13Akane no Mai: Supplementary Material
What Could Have Beens, Behind the Scenes, and Pre-Revisions
As this post is first uploaded in July 2023, it serves as a 5-year anniversary of Persona Vein (2018 - 2023) and could loosely be a meta 20-year anniversary of YuYuGiDiGiMoon (YYGDM-01) relating to some similarities between both franchises that crossovers four fictional works (YuYuGiDiGiMoon (Digimon/YuYu Hakusho/Yu-Gi-Oh!/Sailor Moon) and Akane no Mai (Persona/Code Vein/Kakegurui/Nioh)), both have offshoot reality timelines that crossover with Guilty Crown (Guilty Crown: The Lost Kingdoms for YuYuGiDigiMoon and Akane no Guilty Crown for Persona 5 (not Akane no Mai technically, that's separate from Akane no Mai)), and Akane no Mai is meant to be a 'spiritual successor' of YuYuGiDiGiMoon when looking back (even though Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon is also another reboot successor), but the Akane no Mai franchise heads towards to a different creative direction.
I.)Before Persona Vein/Urban Legends (Post-2015 and Pre-2018)
-Before Persona Vein was first conceptualized, it was originally a YuYuGiDigiMoon: Wrath of the Defiants Final Character Corner Tie-In Segments that were a different concept altogether. It was mainly about the Cornerverse crossover characters having to deal with the repercussions of Cain Bearer (a Lex Luthor expy who opposes superpowered beings and especially the Sailor Senshi) banning party corners. Music is not used throughout these segments until the ban is lifted at the end of the segments (Ford's words in an email on March 19, 2018: Since Cain already banned party corners, that means background music heard in scenes is also banned. Background music/songs are used when heard in phones, concerts, television, video games, films, computers/internet, radios, and other sound devices; relating to that in real-life there are no background music heard like in pop culture besides hearing songs inside our minds. Example: Instead of (Cue Insert Song), it's (Insert Song Played on Phone or YouTube Video)). Lance and Pharaohmon were perspective characters and inspirations of Eddie Valiant and Roger Rabbit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit are mentioned. There are interviews of various characters in tributing Duck Dodgers's final episode (Bonafide Hero: Captain Duck Dodgers) and Codename: Kids Next Door's series finale (Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S.). The ending would have shown Cain being reformed, alongside the final party with many cameos (including the turkey from the Digimon Fusion Kai Movie: Yagami's Second Coming party corner) in tie-in to Defiants being almost done (in which the canon story cast would have visited the Cornerverse for this final party after Yami Ghidorah's final defeat). With all of this scrapped, and especially Cornerverse officially finished/concluded its run in Cross Generations with no revivals, it's then decided in moving forward to learning new paths, and Defiants/YYGDM-01 fully free to focus on its series finale of being taken seriously (without any Cornerverse shoehorns) relating to its final fandom story status.
-Then, during that timeframe, the Persona 5 and Code Vein cast are brought to the email discussion around early 2018 (and that's when Persona Vein was first written by Allfather-Ford as originally being a 'stand-alone series epilogue' of some sort while Cross Generations was nearing its final arc (Fiction's Closure)), in which this is one of the starts when Kanius describes how civilians are more relatable than superheroes (Kanius's words on email in April 8, 2018: I like the idea of treating the PV cast as if they're ordinary civilians and told from ordinary folk POV. It's different from the usual superheroes POV. This cast are in their own separate world from the larger than life superheroes and extraordinary beings like the YYGDM cast. They're supposed to be more relatable.). They would have been the main POV throughout this final party corner with mentions of crossover characters from dialogue, and would have interacted with them personally at the end (this concept is retooled for the final Yami Matter event in Urban Legends). One of the events (This would have been a 'sixth YM event' before Urban Legends' actual sixth YM event took place in the Code Vein dimension) is their involvement against Cain and even comparing him to Shido, even though Cain is less evil than him. AnimeJapan was once part of this final character corner event as well till its move to Urban Legends. Another event is when Sion and Jack had a dream when they fought Shu and Gai of Guilty Crown, this is retooled for Urban Legends' final Yami Matter event and expanded. As Persona Vein is nearing its conclusion, many new inspirations were thought of for the sequel Urban Legends which brings retool/revise prototype concepts of the scrapped Defiants party corner, and especially with Persona's Ascendancy is the final convincing for Kanius to helm writing the sequel as one of the first major steps to improve his official writing.
—Allfather-Ford's words in an email on February 16, 2018: Basically, it's about Cain already passed the bill/law of banning character corners. While the YYGDM/Triad characters appear, they serve as guest/minor/cameos. After Corner stories of them having main POVs alongside CG, it's time for something completely different. The main characters are going to be the Persona Vein ones like the Phantom Thieves and their POV, alongside other related characters like Mary Saotome (Kakegurui) and Mia Karnstein (Code Vein) to get involved (Besides they'll first appear in CG Ch. 26. For CG Ch. 27, I thought of cameos of Kirari Momobami and her student council (Kakegurui) appear of observing the final battle of Ultimate Grimhilde on TV, foreshadowing that they'll have major roles in the epilogue corner (One idea is Makoto and Kirari opposing each other due to their differences).
—Allfather-Ford's words in an email on March 19, 2018: Because the Triad/Other Crossover characters are minor characters, there are no written scenes focusing on them. Instead, they are seen on things like on television/news/videos/articles (both on newspaper and online) lived by a video cameraman spoken by interviewers interviewing the YYGDM cast for examples, for the PV cast to witness on screen in their TVs and phones/internet/YouTube. This is to support that the PV cast as the main roles in focusing on ordinary civilians' POV, and not a superheroes' POV. They will not personally interact with the Triad/Defiants/Crossover cast throughout the final corner (Until the chapters tie-in to Defiants' chapters with Yami Ghidorah, that's where Yami Ghidorah's army breached through the Cornerverse that the PV cast will assist the united forces (But let's discuss that in the future, likely after I finished Persona Vein).) (Given a retool and huge update for Urban Legends' Ethereal War event with the crossover characters and a form of Yami Ghidorah in the final chapter). Another example is that the PV cast witness these crossover characters in special events. One is AnimeJapan located in Tokyo Big Sight that'll take place in March 2019 where some Triad characters are seen as celebrities, while the PV cast are seen as fans/normal people (Unlike Battle Supremacy's San Japan segments, because of focusing on ordinary civilians' POV you can put your own experiences of convention centers), we can see autographs/panels (Retool in Urban Legends of the cast exploring AnimeJapan, but the crossover character cognitive cameos only appear in distance and hidden locations that they're not real beings). Second is when the PV cast are going to a red carpet premiere of Avengers 4 in May 2019 at Toho Cinemas Shinjuku, they and the audience saw the Marvel characters as celebrities discussing what's going to happen in 'second saga' after the untitled Avengers movie (2019) for the next decade is coming since their 'first saga' made out of 'three phases' comes to an end (Which is retool to the characters in Urban Legends watching Avengers: Endgame while the MCU cameos are observing them in distance). Some elements of The Hunger Games series are used. I can see Cain as like President Snow and Kirari Momobami is like President Coin, though Cain and Kirari are not antagonistic villains.
—Allfather-Ford's words in an email on April 9, 2018: Actually, Cain (Corner)'s mind has a realm similar to a Palace, but it's not really a Palace since all of the Palaces are gone since P5 ended. The cause of this manifestation is the similar Yami Houou symbiote/Yami Ghidorah (That Ghidorah (YYGDM-01) secretly sent inside) where the source is similar to a Shadow of Cain that needs to be destroyed, but it's not Cain's Shadow unlike Persona. Later on after exploring, the Calling Card is sent for the 'manifestation' to emerge for the PV cast to destroy it. If the Thieves and allies fail by the deadline (Which ties-in YYGDM-01's endgame calendar date of Dec 21, 2012), Cain will die, it'll set a mental shutdown reaction that'll turn the Earth into Yami symbiote monsters. The group will destroy it before the deadline. There will be Yami Ghidorah (YYGDM-01) sending a replicate (Like Zeed X) of himself to the Cornerverse, and possessing Godzilla Earth (Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters) as his main body, planning to merge both the modern and Planet of the Monsters worlds in attempt to terraform the planet to his image.
-Shows that Kirari would have been a bigger major antagonist in these scrapped Cornerverse segments, while still a major antagonist in Urban Legends (and the prototype chapter roster mentioned that Gregorio Silva would have been a more major antagonist in the fifth YM event pre-Code Vein release), she then turns over a new leaf in helping the protagonists as Juzo Mido (Code Vein) becomes the bigger major antagonist in the finalized release version (in which this truly pays off greatly).
-Back when Kanius wrote Persona Vein's vs. Maria and Palace Shadow Rulers to first get the feeling of the Persona 5/Code Vein cast (alongside Kakegurui and Nioh), the setting was set in the Cornerverse as a way to promote this new experience. By the time this was revised in Akane no Mai/Book I, all Cornerverse references were already removed in being its own separate thing.
Recapping Behind the Scenes A/Ns from Kanius
-Cross Generations Chapter 26 (2018): Regarding the Persona 5/Code Vein/Nioh/Kakegurui side story: Yes, this is the debut of these characters in my stories. These are the same cast from Ford1114's Persona Vein. This is in fact the entire interlude chapter from his fic. So if you haven't read it there, you've already read it here. If what you've seen intrigues you, go and check out Ford1114's fic. That's partly a reason why this side story was included here: as shameless promotion for Persona Vein. The second reason is due to me taking interest in the Persona franchise, starting with 5 since it's the recent entry. Thirdly, it's to serve as a warm-up to my eventual progression into novel writing (although I've already started writing my first novel) and it'll be somewhat of a return to basics with writing more personal/low profile storytelling. After all the chaos in this stretch of Cross Generations chapters, it'll be a welcome change. The fourth reason is so I can feel comfortable writing this new cast of characters before Ford passes the reins of me taking over writing the untitled Persona Vein sequel. All things considered, I think I did ok on my first outing writing these characters. The untitled PV sequel will be a challenge.
-Cross Generations Chapter 29 (2018): However, the biggest draw for me (besides the cold opening and the last scene) is the Cornerverse scene involving the crowds meeting the Persona Vein cast and the trailers being shown for Prelude/Wrath of the Defiants and Urban Legends. While both trailers drew positive reactions, it was UL that drew more hype and interest. This is also based on the fact UL is new and fresh (although it's a sequel to Ford1114's Persona Vein) and YuYuGiDigiMoon being old news at this point. This was further illustrated from the 'view/page counts' based on the trailers and in comparison to other movie/TV/fanfic trailers. Moreover, this is also in response to the retweets and likes that Urban Legends fan made poster drawn by real life artist clayscence garnered. There already seems to be interest for my upcoming fanfic. The release dates for both will most certainly happen. I am aiming for a late-December preview and a January release. That should be on track after Cross Generation is fully complete (CG's epilogue should be out by December).
-Urban Legends Chapter 1 (January 2019): This fic is the official sequel to Ford1114's Persona Vein: Urban Legends. With his permission and blessings, he's allowed me to write a sequel with an outline he's provided for me. Normally, I wouldn't do this under normal circumstances. However, there's reasons for this faithful decision. 1: I'm in the process of writing my first professional novel. It was Ford1114 who helped to push me forward with my dream of writing and one day publishing my novel. He's recognized my talents and remembered a statement I made a long time ago that I hoped to be a novel writer. He thinks UL will provide the best platform for me to transition from fanfic writing to professional novel writing. Unlike the fanfics I've written before, I intend to treat this story as I would a professional novel. This undertaking will be an interesting experiment and creative process. 2: I've gotten into the Persona franchise thanks to Ford1114. Before I've only heard of the series, but having watched an entire playthrough of P5 (w/the good ending and in the English dub), I was hooked. Hooked enough to watch Persona 5: The Animation (which is ok, but the game is much better), purchase Persona 4: The Animation on blu-ray for a big cheap deal (already watching), and recently purchased Persona 5 for PS4 on Black Friday. 3: While it's not out yet, I've been following the Code Vein announcements and kept up with some of the news/trailers of its impending release. The Unnamed Protagonist will have a name for this story's continuity: Skyler Jones (once called Sion in Persona Vein). In fact, the Persona Vein-CV characters will be AU from their canon-Code Vein counterparts. 4a: Ford1114 went out of his way to have a promo art drawn for my birthday. This promo art was drawn and colored by clayscence (Vanetta Kosman). Go to Ford1114's twitter and you'll see it there. It's an excellent visual depiction of what you can expect in CV. The Unnamed Protagonist/Skyler and Hifumi are centered, meaning they're the main attractions of this story. Ren/Joker, Ann/Panther, Morgana/Mona, Jack Rutherford, Mia Karnstein, Makoto/Queen, and Io are also on the cover with a beautiful Shibuya background. That fanart already has 85 RTs and 364 Likes on Ford's twitter. Erika Harlacher (the English VA for Ann Takamaki) was among those who liked the pic. How's that for super cool endorsement? 4b: He's even had a second fanart commissioned by ScruffyTurtles (creator of the Adult Confidant AU), who drew and colored CV's Unnamed Male Protagonist and Hifumi Togo together. While that one isn't necessarily Persona Vein/Urban Legends related, it's still the Unnamed Male Protagonist and Hifumi depicted as a couple from a vampire love story (better than Twilight, lol). This fanart currently has 814 likes on twitter. 4c: A P5/Pokémon fanart was commissioned by HyakunanaArts. It's the third fanart commissioned for Ford. As we speak, this fanart has over 600 likes on twitter and Erika Harlacher gave her seal of approval (AKA retweet), but that's not all. Erika even commented on an art related to this project for the first time! 4d: Make that four fanarts. The second one done by HyakunanaArts. A P5/Pokémon/CV crossover featuring the Male Protagonist and Hifumi with their choice Pokémon. What's even better? Xanthe Huynh (the English VA of Haru Okumura) liked it on twitter. 5: I've already dabbled with writing the P5 and CV characters already. The only Kakegurui character I've written is Yumeko. This story will allow me to utilize the other Kakegurui ensemble cast. Of Nioh, I've mostly written for Nekomata and Maria. While Kakegurui and Nioh characters will appear, the central focus will be on P5 and CV. 6: It's something new. That's the most exciting part of this endeavor. It also won't have any connection and tie-in to my other fanfics (Digimon Fusion/Kai and YuYuGiDigiMoon respectively). And there won't be any cameos from other Persona characters beyond P5. This is strictly a P5 story, even though P/P2/P3/P4 characters do exist in the Persona Vein/Urban Legends continuity.
II.)Persona Vein/Urban Legends
-Originally, all of the Code Vein complete story would have been put in Chapter 4 of Persona Vein in 2018, but the game's release date is delayed to 2019, forcing the creators to wait until Urban Legends' fifth Yami Matter event, even then it's not proper until the complete story is finally inputted to the start of Akane no Mai/Book I.
-Some Devilman Crybaby songs would have been used in Persona Vein. One of them is Devilman Crybaby - Devilman No Uta. Another is DVMN (Theme from "DEVILMAN crybaby") which would have been the ending song of Chapter 1 of Persona Vein till The Birthday Massacre - Endless was used instead.
-A song that would have been used in the Osaka explorations was Hillside (The Birthday Massacre Remix) - Lost Children.
-The total chapter roster of Urban Legends would have been 35 till its reduction to 30. The prototype chapter roster originally still had the Defiants/YYGDM-01 tie-in such as Cain (even venturing inside his mind in fighting a Yami Cain) and Yami Ghidorah (another scrapped idea is that Yami Persona's Ascendancy would have been created by the Rajita Warlord himself when his conjunction presence affects The First Evil (Buffy)'s Yami Matter (Kanius's words in 2018: On the subject of Yami Ghidorah (YYGDM-01), I know you already decided not to use him, but instead using The First Evil, whose presence will be felt in conjunction with Yami Ghidorah attacking the YYGDM-01 dimension.)) till everything relating to YYGDM-01 (and the Triad) is gone and completely separate in the final cut (And it works for the best in the long run since during that time frame (2019-2020), Kanius has an author's burnout after writing YYGDM-01 for over 15 years and the series finale is on hiatus). The Mia/Mona focus would have been a separate chapter till it combined with the beach chapter. There is a scrapped chapter described as "Louis's role as a young leader after Yoshida's encouragement. Sae and Karen's time with their siblings. Louis's past with Cruz and Gregorio. Roppongi nightclub shown. A prostitute attempted to seduce and steal Louis's money, but Makoto saves him in time. Louis/Makoto/Haru hot threesome at the end in their apartment." being set after the Halloween chapter and before the fifth YM event (Louis/Makoto/Haru's threesome is moved early to the Consortium meeting chapter being set at the end of that published chapter, alongside the mentioned of Louis's past with Cruz and Gregorio being moved early in that same published chapter). Another scrapped chapter is about "Tokyo DisneySea. Disney live-action films discussion like the Lion King. Toy Story 4. Fantasmic.", till the idea is demoted into an ending scene (though the Disney film discussion part is technically scrapped) for the fifth YM event aftermath by combining its chapter. Originally, there was supposed to be a separate Japanese New Year/Ōmisoka chapter until it's combined with the Christmas chapter.
-Futaba would have had a college boyfriend while Yusuke would have had a gay lover from Nagoya in Urban Legends till it's immediately changed back for Futaba/Yusuke being the couple (and why Akane no Mai/Book I brings the ship teases early).
-Mia would have had an OC girlfriend named Kimiko till it was changed to have Shiho as the love interest. Kimiko is retooled to become a Pack member. (Kanius's words in an email in 2018: Sure, I'm ok with removing the Kimiko OC and going with a familiar character like Shiho. We don't see much of her after her attempted suicide. It sure beats needing to create an OC to fill a place for Mia's love interest.)
-JoJo's Bizarre Adventure cameos (such as Jotaro, DIO, Joseph Joestar, Mohammed Avdol, Noriaki Kakyoin, Jean Pierre Polnareff, Iggy) as urban legends would have been shown in the Shujin Academy Reunion chapter.
-Ducktales (2017 Series) cameos (Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Bentina Beakley, Launchpad McQuack, Lena, Flintheart Glomgold, Magica De Spell, Darkwing Duck) as urban legends would have been shown in the scrapped Tokyo Disneyland/DisneySea chapter.
-Other scrapped urban legend cameos (pre-Final Yami Matter event): Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Xander Harris (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Rupert Giles (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (One character would have compared him to an older MasakoX :P), Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Dawn Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Faith (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Noctis Lucis Caelum (Final Fantasy XV), Ignis Scientia (Final Fantasy XV), Gladiolus Amicitia (Final Fantasy XV), Prompto Argentum (Final Fantasy XV)
-Scrapped AnimeJapan costumes: Hifumi - Skuld (Kingdom Hearts χ), Louis - Kaneki Ken (Tokyo Ghoul) (till its move to the Halloween chapter later), Futaba - Hibajiri Hidomi (FLCL Progressive), Ann - Mt. Lady (My Hero Academia), Yakumo - Ban (Nanatsu no Taizai)
-Scrapped Halloween costumes: Skyler - Yukine (Noragami), Hifumi - Yotsuyu (Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood) (Being moved to AnimeJapan), Ann - Jeanne (Bayonetta 2 appearance), Louis - Ikoma (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress) (Being move to AnimeJapan).
-Pre-Code Vein's release, a version of Shiho in the Code Vein dimension would have appeared as a Revenant in the Sixth YM event but is completely scrapped. (Kanius's words in an email in 2018: The concept of a Revenant!Shiho (from PV-CV-19 especially) is intriguing.)
-Pre-Code Vein's release, a version of Niijima Sae (and wearing attire similar to Shadow Sae) in the Code Vein dimension would have survived in becoming a Revenant and helping the protagonists in the sixth Yami Matter event but is completely scrapped.
-Pre-Code Vein's release, there was originally a Lost monster OC that looks like Imperfect Cell called Imperfectus Akitsu (He is actually the Lost version of Nakanohara Natsuhiko, the first Mementos target and one of Madarame's former students) for the sixth Yami Matter event, but scrapped and the retool idea is then used for the canon Future Cell character (and the Imperfect Akitsu being used as an insult from Future Mai) for the final Yami Matter event.
-Other enemy commander ideas pre-Code Vein's release for the sixth Yami Matter event before they're completely scrapped: Lost versions of Justine and Caroline named the Fragmented Twins. A Lost called the Onryōnspiracy that has the souls of the former Conspiracy members like Principal Kobayakawa and the SIU Director.
-Other Yokai and Shadows would have also been added in the Sixth YM event, but are all scrapped, leaving only Yamata-no-Orochi (Nioh) being used and containing the souls of Shido and his lackeys.
-The Vargr Swans would have been named Dreki Swans.
-Tsugumi (Guilty Crown) is originally the sole character of her anime that joined the crossover characters in the final Yami Matter event while Shu and Gai appeared later of being controlled by the Yami Matter. Then, Allfather-Ford first saw videos of the Guilty Crown mobile game that make and inspired a huge change of having Ayase becoming the SWO Leader and more GC cast are added, alongside making Shu not controlled by the YM and becoming a willing villain as the Yami King.
-Dark Gennai (Digimon Adventure tri.) would have also observed the final Yami Matter event besides Yuu (Guilty Crown) till he's scrapped.
-Shin Ghidorah from Godzilla vs. Evangelion would have been added to fight Shin Godzilla until he is replaced by Desghidorah from Rebirth of Mothra due to needing another four-legged Ghidorah like Keizer Ghidorah to balance.
-Scenes/dialogue of fighting the Yami Matter Avatar as ZeedMillenniummon (and the evil Sailor Pluto clone), Sailor Galaxia, Meruem (Hunter x Hunter), Gilgamesh (Fate series), and Master Xehanort would have been written in Urban Legends' final chapter till it became too much with time constraints of the monthly release.
-Believe it or not, one of the scrapped supplementary materials thought off in 2019 was based on a Persona Arena fighting game called Akane no Mai Arena with the usual playable and unlockable characters.
-Another scrapped supplementary material first thought of in 2019 is a fanfic Pokémon crossover game where the Pokémon exist in Shibuya called Pokémon Shibuya, rated E10+ for a light-hearted scrapped work, and Shinya/Nicola/Reiko is a trio of main protagonists who are friends/rivals, and that Maruki is the professor that gives away the starters and checking in the Pokédex. The Gym Leaders are the Phantom Thieves, with Ren being the final one. There is a Team Conspiracy led by Shido. The Elite Four are the Vein Remnants, while Hifumi and Skyler are the Champions. Post-game content would have had the Conspiracy and Mido involved, alongside Igor being an optional boss, and Date Masamune/Sanada Yukimura being an optional double boss battle with Mega Charizards X and Y. Looking back, it could be a loose inspiration of the anthology Pokémon Nótturne, though it's a completely different work altogether.
III.)Akane no Mai
-In Book I at Distorted Osaka, a dark clone of Shadow Azai Nagamasa (Nioh 2 as an avian humanoid Yokai with one wing) would have been added as a boss in the go-kart road area before the T. rex (Jurassic Park) cognition encounter.
-Book II's first Yami Matter event of scrapped enemy Yokai: Ongyoki (Nioh 2's final DLC: The First Samurai), Suiki (Nioh 2's final DLC: The First Samurai), Fuki (Nioh 2's final DLC: The First Samurai), and Kinki (Nioh 2's final DLC: The First Samurai).
-Tate Eboshi (Nioh 2's final DLC: The First Samurai) would have been added in the first Yami Matter event as an ally to the protagonists.
-The Envoys of Vein would have been shown the second time in Book II's first YM event, but with time constraints, they make their second debut in the second YM event. The climax of defeating Kelley was cut/pasted from Ch VI to Ch VII.
-Ho (alongside Oh) of Nioh 2 was also going to become a temporary Guardian Spirit for Cammy/Hōō for her to train her new powers. Ho first appears in the revised Meiji Training chapter that it flew off to find someone, a new post-credit scene of that chapter shows the Guardian Spirit finding Cammy (as she's already first getting used to her growing powers prior to meeting with Ho (and Oh)). Cammy will also have Oh besides Ho temporarily having both Guardian Spirits. This is canned, because of wanting Cammy's powers to be independent on her own and no Nioh involvement.
-Skyler's old flame (Hanazawa Ayase)'s name and info would have been mentioned in the aftermath of Hifumi/Skyler's intercourse after the first YM event, alongside a backstory relating to her but it's been scrapped. Everything about her is retooled and moved (alongside her name) to Akane no Guilty Crown where she's the mother of Shinomiya Ayase. There were going to be flashback(s) of Skyler and Hanazawa Ayase's interactions and their final meeting/romance before breaking up, but their canned due to not becoming overboard and feel not too much (alongside reminding that the feel of keeping it P5/CV focus instead of a GC influenced character presence being shoehorned in Book II), so it's move/retool to AnGC.
-The Strigoi (a pair of owl MOTW) of the Advent Eight formation chapter have been scrapped, and are replaced by Thrud, Olrun, and Geirdriful since the Vamkyries are more impactful than these MOTW.
-A Yakumo/Emily focus chapter is scrapped, it would have also shown Devil Monkeys and a two-headed Devil Monkey King (like the Demogorgon from Dungeons & Dragons) as MOTWs which are retooled to Cryptical Nue (Western Variants) in Akane no Guilty Crown (with Kaito and Rebecca and Phantom Remnants fighting is that Yakumo and Emily and others would have fought in AnM's scrapped concept). The Yakumo/Emily and Reapress chapters would have been two separate chapters, but it's changed back to a single chapter due to time constraints, and the idea is scrapped altogether anyway.
-A chapter focusing on the Reapress inside the Opera Tower (alongside Kara and Ayana getting their powers) is scrapped/canned, and the concepts are moved early to the Consortium party battles. Kara and Ayana are added to the party early and gain their powers as well, alongside Reapress appearing in the Consortium party battles. Besides Louis appearing, Karen and Mido would have appeared in the scrapped Opera Tower chapter. One of the songs used in the scrapped Opera Tower chapter is The Firebird - Igor Stravinsky (Which would have 'meta' foreshadowed Mido (Envoy of the Evolution)'s avian form that can cover himself in fire from one of his techniques).
-There was a Shinya focus chapter in Book II (taking place after the AnimeJapan chapters and before the Transitional Tranquility chapter) in which Mist and Erinye are the chapter's antagonists (and there's a scene of Nicola getting maimed by Mist before healed) now scrapped/canned in another time constraints, and looking back at the scrapped chapter feels like it's a filler chapter. So the fight with Mist and Erinye has been moved to the Consortium party battles, specifically with a change back to Erinye's confrontation with Valkyria of encountering the Black Heralds as a group the first time instead of Erinye being a solo member appearing early before the group's proper debut.
-In Book II, flashback scenes as a separate chapter of how Skyler first met his friends alongside Jack and Eva back in high school in the AnimeJapan chapters are scrapped, that separate Post-Con Blues chapter is reduced and merged back to the Pokémon tournament chapter, though the Post-Con blues scene of the group celebration is canned and only the new final scene of Hifumi/Skyler/Io having a threesome in their apartment is shown due to time constraints. There was going to be a Skyler/Hifumi/Io/Cognitive Hanazawa Ayase foursome in post-con blues (alongside the Skyler/Ayase flashback sex scene), but it is scrapped (And instead the sex scene(s) is completely retooled as two completely different scenes in Akane no Guilty Crown for Heath/Shinomiya Ayase (in Chapter XV) and Hifumi/Otoboshi/Skyler (for the Caucasian man/two Japanese women threesome concept) (in Chapter IX) in AnGC) and returns back to being Skyler/Hifumi/Io in return back to the P5/CV crossover proper. Some form of Cognitive Ayase is retooled/revised/different and used for the two Cognitive Shinomiya Ayases in Heath's summer dream in Chapter VIII of AnGC.
-Akechi would have cosplayed as Dan Kuroto from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid in Book II's Halloween chapter but was canned due to the serious situation with Sae.
-The Vamkyries at one point in Book II's Halloween chapter would have transformed into werewolves.
-Book II would have had a Jack/Eva focus chapter taking place in between the Halloween and fifth Yami Matter events, and the Gilded Tuatara would have been a MOTW (till it changed into a combined form of the X-Pack's reptilian forms). Jack would have first learned of his wife's pregnancy during this scrapped chapter.
-There is a combined form of the cryptids for Book II's revised fifth Yami Matter event that looks like a two-headed Japanese wolf, the body, and arms of a Hibagon, the legs of a Ningen, and the tail of a Tsuchinoko. It's scrapped and retooled into two concepts in Akane no Guilty Crown (the Cryptical Nue (Eastern Variant) and showing the real cloned Hokkaido/Japanese wolves).
-The origins of the Abomivolved Reptilia dimension would have been an alternate post-apocalyptic world where human experiments (around contemporary times, not sci-fi setting) on reptiles gone wrong with the Gilded Tuatara as the patient zero, but is fully changed into referencing back to the source material from Hellraptor's concept of the Neoreptiles, where the Abomivolved Reptilia are born after the dinosaurs were extinct and taking over as the dominant species instead of mammals.
-The scene placement of the flock of Moluccan king parrots seen in the skies, Allfather-Ford once imagined being put at the beginning of the Abomivolved Reptilia documentary relating to giant birds and land dwellers, till it's put in the middle of the documentary with the Bronto Galápagos as normal unaltered parrots flew over these giant tortoises in the final version.
-Kasai Skinks were originally named Kasai Tegus during Mido's documentary of the Abomivolved Reptilia, and the Kasai Tegus would have also had a Dimetrodon-like appearance such as the sail (of course it would not happen since Dimetrodon is a mammal-like reptile and not fully a reptile).
-The Alf-Phantasy anthology was originally a large amount of backstory flashbacks for AnM/Book II's ending after the fifth YM event.
-Another scrapped supplementary material is Akane no Mai: The Game, which would have retold the whole trilogy in video game format like Akane no Guilty Crown: The Game.
IV.)Kanius's Miscellaneous What Could Have Been: Overall Tidbits and Input
-Urban Legends tidbits:
-I wanted to tell more interpersonal stories with the Thieves and Revenants but I didn't have time to include these ideas.
-I didn't mind the originally planned 35-chapter UL, that said I was (and still am) ok with reducing the chapter count to 30.
-Initially, I wanted to finish Urban Legends before releasing Akane no Mai Book I, but my eagerness to start releasing AnM changed those plans. The early months of the pandemic gave me more free time to work on UL's final chapters and AnM Book I simultaneously.
-I had ideas for more MOTWs but I decided to cut back to focus on the story developments. They would've been more Japanese urban legends. One MOTW example was going to be the Jinmenken (the Human-faced Dog), which would've been a pack of them fighting the Phantom Thieves and Vein Remnants. Another would've been living cursed dolls led by a three-legged Licca-chan doll. These would've been quick battles akin to the skirmishes against the Colonel Sanders entity, Teke Teke, the Kuchisake-onna, and the Kunekune. Although not shown onscreen, the Jinmenken and the cursed dolls are referred to as part of the 'slow rise of malevolent spirits causing mischief [...] reports of a few human slayings" (Akane no Mai, Book II Chapter XV: Transitional Tranquility), so they are fought against and defeated offscreen.
-Pokémon cameos were planned for the AnimeJapan chapters as urban legends but there was already a Pokémon Tag Tournament event involving the characters and these 'cameos' were cut due to redundancy.
-In Book II, I meant to write a few Kakegurui character bonding moments but were cut due to time and the shifting focus on the Phantom Thieves & the Revenants. One scene would've been Yumeko, Mary, Ryōta, and Midari talking about Kirari, Ririka, and Sayaka's loyalty to the Consortium in Akane no Mai, Book II: Chapter XV: Transitional Tranquility).
-Nakamura Miki/Shinchū was not planned to be in Book II's final battles until midway through Book II's writing development. She was only going to be an observer of the events and hope her friends Hifumi & Skyler make it out alive. She was also not originally going to be Shinchū (which was going to be an Akane no Guilty Crown exclusive form), but I decided she needed to be actively involved against Mido.
-The Galago-like primate is a last-minute inclusion in the Abomivolved Reptilia scenes. This was done to show humanity's status in the reptile-dominant Earth. Humanity's ancestors remained small and nocturnal, once again in the shadow of giant reptiles. Original plans did not include any mammal representatives.
-There were going to be more phone chat conversations but I didn't have time to include them. That doesn't mean any more will be scrapped.
A/N: Here's most of what we have to tell through our planning and writing experiences. If there's no other info I forgot to mention, I'll add more and update this section. Check back here when you can.