Development Bizenghast

an example of lolita fashion. legrow theorizes pacing, style, , drawings of characters , clothes styled after lolita fashion why work categorized manga.

as young girl, mary alice legrow not interested in comics since grew in weisbaden, germany comics not readily available. in freshman year of high school, discovered comics , anime. heard tokyopop s rising stars of manga competition friend @ 2003 otakon, anime convention in baltimore, maryland; stort story legrow submitted won runner-up place in competition , published in 2003 rising stars of manga anthology. pitched bizenghast tokyopop editors, , became second rising stars of manga winner have original series published tokyopop.

legrow worked on series 2004 2011. began bizenghast when, art class assignment, drew open door , added hooded angel statue in class. in initial designs, dinah had simple features , short black hair, , vincent 1 of dinah s friends. legrow later removed other friends story. later lengthened dinah s hair , depicted dressed in lolita fashion—clothing influenced rococo , victorian eras. other changes included dinah s hair being altered straight curly , addition of exoskeleton-like armour edrear. tired of thin female characters in comics, legrow designed edaniel s girlfriend, nareesha super full-figured .

when deciding on names protagonist, legrow considered molly, charlotte, moira, sally, , diana before choosing dinah—a reference pet cat of protagonist of lewis carroll s novel alice in wonderland; 1984 comedy film johnny dangerously inspired last name, wherever. vincent monroe takes name vincent price , actress marilyn monroe. jane, dinah s aunt, shares name legrow s sister. edaniel takes name name daniel in middle school yearbook legrow picked @ random; noted editors let keep him in story although appeared risky character them. edrear named mordred after character arthurian myths. name of sister elala comes character lala orange of rainbow brite, animated television series. minor character prince ironbound takes name city ironbound, new jersey, while lalibela, holy town in northern ethiopia, inspired bali lali s. minor character, dr. morstan, takes name mary morstan, dr. watson’s wife. марионетка , russian word marionette, inspired name of antagonist maphohetka.

legrow comments series life, death , fabulous outfits (not in order) , notes there lot of religious themes present. town of bizenghast represents world cut off sort of constant access [of technology]. series written span fourteen volumes , divided 3 seasons: first 7 volumes make first story arc; second season, volumes 8 through eleven, center on mausoleum s relationship other guilds; , season 3 focus on afterlife , consist of last 3 volumes. legrow considered writing spin-off based on bizenghast guest artist, after finished first story arc of bizenghast. spin-off contain chapters not present in original series, , after other series completed, continue bizenghast. legrow concluded bizenghast @ 8 volumes.

minor controversy

a minor controversy occurred on statement published in july 2007 issue of tokyopop publication takuhai , in of first bizenghast volume written former tokyopop editor , not authorized legrow. read:

meet m. alice legrow, , please call marty. , while re @ it, call best friend , tell if s going cosplay of marty s characters you, both of better research, or marty s going pissed. because s marty. doesn t sloppiness. when comes anime , cosplay. won t tolerate if re dressing dinah bizenghast, because dinah first big market character. not that, dinah s fabulous. dinah right, or don t dinah @ all. understand?

legrow called worded in way felt offensive me , cosplayers , noted none of reflects opinions. fan reaction learning statement inaccurate relief since felt didn t mesh [her] personality. stated:

i love cosplayers , m flattered cosplay characters. wouldn t want deter doing so...i m open kind of cosplay. m afraid person authored piece felt doing me favor , putting edgy spin on persona, had known prior printing, have never allowed go book.