up with the spelling I used for my character. That's probably what we had been talking about back then……though, since I had come up with Liz a while before then, it doesn't actually serve as the origin for the name (laughs).
——Then what exactly was the actual basis for the name……(sweats).
Kawahara: It's a mystery (laughs), though, well, going back closer to the roots, I do believe I recall something about taking the name from a European queen, or something. For some reason, I wanted to give her a Scandinavian-ish name. Since she's a blacksmith, I thought to make her sound Scandinavian-ish, though I don't really know why, now that I think about it. It's not like blacksmiths equals Scandinavia or anything, after all…… Anyway, some twists and turns later, I settled down on Lisbeth as her name——and when it came time to think of something to use for her real name, I decided to look for a name that had kana from the za and ra columns(1) in them and thus settled on Shinozaki Rika. Though…… I came to notice an important fact while writing the story……
——A-and that would be……?
Kawahara: That this name would have worked far better for Silica (laughs).
——(Laughs). Good point, it does have "Shi", "Ri" Ka" - all three kana that make up the name!
Kawahara: Due in part to this realisation of mine, I had actually considered the prospect of changing her name, but then again, there are tons of happenstance involved when it comes to names, so who am I to brush them off? Heck, you'll find examples of uncanny naming coincidences even in the real world now and then, no? I just figured that my world would come off as being way too contrived if I eliminated any and all semblance of such pure happenstance from the picture. If I did away with the element of randomness that comes with names being generated randomly and coincidentally, without much thought put into them, then the more effort I put into picking out just the right name for them, the more fictional the whole world would seem. Thus, despite the similarity between "Shinozaki Rika" and Silica, I decided to just treat it as a happy coincidence and keep the name after all.
——I see. Thank you for sharing the origin of the characters' names. By the way, despite the fact that both Lisbeth and Silica came about as part of a series of short stories in volume 2 of the novel, I feel that they've been rapidly building up their presence in the story with each installment in the franchise's mediamix, such as the anime. What do you believe is the key to their appeal? For example, even people like Matsuoka-san (Matsuoka Yoshitsugu, voice of Kirito) himself have publicly stated their love for Liz's character; I would like to enquire what you believe are the main reasons and factors behind this.
Kawahara: Although the two girls are what you would call sub-characters, I find myself awfully happy that there are people among the community who have expressed their love for them. I wouldn't be able to pinpoint the secret behind their appeal myself, but I can say that both of them had quite the chance to stand out as characters in their respective debut stories. Yes, their stories were short arcs, but they still managed to capture all that made them unique. For example, Silica went from the typical "geek princess" role…… okay, that might be going a bit too far (sweats), so let's go with 'the young dame of the guild' role or something; anyway, she had an arc where she got a little full of herself, which came at the cost of losing Pina, so she reflected on her actions and learnt to avoid overestimating herself… and as a result, she grew into a character who's diligent, cool, and just a little bit scheming (sweats). My point is that their stories show off their growth.
——W-whoa, 'scheming' might be a bit of a misleading description, but yes, I do sort of get a sense of 『I'm just biding my time for an opportune moment!』 from her (laughs).
Kawahara: (Laughs). I've been wondering whether Silica wouldn't turn out to be the character most competitive against Asuna amongst the heroines.
——I can see what you're getting at; Liz is holding back somewhat since she's already become Asuna's best friend, while Suguha is his younger sister. Sinon's relationship with Kirito, on the other hand, is closer to that of rivals, if anything. I'm getting the feeling that Silica's hoping for a chance to outfox the competition (laughs).
Kawahara: Actually, she's been emanating that part of her character since the very beginning, so I've been wondering if that trait of hers has part of her appeal.
——What about Lisbeth?
Kawahara: Liz is just simply a good girl. Whose debut short story, the "Warmth of the Heart", had thrown her onto a rollercoaster from falling in love to getting rejected all in one story.
——In a sense, she might have been the closest to a proper "heroine" role in her story.
Kawahara: True. Also, Liz is the moodmaker of the group, no? She's tied with Klein as a character crucial for setting the mood of the story.
——She's a game companion that even Kirito likely wouldn't find difficult interacting with socially.
Kawahara: She's an unsung hero; while Asuna and Kirito have some insecurities, due in part to plot convenience, Liz has quite an unshakeable strength of will, come what may, on the other hand. This allows her to support everyone as their friend.
——She might be in a sort of babysitter position due to being the most levelheaded person in the group. Now then, now then, seeing as we've touched upon the topic of what makes the girls appealing… how would you describe their personality in a single word or phrase?
Kawahara: I feel Liz could be encapsulated by the phrase "elder sister", while Silica would be encapsulated by the phrase 'two-faced' or 'three-faced' or something (laughs). Despite having an extremely noble side to her, she can also be quite calculating…… Hmm, if I were to try to capture it all in one word, I'd say that it would be something similar to the word "imp", but it doesn't reflect the nuances quite right.
——Yes, she doesn't have any intention of seducing or buttering up to anyone. Maybe it just comes natural to her, or it's just part of her personality. Any place filled with people who like her would likely explode at her mere presence. There might just be a smidgen of truth to the whole "geek princess" thing about her.
Kawahara: I wouldn't be surprised if the Survivor School held quite a few fans already (laughs).
——That's a spot bound to be skewed toward a male population, after all. There's also the fact that she goes with the flow quite well, such as breaking out into a song at a shopping mall in the movie when asked.
Kawahara: Oh, yes, yes; I mentioned in the previous Sinon interview that Sinon is the only character for whom I already have a future career planned out, but I have been thinking that Silica might just make her idol debut if continue writing a sequel to her character arc. Heck, she already has the guts to break into a song in the middle of a crowded shopping mall, after all. As such, if 『SAO』 does get a new story arc, it might just contain a 《Silica shows what she's made of as an idol》 story (laughs). Be that as it may, I wonder whether she wouldn't end up entering the showbiz as her own producer, rather than going for the tried-and-tested approach of going to an audition to get into an idol firm for that. Like, she'd just go 『let's give this song a shot』 and it would just snowball from there. I'd very much love for her popularity to blow up this way and land her a duet with YUNA as a result (laughs).
The Girls as they appear in the Illustrations and Anime
——Up next, I would like to enquire about the girls in terms of abec-san's illustrations and the anime……! First off, what would you like to share about the illustrations?
Kawahara: We all know that the reason behind Kirito the Black Swordsman saving Silica was that she "looked just like [his] sister", but everyone's thinking "Suguha and Silica don't actually look anything like each other!". As a matter of fact, in my early day designs that I had drawn during my web novel age, they actually were quite similar. Silica had even been sporting an indistinctive short-cut hairstyle back then. abec-san graciously turned this into the characteristic twin-tail-ish hairstyle, as if hopping out of the sides of her head, that we all know. And… it looked really great (laughs). So much so that I might even be willing to bet that this very trait was why she became a hit with the fans. It's almost like it became a signature trait for her character, like, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Silica: twin-tails! Though it's still a mystery whether this hairstyle came about because of abec-san's taste in style, or whether the idea came down as an order from Miki-san (Miki Kazuma - Kawahara Reki's supervising editor), as was the case with Suguha's breast size (sweats). Also, the fluffiness of Silica's inseparable partner Pina - I dig it!
——Indeed! When it comes to dragons, I'd always imagined them as being covered in hard scales till now, but Pina's actually fluffy to a striking degree!
Kawahara: Even in the web novel version, I had depicted Pina as "covered in feathers", but my drawings of Pina didn't make it out to be THIS fluffy. It used to be more, well, lizardy; almost as if it was just growing short-haired fur in key areas, but abec-san's Pina is so fluffy……! Combined with Silica's "hoppity-tails", it may have basically secured itself as Silica's signature image as far as I can see. Come to think of it, Pina's no longer enclosed by the boundaries of system frameworks and story settings; it can show up just about anywhere……
——Pina shows up at just about any place where Silica is present. In a sense, Pina's more enigmatic than even Yui-chan.
Kawahara: I had been pondering how to explain away Pina's presence in 『Ordinal Scale』, but then I figured that it just doesn't make sense for Pina not to come paired with Silica, so I decided not to overthink the details (sweats).
——By the way……If Silica and friends were to ever appear in 《GGO》, would Silica be bringing Pina with her?
Kawahara: Hmm, she probably would.
——If Pina were to be Sci-Fi'ed, would it get some cyber armour or something……? (laughs).
Kawahara: Nah, it'd be a Mecha Pina if anything (laughs). Though, a mecha version of Pina would just look like an impostor, no matter how you went about it (sweats).
——(Laughs). Okay now, next on our list, what could you tell us about abec-san's illustrations of Lisbeth?
Kawahara: Since Lisbeth's appearance in text was described as "wearing a maid-ish uniform ＆ sporting short, pure-pink hair, I had felt that it would prove to be difficult to translate this all into an illustration, but abec-san's design went for a shocker: instead of the orthodox navy blue maid clothes, Lisbeth's uniform was drawn as rouge-red. If it had been navy blue, it wouldn't have gone well with her hair colour, I believe. It made me think that abec-san's sense for colours is what fleshed out Lisbeth's character.
——Since then, rouge-red and pink have become her signature colours, huh.
Kawahara: On that point, abec-san is really good with accessories. The design for Liz's hairpin doesn't really stand out all that much, but I can't imagine Lisbeth without it anymore. As I mentioned before on the topic of Silica's "hoppity-tails", abec-san has a way with fleshing out the characters with their designs, which especially holds true for these two girls, I believe.
——Moving on to the topic of voices, I would like to hear your opinion on Silica's voice actress Hidaka Rina-san and Liz's voice actress Takagaki Ayahi-san.
Kawahara: Hidaka-san has truly proven to be the perfect match for Silica. In fact, and what I'm about to say might be taken the wrong way (sweats), I can feel some traits of Silica in Hidaka-san herself, in a good way. When we first met, as I recall, she was still an RL highschooler, yet she was giving off such a sense of composure, or how should I put this, she felt like such a big shot that you would never think she was just a highschooler. And she seemed so quick-witted - basically she shares Silica's "more than meets the eye" trait.
——While Hidaka-san does nail acting cute, her range doesn't actually stop there, huh.
Kawahara: Back in the day, Hidaka-san's representative role was… Riricho-sama? (Note: the heroine of 『Inu x Boku SS』 (Square Enix series)) oh and in terms of Dengeki franchises: Airi from 『Ro-Kyu-Bu!』 and Uchidome (Last Order) from 『A Certain Magical Index』. These characters don't really have much of a two-faced nature, but the role of Niko from 『Accel World』 really allowed her to let loose. The actress had mentioned that "this was [her] first time playing such a role", but she really got it down right (laughs). Since then, I've begun to associate Hidaka-san with the image of Nico. As such, I feel that she was the perfect choice for Silica as well, seeing as the girl also had a two-faced side to her to some extent.
^ Niko, a.k.a. Kōzuki Yuniko from 『Accel World』 (Important: these are the same person). She first appeared as an angelic elementary schooler, but in reality, she's quite the gangster.——If we were to look for more contemporary examples from Dengeki Bunko's lineup, we do have Ako-chan from 『And You Thought There is Never a Girl Online?』. After all, she isn't just cute - she has another side to her…… (laughs). Now then, what about Takagaki-san?
Kawahara: I believe Takagaki-san also does great at giving off Lisbeth vibes. Her position in the 'sphere' idol group gives off the same vibe too.
——We all know that her voice gives off the elder sister vibes, that goes without saying, but that's not all: compared to the other actresses, she goes the extra mile with her lip service, or how should I put this, she does a great job of setting the mood during 『SAO』 events and other occasions!
Kawahara: Right you are! She's very dedicated to pleasing fans, has the mental prowess to continue her devotion to making bad puns at whatever live performance she's attending (laughs), and gives off elder sister vibes in both voice and her personality - all qualities that perfectly represent Liz. Even in the case of anime dubbing, whenever there's a scene where everyone's present, I've felt that Takagaki-san acts as the foundation for the group, or how should I put this, her presence adds stability to the recording.
——Now then, now then; as a way to wrap things up, I would like to request a short comment from you as the author about the two characters whom the voice actors managed to breathe new life into. Well, I already managed to get you to say that Silica would devote herself to the life of an idol though……
Kawahara: If there's going to be a new story arc…… and we're running with the assumption that Silica's going to become an idol, I wonder what would Liz's aspiration be.
——As you mentioned before, Liz has a sense of stability, or how should I put this, she already has a complete image going for her, after all (sweats). What kind of life would she go for, I wonder.
Kawahara: Not like she can just run with her becoming a blacksmith, after all (sweats).
——So, you're saying she'd become an apprentice to some swordsmith?
Kawahara: That doesn't quite sound realistic (sweats). Hmm, even if we can't run with the idea of her becoming a blacksmith, I think a desire to run a store might just work out.
——Going into the service industry might just work! That said, she doesn't seem quite right for the restaurant industry……
Kawahara: True. I was thinking along the lines of a general store or something. In the future, perhaps she might just set up a general store somewhere around Agil's place in Okachimachi (laughs).
——So, the message you'd like to pass on to them is 'the best of luck with your dreams for your future!'?
Kawahara: And, well, let's go with 『MORE DEBAN!!』 (laughs).
——The editing department will also do their best to increase the girls' time in the spotlight with 『Girls' Ops』 and other avenues (sweats).
Best of Liz ＆ Silica
——Is there any scene involving either of the two girls that you're especially proud of writing?
Kawahara: Let's see, the best scene for Liz is the part where she escapes the dragon hole with Kirito and confesses to Kirito in the heat of the moment while the two are falling down mid-air in the "Warmth of the Heart" story of the novel. Taking into account the sense of freedom it gave off as well, I'd say I loved the scene.
——That scene looked very nice and wonderful even in the anime!
Kawahara: The background for the scene received a ton of love, so the colours and stuff were very beautiful.
——Now, what about a scene for Silica?
Kawahara: Well, in the novel, Kirito's the one who gets the action in "The Black Swordsman". Silica finds herself sheltered from a lot of issues, so she doesn't take center stage in 《Fairy Dance》 or 《Phantom Bullet》 either.
——She does get sidelined quite a lot, yes. Although she does stand out with her presence in the story, she isn't quite one to drive the plot all that much.
Kawahara: Well, guess I'll have to go with a scene we've already talked about after all: the one where she starts singing at a shopping mall in the 《Ordinal Scale》 movie. Though, I've heard quite a few reactions that the scene was hard to watch due to empathic embarrassment. I, for one, found the scene cute though.
——Empathic embarrassment…… so, like, when someone loses themselves to the excitement and ends up doing something embarrassing, which you perceive as if it was your own mistake, making it hard to watch - is that it?
Kawahara: I suspect that people from the same age group watching the movie might have seen themselves in her place. Also, for a favourite scene where both of the girls come into play, I'd go with one from the very end of the 《Alicization》 arc's end - was it right after Kirito came back to life maybe - anyway, I'm referring to the part where Liz is alone with Silica and tells her "I actually do like Kirito" and Silica responds with "Me too." I just love it when people quietly let their emotions slip.
——Moving on, what about abec-san's illustrations?
Kawahara: All of the illustrations from the novel are wonderful, but if I were to pick from the slightly more rare ones…… for Liz, it would be the "Dengeki Bunko MAGAZINE" supplemental swimsuit poster, which was also used on the cover of this booklet. Her usual attire, such as the maid wardrobe in 《SAO》 or her pants-based wardrobe in later games, doesn't really have all that much skin exposure. So, it's a precious exception to the rule. And this might come off as rude, but wowie, those proportions are really out there……!
——Surprisingly, Liz does in fact sport a nice body; not in terms of elegant beauty as is the case with Asuna, but rather in terms of a healthy sexual allure. Now for Silica……?
Kawahara: If I were to follow the same principle and pick from a "Dengeki Bunko MAGAZINE" supplemental poster……well, Silica is slightly cut-off in the one I have in mind, but she does have a cat on her head - could this possibly be her real world kitty Pina perhaps! - or so I think…… in which case, this piece is the one and only illustrated material we have of the pet, so… (laughs).
^ The illustration which includes a cat that appears to be RL Pina (?), as mentioned in the interview. It's no less fluffy than the little dragon Pina.——Oh right, Pina is also the name of Silica's favourite cat. Now to wrap things up, if you have any story that my give more 『DEBAN』 to the two girls, please share it right here!
Kawahara: As mentioned before, I would like to write a story about their future, and a new arc means a new game, so I would like to write about what kind of action the girls would get into in this new game. It's still in the planning stage, so I'm not sure if it's actually possible, but for example, how about switching up their "roles", that's something I'd like to see.
——So basically, Silica and Lisbeth crushing heads as a vanguard-specialised class, for example!?
Kawahara: In the case of Silica, you can't split her apart from Pina, so I would still follow this precedent, but in terms of their roles as a blacksmith mace-er and dagger-wielding tamer, I would like to break the mould a bit.
——So we might just get an entirely new look for the girls!, I see. That sure builds up hype. Thank you very much!
(A certain day in September 2017: In the editorial department)
Notes
1. ^ The Japanese kana syllabary is divided into columns based on the consonant used in the sound. The "za" column refers to the za-zi(ji)-zu-ze-zo kana; the "ra" column refers to ra-ri-ru-re-ro.
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