Development
According to manga artist Kaori Yuki, the concept for Angel Sanctuary has been with her "for the longest time".[2] As a middle-school student in her second year, Yuki found the story of fallen angels, particularly Lucifer, fascinating; in Angel Sanctuary, she offered her own interpretation of fictional angels, which differed from her thoughts on actual angels.[2] Yuki was inspired to write about angels and demons in Tokyo after reading the Japanese fantasy novel Nocturne; the book centered around a demonic prince and princess who search for another demon on earth, who has possessed an idol singer, and try to destroy it.[3] While the original title for the manga was Coming of the Seraphim, Yuki later decided against it in favor of Angel Sanctuary, as she thought that "angel" should be included in the title and "sanctuary" had a sense of something "forbidden" or "against God". Sara, originally named Sana, was the first character designed, while the first episode of the manga imagined was one in which the protagonist's love interest "was actually a living angel".[4] She decided to set Angel Sanctuary in Japan in "near future", partially because the setting would be largely unchanged and partially because she had a wish to draw modern clothing styles and sailor uniforms.[2]
As she had been already working on a successful serial, the gothic mystery manga Earl Cain, she faced difficulty in convincing others to let her begin another serial. Initially, she was allowed only ten installments of Angel Sanctuary, which led her to worry about being able to properly end the story.[2] At that time, she had the character development up to Zaphikel's death scene and fragments of the plot; she found it difficult to construct a narrative to join the scenes she wanted to draw. The original character designs underwent changes, and only Kato's remained unchanged. Several angels were planned to make an appearance, but never did; among them were the Angel of the Yoke and the leader of the angels, Sakaki.[4] For the conclusion, she originally had planned to use a tragic ending, but decided against it in favor of a happy one, because she thought that it would be too upsetting for the fans to read after twenty volumes.[5]
When Angel Sanctuary was adapted into an audio drama series, Yuki participated in selecting voice actors; around two to three auditioned for each role. Ten, however, auditioned for the role of Setsuna, with Kenji Nojima ultimately chosen. Ayako Kawasumi provided the voice of Sara, while Takehito Koyasu and Yuuko Miyamura voiced Sakuya Kira and Kurai, respectively. For Arachne, Yuki envisioned a "transvestite" voice actor, which proved to be unfeasible. The antagonists Katan and Rosiel were voiced by Shin-ichiro Miki and Nozomu Sasaki, respectively. Yuki attended several sessions, during which she directed the voice actors and helped them with their interpretations of the characters.[6]
Yuki assisted on Angel Sanctuary's adaptation into an original video animation (OVA). She helped with the color direction in the first episode; although she prefers the color combinations of white, red, and black, the production staff was interested in including an abundance of color in the anime adaptation to prevent it from seeming "dull". She also produced character designs with detailed descriptions of various elements, such as eye shape and earrings. Editing the already finished script was the most difficult aspect of the adaptation for her, as time and space constraints resulted in the elimination of some scenes and she felt that sometimes a character's personality would be changed. She insisted on the inclusion of certain narrative points, which made it tricky to reach a compromise with the production staff at times. Regardless, she expressed her satisfaction with the finished product.[4]
Cultural references and influences
In Angel Sanctuary, Yuki incorporated references to several mythologies and religions. Greek mythology features prominently, with allusions to the Orpheus' descent to the underworld,[7] the mythical location Hades, Pandora's box,[8] and Prometheus.[9] Additionally, the transgender demon Arachne takes her name from the weaver Arachne.[2] References to Norse mythology also appear, with allusions to Yggdrasil and the dragon Nidhogg. Other mythologies alluded to include Jewish and Christian mythology;[10]
