>>22003301I mean, if you take away the "Grim reaper" aspect of Cali, she is very much a cute design. The large eyes, typical female figure, etc. Flares original design had the small and narrow eye design more used in dark mysterious male design style, and he body shape had a more muscular style.
The problem is that it's much easier to go from cute>cool than cool>cute. Look at any Shonen protag as an example (Luffy, Naruto, Deku, etc.) . They usually have "cute" features to make them look dorky or lame, but it's easy to shift that into looking "cool" in serious scenes. But then look at the their rival/opposite (Zoro, Sasuke, Bakugo), who almost always has the very dark and broody "Cool" look about them. Then imagine trying to make them look believably "cute".
