Hi, this is Arnézia "wimbearn" here, with the first exclusive post on this blog!
You might be asking me, what media influenced SaGia?
This has been answered in the "Author Questions" section of the blog already, but I want to expand more on that topic. Bear with me, I have bad memory, so I don't know much.
It began with a Pokémon ROM hack that I played on my mom's Android phone that she gave to me (which no longer works due to the battery and storage issues) titled "Dragon Ball Z Team Training". I barely remember some things about that hack such as finding the 7 Dragon Balls, catching the DBZ characters in capsules, etc....
And that's when I started working on SaGia, which was originally titled SaGa at the time. It was originally going to be a video game inspired by Pokémon and that DBZ hack but different. But I was in high school, and I learned that programming video games takes a lot of hard work! So I gave up with that idea.
Then, I decided to make 3 short comics on paper which was again, titled "SaGa". I was mostly inspired by the Pokémon anime. Beauty and Asai acted like Team Rocket, Jikiru and Haido weren't named Jikiru and Haido and had a different way of changing sides... yeah... I wanted to start over from scratch. And I never want to look back at said comics ever again. I still have them in my binder. But maybe when SaGia celebrates its 3rd or 5th anniversary, I will release the drafts (both 1st and 2nd). Or if there's a lot of fan demand.
I made the second draft on paper and it was going in a different direction which was a good thing... but then I gave up halfway with that and now I started over again with my third and final draft... which I am happy with.
Now, that sounded like a history of SaGia. You came for what franchises or obscure media influenced the series or some things in the series. Here comes the (kinda) long list.
Anime
- Dragon Ball (original) - yes, I love original Dragon Ball (I love Z as well but I just adore the OG series more). I was first introduced to the franchise when my dad had DVDs of Z. Never watched them because I was young at the time. I got into it more when I watched Super on Toonami and Z Kai: The Final Chapters. I checked out the manga of the original series and loved it and the manga introduced me to my favorite character of all time. I didn't watch all of the anime until 2021 where I gave it a binge (sadly, the DVDs I own are bootleg which my ex boyfriend didn't know but plays fine except for one of the discs on Season 5). I know it gets serious around the Piccolo arc, but something about the comedy and fighting in the previous arcs, I love it. And I love the goofy expressions on some characters. Minoru Maeda is my favorite animator and I like his rounded style (I think he worked on Dr. Slump as well). I miss Toriyama, when I heard the news back in March, it really hurt my heart that I took a long mental break until I got over it. All I have to say is, thank you, Toriyama-sensei.
- One of the filler episodes kinda inspired Draglun's backstory that you will see on the website. I can't remember which one.
- *cough* *cough* Look at the origin on Jikiru and Haido's page! You'll see that a certain character that I like inspired the two.
- Digimon - to shorten it, you might be thinking that the Digivice inspired the Relic Device, but nope you are wrong. Just the original Adventure anime and the transformations inspired SaGia!
- Pokémon - the original anime series before Johto inspired SaGia. I love some of the original character designs that never appear in the games, which inspired some character designs of some Sagians that I did. Also, I love Ken Sugimori's art!
- Zenki - This anime I do have plans on rewatching. I can't remember when I watched this anime; maybe last year? The theme song gives me motivation and action when working on SaGia. I love the main character Zenki - I think his snarky personality and him not being able to control himself (if I remembered) inspired Haido's personality and she has a hard time controlling herself at times. And I do enjoy the transformation sequences - although it gets repetitive since it appears every episode.
- City Hunter - Kaori's personality in the anime inspired Haido's. In a future chapter, Haido is going to be chasing after Lain.
- Magical Taruruuto-kun - When this anime had first gotten fansubbed, I was curious. And I fell in love with it. I love the color palette used in certain episodes! Taruruuto's cute personality inspired Jikiru's. Since Jikiru is a Light element Sagian, a backstory I will give Jikiru is that she loves doing magic for other people (like a magician!).
- Yo-Kai Watch - I watched this anime a lot when it came on Disney XD. I don't know how this one influenced SaGia, but the only thing I can say is that Foxitrot is inspired by Kyubi.
- Dragon Quest: Abel Yuusha Densetsu - One of my favorite anime to watch! I just love the adventure in it.
- Also, Lord Zero being in a tube trying to charge his Draken energy while wrapped in a cape is inspired by Lord Baramos (I think that's how you spell it) being in a tube thingy with his wings wrapped around. Also, Lord Zero is very tall and big!
- Keitai Denjū Telefang - the Relic Device is inspired by this game's phone system. Just the calling portion of the device.
- Sonic/SEGA McDonald's LCD Handheld Games (does this count?) - the designs inspired the Relic Device.
- Ghost Trick - Lynne's design (mostly the hair) inspired Lass' design. I have never played this game, but it does look interesting.