Kiruko
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- Japanese: Sayaka Senbongi
- English: Anjali Kunapaneni
| Kiruko | |
|---|---|
| Heavenly Delusion character | |
 Kiruko as drawn by Masakazu Ishiguro | |
| First appearance | Heavenly Delusion #2, "Maru" (2018) |
| Created by | Masakazu Ishiguro |
| Voiced by |
|
Kiruko (Japanese: キルコ) is a fictional character from the manga series Heavenly Delusion, created by Masakazu Ishiguro. Kiruko works alongside their partner Maru as a bodyguard job around Japan to reach an area known as Heaven. The character's true identity is Haruki Takehaya (竹早 春希, Takehaya Haruki), an orphan who was raised by his sister Kiriko and had his brain transplanted to her body to survive after suffering severe wounds from fighting a "man-eater" creature. Both Kiruko and Maru are able to defeat these creatures with Kiruko relying on the gun he names "Kiru-Beam" (キル光線, Kiru Kōsen).
When creating Kiruko, Ishiguro was inspired by stories of brothers and sisters; he was aiming to write a story in which the siblings swapped bodies. In contrast to previous stories he read, Ishiguro wanted Kiruko's body change to be written in a realistic manner. The relationship between Kiruko and Maru was one of the most important things Ishiguro found writing. In the anime adaptation of Heavenly Delusion, Kiruko was voiced by Sayaka Senbongi in Japanese and Anjali Kunapaneni in English.
The character was given a positive critical response for the serious portrayal to their gender identity and bond with Maru, with whom Kiruko forms an appealing relationship that acts as a counterpart to parallel stories involving other students from Heaven.
Casting
Heavenly Delusion manga author Masakazu Ishiguro does not remember when the idea of a girl's body containing the brain of her younger brother came to him, but he still wanted to tell this story. He was inspired by stories of brothers and sisters, and wanted to create his own story about a brother and sister swapping places, and the brother taking care of the sister. Ishiguro rejected coincidences related to magic and wanted to create a more-realistic world to show what happens during a brain transplant with Kiruko. Furthermore, the author was opposed to the idea of a man turning into a woman, leading to jokes about cleavage and lacking a penis. With Kiruko, he wanted the scenario to be realistic. Another theme is the change in relationships in the event of a person's sex changing. Ishiguro often writes metaphorical situations; for example, Kiruko's menstrual cycle is caused by a clash with Maru's lips when awakening from a hallucination.[1]
The sibling-like dynamic between Maru and Kiruko is based on Ishiguro's personal life. He was inspired by an event in which he noticed a person who was interested in his sister. Buddy films also inspired the protagonists' dynamic.[2] While Maru has feelings for Kiruko without knowing his bodyguard is a man inside a woman's body; Ishiguro called this premise "transsexual sci-fi", alluding to the possibility of Maru still loving Kiruko despite knowing the truth.[3] When asked about the portrayal of the protagonist, Ishiguro said Kiruko represents a gradation of spiritual sexuality.[4]
Kiruko's design changed from original previews as Ishiguro drew them in the manga magazine Monthly Comic Ryū, where the design had a different hair color and hairstyle. Ishiguro was experimenting to see what how the character would look on the cover of a magazine if this manga was serialized. Unlike the characters from And Yet the Town Moves, Kiruko was based on Ishiguro's ideal type of woman. When drawing Kiruko, Ishiguro enjoys illustrating their face, especially the line that is created by the hollows under the eyes and the step of the cheekbones. He always thought this area cannot be expressed in a drawing. The step between the cheeks and the eye sockets is more expressed by the angle compared to when viewed from the front. Besides enjoying their hairstyle, Ishiguro said the design came from his ideal-older-sister style. While not meant to be read sexually, Ishiguro visualized the series by thinking of a man living with an older woman like an elder sister whom he regards as attractive.[2]
The writer of the series' animated adaptation, Makoto Fukami, noted the constant banter between Kiruko and Maru is important for the plot setting and avoided trimming it.[5] The director Hirotaka Mori thought Maru meets Kiruko from a place where he does not know his own past, and gradually gains an ego due to meeting her. Kiruko is in a complicated relationship with Maru, and has a past that is too heavy to handle alone. As a result, Mori enjoys the two and thinks it is a mutually complementary relationship.[6]
The hints about Kiruko's identity are drawn from the first episode; Mori is glad if the audience can see it from several perspectives, such as curiosity about the mystery or liking the world view of Maru and Kiruko traveling through the ruins.[6] Ishiguro believes Production I.G made Kiruko more sexually appealing than his own version.[7]
While voicing Kiruko in the original Japanese series, Sayaka Senbongi was excited because she knew of the manga and liked the character.[8] Senbongi was confused by the script, leading her to read the manga on her own to understand the story. It was important for Kiruko to be natural, according to Senbongi; she thought if she followed the fundamental feelings of "what do you want to do" and "what do you find fun" at each moment, she would naturally connect with the character.[9]
Despite the tension action tends to give, Senbongi and Maru's actor, Gen Satō, were told to act such sequences in a casual fashion. This was mostly to show Kiruko and Maru were already skilled at dealing with such situations like burglars and man-eaters.[9]
By the third episode of the anime, Senbongi said a lot of important information about her character was revealed, making them easier to understand. The actor expressed joy if the viewer pays attention to the relationship between Maru and Kiruko, what will happen to other relationships, and Maru's fate.[10] Ishiguro praised Senbongi's work in the fifth episode when delivering Kiruko's mental breakdown, having added new lines to the anime.[11]
Kiruko's English voice actor Anjali Kunapaneni said they became attached to their character while recording the episodes, and noted how friendly Kiruko becomes with Maru on their journey. They were impressed by how strong they are despite their youth, and keep jumping between several destroyed cities. Despite finding the story sad, Kunapaneni said they found the dynamic between the leads helped to give the anime a hopeful feeling. A scene that attracted them was the discovery Haruki is actually the brother living inside's Kiruko's body; according to them, this scene imparts ideas about identity and hidden depths to the protagonist. Kunapaneni tries to remember the voices of Haruki and Kiriko. They came to regard Kiruko as a superhero due to how way of living but also childish due to Maru's impact on them.[12]