Kazue Kato's commentary on Mephisto 

It\'s like a multifandom blog. Only one of the fandoms is the Japanese language itself, and I like writing crossover fics about it. Or something.

Translated from the interviews in the back of the character book : )

(Edit: contains spoilers from volume 10 [and maybe some volume 12] of the manga)

I based Mephisto on the character from Goethe’s Faust. That being said, if I’d drawn him based on my own personal tastes, he would have ended up as a realistic middle-aged man, so I made his age more ambiguous and added some extra charm to make him more approachable.

I read Goethe because the Brothers Grimm were the very earliest starting point for Blue Exorcist. I was researching Germany to get a better understanding of the Brothers Grimm and sort of ended up reading Goethe’s Faust…and the Mephisto in the play was just such a fascinating character! I found myself thinking about how perfect he would be be as a manga character, and I started wanting to draw him (laughs).

Mephisto and Amaimon are demons, so I made them look odd on purpose so that anyone could just look at them and know that they aren’t human. I also avoided giving them the traditional Japanese elements that I gave to, say, Rin with his sword.

Unlike Rin and the others who follow more restrained, tried-and-true shounen manga designs, I had Mephisto wear clothes that would make him stand out from everyone else and made his hair stick up like crazy. As a side note, that long curly thing on top of Mephisto’s head is…actually kind of supposed to be a horn (laughs). Same for Amaimon: I try to give some sort of horn-type thing to all the demon characters.

By the way, the curly horn is sort of my nod to the gothic horror genre. Look at any of Tim Burton’s gothic horror movies: the screen is chock-full of spiral designs from the trees to the vines to the fences. It was along those lines (laughs).

Mephisto has even more of a manga-character feel than Rin and the others, so I can have him transform into a dog, or change up his outfits, or make it so that his nails look shorter when he has his gloves on…I can play around with all the little details of his depiction. Honestly, I’d like to play around more–I’d almost rather have him wear a different outfit every panel or split in two or something, but it would be insane to draw so I can’t actually do it.

He’s a character who could do anything, and that’s reflected in his words and actions too. One minute you think he’s being friendly and the next he seems like the enemy, and it doesn’t even feel out of place.

Mephisto plays a lot of video games, but he likes all kinds of entertainment. Not to mention that he can stop time, so he can enjoy all the huge RPGs and extended movies and long-running dramas he wants without worrying about the time. Seriously, I’m so jealous (laughs).

At the end of the day, Mephisto is a demon, so even though he has a certain friendliness about him, in the back of your mind you’re always feeling like something’s a bit off.

In my mind, the demons are kind of emotionless, I guess…It’s not like they don’t ever feel angry or sad or anything, but those feelings are pretty watered-down compared to humans. Add to that the fact that they’ve been using and abusing their host bodies for years and years, and it’s almost like a dead guy trying to force a corpse to move around and do things.

All the demons who possess humans–Satan, Amaimon, Lucifer, and the rest–have that in common. They can’t escape it, and that influences their motives and actions. That aspect of them is something to pay attention to.

blue exorcist ao no exorcist mephisto pheles Kazue Kato translation vital ahoge info are you telling me that if you had the time to draw at Gunnerkrigg Court speeds he would be EVEN MORE like Coyote

duskwitch reblogged this from facets-and-rainbows and added:

Wait, are you telling me he ACTUALLY stops time just to watch a movie?!

freakwithadashofinsanity reblogged this from facets-and-rainbows and added:

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