I have no idea who this character is

[Daikini-San]

I've stumbled this picture below just today and I didn't edit it or anything. It came just as you see it now and it's only found on one site where you can find some of the storyboards for FF7. The ONLY way this picture can be found on the web is if you put in セフィロス 野村 哲也 in Google and go to images. We all know that's Sephiroth from the original FF7 concept art from Tetsuya Nomura on the left hand side. The question is who is that character on the right hand side? Naturally I'd say that's Sephiroth when he's older (?) and it does look like Nomura's work not fan art. There's one problem though, look at the pupils in the eyes, they aren't cat like-something that's a trademark to Sephiroth along with his silver hair. So I'm skeptical, but idk who else this would be. Any ideas?

 

[Octo]

I dunno, is it one of the dudes from FFVI? Looks a little like Edgar to me.

BUT. Face-wise that is how I think Sephiroth should have looked. Very young Rutger Hauer there

 

[Tetsujin]

My Google Fu tells me this is from Front Mission.

http://kotaku.com/unseen-tetsuya-nomura-sketches-from-the-1990s-1453256438

 

[Octo]

Oooh nice. Hardly any zips or buckles.

And also, the guy can clearly draw. But like, the original FFVII art, the stuff that made it to the game/ publication.... was fucking weird in comparison. I mean Aeris looks like a fucking owl (when shes specifically described as beautiful) and nobody has any lips...

 

[Ite]

I miss Aeris's big giant HONKING chin and tiny, high-placed mouth. It's a feature that you don't see often in waifu anime chicks so it made her stand out. You see it in real life too (I find it beautiful). Sadly, it's been "corrected."

Spoiler: Aerith Comparison

vs.

Thinner head, taller face (no longer heart-shaped), smaller and shallower eyes (almond-shaped rather than round), wider mouth, fuller lips, straighter nose, less protruding brow -- he"beautiful"ed her up, when she was plenty beautiful before - if, as you say, a little owl-like. She had a distinct face, whereas now she... doesn't. At least he kept her sticky-outy ears <3 <3

edit: AC photo replaced with a CC photo that better shows the changes in Aeris's design. It's this gradual homogenizing of facetypes and focus on costume design that is mostly responsible I think for people's distaste for Nomura's latter work. He's a very creative and talented person, and his experiments are interesting. But I think he ONLY experiments, and gets lazy with the things he thinks work, or thinks that people don't care about.

edit 2: some wording

 

[Octo]

Oh in that pic - the menu pic - she looks pretty to me. I was thinking of http://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/aeris.jpg

But yes, the compilation* everyone looks dull as dishwater and like they're all related

*actually more like everything from FFX onwards.

 

[cun10294]

I have a strange feeling that it's maybe some early sketch/design of Sephiroth himself. It's feel like because it was hard to 3d curly/wavy hair back then so, almost all original FF7 characters actually have straight hair.