Searching for Lemnisca Side-materials translation

[Kururi]

Hello! I'm currently playing I/O, and knowing that Lemnisca translated it, I browsed their website for translation of the side-materials (through web archive). However, I noticed that some of the translations are not available anymore and I can't find them anywhere else.

If anyone has/finds the translation for I/O The “Boy” In The Mirror Novel and Never7: PSP Limited Edition Booklet Takumi Nakazawa Interview, could you share it? Thanks! 

 

[Infernoplex]

I don't know about Never7 but I can safely say that I/O The Boy in the Mirror Novel had only one chapter of it translated if I am not mistaken ... It's some additional story but if you didn't finish I/O you shouldn't even read it ... Though you won't miss anything even if you don't read it at all after finishing I/O ... And good luck, I/O was one of the best VNs I have read

[fun2novel]

Here you go, the interview:

Spoiler

Never7 PSP Limited Edition Takumi Nakazawa Interview

WARNING: This interview contains major end-game spoilers for Never7. If you have not completed the game, then you should not read this.

The following interview was featured in the Never7 Premium Book included in the 2009 Limited Edition release of Never7 on the PSP.

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The Inside of Never7

-Over 8 years have passed since KID released “infinity” on the PSX on March 23^rd, 2000, and “Never7” on the Dreamcast (DC) on December 21^st, 2000. I think we can get into the deep inner workings of the characters and hear stories that went on during development. I know we’ve already held several interviews already, but I’d really appreciate it.

Takumi Nakazawa (henceforth referred to as Nakazawa): It was released in 2000, but development took place in 1999… I remember it. The “infinity” deadline was in January 2000, so Mr. Uchikoshi (Refers to Kotaro Uchikoshi. Was responsible for the planning and scenario of “Never7” and “Ever17”, and helped with the scenario of “Remember11”) frequently had to stay at the office overnight to work in December and January as a result.

-The world was in an uproar about Y2K right about then.

Nakazawa: It really was! (laughs) Mr. Uchikoshi was worried about what he was going to do if the PC he was using at the time broke while he was working and stuff like that. We were briefly grateful when the year ended and it didn’t break, only for the terminal that controlled the time cards to break (laughs). We couldn’t leave the office even when we were taking a break from work! It was that kind of uproar.

-Y2K sure broke out in rather localized ways (laughs). Now then, I think it’s about time we finally got into the specifics of the characters.

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Yuka Kawashima- The Heart of A Girl Who Can’t Shake Off The Past

-First off, let’s talk about Yuka Kawashima, the girl who is in the most main heroine-esque position out of the cast.

Nakazawa: I don’t think we were that conscious of that aspect during development, but she was a character who ended up in a good direction thanks to her friendly and fearless personality.

-I felt her personality was carried out fairly orthodoxly… could you specifically talk about this?

Nakazawa: Since we made her the kind of person who can break the ice with almost anyone and get along with them fairly easily, you could say she had the kind of aspects that made her able to mislead the players about the infinite loop. For example, if she’d had a shy personality, then the players would naturally wonder why she was so overly friendly with Makoto. But because she had the personality we gave her, both Makoto and the players would think “Oh, it’s just because Yuka’s that kind of girl” and thus not think it was all that strange. And it was precisely because of her cheerful and positive personality that we gave Yuka the role of the one who kept her memories during the loop along with Makoto.

-So it’s because she had that friendly personality that made it difficult to tell whether or not she was going through the infinite loop too, huh? So when was it that Makoto and Yuka, who’d been repeating the infinite loop many times, actually became conscious of each other?

Nakazawa: If you mean it in the sense that they’ve been looping multiple times before the game ever starts, then you could also say that they were drawn to each other way before the beginning of the game. And aside from that, Yuka was very fascinated with Makoto from the very start because he somewhat resembled her first love (something Saki touches upon in Yuka Cure). On the other hand, Makoto’s first impression of is that she’s simply a girl who seems very easy to be friends with. Perhaps it is the scene at the cherry blossoms on April 4^th when he first become aware that there’s more to her than that. When she suddenly starts talking about her first love, he learns that she’s been fascinated by a member of the opposite sex that isn’t him. And so he begins to feel partly jealous of that fact while he starts to become conscious of her as a woman for the first time.

-And though they are conscious of each other, Yuka lies to Makoto on April 6^th of the first loop and goes to the shrine by herself. Does this mean that in the end, she put priority over that other boy even though she had a thing for Makoto?

Nakazawa: You could say that, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that she likes the boy more than she likes Makoto. If it came down to Makoto and that boy, she would pick Makoto without any hesitation. It’s just that her “regret of the past” is firmly rooted in her. Even though she’s managed to free herself from the boy she loved first, it’s because she likes Makoto as a boy that she feels she has to properly buries the memories of her sad past before she can go out with him. Even though she’s cheerful on the outside, she’s always lived chained to her past. So when she learns that time travel actually exists, she wants to use it in her own way to move on forward, naturally. Though in the end, it doesn’t go the way she expected, and she probably thinks that she did something stupid (laughs).

-I see, a maiden’s heart sure is complicated, isn’t it? Come to think of it, what Makoto and that boy have in common, which is also shared by Takeshi Kuranari (the protagonist of “Ever17”) is that old-fashioned belief that “guys exist to protect girls”. It sure left quite the impression.

Nakazawa: That’s right. Truth be told, I think they’re old-fashioned as well (laughs). This is Mr. Uchikoshi’s image of a man, so I think this is just something he’s picky about. Personally, I’m fine with that since it fits in well with the story. Because it takes place in the near future and because those three personify that image of a man from those “good old days”, maybe it allows those three to easily cut free from anything holding them back. And besides, that old fashioned part about themselves must move the heroines’ hearts (laughs).

-Because it means that they can definitely rely on them, huh. And besides, from the girls’ point of view, the fact that those three are more old-fashioned than expected also means that they may seem gentlemanly (laughs).

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Haruka Higuchi- An Unexpected Surprise Brought On By The Voice Actress’ Power

-Well then, let’s move on to Haruka. What was the trigger that made her reach the point where she thought she had no heart?

Nakazawa: It’s not touched on in the story, but it’s because she’s been given special treatment for many years because she’s a clone, so she’s gone through life being treated very carefully. And so she turned out the way she did at some point during all that time.

-And so by living like that all by herself alone caused her to feel that there was something about her that was different from humans. She also finds herself fascinated by sea roaches. Is there a reason why she was made to like sea roaches?

Nakazawa: When we were making the character profiles, we wanted to give her something strange to like. We wanted something that would make people say “Why does she like something like this!?” and that would conflict with her otherwise serious image. And so giving her a like of sea roaches did just that. We thought it’d be funny for an honor student to like sea roaches. Sorry, but it’s the truth. We didn’t really put that much thought into it when we decided that (laughs). Why did we decide on sea roaches of all things? I don’t remember (laughs). Probably because they seem cute to her.

-Though she tries to cook some at the barbecue (laughs).

Nakazawa: Kurumi’s the only one who agrees with her in that scene. Maybe it’s something genetic…

-While playing, Kurumi tends to be very agreeable, so that seems to be only typical of her, but that particular conversation can be interpreted as foreshadowing. The final scene of Haruka’s Route depicts her parting with the Morino sisters, but has Kurumi realized her connection to Haruka at that point?

Nakazawa: She hasn’t. But Kurumi’s a smart kid, so she might have intuitively felt that there’s something that might connect the two of them.

-Kurumi seems to be innocent, but she’s actually a character who’s very prudent deep down.

Nakazawa: That’s right. Her being innocent all the time is just acting on the part of the “her” that’s always searching her surroundings.

-That’s a very interesting topic. We’ll get more into that later. As for Haruka, there’s also the fact to consider that her voice actress- Ms. Yuki Matsuoka- plays both her and Kurumi. Could you tell us how you decided to use the same voice actress to play both characters and hide their name from the public?

Nakazawa: It was decided from the moment in planning where we made Haruka Kurumi’s clone. The idea came to be when we followed up with that by saying it’d be interesting if we asked Kurumi’s voice actress to also play Haruka as a form of foreshadowing.

-Meaning it wasn’t meant to be quite nearly as much as a surprise from the start, huh.

Nakazawa: There’s no doubt that out of all the characters in the game, Haruka and Kurumi being double cast was the most difficult part of it all. Back then, I hadn’t really looked into Ms. Yuki Matsuoka all that much, so I was worried before recording began. But when I heard her, I was surprised at just how well a voice actor could manage playing two separate characters. I’d only thought of Haruka and Kurumi having the same voice actress as nothing more than a little gimmick at first, but it became something far more interesting thanks to Ms. Matsuoka’s excellent performance. I don’t think there were all that many players who realized they had the same voice actress until they cleared the game and saw the credits. Of course, I don’t think I would have known either had I not been on it (laughs). I can’t be grateful enough to Ms. Matsuoka.

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Saki Asakura- A Hardworking Dove Under the Surface

-Makoto and Saki’s first impressions of each other couldn’t have been any worse, yet he still referred to Saki without any honorifics. She must have thought he was a weird boy when she saw that.

Nakazawa: Well, yeah, because it’s creepy (laughs). She’s got this sort of desperate mindset where she’d be like “not only is he really pissing me off, but he’s also not calling me ‘Asakura-san’ like he should!”.

-Regarding her, she wears glasses in private and when she’s hospitalized. I thought her nearsightedness was supposed to be foreshadowing something when I was playing, but…

Nakazawa: Since we didn’t put it in the game, it’s become basically a secret piece of backstory, but the truth is that she’s actually a hard worker. I mean, she got into the prestigious K Academy, but it’s not like she’s a genius or anything- she’s the type who just keeps working and working until she gets results. If we were to call those with talent “geniuses” and those without talent who try to make up for that with hard work “prodigies”, then Saki would definitely be a prodigy. But since she only shows people the results of the process, they see her as a genius, and her glasses are a prop of sorts that shows what she really is. So she became nearsighted because she studied too much.

-Thanks to her background as a rich girl, I also thought up until now that Saki was a genius.

Nakazawa: The genius in this case would actually be Yuka. She did a good job of painting the Magician’s Portrait without putting much effort into it. At a glance, it may seem like Yuka is the prodigy while Saki is the genius, but it’s actually the complete opposite. That’s why Saki can be so aggressive towards Yuka. She’s aggressive to Haruka for the same reason: basically, she has a complex towards “geniuses with talent”. The kind who’s like “I put so much effort into this, so why are there people out there who can achieve so much better so easily?”.

-Is her conflict with Haruka linked to that background?

Nakazawa: Yes. Haruka thinks that when it comes down to it, she’s a clone, a different kind of being than humans, but ever since she was a kid, her attitude towards studying has been “it’s only something natural to do”. She sees Saki as a mysterious being of sorts- as in, she wonders “Why does she get so worked up? Why she’s always so aggressive?”, and such.

-And it’s that calm attitude of hers that angers Saki. It’s truly a shame that these feelings of Saki’s weren’t depicted in-game. I like Saki a lot more now (laughs). Speaking of which that “It seems humans can’t die that easily after all” line she says (showing her weakness) after she wakes up in the hospital after nearly drowning left quite the impression.

Nakazawa: She’s a weak person at heart, so when someone broad-minded shows up, she falls hard for them. At first it’s Okuhiko, but since he turns out to be nothing more than words, let’s just say she doesn’t exactly react to that with much restraint (laughs).

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Kurumi Morino- True Feelings Hidden Behind Innocence

-At first glance, Kurumi appears to be living happily with her family, but she really does feel a sense of loneliness, doesn’t she?

Nakazawa: She’s learned from experience that her parents have been giving her special treatment and that her sister treats her differently too (due to her “spiriting away” incident when she was a baby). So she wonders if they’re hiding something from her.

-The reason she’s fascinated with the occult can be thought to be a form of rebellion against her father, the world authority on genetic engineering, but when you consider how the word “occult” original meant “hidden”, it holds a different meaning, doesn’t it? You can take it to mean that she’s also fascinating with finding out what the “something” they’re hiding from her is.

Nakazawa: But she actually doesn’t want to doubt them like that. That’s why she shows such a strong rejection when she learns that those doubts are true. Her innocent personality means that thoughts like, “I’m a safe person, so they wouldn’t keep secrets from me, right?” appeal to her as well. Of course, that’s not saying she’s the kind who doesn’t hide a few things of her own, but it’s an unconscious representation of her desire for others to not put so much distance with her when they make contact.

-This is depicted in the story as well, but now we’ve once again acknowledged that Kurumi is a bright girl. In the last scene of her route, she jokes about “time traveling once more”, but in what way does she understand what happened in her past and what happened to Makoto?

Nakazawa: She’s very adaptable, so she just accepts things that happen in front of her as the truth that they are and that’s that. Makoto time traveled and there’s a three year blank in her life, so she just takes it as a fact. She goes through life accepting “strange events” like that. This is a form of intelligence in its own way, since it means that she can accept the idea that “you can’t change the facts no matter how much you try to think about it” and therefore arrive at a conclusion instantly. Though her academic abilities don’t reflect this at all since she hates studying…

-Which explains why she suggested that crazy idea of doing a proxy exam with Haruka (laughs).

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Izumi Morino- The Truth of Curé Syndrome

-Let’s talk about the Izumi Curé Route, the part that clears up the mystery about the infinite loop that lies at the core of the story. In this route, water is used as an element that shoes the important bond between Haruka, Kurumi, and Izumi.

Nakazawa: One reason why we used water is that it’s commonly considered to be something smooth. From there, we linked and likened the image of beautiful sisterly love to how though water can change into all sorts of forms, such as ice and water vapor, its true nature stays the same no matter what form it’s in. Haruka, Kurumi, and Izumi have completely different personalities and looks, and have gone through completely differently lives, but the three of them are linked by the same strong bond. The other reason is that Mr. Uchikoshi and I have used water as an important element in many of the stories we have had a hand in.

-What do you mean?

Nakazawa: For example, the setting of the “Memories Off” series is always a town by the sea. In “Close To”, an incident that occurs at a lake becomes an important trick. “Ever17” takes place in an underwater theme park. In “Remember11”, a scene where the ocean appears is used as a key turning point. And in “I/O”, an important device that uses water is used as a gimmick. Since going any further would involve spoilers of these other works, I’ve just simplified them down to the basic details (laughs). It’s easy to use and to connect with the story even just as a keyword, so there’s been times where it’s been used in the form of rain. One common way I use it frequently is for the weather to be linked to the protagonist’s emotions or the events surrounding them. So it’ll be clear on a fun day, cloudy on a gloomy day, and rainy when trouble’s happening… that sort of stuff. It’s often been said that “the weather controls people’s emotions”, but I go for the other way around- that is “people’s emotions control the weather” (laughs).

-When you think of it like that, the weather that represents the protagonist’s emotions being a typhoon that’s actually used as a trick that prevents him from leaving the island is surprising.

Nakazawa: We ran into difficulties at first when we were brainstorming ways to keep everyone trapped. At first, the story didn’t take place on an island, but rather a peninsula where the roads had been blocked with a landslide, turning it into an island on land, but that idea got a lot of flak from our coworkers. They said stuff like, “Why don’t they just try to climb over all that stuff then? It’d be better than dying” (laughs). So we changed it so that it took place on an island where they couldn’t go home because the seas were rough, and we were relieved that this turned out to fit in well.

-In the second week of the Curé Route, is Izumi’s mental state (summed up with her quote “Regulus is continuing to shine even now”) the way it is because of the her who wants to believe in Curé Syndrome somewhere in her heart?

Nakazawa: That’s not it. It’s her mindset that the cheerful Makoto she sees before her is actually real and not a delusion created by Curé Syndrome that’s making her say that. Either way still affirms the existence of time travel, after all.

-It’s the same kind of thing of Kokoro Fuyukawa (one of Remember11’s protagonists)’s quote “If there isn’t a logical explanation, I’ll choose to believe the most romantic option”, isn’t it?

Nakazawa: In Izumi’s case, her mindset is “if I don’t know the truth, then it’s mentally healthier to come up with a clear solution for it”. That way, she doesn’t have to think about anything unpleasant. Since she can’t help doing that, it’s more like a way of convincing herself that her interpretation is the truth even if it isn’t.

-So if anything, she seems like a rather sensitive person, but is she actually impassive?

Nakazawa: I suppose it is an impassive way of thinking from an objective standpoint. Though that said, it’s not like the things she says comes from that way of thinking.

-You mean the conflict between the “her” as a scholar and the “her” as a sister. Speaking of Izumi, the blank cards and other elements that show a sense of ambiguity in the ending of the Curé Route also left quite the impression. Does Curé Syndrome actually exist?

Nakazawa: This is the theme that encompasses the entire Infinity series, but the correct answer is whatever the most understandable interpretation to the player is. We’ve all decided on what we believe to be the right answer, but the game never says “this is what the truth really is” to reinforce that idea.

-So everything shown in the game is nothing more than evidence that merely hints at an answer, and the truth is ultimately left up to the player’s judgment, huh? Though it’s difficult to come to a conclusion when you think about the Izumi Curé Ending B that was added to “Never7”.

Nakazawa: When we were working on Never7, the movie “The Sixth Sense” was very popular amongst the staff, so we talked about adding an intense ending that would match the shocking conclusion to that movie (laughs). So that outcome came as a result of us wanting to make an unexpected ending that would shatter the player’s sense of values. Our goal was to make them think “I don’t know what to believe anymore! I’ve been had!” (laughs).

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Memories of the Append Scenario Distribution: Perseverance on Betting on the Network Functions

-I’d like to now change our perspective and ask about the development period. “Never7” experimented with this new system that distributed, via network, scenarios that general players created and could be played in the game itself as additional scenarios.

Nakazawa: The sequence of events that lead to how that came to be is a bit unique. It all started because we hadn’t used the network features of the DC before “Never7”, so we figured that if we were making games for the system, we wanted to do something revolutionary with it, so the president of KID at the time said, “Make a ‘visual novel creating’ game where the players can make their own scenarios and freely distribute them”. At first, it had nothing to do with “Never7”. And so when we were coming up with the plan for this game while discussing it with programmers, they said that it’d probably take several years to make and that it’d be difficult to maintain support and troubleshooting with the players. I remember thinking, “this is tougher than we thought”.

-There weren’t that many games back then that advertised their network features as part of their main selling points.

Nakazawa: So we talked about perhaps having the players send us scenarios that they created, then have us covert them into scripted form and then distributing them in game form as a compromise to make up for it. But we felt that something like that would have very little appeal if sold as a separate product, so we decided to add it onto “Never7” as a bonus of sorts. And that’s how the Append Scenario system came to be.

-It sure sounds like you went through a lot of trial and error there. How was the response of the players?

Nakazawa: We were proud to find out that there were many players who were pleased with it, considering we used it as a test case. After that, it became customary for KID to include the network distribution Append Scenario system on the titles they sold on the DC. Fortunately, Mr. Uchikoshi created detailed information on the setting that didn’t appear in the game at this time. For example, he include notes on how long it took to get from one location to another in the game, how big the waves were each day, and so on and so forth. We released a certain amount of these notes to the public, which appeared to be a good foothold for the players, as this ability to publicly make players’ scenarios available brought about multiple high level works that fit in well with the depiction of the world of “Never7”. Since the whole part of the “things the player thought up becoming reality” of the system matched up well with the Curé Syndrome aspect of the setting, I’d say that the result exceeded our imaginations (in a good way).

-And the system was based on the DC, not “Never7”.

Nakazawa: That’s how it turned out. But still, Sega at the time was incredible. Though I suppose every maker has their eyes fixed on the unforeseeable future. Sega took us so seriously that even KID once brought up the possibility in participating in the @barai system (Interviewer’s note: The @barai system was a service available on the Sega Dreamcast. This avant-garde system allowed players to buy demos versions of games at the reasonably affordable price of 1000 yen, and if they liked what they played, they could buy the full game online by buying “deferred payment (“atobarai” in Japanese, hence the system’s name)” unlock key known as a product key. The system concluded in 2002.) as well. The DC truly was a good piece of hardware. Its functions were enhanced, it was easy to make games for (Interviewer’s note: He goes on talking about the DC for a while)…

-I can see you’ll really getting pumped up about this topic, so let’s save it for afterwards (laughs). Anyway, how did the distribution for the Append Scenario system work…?

Nakazawa: We distributed one scenario per week. I mentioned this earlier, but we were surprised that the scenarios that players came up with were more interesting than we’d imagined. We then chose which scenarios to use out of all the ones that’d been sent and wrote them down to be used in the game. It was a difficult endeavor that left us overwhelmed but delighted, fun and challenging. We were a bit imprudent (laughs).
From “Ever17” and onward, the settings grew more and more limited and complex, and so the system came to an end as we stopped adding it to future titles, but we got a very positive response from the players. I’m still happy to this day to see them say things like “I looked forward to it every week during that time”.

-At that time, there were a lot of young players on the official Sega forum (Interviewer note: the official Japanese Sega forums that closed in 2001) and such that were going through that transitional period of becoming familiar with the Internet, weren’t there?

Nakazawa: There were a lot of new users on the Sega forums who had serious opinions that we listened to. I remember they used to speculate a lot about the games we made. That time was truly (Interviewer’s note: He goes on talking about the forums for a while)…

-We’ve gone off-topic again (laughs). But with so much tight-scheduled work going on for KID at the time, what was the reason you continued with the Append Scenario distribution?

Nakazawa: At the time, KID’s “Memories Off” was selling well, while I can’t say that “infinity” and “Never7” was the same. That made me quite bitter. So I was desperate to get players all fired up. And so I wholeheartedly continued with the system when it came to me that I could bring win over fanfiction makers by catching their interest with the system. I used to always tell the staff that “this is revenge!” and put pressure on them that way (laughs).

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Looking Back on Never7: The Rising of the Curtain on the Infinity Series

-Do you feel like your revenge was successful?

Nakazawa: When we finished “Never7”, I was scared. I was thinking “This is definitely interesting. So interesting that it’s scaring me. Maybe we’ll sell more than ‘Memories Off’!”. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite make it that far, but the positive reactions from players was a lifesaver. But its reputation as a “hidden masterpiece” made me both happy and sad. I was like, “then don’t make it hidden” (laughs).

-What parts of it do you feel didn’t convey the sense of fun you wanted it to?

Nakazawa: I think part of it is that the parts of the game that we were confident about being interesting, such as the time loop and such, were things that players wouldn’t be able to see without putting some time into the game. Though they said the mystery was interesting, not all that much mystery-related happened during the story (laughs). I think it was also difficult to understand. We also made retailers angry because they had trouble selling it since we didn’t put the time loop aspect in the front and center of the game’s advertising, meaning that people wouldn’t find out how interesting the story it was unless they actually played it.

-Because you needed to clear half of a heroine’s story to cause the infinite loop to happen, right?

Nakazawa: Right. That’s why we said nothing when the time came to release advertisements for “infinity”. We came to regret this move, so when the time came to release “Never7”, we listened to that advice and put the part about the time travel in the front and center of the whole advertising. We then created Curé Syndrome so that the story would still have an unexpected twist this time around as well.

-So that’s what lead to the birth of Curé Syndrome. Speaking of individual opinions, it feels like the fact that the protagonists were college students was also related to this.

Nakazawa: Maybe. That’s because the majority of ren’ai visual novels have high schoolers as the protagonists. High schoolers really are easy to understand, after all. It also comes off as an extension of middle school, meaning it’s an easy setting for younger players to imagine, and it allows high school graduates who play it to enjoy a sense of nostalgia. But when the setting is college, it doesn’t fulfill either function very well. Though this story couldn’t have been done if the protagonists had been in high school.

-Had the setting been high school, the story probably would have felt unnatural for Makoto to not know Izumi’s face, given that she’s the teacher in charge of him. Then why don’t we finish this off with a final question- in the end, what kind of work do you consider “infinity” and “Never7” to be, Mr. Nakazawa?

Nakazawa: “infinity” was a work I really fussed over and the first work that I felt any response to. I think of it as my starting point. But like I pointed out earlier, there were also problems with it that made it difficult to convey the fun I wanted it to, so it’s a fact that it has parts I vaguely felt didn’t work out well that made me wonder how I could get rid of them in my next work and how I could make that sense of fun apparent to the player right away. However, seeing how players who have finished the game have discussed theories, ideas, and even made fanfiction based on caused me to think that my future works should also include “elements that let the players theorize” and “elements that can be interpreted in multiple ways” much like Curé Syndrome. I understand that there were those who didn’t like those unclear parts. Even so, we want people to enjoy those parts as much as they can. If we’d had the truth clearly spelled out in the story, all we really would have heard was “Oh, that scene was good” or “Oh, that scene was a bit unsatisfactory”. Of course, I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but when you have a game where you can arrive at all sorts of conclusions, it might make the story more exciting and memorable for the player in the future. It was that thought that lead me to decide to continue using this approach.

 

[Kururi]

On 9/18/2016 at 3:18 AM, Infernoplex said:

I don't know about Never7 but I can safely say that I/O The Boy in the Mirror Novel had only one chapter of it translated if I am not mistaken ... It's some additional story but if you didn't finish I/O you shouldn't even read it ... Though you won't miss anything even if you don't read it at all after finishing I/O ... And good luck, I/O was one of the best VNs I have read

I just finished Route A and I've already had high hopes for this VN!  It's a pity that only 1 chapter is translated, but I'll be looking for it again once I finish I/O!

On 9/18/2016 at 3:29 AM, fun2novel said:

Here you go, the interview:

  Reveal hidden contents

Never7 PSP Limited Edition Takumi Nakazawa Interview

WARNING: This interview contains major end-game spoilers for Never7. If you have not completed the game, then you should not read this.

The following interview was featured in the Never7 Premium Book included in the 2009 Limited Edition release of Never7 on the PSP.

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The Inside of Never7

-Over 8 years have passed since KID released “infinity” on the PSX on March 23^rd, 2000, and “Never7” on the Dreamcast (DC) on December 21^st, 2000. I think we can get into the deep inner workings of the characters and hear stories that went on during development. I know we’ve already held several interviews already, but I’d really appreciate it.

Takumi Nakazawa (henceforth referred to as Nakazawa): It was released in 2000, but development took place in 1999… I remember it. The “infinity” deadline was in January 2000, so Mr. Uchikoshi (Refers to Kotaro Uchikoshi. Was responsible for the planning and scenario of “Never7” and “Ever17”, and helped with the scenario of “Remember11”) frequently had to stay at the office overnight to work in December and January as a result.

-The world was in an uproar about Y2K right about then.

Nakazawa: It really was! (laughs) Mr. Uchikoshi was worried about what he was going to do if the PC he was using at the time broke while he was working and stuff like that. We were briefly grateful when the year ended and it didn’t break, only for the terminal that controlled the time cards to break (laughs). We couldn’t leave the office even when we were taking a break from work! It was that kind of uproar.

-Y2K sure broke out in rather localized ways (laughs). Now then, I think it’s about time we finally got into the specifics of the characters.

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Yuka Kawashima- The Heart of A Girl Who Can’t Shake Off The Past

-First off, let’s talk about Yuka Kawashima, the girl who is in the most main heroine-esque position out of the cast.

Nakazawa: I don’t think we were that conscious of that aspect during development, but she was a character who ended up in a good direction thanks to her friendly and fearless personality.

-I felt her personality was carried out fairly orthodoxly… could you specifically talk about this?

Nakazawa: Since we made her the kind of person who can break the ice with almost anyone and get along with them fairly easily, you could say she had the kind of aspects that made her able to mislead the players about the infinite loop. For example, if she’d had a shy personality, then the players would naturally wonder why she was so overly friendly with Makoto. But because she had the personality we gave her, both Makoto and the players would think “Oh, it’s just because Yuka’s that kind of girl” and thus not think it was all that strange. And it was precisely because of her cheerful and positive personality that we gave Yuka the role of the one who kept her memories during the loop along with Makoto.

-So it’s because she had that friendly personality that made it difficult to tell whether or not she was going through the infinite loop too, huh? So when was it that Makoto and Yuka, who’d been repeating the infinite loop many times, actually became conscious of each other?

Nakazawa: If you mean it in the sense that they’ve been looping multiple times before the game ever starts, then you could also say that they were drawn to each other way before the beginning of the game. And aside from that, Yuka was very fascinated with Makoto from the very start because he somewhat resembled her first love (something Saki touches upon in Yuka Cure). On the other hand, Makoto’s first impression of is that she’s simply a girl who seems very easy to be friends with. Perhaps it is the scene at the cherry blossoms on April 4^th when he first become aware that there’s more to her than that. When she suddenly starts talking about her first love, he learns that she’s been fascinated by a member of the opposite sex that isn’t him. And so he begins to feel partly jealous of that fact while he starts to become conscious of her as a woman for the first time.

-And though they are conscious of each other, Yuka lies to Makoto on April 6^th of the first loop and goes to the shrine by herself. Does this mean that in the end, she put priority over that other boy even though she had a thing for Makoto?

Nakazawa: You could say that, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that she likes the boy more than she likes Makoto. If it came down to Makoto and that boy, she would pick Makoto without any hesitation. It’s just that her “regret of the past” is firmly rooted in her. Even though she’s managed to free herself from the boy she loved first, it’s because she likes Makoto as a boy that she feels she has to properly buries the memories of her sad past before she can go out with him. Even though she’s cheerful on the outside, she’s always lived chained to her past. So when she learns that time travel actually exists, she wants to use it in her own way to move on forward, naturally. Though in the end, it doesn’t go the way she expected, and she probably thinks that she did something stupid (laughs).

-I see, a maiden’s heart sure is complicated, isn’t it? Come to think of it, what Makoto and that boy have in common, which is also shared by Takeshi Kuranari (the protagonist of “Ever17”) is that old-fashioned belief that “guys exist to protect girls”. It sure left quite the impression.

Nakazawa: That’s right. Truth be told, I think they’re old-fashioned as well (laughs). This is Mr. Uchikoshi’s image of a man, so I think this is just something he’s picky about. Personally, I’m fine with that since it fits in well with the story. Because it takes place in the near future and because those three personify that image of a man from those “good old days”, maybe it allows those three to easily cut free from anything holding them back. And besides, that old fashioned part about themselves must move the heroines’ hearts (laughs).

-Because it means that they can definitely rely on them, huh. And besides, from the girls’ point of view, the fact that those three are more old-fashioned than expected also means that they may seem gentlemanly (laughs).

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Haruka Higuchi- An Unexpected Surprise Brought On By The Voice Actress’ Power

-Well then, let’s move on to Haruka. What was the trigger that made her reach the point where she thought she had no heart?

Nakazawa: It’s not touched on in the story, but it’s because she’s been given special treatment for many years because she’s a clone, so she’s gone through life being treated very carefully. And so she turned out the way she did at some point during all that time.

-And so by living like that all by herself alone caused her to feel that there was something about her that was different from humans. She also finds herself fascinated by sea roaches. Is there a reason why she was made to like sea roaches?

Nakazawa: When we were making the character profiles, we wanted to give her something strange to like. We wanted something that would make people say “Why does she like something like this!?” and that would conflict with her otherwise serious image. And so giving her a like of sea roaches did just that. We thought it’d be funny for an honor student to like sea roaches. Sorry, but it’s the truth. We didn’t really put that much thought into it when we decided that (laughs). Why did we decide on sea roaches of all things? I don’t remember (laughs). Probably because they seem cute to her.

-Though she tries to cook some at the barbecue (laughs).

Nakazawa: Kurumi’s the only one who agrees with her in that scene. Maybe it’s something genetic…

-While playing, Kurumi tends to be very agreeable, so that seems to be only typical of her, but that particular conversation can be interpreted as foreshadowing. The final scene of Haruka’s Route depicts her parting with the Morino sisters, but has Kurumi realized her connection to Haruka at that point?

Nakazawa: She hasn’t. But Kurumi’s a smart kid, so she might have intuitively felt that there’s something that might connect the two of them.

-Kurumi seems to be innocent, but she’s actually a character who’s very prudent deep down.

Nakazawa: That’s right. Her being innocent all the time is just acting on the part of the “her” that’s always searching her surroundings.

-That’s a very interesting topic. We’ll get more into that later. As for Haruka, there’s also the fact to consider that her voice actress- Ms. Yuki Matsuoka- plays both her and Kurumi. Could you tell us how you decided to use the same voice actress to play both characters and hide their name from the public?

Nakazawa: It was decided from the moment in planning where we made Haruka Kurumi’s clone. The idea came to be when we followed up with that by saying it’d be interesting if we asked Kurumi’s voice actress to also play Haruka as a form of foreshadowing.

-Meaning it wasn’t meant to be quite nearly as much as a surprise from the start, huh.

Nakazawa: There’s no doubt that out of all the characters in the game, Haruka and Kurumi being double cast was the most difficult part of it all. Back then, I hadn’t really looked into Ms. Yuki Matsuoka all that much, so I was worried before recording began. But when I heard her, I was surprised at just how well a voice actor could manage playing two separate characters. I’d only thought of Haruka and Kurumi having the same voice actress as nothing more than a little gimmick at first, but it became something far more interesting thanks to Ms. Matsuoka’s excellent performance. I don’t think there were all that many players who realized they had the same voice actress until they cleared the game and saw the credits. Of course, I don’t think I would have known either had I not been on it (laughs). I can’t be grateful enough to Ms. Matsuoka.

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Saki Asakura- A Hardworking Dove Under the Surface

-Makoto and Saki’s first impressions of each other couldn’t have been any worse, yet he still referred to Saki without any honorifics. She must have thought he was a weird boy when she saw that.

Nakazawa: Well, yeah, because it’s creepy (laughs). She’s got this sort of desperate mindset where she’d be like “not only is he really pissing me off, but he’s also not calling me ‘Asakura-san’ like he should!”.

-Regarding her, she wears glasses in private and when she’s hospitalized. I thought her nearsightedness was supposed to be foreshadowing something when I was playing, but…

Nakazawa: Since we didn’t put it in the game, it’s become basically a secret piece of backstory, but the truth is that she’s actually a hard worker. I mean, she got into the prestigious K Academy, but it’s not like she’s a genius or anything- she’s the type who just keeps working and working until she gets results. If we were to call those with talent “geniuses” and those without talent who try to make up for that with hard work “prodigies”, then Saki would definitely be a prodigy. But since she only shows people the results of the process, they see her as a genius, and her glasses are a prop of sorts that shows what she really is. So she became nearsighted because she studied too much.

-Thanks to her background as a rich girl, I also thought up until now that Saki was a genius.

Nakazawa: The genius in this case would actually be Yuka. She did a good job of painting the Magician’s Portrait without putting much effort into it. At a glance, it may seem like Yuka is the prodigy while Saki is the genius, but it’s actually the complete opposite. That’s why Saki can be so aggressive towards Yuka. She’s aggressive to Haruka for the same reason: basically, she has a complex towards “geniuses with talent”. The kind who’s like “I put so much effort into this, so why are there people out there who can achieve so much better so easily?”.

-Is her conflict with Haruka linked to that background?

Nakazawa: Yes. Haruka thinks that when it comes down to it, she’s a clone, a different kind of being than humans, but ever since she was a kid, her attitude towards studying has been “it’s only something natural to do”. She sees Saki as a mysterious being of sorts- as in, she wonders “Why does she get so worked up? Why she’s always so aggressive?”, and such.

-And it’s that calm attitude of hers that angers Saki. It’s truly a shame that these feelings of Saki’s weren’t depicted in-game. I like Saki a lot more now (laughs). Speaking of which that “It seems humans can’t die that easily after all” line she says (showing her weakness) after she wakes up in the hospital after nearly drowning left quite the impression.

Nakazawa: She’s a weak person at heart, so when someone broad-minded shows up, she falls hard for them. At first it’s Okuhiko, but since he turns out to be nothing more than words, let’s just say she doesn’t exactly react to that with much restraint (laughs).

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Kurumi Morino- True Feelings Hidden Behind Innocence

-At first glance, Kurumi appears to be living happily with her family, but she really does feel a sense of loneliness, doesn’t she?

Nakazawa: She’s learned from experience that her parents have been giving her special treatment and that her sister treats her differently too (due to her “spiriting away” incident when she was a baby). So she wonders if they’re hiding something from her.

-The reason she’s fascinated with the occult can be thought to be a form of rebellion against her father, the world authority on genetic engineering, but when you consider how the word “occult” original meant “hidden”, it holds a different meaning, doesn’t it? You can take it to mean that she’s also fascinating with finding out what the “something” they’re hiding from her is.

Nakazawa: But she actually doesn’t want to doubt them like that. That’s why she shows such a strong rejection when she learns that those doubts are true. Her innocent personality means that thoughts like, “I’m a safe person, so they wouldn’t keep secrets from me, right?” appeal to her as well. Of course, that’s not saying she’s the kind who doesn’t hide a few things of her own, but it’s an unconscious representation of her desire for others to not put so much distance with her when they make contact.

-This is depicted in the story as well, but now we’ve once again acknowledged that Kurumi is a bright girl. In the last scene of her route, she jokes about “time traveling once more”, but in what way does she understand what happened in her past and what happened to Makoto?

Nakazawa: She’s very adaptable, so she just accepts things that happen in front of her as the truth that they are and that’s that. Makoto time traveled and there’s a three year blank in her life, so she just takes it as a fact. She goes through life accepting “strange events” like that. This is a form of intelligence in its own way, since it means that she can accept the idea that “you can’t change the facts no matter how much you try to think about it” and therefore arrive at a conclusion instantly. Though her academic abilities don’t reflect this at all since she hates studying…

-Which explains why she suggested that crazy idea of doing a proxy exam with Haruka (laughs).

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Izumi Morino- The Truth of Curé Syndrome

-Let’s talk about the Izumi Curé Route, the part that clears up the mystery about the infinite loop that lies at the core of the story. In this route, water is used as an element that shoes the important bond between Haruka, Kurumi, and Izumi.

Nakazawa: One reason why we used water is that it’s commonly considered to be something smooth. From there, we linked and likened the image of beautiful sisterly love to how though water can change into all sorts of forms, such as ice and water vapor, its true nature stays the same no matter what form it’s in. Haruka, Kurumi, and Izumi have completely different personalities and looks, and have gone through completely differently lives, but the three of them are linked by the same strong bond. The other reason is that Mr. Uchikoshi and I have used water as an important element in many of the stories we have had a hand in.

-What do you mean?

Nakazawa: For example, the setting of the “Memories Off” series is always a town by the sea. In “Close To”, an incident that occurs at a lake becomes an important trick. “Ever17” takes place in an underwater theme park. In “Remember11”, a scene where the ocean appears is used as a key turning point. And in “I/O”, an important device that uses water is used as a gimmick. Since going any further would involve spoilers of these other works, I’ve just simplified them down to the basic details (laughs). It’s easy to use and to connect with the story even just as a keyword, so there’s been times where it’s been used in the form of rain. One common way I use it frequently is for the weather to be linked to the protagonist’s emotions or the events surrounding them. So it’ll be clear on a fun day, cloudy on a gloomy day, and rainy when trouble’s happening… that sort of stuff. It’s often been said that “the weather controls people’s emotions”, but I go for the other way around- that is “people’s emotions control the weather” (laughs).

-When you think of it like that, the weather that represents the protagonist’s emotions being a typhoon that’s actually used as a trick that prevents him from leaving the island is surprising.

Nakazawa: We ran into difficulties at first when we were brainstorming ways to keep everyone trapped. At first, the story didn’t take place on an island, but rather a peninsula where the roads had been blocked with a landslide, turning it into an island on land, but that idea got a lot of flak from our coworkers. They said stuff like, “Why don’t they just try to climb over all that stuff then? It’d be better than dying” (laughs). So we changed it so that it took place on an island where they couldn’t go home because the seas were rough, and we were relieved that this turned out to fit in well.

-In the second week of the Curé Route, is Izumi’s mental state (summed up with her quote “Regulus is continuing to shine even now”) the way it is because of the her who wants to believe in Curé Syndrome somewhere in her heart?

Nakazawa: That’s not it. It’s her mindset that the cheerful Makoto she sees before her is actually real and not a delusion created by Curé Syndrome that’s making her say that. Either way still affirms the existence of time travel, after all.

-It’s the same kind of thing of Kokoro Fuyukawa (one of Remember11’s protagonists)’s quote “If there isn’t a logical explanation, I’ll choose to believe the most romantic option”, isn’t it?

Nakazawa: In Izumi’s case, her mindset is “if I don’t know the truth, then it’s mentally healthier to come up with a clear solution for it”. That way, she doesn’t have to think about anything unpleasant. Since she can’t help doing that, it’s more like a way of convincing herself that her interpretation is the truth even if it isn’t.

-So if anything, she seems like a rather sensitive person, but is she actually impassive?

Nakazawa: I suppose it is an impassive way of thinking from an objective standpoint. Though that said, it’s not like the things she says comes from that way of thinking.

-You mean the conflict between the “her” as a scholar and the “her” as a sister. Speaking of Izumi, the blank cards and other elements that show a sense of ambiguity in the ending of the Curé Route also left quite the impression. Does Curé Syndrome actually exist?

Nakazawa: This is the theme that encompasses the entire Infinity series, but the correct answer is whatever the most understandable interpretation to the player is. We’ve all decided on what we believe to be the right answer, but the game never says “this is what the truth really is” to reinforce that idea.

-So everything shown in the game is nothing more than evidence that merely hints at an answer, and the truth is ultimately left up to the player’s judgment, huh? Though it’s difficult to come to a conclusion when you think about the Izumi Curé Ending B that was added to “Never7”.

Nakazawa: When we were working on Never7, the movie “The Sixth Sense” was very popular amongst the staff, so we talked about adding an intense ending that would match the shocking conclusion to that movie (laughs). So that outcome came as a result of us wanting to make an unexpected ending that would shatter the player’s sense of values. Our goal was to make them think “I don’t know what to believe anymore! I’ve been had!” (laughs).

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Memories of the Append Scenario Distribution: Perseverance on Betting on the Network Functions

-I’d like to now change our perspective and ask about the development period. “Never7” experimented with this new system that distributed, via network, scenarios that general players created and could be played in the game itself as additional scenarios.

Nakazawa: The sequence of events that lead to how that came to be is a bit unique. It all started because we hadn’t used the network features of the DC before “Never7”, so we figured that if we were making games for the system, we wanted to do something revolutionary with it, so the president of KID at the time said, “Make a ‘visual novel creating’ game where the players can make their own scenarios and freely distribute them”. At first, it had nothing to do with “Never7”. And so when we were coming up with the plan for this game while discussing it with programmers, they said that it’d probably take several years to make and that it’d be difficult to maintain support and troubleshooting with the players. I remember thinking, “this is tougher than we thought”.

-There weren’t that many games back then that advertised their network features as part of their main selling points.

Nakazawa: So we talked about perhaps having the players send us scenarios that they created, then have us covert them into scripted form and then distributing them in game form as a compromise to make up for it. But we felt that something like that would have very little appeal if sold as a separate product, so we decided to add it onto “Never7” as a bonus of sorts. And that’s how the Append Scenario system came to be.

-It sure sounds like you went through a lot of trial and error there. How was the response of the players?

Nakazawa: We were proud to find out that there were many players who were pleased with it, considering we used it as a test case. After that, it became customary for KID to include the network distribution Append Scenario system on the titles they sold on the DC. Fortunately, Mr. Uchikoshi created detailed information on the setting that didn’t appear in the game at this time. For example, he include notes on how long it took to get from one location to another in the game, how big the waves were each day, and so on and so forth. We released a certain amount of these notes to the public, which appeared to be a good foothold for the players, as this ability to publicly make players’ scenarios available brought about multiple high level works that fit in well with the depiction of the world of “Never7”. Since the whole part of the “things the player thought up becoming reality” of the system matched up well with the Curé Syndrome aspect of the setting, I’d say that the result exceeded our imaginations (in a good way).

-And the system was based on the DC, not “Never7”.

Nakazawa: That’s how it turned out. But still, Sega at the time was incredible. Though I suppose every maker has their eyes fixed on the unforeseeable future. Sega took us so seriously that even KID once brought up the possibility in participating in the @barai system (Interviewer’s note: The @barai system was a service available on the Sega Dreamcast. This avant-garde system allowed players to buy demos versions of games at the reasonably affordable price of 1000 yen, and if they liked what they played, they could buy the full game online by buying “deferred payment (“atobarai” in Japanese, hence the system’s name)” unlock key known as a product key. The system concluded in 2002.) as well. The DC truly was a good piece of hardware. Its functions were enhanced, it was easy to make games for (Interviewer’s note: He goes on talking about the DC for a while)…

-I can see you’ll really getting pumped up about this topic, so let’s save it for afterwards (laughs). Anyway, how did the distribution for the Append Scenario system work…?

Nakazawa: We distributed one scenario per week. I mentioned this earlier, but we were surprised that the scenarios that players came up with were more interesting than we’d imagined. We then chose which scenarios to use out of all the ones that’d been sent and wrote them down to be used in the game. It was a difficult endeavor that left us overwhelmed but delighted, fun and challenging. We were a bit imprudent (laughs).
From “Ever17” and onward, the settings grew more and more limited and complex, and so the system came to an end as we stopped adding it to future titles, but we got a very positive response from the players. I’m still happy to this day to see them say things like “I looked forward to it every week during that time”.

-At that time, there were a lot of young players on the official Sega forum (Interviewer note: the official Japanese Sega forums that closed in 2001) and such that were going through that transitional period of becoming familiar with the Internet, weren’t there?

Nakazawa: There were a lot of new users on the Sega forums who had serious opinions that we listened to. I remember they used to speculate a lot about the games we made. That time was truly (Interviewer’s note: He goes on talking about the forums for a while)…

-We’ve gone off-topic again (laughs). But with so much tight-scheduled work going on for KID at the time, what was the reason you continued with the Append Scenario distribution?

Nakazawa: At the time, KID’s “Memories Off” was selling well, while I can’t say that “infinity” and “Never7” was the same. That made me quite bitter. So I was desperate to get players all fired up. And so I wholeheartedly continued with the system when it came to me that I could bring win over fanfiction makers by catching their interest with the system. I used to always tell the staff that “this is revenge!” and put pressure on them that way (laughs).

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Looking Back on Never7: The Rising of the Curtain on the Infinity Series

-Do you feel like your revenge was successful?

Nakazawa: When we finished “Never7”, I was scared. I was thinking “This is definitely interesting. So interesting that it’s scaring me. Maybe we’ll sell more than ‘Memories Off’!”. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite make it that far, but the positive reactions from players was a lifesaver. But its reputation as a “hidden masterpiece” made me both happy and sad. I was like, “then don’t make it hidden” (laughs).

-What parts of it do you feel didn’t convey the sense of fun you wanted it to?

Nakazawa: I think part of it is that the parts of the game that we were confident about being interesting, such as the time loop and such, were things that players wouldn’t be able to see without putting some time into the game. Though they said the mystery was interesting, not all that much mystery-related happened during the story (laughs). I think it was also difficult to understand. We also made retailers angry because they had trouble selling it since we didn’t put the time loop aspect in the front and center of the game’s advertising, meaning that people wouldn’t find out how interesting the story it was unless they actually played it.

-Because you needed to clear half of a heroine’s story to cause the infinite loop to happen, right?

Nakazawa: Right. That’s why we said nothing when the time came to release advertisements for “infinity”. We came to regret this move, so when the time came to release “Never7”, we listened to that advice and put the part about the time travel in the front and center of the whole advertising. We then created Curé Syndrome so that the story would still have an unexpected twist this time around as well.

-So that’s what lead to the birth of Curé Syndrome. Speaking of individual opinions, it feels like the fact that the protagonists were college students was also related to this.

Nakazawa: Maybe. That’s because the majority of ren’ai visual novels have high schoolers as the protagonists. High schoolers really are easy to understand, after all. It also comes off as an extension of middle school, meaning it’s an easy setting for younger players to imagine, and it allows high school graduates who play it to enjoy a sense of nostalgia. But when the setting is college, it doesn’t fulfill either function very well. Though this story couldn’t have been done if the protagonists had been in high school.

-Had the setting been high school, the story probably would have felt unnatural for Makoto to not know Izumi’s face, given that she’s the teacher in charge of him. Then why don’t we finish this off with a final question- in the end, what kind of work do you consider “infinity” and “Never7” to be, Mr. Nakazawa?

Nakazawa: “infinity” was a work I really fussed over and the first work that I felt any response to. I think of it as my starting point. But like I pointed out earlier, there were also problems with it that made it difficult to convey the fun I wanted it to, so it’s a fact that it has parts I vaguely felt didn’t work out well that made me wonder how I could get rid of them in my next work and how I could make that sense of fun apparent to the player right away. However, seeing how players who have finished the game have discussed theories, ideas, and even made fanfiction based on caused me to think that my future works should also include “elements that let the players theorize” and “elements that can be interpreted in multiple ways” much like Curé Syndrome. I understand that there were those who didn’t like those unclear parts. Even so, we want people to enjoy those parts as much as they can. If we’d had the truth clearly spelled out in the story, all we really would have heard was “Oh, that scene was good” or “Oh, that scene was a bit unsatisfactory”. Of course, I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but when you have a game where you can arrive at all sorts of conclusions, it might make the story more exciting and memorable for the player in the future. It was that thought that lead me to decide to continue using this approach.

 

Thank you so much!