Character Biography: Primula Rosso
The following information has been pulled from the Tales Channel official site's page on Tales of Fandom Vol. 1. Typed below is a transcript of its English translated entry on Primula.
"Craymel Detective: The Keele Zeibel Affair"
In this Tales of Eternia spin-off, Keele is arrested on suspicion of leaking Mintche University's exam questions. Primula, who leads the school's detective club and has unilaterally drafted her classmate Keele as a member, opens an investigation to clear his name. But having already earned a reputation as a bumbling investigator, Primula has a tough road ahead.
A deeply inquisitive scholar, Primula majors in Aurora Artes at Mintche University. She's love detective novels since she was a child, and has established an unofficial detective club at the university, with herself as its self-declared president.
The following information has been pulled from the official Bandai Namco site page on Tales of Fandom Vol. 1. The site is in Japanese.
A character introduced in Fandom. She's a girl brimming with curiosity who is currently studying at Mintche University. She works as a "detective" in the school (in actuality, she's a handyman). She gets wrapped up in an incident with Keele in the Faceventure story...
Name: Primula Rosso (プリムラ・ロッソ)
CV: Miki Nagasawa
Character designer: Daigo Okumura
Gender: Female
Height: 159cm
Weight: 45kg
Hometown: Inferia City
Occupation: Scholar at Mintche University
Social standing: Commoner.
Her family runs a business in the capital and they're fairly well off.
Family: Father, mother and four younger brothers. She's the eldest daughter.
Personality:
For the most part she's well intended
She's cheerful and doesn't have a bad side
She's brimming with curiosity
She's prone to simplistic thinking
She has (surprisingly) good grades. She excels at courses requiring memorization skills
She loves to cook, to the point that she makes her own lunches every morning before school
She excels at eggbear dishes and has the skills to make just about anything. She doesn't have any disliked food
Hobby: Reading mystery novels
Future dream: Operate a detective agency (in collaboration with Keele)
Current goal: Promote the detective club to the university officials
Treasured things: A book she bought with her childhood savings called "Introduction to Becoming a Great Detective". She's read it to the point she can recite it from heart
Other things: After an incident revolving leaked examination questions, she became good friends with Lunaria Barnes of the newspaper club. They went out to a cafe they had heard about and enjoy their student life together to the fullest. Lunaria is from Chambard, and her future dream is to become a newspaper reporter and make the Barnes family the richest in all of Inferia.
Primula's character design
During early conceptions, I had considered removing Primula's "detective antenna" (the cowlicks) but I ended up leaving them for the sake of their capabilities in expressing emotion.
They can form into heart shapes and stars, and if she's feeling so strongly, she can even form them to replicate Keele's face.
Quite fanciful, isn't she.
*There's not scene in the game where this happens.
"A slightly long interview"
Agency: Atomic Monkey
Birthday: July 11th
Notable works: Maya Ibuki (Neon Genesis Evangelion), Maki Izumi (Kidou Senkan Nadesico), etc.
Interviewer: Namco's Tanaka-san
The interview took place in the studio where "Craymel Detective: The Keele Zeibel Incident," which is the story Primula appears in, was recorded.
Tanaka-san, who is a publicity clerk, awaited recordings to be finished in order to request an interview with actress Miki Nagasawa. You can probably feel how nervous Tanaka-san was when talking in front of a lady as beautiful as her...
Tanaka: Nagasawa-san, were you n-nervous at your first time voicing for the Tales series? (*person who is nervous himself)
Nagasawa: Let me think. It's a well-known series, so the pressure was definitely on...
Tanaka: Is that to say you knew about the series prior?
Nagasawa: Yes, I hadn't actually played the games myself, but I'd seen it in commercials and popularity rankings. I'd heard of it plenty.
Tanaka: Thank you. (*a bit relieved)
Nagasawa: I was really happy when I heard I got the job, given it's such a great series. I wouldn't say I was stressed, but having a role that was alongside the most famous character Keele-kun was a bit nerve wracking.
Tanaka: Keele is quite popular, isn't he! Hahaha! (*proud laughter)
Nagasawa: Yes! Primula is the character that Keele-kun lovers can project onto the most. I did my best to portray Primula's emotions and how she loves the things she loves even if it isn't reciprocated.
Tanaka: I see! The development staff actually chose to create Primula because they believed fans would feel closer to Keele by controlling a character who interacts with Keele closely rather than controlling Keele himself. That said, what is it about Primula that you want the players to pay close attention to?
Nagasawa: Let's see, I would say the fact that Primula has a robust imagination... (laughs) There's this one scene that's really funny... So enjoy it! (laughs) It's the part where me and Hoshi-kun (Keele's actor) talk over each other!
Tanaka: Oh man, overhearing the recording to that was an absolute blast! I laughed so hard. (*during recording, Tanaka-san burst out laughing to the point the other staff glared daggers into him to stop)
Nagasawa: Hahaha, thank you. (laughs) There's also a scene where Primula lies when going around investigating all the rooms trying to find hints, and I tried to make that bit more lively too. (laughs) That was a lot of fun.
Tanaka: You sure had a lot of fun voicing her, huh? That's great! (laughs) Could you give a message to the fans who are all eagerly awaiting the release of the game?
Nagasawa: Of course. I'm very proud to have been casted for such a wonderful game. I did my best to voice Primula, to be worthy of the love all of the fans who love the Tales series and Keele-kun have. I hope you can all play the game and feel your love for Keele-kun reflected properly in it. Primula doesn't profess her love or anything, but I did my best in voicing her more romantic dialogue, so I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on my efforts in that regard.
Tanaka: Hearing how passionately you voiced her for the sake of all the fans and Primula herself has me emotional! (*teary eyed) I could really feel that passion as I listened to your recording. Everyone, you better pay good attention to her work! (*doing his job as a PR clerk) To close things, could you talk a bit about your future work plans?
Nagasawa: It's a while from now, but in March of 2002, I'll be producing my own public appearance.
Tanaka: That's incredible!
Nagasawa: This is actually my second time... (laughs)
Tanaka: Ahahaha... (sweat) Have you decided on a location?
Nagasawa: Yes! On March 22nd to the 24th of 2002, I'll be on stage at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre in Ikebukuro, so please come watch me!
Tanaka: I'll be there for sure!
Nagasawa: Be my guest. (laughs)
Tanaka: Thank you so much for today! I'll definitely see your performance!
Nagasawa: Thank you as well.
During the recording, I kept thinking to myself how incredible Nagasawa-san was. When I interviewed her, it felt so obvious to me how much she understood both her character as well as the series as a whole. And she had so much fun with it to boot!
I'm so moved!
I witnessed most of the recording, and all of the other voice actors involved in this game seem to really hold a lot of love for the Tales series and had such a blast recording for it.
This game will be such a joy to all the fans, so please try it for yourself.
Phew! Talking to pretty people sure is nerve-wracking!
