I like how they "materialize" weapons, as opposed to the Persona series games where you more or less use actual weapons (I remember the mop from P1, although they illustrated it as a sword), which makes a lot more sense esp. if you're going to be using sword-demon fusions like in mainstream SMT (and in FES, right? I haven't played it yet so I dunno if they put it in), since you'd expect both to have higher levels of consciousness than totally inanimate matter.
The AFTER series also makes a lot of things explicit about the series, like demon negotiations (nevermind they're missing in P3) as a viable alternative to fighting, and the sealed area (or "magic wall") where battles take place.
Anyhow, I look forwards to reading more of it...
Also, if you want to differentiate the characters, you could try different eyes... since we tend to look to eyes for emotions, perhaps having some with smaller or more oval-shaped eyes... or something. But I don't draw at all, that's just my impression as a layman, so feel free to ignore this advice
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