Hi!! Frances is Vincent’s younger sister, it’s very clear because there’s a strict distinction between an older sister (姉) and younger sister (妹) in Japanese language, and when Frances was introduced in ch.14, the latter Kanji was used. For some reason the English online scanlation team translated it a bit vaguely though, i.e. they made just “sister” out of it^^; Moreover, there are two different ways of writing “aunt/aunts”in Japanesedepending on whether they are the older (伯母) or younger sister (叔母) of your parents, and Frances is Ciel’s 叔母(the latter one), so it’s like 200% confirmed that Frances is Vincent’s younger sister! =D
Regarding Frances’ age, I’ll just copy & paste my past post:
“Frances’ age was never mentioned in the manga nor in the official ‘Character guide’ explicitly. I just assumed she’s around 36, based on the following facts:
Vincent was born in 1851
Frances is Vincent’s younger sister (mentioned in the manga)
Frances’ son, Edward, is 17 years old (5th -> 6th grade at Weston)
That
means, she can’t be older than 37 (because Vincent would be 38 years
old if he were alive), but she can’t be younger than 34 either. I have
no clue at what age women usually gave birth to their first child back
then, but I assumed she was 17-20 when Edward was born.”
Armin respects Erwin, but there is no arrow at all towards Levi (lol)
Erwin possibly recognizes Armin’s great abilities as a strategist, while Levi has high appraisal of Armin’s skills
Jean dislikes that Armin is always together with Eren
Isayama Hajime and Araki Tetsuro’s interviews are quite interesting, to summarize:
Isayama compares Armin to One Piece’s Usopp & Vagabond’s Matahachi Hon’iden, because they are “ordinary people,” and those are characters that their respctive creators (Oda Eiichiro and Inoue Takehiko) can relate to the most.
Armin was a character Isayama wanted to create from the very beginning as a very humanized/sympathetic character, while Eren has the burden of embodying the series’ themes and pushing forth the overall storyline – a responsibility that makes him “less human.” So Armin is an essential character in the story with a lot of development – at this point he is able to guide Eren.
Araki Tetsuro says “I can see Armin turning into a dictator in the future” while Isayama himself hasn’t thought as much about what kind of person Armin will become.
Both Isayama and Araki think that Armin and Eren will NOT end up being close friends forever – they don’t think Armin will always stick with Eren. (Note: This was brought up in two previousinterviews as well)
Even though Isayama designed Armin to be a character whom the reader can associate with, he is gradually becoming someone who can ace everything he sets his mind to. So Isayama thinks it might be difficult for the audience to relate to him now.
Isayama jokes about the time when people were doubting Armin’s gender (Including when he joked that Armin was Mikasa’s best girl friend in the series – the November 2014 Q&A here). But he concludes by saying that although Armin’s character design seems feminine, “I have clearly drawn his gender in the manga (Laughs)…”
Here’s all the interviews from the Official Profiling 2
book. (Well, except for the ones with Ling Toshite Shigure, Chelly from EGOIST,
and Yugo Kanno. Aka the ones in charge of the music. Sorry about that.) They
include the following:
Cast – Hanazawa Kana (Akane), Seki Tomokazu (Kougami)
Staff – original story concept & screenplay – Urobuchi Gen; 2nd season structure – Ubukata Tow
Staff – Director – Shiotani Naoyoshi
Under the cut are a lot of words (almost 13k), but here are the
takeaways:
Like I theorized way back, Psycho-Pass is not a series with a fixed start-end plot, but a sandbox where only certain elements of the world and certain characters are set in stone. Thus new writers, etc can come in and play with the pieces every single time. Even the staff’s all “there are so many side stories and spinoffs that we’ll leave it up to you to figure out canon” from them.
The movie was thought up, planned, and put into production before they ever considered season two. I repeat, the movie was always the priority, and the gears started moving right when they finished s1.
Apocalypse Now was a huge inspiration for the movie.
Everyone (cast, staff) agrees that if a certain character had been there in s2, the case would have been wrapped up right away and there would have been no s2. (So unbelievably true, but grrrrrr)
Shimotsuki Mika is beloved by the staff for the exact same reason that fans dislike her (“she’s what Sibyl thinks a true Inspector is”).
Hinakawa was always made to be a foil to other characters (poor boy).
If you didn’t know, many of the important staff figures spent a lot of their careers on live action, crime series, etc, and really love Western scifi/crime/etc media, which is one of the reasons why PP feels so different from a typical anime you see nowadays.
The recording cast left an empty chair in the studio for you know who during s2, and HanaKana basically said at one point, “Please come back already!”
And if nothing else, read the two cast interviews!
Spoilers for s2 and the movie, obviously, under the cut.
midnight-in-town 