Source: Shinku no Chou guidebook, page 34-38
Deep Crimson Butterfly: Chapter Images
Chapter 1: The Lost Village
Chapter 2: Twin Shrine Maidens
Chapter 3: The Repentance
Chapter 4: Hidden Ritual
Director's Comment
With Chapter 3 we pushed for a taste of horror, wanting to make the Kurosawa house scary. In the first version we had Sae's laughing silhouette there as well, but it was too much of a spoiler so we just left in the corpses. Mio and Mayu are shown as being right together in Chapter 1, and slightly apart in Chapter 2, so to convey that in Chapter 4 their hearts are becoming distant we put them back-to-back - in other words, in the shape of a butterfly. The lanterns in the Kurosawa house altar room make quite an impression, and we combined that with the butterfly pose. Mayu's demeanor begins to change from this chapter on, so we had her looking down for the image of a butterfly with a warped wing.
Chapter 5: The Sacrifice
Chapter 6: The Remaining
Director's Comment
Chapter 5 was given the image of going back and forth between Mayu, trapped in the confinement room, and Itsuki, shut away in the storehouse. They both watch Mio through windows. In the game you can't properly see Mayu's expression when Mio pulls her hand away at the end of Chapter 4, so we made her face with the concept of "if you were to catch a glimpse." Since the story of Akane and Azami in Chapter 6 is memorable, this was created with the idea of a slightly subdued shot of the doll room to make it scary. The actual hanging scene isn't shown in-game, but it really does have the secret ritual/doll image...
Chapter 7: Sae
Chapter 8: Half Moon
Director's Comment
In Chapter 7, Mayu and Sae keep switching so you can't tell which is which, so to reflect that we showed Sae haunting Mayu from behind. Mayu's expression is blank, and Sae is just about to start laughing madly. Chapter 8's title image shows Mio and Mayu as they wander around the village during the game, so it shows them running away together. Their hands separating came from consideration of Mio and Mayu's childhood and Yae and Sae's escape from the village - it's the same pose. And the image of Mio and Mayu running away holding hands, repeating the events of the past...
Final Chapter: Crimson Butterfly
Chapter Zero: Hellish Abyss
Director's Comment
For the Final Chapter title image, like its title "Crimson Butterfly", we decided to have the left and right sides symmetrical. Like a Rorschach test image, many different things jump out at you depending on how you look at it. Mayu is prepared to accept everything so she can look Mio straight in the eye, but Mio glances up as though still a little hesitant. Chapter Zero, too, has the same symmetrical Rorschach concept. To show the mental state of Mayu/Sae, having waited for so long, we gave it a dark atmosphere. The crimson butterfly above Mayu isn't in the actual scene, but is there to show the loneliness of Mayu and Sae.
Director's Comment
In Akai Chou, you progressed seamlessly through the game with one tempo, but in this game, like in Tsukihami no Kamen, to give the player better chances to save we put in title images for the chapters. Since you have to see them we wanted to give them meaning, and made one for each chapter. Nintendo pointed out how it can be difficult to see how Mayu is gradually going mad in the original, so we had the idea of using them to show the change in Mayu's heart, so the chapter image was done with the concept of showing their relationship and Mayu's state.