Mio Kurosuzu
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| Mio Kurosuzu | |
|---|---|
| Paranormasight character | |
 Mio in Paranormasight | |
| First appearance | Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (2023) |
| Created by | Takanari Ishiyama |
| Designed by | Gen Kobayashi |
| In-universe information | |
| Nationality | Japanese |
Mio Kurosuzu is a character in the 2023 video game Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. She is a high school student and an assistant to the police who investigates supernatural incidents. The game has multiple character perspectives where Mio is involved, though she mainly appears as a counterpart to another high school girl named Yakko Sakazaki. She was designed to be chubby to make her cute, as well as make her a "sedate psychic." Yakko's design and personality were created to contrast with Mio's, making her appearance thin and tall and personality a "trueborn Tokyoite." She has received positive reception, regarded as one of the best characters in the game due to her design, psychic abilities, personality, and relationship with Yakko. She appeared in the manga sequel as its protagonist.
Mio Kurosuzu was created for Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo by the game's writer Takanari Ishiyama, and her design was created by the game's character designer, Gen Kobayashi.[1][2] Paranormasight is set in the Shōwa era, and characters' clothing, including Mio's, were designed with the era in mind.[1][3] She is a chubby girl who wears schoolgirl clothing typical of the Shōwa era in Japan and assists the police in spiritual investigations.[3][citation needed] She also wears a talisman as a hair clip. According to Ishiyama, she was given a chubby design because he believed it would look cute.[1] She was intentionally designed to have more symbolism in her appearance without having so much that it would feel out of place.[4] Ishiyama described her as someone who typically does not want to have people see her hand gestures or purification of spirits, thus typically having a calm expression he says conveys "I'm hungry" despite her illustrations tending to have a serious expression.[5] Her name takes from the name of the protagonist of the manga Eko Eko Azarak.[2]
Each starring character in Paranormasight has a companion character, with Mio being the companion to Yakko Sakazaki. When designing the duo, Ishiyama conceived the idea of a "gloomy spiritual girl and a cheerful Edokko girl as young people who can confront paranormal phenomena." He considered the duo as a yin-yang pairing, stating he believed they would be a strong enough duo to justify a spinoff starring them.[2] The profiles for the two called for a "sedate psychic" and "trueborn Tokyoite" respectively. To contrast with Mio's chubby design, Yakko was made tall and thin, with the staff that their distinct personalities called for distinct physical differences. Design staff noted that the game being played in the first-person perspective made it "lonely," and gave companion characters like Mio stronger personalities.[4] Ishiyama noted that, despite him expecting Mio to become popular, others in the team found that sentiment confusing.[6]