Highlights
- Ru Xu’s manga, Status Royale, combines gaming and manga in a unique way, drawing inspiration from competitive gaming and childhood memories.
- The immersive world of Status Royale includes newspapers and internet forums, reflecting the author’s previous series, NewsPrints, and gaming culture.
- The story explores themes of friendship, competition, and fun in gaming, featuring characters with unique dynamics and development.
Ru Xu is a talented American comic book artist who started out self-publishing original stories online before she debuted her Ignatz-nominated graphic novel series, NewsPrints, in 2017. Her most recent project is Status Royale, a manga about eSports released through VIZ Media’s Originals imprint, which debuted in February this year. Status Royale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or your local bookstore.
GameRant had the opportunity to review Status Royale when it was released, and now of speaking to the author about her work, gaming, and more.
GameRant: Beyond video games and the internet, what inspired you to write the story of Status Royale?
Ru: I was exposed to competitive gaming by a friend of mine and developed an interest in the scene. The world of Status Royale was something I wanted to be like a recreation of the kind of influence KaibaCorp’s technology had over the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! because I was a big fan of Yu-Gi-Oh! growing up.
GR: The concept of Perfect Sync is a brilliant mechanic (pseudo-mechanic?) introduced early into the story. What went into its conception?
Ru: I have a lot of childhood memories playing Super Smash Bros Melee on the Nintendo GameCube, which had some simple basic controls, but the advanced techniques were only accessible to people who had advanced technical skills and hand-eye coordination.
Perfect Sync was mostly inspired by the waveshine and the concept of glitches. I think glitches are one of the things that make gaming interesting. Sports manga always have gifted prodigies who have some kind of talent in a particular aspect of the sport, but gaming is different because you’re honing an unnatural mechanism in a realm where anyone could end up being the best.
GR: Do you have a favorite character in Status Royale, and why them?
Ru: I love all my children equally! (laughs)
I create my characters with certain themes or narratives that I enjoy writing and drawing about, informing their decisions. I intend to have a large cast for Status Royale, especially when I introduce more teams, because each one will have specific characters and dynamics that I want to highlight.
I wanted the characters to have a lot of chemistry. For example, Jun being a dog-lover was intentional because I wanted the reader to assume “someone who loves dogs can’t be ALL that bad” when he can be quite hostile or even annoying, especially because of how he treats Vell and ends their friendship, but Volume 2 will clear up a lot of that (laughs). The interactions between characters are what I love exploring the most. When asking readers who their favourite Status Royale character is, Vell is the usual choice.
GR: One of the most interesting elements in Status Royale is how immersive it feels when reading – seeing the world’s newspapers, internet forums and the like. What was the intention behind those design choices?
Ru: It came naturally because it was something that was necessary in my previous series, NewsPrints, so for Status Royale, it was already part of my process to include newspaper clippings and other information inspired by reviews or blog posts from game journalists like yourself, fans of gaming, content production for social media and just hot takes by fans.
…the specific inspiration I had for her character is the kind of protagonist you’d see in a Studio TRIGGER production. The character I think inspired Vell the most is Ryūko Matoi from
KILL LA KILL!
.
GR: Speaking of design choices, you put a lot of effort into the setting and backgrounds for both in-game and IRL. How much work did it take to fully flesh out both while keeping them distinct from each other?
Ru: That’s a good question. I leaned mostly into the idea that Status Royale enables players to customize their skins and colour choices. With that, teams and characters who are representative of certain themes will have particular color choices, while some characters will prefer aesthetics. Nezha always matches Jun’s hair, because she’s his main. I always tried to imagine each character’s default facial expression in real life and convert those to a cartoony style.
GR: Vell’s personality is reminiscent of “hothead” protagonist archetypes largely found in shōnen manga. Was there anyone (real or fictional) that you modeled the character on?
Ru: Vell is definitely inspired by that archetype, but the inspiration I had for her character is the kind of protagonist you’d see in a Studio TRIGGER production. They’re usually characters who are very confident in what they choose to do, and they can be intense, which isn’t quite like me because I’m a little introverted; but I intend to show more of myself in Vell as the story continues, and the character absorbs new information.
The specific character I think inspired Vell the most is Ryūko Matoi from KILL LA KILL!. I was rewatching the series while working on Status Royale, and I found that it was something I needed to watch a few times to really appreciate it (laughs). Most TRIGGER protagonists are often depicted in stereotypical bad guy colors like black or red, and I wanted to reflect that. With Jun, since he’s someone who understands what people like about him, and he’s deeply protective of his brand, his colors will change, but he’ll wear blue or green.
GR: Friendship was a major theme in your previous work, albeit in a much more serious context. In what ways has exploring this theme in Newsprints and Status Royale affected your understanding of your own friendships?
For one, the stakes are far lower than they were in NewsPrints, which I think is the main benefit of writing a sports series compared to a war drama. Vell and Jun have their falling out, but it isn’t the end of the world, and it wasn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but to these teenage characters, it felt like that. Growing up, there’d always be some people who took playing far more seriously than others and as kids, we’d get mad at each other over games. I wanted to make it relatable on that front, especially when growing up as a girl. What I experienced a lot of the time is that your male friends don’t want to play video games with you, so I wanted to create a cast of characters that reflected some of my experiences that readers could project their own similar experiences onto.
GR: Speaking of video games, you’re a huge fan of titles like Smash or Overwatch, so what do video games mean to you?
Ru: For me, the most important thing is the ability to have fun and enjoy spending time with others, and playing video games is one of the easiest ways to do so. With Status Royale, I really wanted to portray the game as a way to have fun, and Jun is someone who is so good at it but lost sight of it as he lost himself in competition. I’m mostly interested in the community that you can find in gaming, and the friendships you can form, but it’s important to remember that gaming is something we do to have fun.
GR: A few years ago, you described graphic novels as your main passion. Did the creation of Status Royale as a manga present you with any unexpected challenges?
Ru: Not necessarily, but since it isn’t as intense a story as NewsPrints, it was a lot of fun to make. I was worried that readers might not like Vell or resonate with her much because she might be seen as too passionate or intense (laughs).
GR: What’s one piece of advice you have for any aspiring artists that you wish you had known earlier in your career?
Ru: Take care of your health. Repetitive strain injuries, back problems and the like are common, especially when you’re a digital artist. It’s basically like an office job without the benefits one might get from working for a big company. Pro gamers must maintain their health from both a physical and psychological perspective. Any sort of writing needs you to be in the right headspace, otherwise, you’ll always feel like you’re not ready. I think it helps a lot to think less about your work as content creation – making comics for yourself, things that you love to read and doing things that make you happy is really important.
Status Royale is described as follows:
Choose your teammates carefully and rank up fast because in the world of esports, anyone can snatch the crown!
Status Royale is THE game to master if you want to join the rank of elite players in the competitive world of VR esports. Vell is just having fun as a casual gamer with her best friend and teammate Jun teaching her the tips and tricks…until he shuts her down and skips town! Vell’s competitive spirit is unlocked and she vows to challenge her former best friend with her own team of amateur Status Royale players and beat Jun at his own game, but does she really know who she’s competing against?
Ru Xu’s career started with her self-publishing original stories online before studying sequential art at Savannah College of Art and Design and publishing her Ignatz-nominated children’s graphic novel series, NewsPrints. Besides Status Royale, Ru publishes the Reuben-nominated webcomic, Saint For Rent, which has been running since August 2012.
Find more of Ru’s work on her website, DFTBA store, or follow Ru on Instagram
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