Character appreciation time! This time, for Teapo, the very dovely magical creature that's a cross between a teapot and a dove, and bless Nao Ikeda for even thinking of the concept ahaha.
While the character entry in the encyclopedia is talking specifically about the Teapo in Domina who lives with Mark, Jennifer and Rachel, it seems like Teapos are produced magical entities. In the "Rachel" quest, Teapo mentions she was made in Geo, and a later conversation even mentions there being a "Model 2", with our Domina Teapo being a model 1 that's described by..."Rachel" to possess personality defects.
To prove this, you can find Teapos elsewhere, notably serving as an innkeeper in Geo.
In the art book, Teapo is described as a unique character, and this seems to have been the basis for the character we meet in Domina.
She's also called "Teapopo" in the art book, which might be her Japanese name?
The notes are:
"She loves smoking tea leaves instead of tobacco and is an easygoing "pigeon" (she claims). She always has a tea bag on her back."
The bottom note:
I came up with this character after drinking tea. She has a tea bag string sticking out her of her mouth and looks like she's still steaming. I couldn't believe that they made her a Kansai dialect-speaking character. [laughs] By the way, she claims that she's a pigeon. (Ikeda)
As with most NPCs, Teapo is designed by Nao Ikeda, as can be seen by these notes. I adore the side note about Teapo smoking tea leaves, it's such a good way of making a character feel alive. This didn't make it into the game, where she spews water instead lol. While her 2d game art doesn't indicate the literal tea bag, it still does appear in the character sprites, as can be seen here:
Another detail that wasn't planned by Ikeda herself but was written into the game is that Teapo speaks in a Kansai dialect in the Japanese version of the game, and she does speak with an accent in the English text, too (...idk which LOL I'm weak on identifying accents, English isn't my first language).
I love Teapo for being an absolutely clever fusion of two separate things (a teapot and a pigeon??) and making it work so naturally.
