Pre-Production - The Last Breath - Character Generation

Arthur Gregory

Age - 18

Gender- Male

Hair Color - Dark Green

Eye Color - Blue

Height - 5ft 6”

Build - Slim but muscled

Appearance - Pale skin from being underground for so long, has a long scar across his face from a whip, wears a green coat which once was well looked after and stylish, now however its patched and dirty.

Personality - Arthur has lived his life not being the strongest, he still strives to do the best he can and live to the ideals his mother taught him, to do right by others, to help people if he can and to stand up for himself. Arthur hates to fight and while he becomes a talented fighter he starts to fear his strength and the almost trance like state his falls into when he fights because he doesn’t feel in control.

Best Trait - Noble hearted and loyal, Arthur never wants to let his friends down.

Worst Trait - When in battle he can fall into a trance like state where his body seems to moves on its own, this leads to him killing a group of enemy soldiers and when he can't remember what happened he is overcome with guilt

What is most important to them - Arthur’s mother promised to give her last breath to him, however the Church of the Last Breath, manipulated her into giving it to the King instead via a potion. Arthur wants to take down the King and the Church of the Last Breath to end to misery and poverty that they have brought to Axia. He also cherishes his friends James and Riku and would stop at nothing to protect them.

Secrets - He is actually the son of Lord Briarwood, he does not find this out until Lord Briarwood dies and mistakenly gives his last breath to “His first born son” he keeps this secret because of the stigma that comes with the Briarwood name.

Family - Mother - Alice Gregory (Deceased), Father - Lord Briarwood (Deceased), Half-Brother - Julian Briarwood

Friends  - James Thomason, Riku Ito

Acquaintances - George Mattson(Blacksmith), Otto

Enemies - King Thomas, Lord Salrias, Julian Briarwood, Lord Alastair, Carrack

Skills - Tailoring, Blacksmithing, Woodcarving, Various combat styles.

Occupation - Tailor

James Thomason

Age - 221

Gender- Male

Hair Color - Silver

Eye Color - Silver

Height - 5ft 8”

Build - Average build, slouched and relaxed posture

Appearance - Constantly has stubble on his face and messy hair

Personality - James is a loyal friend, he blames himself for the kings rise to power and hides his pain behind a laid back cheerful attitude

Best Trait - Helps people without wanting anything in return, sees the best in people and willingly makes sacrifices for others, whether its giving the last of his food to someone who is starving or getting in the way of a speeding arrow.

Worst Trait - He blames himself for the crimes of his son, rather than face his problems he would rather hide away and pretend they dont exist.

What is most important to them - Having spent the last 150 years in self imposed exile with no real friends, Arthur and Riku are very dear to him, Arthur especially James views as his best friend. After Arthur is given his powers James see’s it as a sign to put aside his “Atonement” and join the fight against the King.

Secrets - James is actually King Thomas, 150 years ago when his wife grew sick, his son used her last breath to curse King Thomas, swapping his body and causing his power to become difficult to use. James fled in his sons body and “King Thomas” began his new rule, distraught that his wife’s soul had been torn apart for the curse the true king blamed himself and went into exile, taking on the name of his traitorous son James Thomason.

Family - Wife - Astoria Greenwoods (Deceased), Son - James Thomason (Now King Thomas)

Friends  - Arthur Gregory, Riku Ito, George Mattson (Blacksmith)

Acquaintances - Lord Salrias, Otto

Enemies - King Thomas, Lord Alastair, Carrack

Skills - Lockpicking, Pickpocketing, Sketching, Cards, Various Combat styles

Occupation - Ex-King

Riku Ito

Age - 22

Gender- Neutral

Hair Color - Red

Eye Color - Green

Height - 6ft 2”

Build - Tall and strong, holds themself with strong regal posture

Appearance - Typically wearing a scowl, Small scars on face from previous battles, usually wears a baggy cloak which hides several weapons.

Personality - Brusque and upfront Riku doesn't suffer fools gladly, will rather sort a problem without violence but takes joy in a tough fight.

Best Trait - Will always have your back in a fight, loyal to their friends and family, kind hearted but strong willed.

Worst Trait - Quick to anger, Riku hates feeling insulted or like they are being mocked, their desire to test their strength and prove themselves to their family can lead to difficulties sometimes.

What is most important to them - Riku’s uncle was a noble in Sukomi, the continent to the east of Axia, Riku was ostracised from their family after refusing to follow the path of their sisters, Their parents kicked them to the curb, Riku’s uncle took them in as he saw the strength of a warrior in them. Training them in martial arts and swordplay when Riku’s uncle is killed by an Elondrian assassin he gives them his last breath, throwing aside their family name Riku tracked down the assassin and after extracting the information that the king ordered the attack. They killed the assassin and made their way to Axia, they wish to avenge their uncles death and to prove to their family that they chose their path correctly.

Secrets - They tend to be very open with their past, the only thing Riku keeps secret is that they are the child of the Ito Family.

Family - Father - Hiro Ito, Mother - Aiko Ito, Sisters - Haruno/Haruyo Ito, Uncle - Hidehito (Deceased)

Friends  - Arthur Gregory,James Thomason

Acquaintances - George Mattson (Blacksmith), Otto,

Enemies -  King Thomas, Lord Salrias, House Ito

Skills - Martial arts, Various Combat Styles, Reading, Cards

Occupation - None

King Thomas

Age - 175

Gender- Male

Hair Color - Black with hints of grey

Eye Color - Brown

Height - 6ft 2”

Build - Strong and tall,

Appearance - King Thomas looks like a man in his early forties, they are lines under his eyes and grey in his hair but he still looks strong, a noble beard adornes his face and he doesn't go anywhere without his sword.

Personality - Merciless and cruel King Thomas is known to be unpredictable at times, a hint of madness lurks in his brain, a by product of the magic he used to swap bodies with James. To his people he likes to appear benevolent and generous, but commonly uses fear to guide the masses. He sentences people to death for small matters and goes into rages when things don’t go his way

Best Trait - Whilst he may act irrationally and erratic, he is a great strategist on the battlefield, his navy has repelled many attacks from Sukomi over the years, Rebellions are quashed easily by his military might.

Worst Trait - His cruelty at those he sees as inferior to him, with the breaths he extorts from his people he has become the strongest man in Axia, if not the world, He is greedy and delights in lavish balls and feasts, raising the taxes of his people to pay for such luxuries. He will sacrifice his people in a heartbeat for his own survival and will stop at nothing to achieve more power.

What is most important to them - His continued power and survival, he accumulates wealth and power and hordes it in his castle.

Secrets - He is actually the son of King Thomas, he used his mothers soul to fuel a magic which swapped his body with his father’s to gain access to the crown. The curse had and effect on him as well however, Prolonged use of his power causes him to fatigue and extended use causes his own soul to free itself from his body.

Family - Father - King Thomas, Mother - Astoria Greenwoods (Deceased)

Friends  - closest to one would be Lord Salrias

Acquaintances - Lord Salrias, Lord Ito, Lord Briarwood, Lord Muldir, Lord Rottaugen, Lord Vigilburn, Lord Mercus, Lord Decan, Lord Alastair.

Enemies - James Thomason, Arthur Gregory, Riku Ito, Rebellion

Skills - Persuasive, Various martial Arts, Sword Play, Magics

Occupation - King

Lord Briarwood

Age - 105

Gender- Male

Hair Color - Black

Eye Color - Blue

Height - 6ft 6”

Build - Strong and tall

Appearance -  Well dressed and imposing, Lord Briarwood has swept back black hair and a goatee

Personality - Vindictive and manipulative Lord Briarwood will lie, cheat and steal to achieve his goals of power, Constantly raising taxes on his people and using trickery and legal loopholes to steal land he has sent many people and families into poverty and starvation. With an appetite for pleasures of the flesh, Lord Briarwood uses his wealth and fame to manipulate and coerce others into his bed.

Best Trait - Extremely Intelligent he has protected the Briarwood legacy since a young age, adding many breaths he pressured his subjects into giving him.

Worst Trait - Selfish, Greedy and Cold-hearted. Briarwood is constantly on the lookout for things that can augment his life in some way whether its Money, Land or Breaths.

What is most important to them - His family name and legacy, he strives to maintain the title of strongest noble bloodline.

Secrets - He has had numerous affairs around the kingdom, his merciless solution of killing those who come to him carrying his unborn child would dishonour his family name and strip his title away from him.

Family - Wife - Cordellia Briarwood, Son - Arthur Gregory, Son - Julian Briarwood

Friends  - Lord Alastair, Father Davry

Acquaintances - Lord Salrias, Lord Ito, Father Davry, Lord Muldir, Lord Rottaugen, Lord Vigilburn, Lord Mercus, Lord Decan, Lord Alastair.

Enemies - Other Noble houses are seen as threats and treated with such under the veil of friendship.

Skills - Persuasive, Various martial Arts, Sword Play

Occupation - Noble

Pre-Production - The Last Breath - Platform Research

Netflix is expanding its selection of Original Anime, with 30 different Anime lined up, they are changing the industry, rather than the typical format of weekly releases on television, Netflix puts an entire series up in one go. The Anime industry is one that suffers greatly from online piracy, even large franchises such as Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist struggle to make profits from their work, instead relying on income from merchandise instead.

By having all the episodes in one place which is easy to access and legal many people would rather pay the subscription for Netflix than open up their computers for potential threats online, This way Netflix can finance an entire series from a Animation Studio, this format whilst different and controversial is revitalizing the industry.

It is also generating interest in the genre from its viewers, a greater choice of Anime is up for a viewers perusal, people can have one place to watch a series they enjoy. The new format of “Binge-Watching” content is generating large amounts of revenue for struggling studios.

However I am pitching The Last Breath to Netflix due to its stance on LGBT content along with its greater freedom than a regular distributor. Many of which restrict what type of content can be shown in a show, such as reducing violent content, sexual content or even censoring subject matter they may feel their viewers would dislike, such as homosexuality or transgender topics.

Since one of the main characters in The Last Breath is gender neutral, Netflix has previously depicted characters as neutral such as Izuna from Knights Of SIdonia. However they do transition to female later in the series, and they were born neutral, with the genetic modification that when they chose a partner they would develop the parts required.

 

Another non-binary character is in Attack on Titan, Hange Zoe is referred to as both male and female pronouns and author Hajime Isayama asked the studio to refer to them with gender neutral pronouns, or equal amounts male or female pronouns at least.

Netflix relies on subscriptions for their income rather than viewership, shows which contain LGBT characters are less likely to be approved by TV Broadcasters, times are changing however and the industry is becoming more accepting, but networks who rely on viewership of the show have to appeal a larger audience and can even be influenced by the advertisers who pay for screen time.

Netflix can still make money even if no one watches the show, therefore they are able to include these characters with little risk, this is why I am aiming The Last Breath for Netflix, they are able to take a risk on a show and not take as big of a hit as a network may.

Pre-Production - The Last Breath - Art Style Research

The Last Breath - Concept Art/Style

A Style I want to emulate is that of the netflix show - The Dragon Prince, in this show the animation style is inspired by 2D traditional animation, however by using 3D animation technology more possibilities are available. I like to modern twist to the classic look of Anime.

Netflix is releasing a large amount of Anime and the art styles vary from 3D with shows like Knights of Sidonia, Dragon Prince and and Blame.

However they are also releasing shows bearing the mark of 2D animation, such as Devilman Crybaby, this show has been wildly popular on netflix and it follows closely the classic animation techniques of the industry.

What I want to take from both shows, Devilman Crybaby and The Dragon Prince is the detailed backgrounds of forests, mountains, sprawling cities and the striking characters and increased emotion able to be gained from using a 3D model.

The Style of The Last Breath will be 3D rendered imagery, I want to differentiate from The Dragon Prince however in a few key ways, firstly would be the frame rate, The Dragon Prince chose an artistic style utilising the typical 12 frames a second of traditional 2D animation, this had the effect of making the animation look choppy, My aim would be to have a the frame rate of 24 Frames a Second, to make the fight scenes in The Last Breath smoother.

Secondly, I would like the style to differ from the Dragon Prince in regard to outlines, the characters in the shower have thick, dark outlines to differentiate them from the backgrounds, The Last Breath would lessen these lines to make them more subtle.

Pre-Production - The Last Breath - Commisioning work

In this project I "commissioned" work for the first time, these came in the forms of Character designs mainly. With these I requested designs from a friend, since it was unpaid work sometimes it would take a longer amount of time than I would have liked to receive anything back.


In the future I would not commission work from a friend unless I had seen previous examples of their work and knew of their work ethic, The style I requested and what was given to me differed on a noticeable level, the artwork is fine but I now know that artists have a signature style which may or may not be what I am looking for.



Whilst I was waiting for artwork to come back to me I designed some characters on a online tool, I found this worked really well to give me ideas for the characters, it gave me a color representation of the character which looks professionally made.

Next time I commission work from an outside source I will have a physical copy of correspondence as several times I talked about what I wanted face to face but wouldn't receive what I asked for.

My wish was to have a full body sketch of a character, to show their concept better rather than a profile shot of artwork I made myself.

Pre-Production - The Last Breath - Script Writing

Writing a script for an anime was different from what I am used to, the hardest part was writing action for a scene with little dialogue, with most scripts the general rule of thumb is one page = one minute of screen time, however I would have some scenes which would be mostly action.

Finding sample scripts for an Anime is rather difficult and the ones I did find were modified. I decided that I would probably be better of writing in a way that is familiar to me, thus I decided to write in a typical script format. 

Sometime I tried when writing the script was not starting from the beginning, I found that starting with a scene that was already in my head allowed me to get a better idea of the story than if I just started from the beginning, I completed the first draft of the script with a scene missing.

I couldn't seem to get it to look good on paper so rather than get caught up like a usually do I skipped it and came back to it a week later with a fresh mind. I got feedback on the script from friends and family, my aim was for them to be interested in the next episode which I found did occur. 

What was interesting about writing a script for an Anime is that actions and locations can be "unrealistic" most of the scripts I have written in the past have had restrictions in some way, such as a rewrite of a popular scene or writing with a certain location or limitations in mind. It was rewarding and thought provoking with the creativity I had available to me.



I do think however that for a Anime a script such as the one I have written would not be best suited, Anime are typically inspired or adaptations of Manga or comic strip style stories, this gives the adapter an existing visual style to keep with and Dialogue is typically the only thing in Anime scripts alongside notes on what tone and intonation to use for each character.

If I was an anime producer or animator going straight from a script like mine could be more of a hindrance than a opportunity for original content.

Pre-Production - Anime Writing Research

In my research into writing/creating an anime I looked into what the key differences are between western cartoons versus the Japanese Anime writing styles, the main differences I found is that Anime typically focuses on Emotions, empathy for the main character and being relatable to the audience is a large factor in what makes a good anime. Western animation seems to have a more scientific approach.

The key points I took from my research was the following

• A meaningful conflict is established. - The King has caused many wrongs and cheating his own people out of their last breaths to fuel his own hunger for power, he must be stopped.
• The characters are likeable, or at least not boring. Each character in The Last Breath has interesting personalities,  Arthur is a gifted fighter and noble hearted, yet just wants to make clothes, James is mysterious and all ways cheerful but inside is a different story, Riku is a powerful fighter yet kind hearted and loyal.
• There are characters the audience can "root for" or easily relate to. The trio of main characters all have story hooks which the audience can relate to such as James showing aspects of depression, Riku - not being accepted by their family and Arthur Trying to do the right thing in a world where people put their head down and hide from problems.
• The characters seem enough like real people, and not emotionless robots or too-perfect heroic archetypes 
• The world generated for the story to take place in is interesting by itself. Medieval fantasy setting with magical willpower abilities. Aspects from different cultures represents different locations in Axia
• The reader knows that everything that happens has a purpose, and is going to build up to something really important in the future. There will not be much "Filler" Episodes, where nothing of use comes from watching it
• Watch an episode, by the end of it, you should have a really strong desire to see the next one. If not, the anime might have a problem sustaining viewer interest. Each episode must end with a reason for the viewer to want to watch the next one.
• When watching it, you shouldn't feel like you really struggle to care or to sustain focus; a good anime or any good story pulls you in, you don't have to work very hard to stay interested in it or immersed in the vision of it. Not too much dialouge or vice versa, lots of fight scenes without any character development.

"But magic, or advanced technologies, have to work according to some kind of system of rules that are always consistently followed in the universe of the show." - https://reelrundown.com/animation/5-Hallmarks-of-Good-Storytelling-in-Anime

In terms of the magic of The Last Breath I feel like a rules system would need to be in place, whilst not like the magic in things like lord of the rings, Harry Potter etc. in The Last Breath people can manifest their Willpower to strengthen their body and weapons in a fight, the amount of willpower they can manifest depends on how many "Breaths" have been given to them. 

1. Emotional Appeal
2. Logical Consistency
3. Originality and Uniqueness
4. Moving the Plot Forward
5. Thoroughness/Closure

Kohei Horikoshi

I decided to research Kohei Horikoshi as my chosen Anime Writer, his work My Hero Academia is on of the most popular Anime at the moment and what I like about the show is how he portrays characters, each character has his or her own personality, whether its a busy body, massive anger issues or even  self loathing, each character is not defined by one personality type, the angry guy is also kind hearted in his own way, the busy body doesnt want to let any of his friends down and the self loathing guy may hate himself but cares deeply for others.