Hi! Baku here. Today, we’ll be discussing Tifa’s younger sister, Lifa.

So before I joined the team, Lifa was a sort of cunning, devious sister who kept a dagger strapped to her leg. I decided Lifa would be better as a muscular, brutish girl who isn’t averse to playing tricks on people and having a good time. It was important to me to not only show the contrast between the two sisters but also their strong similarities. That’s why they frequently find reasons to argue and struggle to find common ground.

Why is Lifa so muscular? To develop muscles like hers, you need to be REALLY diligent, putting in a lot of effort and sacrifice (especially as a girl). That’s the sort of person Lifa is. Yes, she likes to sleep and eat, but underneath all that is a deep desire to excel and overcome.

Lifa wasn’t born with the same natural talent as her sister, so she has to earn her skills with hard work and perseverance. Her skin is darker than Tifa’s because she spends a lot of time in the sun, and she has scars from all the work she’s put in to get to where she is today. There’s an interesting backstory behind her development, and I can’t wait to show it to you.

As for the process of creating her outfit: Lifa wears a military uniform, but she has modified it a lot to fit her tastes. Yes, everyone should have the same uniform in militaries, but this one has some idiosyncrasies.

Also, in reality, Lifa is smarter than Tifa. That may not be too obvious yet, but it’s true; Lifa just prefers to hide that fact. Why? You’ll see for yourself. When I describe her personality to the writers, I always say she should be like “a cool veteran dad” 😄. She likes taking digs at people, she’s prone to making threats (and meaning them), and she’s bad at showing affection even when she wants to. But Lifa does want to be feminine; she’s just so buried in her own... shit that now she needs help to get out from underneath it. She doesn’t reject the concepts of feminity and grace — she simply doesn’t have them.

Her relationship with Ilias doesn’t start off on a good note right off the bat. The two of them are like an endlessly squabbling brother and sister, so Lifa’s arc revolves around them building positive relationships with each other and strengthening their abilities to listen and understand one another. They may become pillars of strength and support for each other in the end, and who knows what will happen then...