Amazon (Dragon's Crown)
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| Amazon | |
|---|---|
| Dragon's Crown character | |
 The Amazon from Dragon's Crown | |
| First game | Dragon's Crown (2013) |
| Created by | George Kamitani[1] |
| Designed by | George Kamitani[1] "Shigatake" (animation)[2] |
| Voiced by | JA: Atsuko Tanaka[3] |
The Amazon (Japanese: アマゾン) is a character introduced in the 2013 side-scrolling beat 'em up roleplaying game Dragon's Crown, developed by Vanillaware. A tall blonde muscular woman specializing in melee attacks, she is intended to have low defense, but able to deal large amounts of damage. Created by George Kamitani, her animations for the game were done by illustrator Shigatake. She additionally appears in a manga novelization of the game, and in a comic series published in Famitsu. In Japanese the character is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka, while her English voice actress is uncredited.
Since her debut she has received mixed reception. Some felt her design was unnecessarily sexualized, and moreso that it hurt the game's presentation and felt at odds with attempts to address gender issues in the gaming industry. Others however praised her appearance, describing her as one of the most striking characters visually in the title and feeling that a depiction of a physically strong woman was a breath of fresh air. She has also been cited as an example of media attempts at creating an "Alpha Female" counterpart to the Alpha Male archetype, and the shortcomings in such a portrayal.
Created by George Kamitani for the beat 'em up Dragon's Crown, influences for the Amazon and other characters came from basic design motifs of fantasy literature and gaming, such as his past work on Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, other games such as Sega's Golden Axe,[4] and the literary works of J. R. R. Tolkien.[5] He started with orthodox designs, feeling they were popular with Japanese audiences,[6] but in order to stand out amongst other fantasy media in the market at the time he exaggerated the designs, to this end focusing on masculine or feminine traits to emphasize amongst the cast.[5] Part of his aim was to "cartoonify" the character silhouettes, while also keeping them neutral enough for a Japanese market.[4] While the game went through multiple iterations through its long development, the Amazon was included in the 2008 proposal document for developing the game on the Nintendo Wii.[7][6]
The Amazon is a tall, muscular woman with long blonde hair. While in early concept art the character is shown to be in full armor with the exception of a thong covering her buttocks and exposed thighs,[6] in the final it was simplified to black boots, black gloves, and a chainmail bikini.[1] Her headdress was similarly changed from a feather arrangement on each side of her head to a just a pair of feathers sticking out of the right side of her hair.[6] In addition, she has a bracelet on each bicep and a circlet across her brow, while her thighs are covered in a tattoo pattern. When designing the characters, Kamitani based the art style off of Western paintings, but this caused some complications when it came time to apply color palettes as the sprites were not designed for such.[1] As a result, only the color of her hair and feathers change noticeably in game depending on selected palette.[8]
While Kamitani designed the character's poses, she was animated by illustrator Shigatake. When developing them Shigatake wanted to emphasize her buttocks, particularly in her standing animation.[2] He was also particular that her rear should sway during her walking animation, though a colleague on the team criticized the detail and argued "No one would notice that!"[9]
Appearances
As introduced in Vanillaware's 2013 video game Dragon's Crown, the Amazon is a playable character that acts as one of the game's character classes, allowing players to customize their name and choose one of several color palettes at the start of the game.[8] An orphan adopted by a tribe of Amazons, she is one of several warriors attempting to save the country of Hydeland, and at the game's conclusion a noble family recognize her as their long-lost granddaughter.[10] Additional downloadable content for the game added an option to change the game's narrator to one of the playable characters', including the Amazon's.[11] In Japanese the character is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka, while her English voice actress is uncredited.[3]
In terms of gameplay, the developers wanted her to be a low defense character that rewarded players for not getting hit, inspired by Muhammad Ali's "fight like a butterfly, sting like a bee" catchphrase.[12] Focused on melee attacks and high movement speed, the character fights using either punches and kicks or two-handed weapons such as polearms. In addition the character can parry some melee attacks, giving them temporary invincibility, while if they hit enough enemies in succession without being struck they will enter a "Berserk" state. While Berserk, movement speed and attack speed will be increased as long as the player continuously attacks. Several individual abilities can also be activated separately, such as "Stun Wave", which is an area of effect attack that can hit multiple enemies, and "Lunatic", which allows her to instantly enter the Berserk state at the cost of some health.[3]
In print media, the character is featured in a manga novelization of the game, written by Hironori Kato and overseen by Vanillaware's staff. In it, an Amazon named Sara partners with a wizard, Kreutz, and the events of the novel are intended as a side story to the game's narrative.[13] The magazine Famitsu meanwhile featured her in a gag comic series to promote the game titled Dragon's Crown Play Comic: Deplorable! Amazon-chan. Written by Kohaku Sumeragi, it was originally showcased in issues of Weekly Famitsu, and later compiled into a book published by Kadokawa Corporation and Enterbrain.[14]
