Saiko Takaki/Interview

Interview conducted by email on September 5, 2014. Questions and answers translated by DaVince.

Hello, RacieB!

Thanks for all the questions.

Since I designed Telefang over 10 years ago, there's a lot of things I can't remember. But I do want to answer all the questions that I can answer.

First, there's something I want to let you know.

I did the designs for the Denjuu, but never had any input in the game itself or the manga. The Denjuu's positions in the game and anything about their names, I can't really answer about.

1. What was it like to create a Denjuu? How did you decide what sort of animals to base them on, or what colors to use? I noticed that the color schemes are very cleverly chosen! Were you asked to do any specific designs?

The Denjuu were all created from interesting shapes and structures that I sketched while reading things like reference books of animals. The colours were what I felt like. Although generally I used analogous colour schemes, occasionally I also liked using complementary colour schemes.

The client from Comic BomBom's editing group asked me to "make the main character an armadillo", but besides that, I was free to design that any way I wanted.

2. Was working on Telefang 2 different than working on Telefang 1? Did you work together with Kozue Kino on character designs for Telefang 1? What about the story? If Telefang 3 was ever produced, would you want to work on it?

There wasn't any change in my involvement between 1 and 2. But, for T1, I really had to think about the question "What are Denjuu?", which was kind of troubling. For T2, I had to draw keeping the pattern of the animations' motions in mind, which made drawing the pictures more difficult.

Kozue Kino didn't design any Denjuu. It seems like my designs were hard to draw for her.

I'd like to design if 3 were to be made. Although I think it'd be tough to do them all.

3. Comic BomBom said that Crypto is an armadillo, Fungus is a dragon, and Gymnos is a bison, but it didn't say what Angios is! Could you explain what he is based on? I always thought maybe a shark...?

Hmm... Maybe it was a shark?

4. I think that Netaro is based somewhat on the Sannen Netarou story - is that correct? If so, does that mean Nejiro is like the tengu from that story?

Netaro and Nejiro's names were created by the editing team. The two were in the same place too. So I think they just came up with the names based on the Sannen Netarou story.

5. There were 334 Denjuu in Telefang 1 and 2, but Comic BomBom showed one Denjuu that wasn't in the final games, could you tell anything about that one or any other designs that weren't included?

If there were any Denjuu that weren't used in the game, I don't know anything about that.

I think it was probably Mantea's evolution.

6. I noticed that Denjuu in Telefang 1 are named after plants, and Telefang 2 are named after birds. Did you get to name them or did somebody else?

The Denjuu's names were all created by the editing team, not me.

7. What are your favorite Denjuu? Mine are Arakudabaran because I love spiders, and Gilgierth because it looks cool!

The Denjuu I liked most was "Kanzou", I suppose?

Diabolos comes in at number two.

Diabolos was originally the design I made for the "last boss".

8. I really like the Telefang logo, it's very clever and fun! I often wonder how an English version would look. What was designing the logo like?

A logo is the first thing you see. That said, I didn't worry too much when designing it... I don't remember how it turned out the way it did. I really like the design.

9. The bootleg version has brought Telefang's reputation down overseas. Was a formal English translation ever taken into consideration?

At the time, we never thought of porting the games overseas. When the overseas bootleg (Pokémon Diamond?) came out and we heard it was apparently popular overseas, we were surprised, and honestly had somewhat mixed feelings.

Even now I haven't heard anything about releasing an official version overseas... even so, I'm very glad that the Denjuu I designed are really loved so much.

10. The player guide has pictures of Denjuu but there is no color. In Comic BomBom color illustrations can be found, but the pictures are small. Do you still have high-res color versions?

I still have the high-resolution coloured drawing data to this day.

However, without the editing group's permission, I can't put them out to the public.

11. In Telefang 1's data there are high-color screens. I think they fit perfectly before boss fights. But those screens weren't used. Do you know the reason? Besides that, did you make any other illustrations similar to these screens?

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At the time, when Comic BomBom was serializing the manga, they were introducing the game with special information pages. I drew many of this kind of illustration for these pages.

So, kinda like that?

It was fun recollecting on various things.

If you have any more questions, I'll answer them anytime.

I'm happy that you love Telefang.

Thank you!

鷹木骰子／Saiko takaki

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