During Anime Expo 2024, we had the opportunity to interview the president of developer Nihon Falcom, Toshihiro Kondo.
We primarily discussed the recent Western release of The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak, the upcoming Western release of Ys X Nordics, and Falcom’s future.
In a brief divergence, we discussed the NPCs throughout the Trails series and whether Kondo has one he particularly likes.
Interstingly, the fan-favorite NPC Anton, present throughout the Sky, Crossbell, and Cold Steel sagas, was mentioned. Kondo revealed that he created Anton for Trails in the Sky before another writer took over the role and that he was based on a real-life friend.
According to Kondo, this friend had no desire to do anything and simply lived life as it came.
You can view the partial quoted exchange below:
Azario Lopez: Within the Trails series, is there a particular NPC that you like?
Toshihiro Kondo: The character specifically would be Anton, who can be found in multiple entries of the series. I created the character and wrote for him up through Trails in the Sky before passing it on to someone else. But it was great because that character seemed to really resonate with fans which allowed him to come back so many times throughout the series.
Many people don’t know that he was actually modeled on a friend of mine. There was this guy I knew who had no will or desire to do anything. Even after he got a job, he was just kind of living life as it came.
We’ll share our full interview with Toshihiro Kondo later this week.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II will be released in the West in early 2025 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG.
