Art of Mira Summary/Reading Guide

This blogpost aims to be a comprehensive review (but not a full translation) of Art of Mira (AoM). It’s intended to be a summary of noteworthy things in the book, and/or as a guide for those who want to read along as they go through the book. I won’t be translating the entirety of this book as that would be a colossal undertaking for one person, and I frankly don’t think this book warrants much more attention than I’m giving it right now anyway (which is probably why no one has attempted to do anything with it). This article will be the first part of three articles; one for the artwork section (this one), one for the interview section, and one for the short story section.

Page 49

Circling a part of chibi True Elma’s head, written by Tanaka Kunihiko:

“Soma Equalize Crown,” the part around here changes shape. Half of it is floating? Half-ringed?”

describing the back of Elma’s head:

“Diaphragm-like organ for the outer-world”

Artwork with Chibi True Elma in a helmet:

“Soma Crown goes out of the helmet.”

Close up on Some Equalize Crown:

“The crown is clear and crystal; energy gathering around the crown brimming maybe? Based on [Elma’s] condition or emotions, changes shape maybe? Memories (or remembering something) make it change shape too?”

Page 52

Kazama Raita, pitching a draft for True Elma:

“Hair is like optical fiber, and slightly glowing.”

Page 53

<Illustration by: Tsukamoto Yoko>

Elma draft H, description:

“blue glowing skin with accessories that look like a translucent hologram. There’s a bunch of shapes that go brighter and darker as [something] flows through. On her chest is a plate is that looks like complex circuitry. The tentacles on her head are a connection terminal to Kelb (Note: Probably Cherub).”

<Illustration by: Kazama Raita

Elma Facial Draft I, description:

Has accessories that have a similar style to Rococo (Wikipedia) like (the?) church, and the materials are not hard metals nor crystals, but a translucent metal-like antimatter maintainer. Inside, variously shaped particles flow through and ebb and flow.”

Page 136

Cauldros early concept art; Text in left corner:

“Old Wroth (Note: As in, a planet).”

Page 137

Top left description:

“Wrothian temple, ceiling”

Below, right art:

“A tad different style for federation ganglion, slightly fantastical?”

Page 143

Nopon mobile terminal idea:

A terminal device that is just a mobile device made by another alien species, but with the outer covering replaced. Probably poor quality. It looks like a lollipop, although it’s not certain if that’s a coincidence or not. No physical buttons, and it seems to only recognize voice commands.

Page 152

<Illustrations by: Tsukamoto Yoko>

Big Ghost ship title and description:

“God Ghost, concept; in color”

“Fires fireball-like projectiles from it’s openings. Releases thunder (Note: with the word “heavenly” added on) from the protrusions on its chest.

Smaller art to the bottom left:

“Charges energy to the rings on its head, glowing. As it charges, more parts start to glow, and finally both rings shimmer brightly.”

“The arms from two Ghosts found on the body nearly touch each other, but not quite.”

Smaller art to the bottom right, title:

“Ghost: Large, light concept: flight mode”

Page 153

Top image:

“Warship Ghost, concept, in color”

Bottom image, pointing to the head-ish portion of the warship Ghost:

“Commander Ghost”

Page 208

Description for the long protrusion coming out of Nielnail’s head:

“Very long! Logic Drive (Note: same name as the propulsion system in Xenosaga) mast. if it gets in the way of combat, how about adding in joints, or make it separate into a long-range weapon?”

Page 209

Describing more of Nielnail:

“When in motion, or depending on usage rate of the Logic Drive, butterfly scales fall out of the cape, maybe.”

The next part of the book is the unidentified materials section. The person writing the descriptions for this part is the editor of the book, and thus may not know everything about the artwork they present. They seem to have been fed some info, though.

Page 262

Protagonist (Name undecided)

Discovered concept art of a young man in his late twenties! Although no name, they are referred to as the protagonist, and unlike the avatar in Xenoblade X, they seem to have some kind of personality. In other words, this character is…!?

<Illustration by: Tanaka Kunihiko>

Page 263

Dad

Concept art for a mysterious slightly bearded man only named as “Dad.” It’s probably not because of his age, so it must mean “dad” as in someone’s father?

<Illustration by: Tanaka Kunihiko>

Reina Sakuraba

Concept art of a beautiful woman that seems like she might be the heroine. It’s easy to assume that she’s somehow related to Sakuraba Industries because of her family name, but…

<Illustration by: Tanaka Kunihiko>

Page 264

Black Knight

Wielding a katana in black armor, their concept art appearance is quite unlike all the other characters we’ve seen. The  legs are especially notable. Have we not seen these same legs in a scene in Xenoblade X somewhere…?

<Illustration by: Suzuki Yasushi>

Page 265

Nielnail

This alien character shares the name as a skell in a certain mission. In the description, they are identified as Qlu, the same species as Celica…?

<Illustration by: Tsukamoto Yoko>

Emily

Supposedly a concept art of the president’s daughter. Speaking of the president, there’s the presidential aide and former defense minister Maurice; any connections there?

Page 266

This next page, I’m translating everything. when I say [REDACTED], it’s literally blackened out and you can’t read it.

Protagonist mech (Ares)

Concept art for a skell called Ares. The overall silhouette looks the same as the Ares in “Xenoblade X,” but it looks much more biological and the glowing exhausts? make you recognize that is a skell utilizing technology not found in Earth-made skells.

“The person inside [REDACTED] back angle. The idea here is that [REDACTED] is operating and causing the exhausts to open and close. You can see some flickers of flames in the turbines when it’s idle. When [REDACTED] isn’t operating, the exhausts close. The tail wags back and forth.

Protagonist mech (Ares, Burned Form)

It’s unclear what Burned Form means, but maybe it means additional armor and weaponry.

“It grows two additional [REDACTED] on both shoulders. The binder like thing close to its armpit can be collapsed. The already existing [REDACTED] have their intake wide open continuously.”

“Considering the overall silhouette, I want to grow some [REDACTED] on its hips too, but it might be impossible because its front arms get in the way of it.”

“Are you thinking of something bigger and more spikey? It could get longer limbs, considering [REDACTED]…”

“The black parts are leather brassiere. Kaidex (Kydex? can’t tell if it’s a dumped concept or just taking from an actually existing brand, as KYDEX exists in Japan; very unclear) manufactured (material?) hook and buckle belt hold it in place. Fastener in front of the cockpit. The leather isn’t for defensive purposes; it has a special herb scent that [REDACTED]s don’t like infused in it to prevent [REDACTED] cells from further multiplying. Maybe the leather can be carbon or a sharkskin like texture instead to look cooler.

Head possible concept art

“Intake on it’s head wide open. The crack in its eye is bigger, so an eyepatch is used to patch things up.”

<Illustrations by: Mugitani Koichi (CHOCO)>

Page 267

Protag mech (Ares) Cockpit

in the description it says that there was a “former pilot” for this mech. Does this mean someone else used to maneuver it?

Pointing at the blue male figure’s hands, likely Lone Hero:

“Virtual console, that thing CEO [REDACTED] is using in his lab.”

Pointing at the terminal Lone Hero is looking at:

“looking at the cockpit from the outside, spherical: Upper part of the sphere is domelike. The space below the diameter is where the original pilot resided. The space above the diameter has a frame made from Earth technology. Without this, there’s nothing you can really “grab on to” in this space. When the hatch opens both the ring and monitor decline also.

Pointing at the pink female silhouette in the cockpit, likely Elma:

“[REDACTED] when combined. Do you operate skells in a bike seat position? There’s no depth in the seating, so [they] can sit very close to [REDACTED].”

Second image:

Protagonist mech (Ares) transformation sequence

“third part of the transformation: binders collapsed in a helical fashion open. The [REDACTED] enclosed inside are specific parts that haven’t detached from a cocoon-like blob.”

“fourth part of the transformation: the butterfly wings that have emerged begin to take shape. The ends of [REDACTED] begin to crack and begin to branch into different parts.

Page 268

Black Knight mech

Concept art for an unknown mech that can go between human form and cruise form for flight. It’s categorized as a Skell but seems to be made from technology much more advanced than Earth’s.

<Illustration by: Suzuki Yasushi>

Page 269

Text next to giant katana:

“Right arm and katana are Wrothian. Accessories on it are things like fangs from space creatures.”

Page 270

Dreadnaught

A warship called Dreadnaught that has a flight form and a land cruiser form. Judging from the name and its appearance, it seems to be Earth-made, but its purpose is not known. The mother ship the protagonist boards, might be a good guess?

Page 271

First three images from the top of the page:

Dreadnaught bridge

It looks like it was made using Earth technology, both inside and out.  The “Ares adjustment tank” seen in one of the other concept art is for the protagonist mech “Ares” and placed in the Dreadnaught.

Fourth image:

Air Force One

As you can tell from the name and the symbols scattered about, a shuttle for the president of the United States. This was no where to be seen in NLA… so where could it be?

Page 272

Entirety of Mira

You can see NLA towards the bottom left. If the surrounding area are the continents in Xenoblade X, it seems that Mira has many more continents…. Also, at the pole, we see a giant tower-looking structure.

Bottom right corner, art below the Mira concept art:

Mira idea: In the corners of the world or extreme high altitudes, we could have land that doesn’t look “quite finished”, or you can see blocky land patterns on the summoned? alternate-world borders.

Page 273

Top four images:

Rose Garden

An artificial object residing within the planet’s satellite orbit. It’s definitely an alien structure, but it seems to look different from those that the Growth (Ganglion) own…?

Final image:

Mysterious Structure

There’s nothing to compare it with, so the scale is hard to make out, but it seems to be a massive structure. What you can see towards the back seem to be stairs, and… something like an alter?

Page 274:

“[502] Qlu Connector Elevator 1,” First image:

Qlu

Several concept art for a planet with the same name as the one Celica is from have been found. below the “connector elevator,” there seems to be a town on the surface. The other to artworks say “bridge,” so would this be concept art for a Qlurian spaceship?

<Illustration by: Kusanagi Inc.>

“[509] Merchi (Merci?) Village,” second image.

Page 275

Both concept art are for Qlurian ship bridge.

Page 276

“[303] Akihabara 1,” first image.

“[308] Sakuraba Residence Image 2,” second image.

New Tokyo

Akihabara and the Sakuraba residence are conceptualized to exist within, and we can all assume from it’s name that it’s similar to New Los Angeles. However, as we know, there is no city called New Tokyo in Xenoblade X. What does this concept art mean, then…!?

<Illustrations by: Kusanagi Inc.>

Page 277

New Tokyo Skells

Mechs that seem to be styled after Japanese police cars.

Page 278

First image, “Gaur soldier armor design”:

Gaur Soldier

A giant organism in a suit of armor. The gaps in the armor seem to suggest someone like Rock inside…

<Illustration by: Kazama Raita>

“Ghost: Large, [REDACTED]’s Light Concept; Human form, front” This image is on Page 278, but the description continues on to page 279.

Page 279

“Ghost Detail Concept: [REDACTED]’s Light” First image:

Describing the core of the Ghost in the left concept:

“Like how a bioluminescent jellyfish has specs of light that course through, there is light coming from the [REDACTED].”

Right image:

“Similar to how the back of base form Ares has [REDACTED], there are [REDACTED]s burning like a slow burning fire. Sometimes they go zap, like plasma.

Ghost

Compilation of enemy designs. They have many forms, but they look similar to the organic weapons that shot down the White Whale in the opening cutscene of Xenoblade X.

<Illustration by: Tsukamoto Yoko>

“Ghost: Gigantic” Second image.

Page 280 and 281

“[REDACTED, yet the font color for the text shows through the redaction very slightly, revealing it to say L]’s Original Form”

Alien with a Devil-like Appearance

A very strange looking alien. No alien, whether they be within the ranks of the Growth (Ganglion), or the ones you befriend in NLA, look like this. The alien for the concept art on the left page (280) look kind of like Machina from Xenoblade, but the one on the right page (281) doesn’t look anything alike. the fact that the word before “original form” is redacted is also very interesting….

Advertisement