Toma

Key art of Toma from Shining Force EXA. Illustration by pako.

Toma (トウマ, Tōma) is a character from Shining Force EXA. He is a heritor, an individual chosen by the holy sword, Shining Force, to wield one of its two halves and command the ancient Geo Fort to defeat the Malxatra, the god of sacrifice.

Characterization

The following description is from the Shining Force EXA Design Works book.

A very candid young man with a strong sense of justice. He isn't very good at grasping difficult concepts, and is instead the type to take action without thinking. A fortune teller told him he would have luck finding what he was looking for to the south. When he went south, he met Gadfort's group. Wishing for the awesome power required to become king and create a world without war, he draws the holy sword, Shining Force, and becomes master of the Geo Fort. He meets Cyrille, who is also in search of Shining Force, and slowly becomes attracted to her.

とても素直で正義感が強い少年。難しいことを考えるのは苦手で、考えるよりもさきに行動してしまうタイプ。占い師に、探し物を求めるなら南が吉と言われ、南に向かいがドフォールたちに出会った。王様になって争いのない世界を作るため「スゲー力がほしい!」と願い、聖剣シャイニングフォースを引き抜き、要塞ジオフォートの主(あるじ)となる。同じくシャイニングフォースを探すシリルと出会い、しだいにシリルに惹かれていくようになる。

Character Design

Concept art of Toma from Shining Force EXA. Illustrations by pako.

The following quotes from character designer pako and a Sega developer are excerpted from the Shining Force EXA Design Works book.

Design Work

I wanted the main character to be catchy so I gave him a wild feeling. His face had been finalized from the moment I drew his concept art, but I hadn't decided what his outfit would be. Regarding his outfit, once we had some modeling data finished, we finalized the details through discussion.

—pako (Character Designer)

主人公はキャッチーにしてほしいとのことだったので、ワイ ルドな感じにしました。顔はイメージイラストを描いたときから決まっていたんですが、服装がなかなか決まらなかったです。服装に関してはある程度モデリングデータができ上がってから、協議しつつ細部を詰めていきましたね。

—pako (Character Design)

Concept Work

We started with an illustration of the main character, "The Boy With the Fearless Gaze" (Toma concept art on page 20), which was the first thing pako drew. Rather than make a typical cloaked hero, we wanted him to leave a lasting impression and we finally came up with an idea: someone with a lot of their upper body exposed who looks like he makes his own equipment out of the prey he has hunted . . . We agreed on something like that, a design like a feral child.

—Sega Developer

最初にpakoさんに好きに描いていただいた「主人公」のイメージイラストの「不敵なまなざしの少年」(P020　イメージイラスト・トウマ)が出発点です。ただのマントの勇者ではなく、印象に残る要素を入れようとアイデアを出していただいた末、上半身の露出が多めで、狩った獲物から自作したような装備･･････という、野生児なデザインにまとまりました。

—セガ開発

Shining Force EXA Character Directory

Protagonists and Supporting Characters
Party Members	Toma・Gadfort・Mabel・Cyril・Amitalilly・Firklin・Duga・Garyu・Adam・Avalon
Supporting Characters	Borne・Gilna・Hikane・Jira・Zenas・Gantetsu
Antagonists and Monsters
Primary Antagonists	Ragnadarm III・Liemcyan・Phillip・Luluneyzl
Monsters	Malxatra