We put the call out on Twitter for what questions you’d ask Cautious Hero light novelist Light Tsuchihi, and he sat down to answer a few of them for you!
If you’ve wondered about the inspiration behind main character Seiya and his confident, cautious demeanor, Rista’s crazy facial expressions or if Seiya has a level cap, read on!
With the popularity of the isekai genre, there have been so many different light novels or anime with unusual isekai concepts. What inspired you to write an overly cautious protagonist?
When I was trying to set the story apart from the all the other many isekai stories, I thought, “If I could take my gaming style when playing RPGs to the extreme, I could develop it into a funny story,” and that got me started.
Also, I took the approach of telling it from the goddess’s point of view, rather than the hero, so the readers and viewers would not know for sure what Seiya was thinking.
How cautious are you, Sensei? Is Seiya inspired by yourself or anyone you know?
I’m not actually that cautious in real life (laughs). I’m just very careful, like Seiya, when I play RPGs. I don’t want to get beat by the enemy and have to play the same scenes over and over again.
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When you play video games, what is your play style —- are you the type to hoard items for later on?
I do act fairly cautiously when I’m playing RPGs. As I said earlier, I don’t like to have doovers. As such, I buy lots of items, and level up plenty before challenging an enemy. Though not as much as Seiya does, of course (laughs).
What do you personally think of Seiya? Do you think he’s really cool, or would someone like that frustrate you the way he frustrates Ristarte?
In many ways, Seiya’s behavior may seem a little strange, but he does, in fact, act out of conviction. The way he holds fast to his convictions, regardless of what others may think, is something I aspire to do, and one of my ideals. If you watch the anime all the way to the end, I think you will recognize this.
Rista’s facial expressions are so crazy in the anime, in a way that is unusual for an anime heroine. Did you imagine in your head that she would make these kinds of crazy expressions when you wrote the novels?
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As far as Ristarte goes, I rejected the idea of her being “cute” or “pretty,” and follow through more on her being “amusing” and “funny.” In the anime, that gets emphasized even more. And incidentally, Rista is less of a heroine and more of a main character.
Does Seiya have a level cap?
Yes, he does. As we get closer to the last episode, that will become clearer, so that is something to look forward to.
Seiya does not play games, but if he was in an RPG, what class would he pick?
A magic swordsman. By the way, in Volume 3 of the original novels, he fights as an earth-elemental magic swordsman, so please check that out if you like.
How could Seiya even hold down a job or participate in society in his life in our world, before he was transported to Gaeabrande?
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Actually, I try not to think about what kind of life Seiya had back in Japan. As the story goes on, I don’t think I will ever write about Seiya’s real-life circumstances. Having “Seiya = Man of Mystery” is one of the series main concepts.
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