Operation: Art Legacy

As far as the game's vision and direction and what Iga wants for it, in even the most recent interview material he has said he's focusing on answering the fan demand of delivering the classic experience he's known for, and appealing to that nostalgia directly. Such as seen in the first two questions here:

www.gamasutra.com/view/news/304100/QA_Bloodstained_creators_keys_to_making_a_great_Igavania_game.php

This might come as a disappointing point for some, and I am partly with you there, but the success of this project so far has been built on the fame and legacy of Castlevania, so that's what is expected. Besides all that, I don't see Mana's style in the new art any more or less derivative of Castlevania's than Natsume's original work. They both have a vague but distinct Castlevania flavor to them enough that backers could identify with the style.

Right?:
images.eurogamer.net/2015/usgamer/BloodstainedSpot3.jpg

I think this was the first piece of art I saw when I looked at the page, and I immediately thought "huh...that's not Ayami Kojima I don't think, but it's similar and looks great!"

We also know that it's not necessarily his natural style or standard preference to draw that way. A while back, left more to his own devices, he drew this cute Miriam for their booth:



...and before all of this he was known primarily for designing Gunvolt and Mighty no. 9 characters. A supplemental point I just thought of, Mana's Bloodstained work here is very close to what she usually does anyway (it didn't strike me as more/less Kojima in how it was drawn), so that's also a plus. The roses, arrangement of characters and the castle/red sun in the background certainly said "SotN" to me, but those things are all equally identifiable to Bloodstained. The roses moreso, because of the curse.

As is, I'm seeing what I feel like is a great mix of new and old, presented in a fresh way for a new game that still delivers what it promised.

It is by him, I"m saying it's the most Ayami Kojima looking piece of all the art we have for this game. You nailed it purifyweirdshard . Although with me it was the opposite, when I saw that first art I thought it was Kojima it was the other pieces that were posted that made me think that it's a different person. We agree that it does have her style though. 

Mana's is very distinct but I think it has a more ( don't want to mean this in a mean way to the original artist ) mature look to her art? There's a darker quality to her style that I prefer for gothic games such as this. Whereas this original artist had a more playful look to his art, and it felt more geared to a younger audience. A good example would be it reminded me of good art we'd get from the handheld vania' games but less like the more mature and gothic look we'd get out of the major console titles. It's not so much the look of the designs as the way a person draws them....for instance I wasn't a huge fan of Gebel from the art pieces we had, but Mana's depiction in that design makes me a fan.

Simply astonishing. She's very talented, I'll love to see what this can turn into if she's more deeply involved in the art of the game.

I really like Mana's work, she is very talented and it fits perfectly with the target style in my opinion and I voted yes.
But I don't think this poll affects much (it's october 2017 - c'mon guys).

Since Mana works for Artplay and is not just there as a kickstarter goal for this very project, it would be a great idea to let her be more involved art-wise in Bloodstained projects (since it should become a franchise). But that is not in the least our decision.

For example I know nothing about wage differences in that case (will it be a substantial raise or more work for same money). But hey, now they know that the community would stand behind Mana, getting more work.

Let's just not blow this up too much...

That would certainly make me more receptive to it. I guess only time will tell.

Yeah, good point ValtielEX. The reorganization with DICO and with 505 games being brought on recently is a complicated matter, since there are so many companies involved with disclosure agreements and so on. I'll ping Angel-Corlux so he can give us a comprehensive and easily understandable rundown about the art, that should clear some things up.

Yeah, we're seeing her from a bit above. One other way you can tell this is how the dress flares out at the bottom behind her. Also why is Kim Lambert's text so huge...and he liked his own post? haha what