[English translation]
Yuma-kun!
(Wednesday) January 19, 2011, 14:41 | Author: Kazuki Takahashi
The ZEXAL project… I’d say it’s the one I spent the longest time thinking about so far—or maybe the one I struggled the most with!
I’d been thinking about it since about a year and a half ago, approaching the character design from many different directions, but in the end, I scrapped everything.
At that time, I was really confused~!
Same with 5D’s—I thought I couldn’t push forward at first, but eventually, without even realizing it, I managed to overcome the hurdle!
And that was thanks to Producer J, who gave me a strange but motivating push, saying:
"Only you, sensei, can create a '1' out of nothing!
Leave it to us to make that into 100!"
That gave me the will to keep working on it.
But it was just so frustrating…
At one point, I even tried asking someone else to handle ZEXAL’s character designs, hoping I could just escape the whole thing.
But honestly, I didn’t really like any of the designs I got back.
So in the end, I had to do it myself again.
Creating something with the Yu-Gi-Oh! style is probably very tough—I might not even fully understand it myself!
At first, I started developing the story with young adult characters in mind, but that kind of story has been done to death, so I scrapped it.
Then I thought:
What if we made it like Sazae-san, with a whole family dueling?!
But the people around me weren’t into that idea at all, so that got scrapped too!
Then I thought—
What about a younger boy as the protagonist?
The moment that hit me, it was like a toilet door bursting open in my mind (lol)—and just like that, Yuma-kun sprang into existence!
I believe that if you don’t create stories with never-before-seen characters, ideas, worldviews, and duels, then there’s no point in continuing.
That’s what Yu-Gi-Oh! style means to me.
Now, I’ve let go of the reins.
But the amazing production team will continue building ZEXAL with full force.
I’m sure they’ll create something well beyond 100!
And Yuma Tsukumo (Tsukumo 九十九 = 99) was born to embody that exact wish!!
(Kazuki)
[Japanese original post missing or incomplete]
ZEXALの企画に関しては今までで一番長い時間考えたっていうか、悩んだかな！一年半くらい前から、いろいろ考えててかなりいろんな方向でキャラを描いてはボツにして、迷いに迷った〜！
5D'sでもう先ムリ〜と思っていたんだけど、なんか知らん間に乗せられた感じかな！Jプロデューサーに！「０から１を生み出せるのは先生しかいまへん！あとは僕たちが１００にしますよってに！」と、なんか微妙な励ましを頂戴して、企画を錬る事になったわけです。
でも悩みすぎちゃって、ZEXALのキャラデザは他の人に任せて完全イメージ一新しよう！と宣言して逃走を試みたんだけど、正直気に入ったデザインがあがってこなかったから、オレがやる事に。遊戯王らしさってかなりむずかしいのかもね、オレも未だわかってないかも知れないけど！
最初は青年キャラでストーリーを考えたんだけど、やり尽くしててボツ、ファミリーデュエル物でサザエさんみたいにしてやろう！と考えたんだけど、まわりの反応が悪くてボツ！次は少年だ！てことでパッとアイデアが開けた瞬間、遊馬くんが飛び出してきたわけです！
今までに見た事のないキャラクター、アイデア、世界観、デュエル、がないと続ける価値はないと思うし、それが遊戯王なのかなと思います。
現在はオレの手を離れ、すばらしいスタッフが全力でZEXALを制作いてくれています。きっと１００以上の作品にしてくれると信じています！九十九遊馬は、そんな願いが込められたキャラクターです！
[Chinese translation]
游马君！
2011年 1月 19日(水曜日) 14:41 | 作者： 高橋 和希
ZEXAL这个企划应该说是至今为止想得最长时间的呢，还是说苦恼得最久的呢！
年半之前开始就想了很多，也从相当多的方向入手设计角色，但是最后还是弃掉了，当时真是相当迷惑呢~！
5D's也一样，虽然一开始觉得自己想不下去了，但是最后却是在不知不觉中跨过去了！
制片J他啊！
给了我一个很微妙的激励，说
“只有老师你才可以从0里生出1！
后面的事就由我们来将它做成100吧！”
于是我才得以继续想下去。
但是因为太烦人了，所以我也试过将ZEXAL的人设交给其他人来做个新形象吧，以此来逃避现实，但事实上也没有收到很喜欢的设计，所以最后还是由我自己来做。
做游戏王风格可能很不容易呢，可能连我自己也并不是很了解！
最初是用青年角色想故事的，但是这种故事早就用烂了所以我弃掉了，后来又想试下像サザエさん那样搞家庭决斗吧！
但是周遭的反应恶劣所以又弃掉了！
那么下一个设定就换少年吧！
一想到这点脑袋便猛的茅厕顿开，瞬间，游马君便跃然而出了！
我认为如果不用从未见过的角色，想法，世界观，决斗进行故事的话，就没有继续做下去的价值，我想这就是游戏王风格吧。
现在我已经撒手了，优秀的制作人员还会继续全力帮我做ZEXAL。
我敢肯定，他们肯定会做出一部100以上的作品出来！
99有码，便是倾注这个愿望而诞生的角色！！（和希）
Japanese contents from Studio Dice official website.
Chinese translation from NewWise Studio Dice official website discussion thread.
https://bbs.newwise.com/thread-476303-1-1.html
