The Psychology Behind Denia's Design & Animations

Added: 2026-05-29

[00:00:00]Denia might be my favorite character in Wthering Waves. And no, it's not just because of her design or her attitude or her insanely cool powers or this goddamn wink. For someone who's essentially artificially created, Dena is an incredibly realistic, relatable, and empathetic character who is extremely complex. She's been through a lot and it shows in her animations. Trust me, this animation matters psychologically. And as an anime artist/ character designer/xanimator, we're going to deep dive. Denny's entire life basically has been a performance. And in a lot of ways, that's that's us. That's everyone.

[00:00:31]She has two forms. Her mask, the way she presents herself to the world, and her whatever this is. And as soon as we saw this girl's animations for the first time after being told that she's a fire type, a fusion type, all of her attacks were bubbles. She looks like a white mage from Final Fantasy using water spells. But I think she's refined her mask so well. And in such contrast to her true powers, the darkness she wants to hide from the world that even her basic form, which she calls her stage craft form, even that is a performance, a mask. Even though the mask starts to slip when she thinks no one's watching, she's almost hiding her fire element with water. It's so interesting. There's always a joke in Weathering Ways how you can never tell a character's element based on looking at them or almost anything they do ever, but this has got to be one of the deepest explorations of that. Anyway, this is my first deep dive on Dena and her animations and her character design in game and what I thought. I prefer to do these after the character story. And of course, they gave us control of her for a minute.

[00:01:27]>> I must get to the bedroom quickly.

[00:01:30]>> The bedroom, not my bedroom. Like Rover's house. I mean, that wasn't supposed to be a joke. Her hair animation is unbelievable. That is S6 hair animation. I'm not for me though.

[00:01:41]I'm not going to What? That's become like a compliment, right? Um, so we're going to go through. We're going to No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:01:48]I was just using the way you guys speak.

[00:01:50]I was using the way you guys talk. No, I'm noting her. Don't worry about it.

[00:01:54]That hair is stunning.

[00:01:57]>> My feet hurt.

[00:01:58]>> Why did she say that? Oh, her running animation is adorable. Wait, she's so like triangular. I love her little running animation. What the hell?

[00:02:05]Anyway, after getting my heart completely shattered and devastated for like 6 hours when the story is only supposed to take 2 hours, we were finally able to sit down and just take in the animations and character design.

[00:02:16]How do I try? There you are, Daniel. I love this artwork. So freaking nice. Uh, a professional slacker. Very funny.

[00:02:25]Let's have a look at animations. I do know that she's fusion burst, which means she works well with Immoth. And I have an S6 Immoth. That's true. And I do like my negative status. I actually do like it. She also has tune strain which I don't understand. All right, so she has a few forms. Stage craft form. Oh, that's so cool. I like how they story told this, right? It's literally her stage craft. It's the personality she built and eventually became on accidents as her mask. Wo! Breakdown form. Oh my god, that's sick. Dark Cause. I know a little bit about this stuff, but not really.

[00:02:57]>> I'm not much of a fighter. Can I just slack off?

[00:03:02]God, her voice is so good. Wow, dude.

[00:03:05]This area is so bright. Look a little overexposed here, Daniel. I think this might be the best hair animation in the game. It is so flowy, so floppy, and like contrast with her little bop here so nicely on her dress. And I feel like this is different. Her feet are like so close together when she runs. She has like a slightly altered running animation. Maybe cuz she's so short. I don't usually use the short characters that much, but it looks different. It might be the It might be a short character run. Not sure. What a model, man. the sleepy eyes, the I like that she's like so like none of this is ever addressed. She just has an insane like starry night inside the underlay of her hair. So freaking beautiful, man. This is such a cool like detail. This is also like opposite. She's so anti. It's so cool. The like metallics of the chains and stuff in such contrast to her like basic little It's not basic at all, but it's like normal like, you know what I mean? Material clothes. Yeah, she's really something. the like shroopy stuff through here. Long legs, cute little shoes. He looks great. It was awesome.

[00:04:06]Oh my god. Oh, idle one. Hang on. I love weapon idols. I wish we saw more of this. I wish you just like, this is such a like Oh my god, the the bear's all chained up inside the the jail of the thing. What the hell?

[00:04:24]There's a really chunky like kind of mage effect. I actually really like this. It's also a bit painterly. It's a little bit like uh what's the painter girl in this game? Jedger. Yeah, it's a little bit Jedger. I like the way she double uh jumps on her.

[00:04:38]Is it triple? The little double uh hop here is freaking adorable. Very nice.

[00:04:43]Tell me that what isn't a Final Fantasy 14 white mage staff. Exactly. This is such a white mage staff situation. I love it. The other one, two.

[00:04:53]Yep.

[00:04:55]There's the presentation. self. So, idol two again. Do you have a different idol out of that or no?

[00:05:02]Same idle.

[00:05:04]So, we're still in form one here. I want to see this from the front actually.

[00:05:09]Very performance, right? You can see the iMoth here.

[00:05:13]>> I don't know what that is. Three. Wait.

[00:05:16]Oh, jump back. What the >> Just keep it between us.

[00:05:20]>> Oh my god. Hang on. Hongai back third.

[00:05:23]What the hell? One, two.

[00:05:29]What the hell?

[00:05:31]Oh, there's the um that was interesting.

[00:05:34]The hand does um appear in this form.

[00:05:36]Pulls her away from the explosion. Ah, yeah. All right. Uh jump jack.

[00:05:43]What?

[00:05:48]She was She almost looked like she didn't like wasn't ready to land on that. Hang on.

[00:05:54]Okay. Yeah. So, she basically keeps this as her alt weapon idol in base form. I like this. She like grabs the bubble and becomes part of it and then she's just like hovering on top of it like this is wild.

[00:06:05]Very nice. Um, we also have Is there heavy >> over here?

[00:06:12]I love my teleport attack. That's nice.

[00:06:16]Into the little flop. I can't believe they managed to make this all make sense cuz it didn't feel like it made any sense. The plunge attack bubble can heal other characters for 100. Oh, wild.

[00:06:28]You can leave the bubble on the ground.

[00:06:31]Um, normal skill.

[00:06:33]>> Stay down.

[00:06:35]>> Jesus. Anything out of this? Hang on.

[00:06:36]This might just be okay. She She basically has the one finished idol after everything, I guess. Q is something.

[00:06:43]>> Do as I say.

[00:06:45]>> She can heal others but not herself. Do as I say. Nice. Uh, yeah. Yeah, let's look at our idols and then we'll um then we'll transform. We'll see all the crazy [ __ ] Four basic. I think she has four basic. She >> Oh, please.

[00:06:59]>> Oh, you can activate. Oh, back to the idol too, I guess.

[00:07:06]>> That's fun. You can pop the You can end this early. The little bow like exploded like she wasn't ready for it, but you can pop the bubble early.

[00:07:17]She's like shocked.

[00:07:20]Oh, you see the hand come in. Hang on.

[00:07:22]Look at this. This is interesting cuz it seems like she doesn't have control over that. But I guess maybe she's doing more performance here.

[00:07:31]She always seems surprised by it. And yet that wouldn't make sense. But then again, I don't know. How much control do you have over your dark self? Idols.

[00:07:40]>> What is going on here?

[00:07:44]>> Better start running.

[00:07:48]Oh, she's a bit She's a little bit insane.

[00:07:51]She's made a little sides scroll. It >> got away.

[00:07:57]>> Lucky for you.

[00:08:06]>> The windhelm screen. Did you hear that?

[00:08:09]They added the Windhelm screen. Whatever it's called. Wilhelm screen.

[00:08:18]He falls down in a portal. What the hell? That's the default um Oh my god.

[00:08:23]It's in like every movie ever you hear in Star Wars and everything. It's a default um what do you call it? A stock yell sound effect.

[00:08:31]>> Lucky for you.

[00:08:35]>> Oh, she's pissed into the the false smile. The eye highlights gone. The wink, the click. the laugh.

[00:08:45]Okay, she's a little bit nuts. She's a little bit nuts. I too bubble.

[00:08:52]>> That's cool. Using another bubble as >> one >> as an armrest.

[00:08:56]>> Two, three, four. A bit off. Maybe five.

[00:09:03]No.

[00:09:07]>> Her VA is so good. The little miscount there. Hang on. Let's do that again.

[00:09:12]>> Five. Oh no. Oh, >> great VA, man. Idle three.

[00:09:20]>> Now, a volunteer from the audience.

[00:09:23]>> Okay. To be fair that Oh, no. Oh, Jesus Christ. You can just do this.

[00:09:29]>> Want me to put you down?

[00:09:32]Well, since you asked nicely.

[00:09:38]Now, this makes some sense as someone who is essentially I can fix her.

[00:09:46]Um, you know, kind of held in captivity or whatever. And you know, you've seen the trailers. She's a little bit nuts.

[00:09:55]>> Well, I guess >> since you asked nicely.

[00:09:58]>> Since you asked nicely. So, she was never like this. Well, she's showing her true self. Okay, that's fun.

[00:10:07]Now, do as I say.

[00:10:09]>> Do as I say as she gets nothing her way her whole life. What do you expect from someone being kept in a laboratory as a child? That's basically what I was trying to say. Yeah. So, we have alt one which transforms her into dark mode.

[00:10:21]>> Please don't pity me.

[00:10:26]>> Please don't pity.

[00:10:28]Oh, wow. We've not really the flying.

[00:10:32]We've not really seen this. Oh, it's beautiful. The blues with the purple with the transparent like cosmos.

[00:10:41]Oh, I really like this form a lot. The colors in their hair. She's so lit up.

[00:10:46]It glows. Do her idols again. Do you reckon they're Hang on. Let's see. Oh, >> let her start running.

[00:10:54]>> Actually changed animations for it.

[00:10:58]>> That mouth. Look at her eyes.

[00:11:02]>> Oh my god.

[00:11:06]You're sitting on the creepy hands.

[00:11:07]>> One, two, three, four.

[00:11:10]>> Where is it coming from?

[00:11:11]>> A bit off. Maybe five.

[00:11:15]>> No. Did >> this come out of her back?

[00:11:19]>> Oh, she's so angry. Her new face. I love the color, the streaks in the hair.

[00:11:24]There's so much paint detail here. What the hell? These dark pieces and stuff.

[00:11:29]Oh, she's pissed. Everyone run. I'll hold her back. Shut up. Is my six. NO, I'M NOT A SINGLING. I'm not. That's what you guys say. I love how like wobbly and weird the cosmos things are here. You actually see like you can feel how inside her this black hole heart is. I love the way the halo kind of spins too.

[00:11:49]She's just stuck in angry mode. Jacket gone. Transparent everything. She now has Galbra flames all over her jacket.

[00:11:57]This is uh on her dress. This is a little bit on the nose. A little bit strange, but it's still cool. Still cool. And then, how can I see the legs properly? I guess I have to go camera.

[00:12:06]Jacket, gone. She angry. Why is she following the camera? That's kind of funny, actually. Weird how the way the hands like kind of grab around her. Oh, and look how black the the hair gets when it gets to the the base of her head. Really weird. Hey, no. I need you to not idle, girl. This kind of helps.

[00:12:21]Shoes stay the same. They're weird like red around here, too.

[00:12:25]>> Stop idling, please.

[00:12:27]>> Stop. Weird cuz the hands like grasp and wrap around her legs. really strange.

[00:12:33]It's not sus trying to look at every detail. The red only seems to be around the It's quite cool. The red's only like around the parts that are like cosmos.

[00:12:42]It's actually so clean. Oh, she has a she has a she has a uh what do you call it? Beauty Mark, whatever you call it.

[00:12:48]Okay, very fun.

[00:12:50]>> A volunteer from the audience >> and a crystal change, too. She's crazy.

[00:12:53]Okay, nice. Let's see. So, she has a whole new attack sequence, right?

[00:12:57]>> Wa! The sound effects are real. Yes. I love a floating idol.

[00:13:02]What happened?

[00:13:04]>> Oh, her weapon is Oh, god. Idle, too.

[00:13:08]>> Whoa.

[00:13:10]>> When you attack her, her weapon falls over. There's a big like swipe of the claw thing.

[00:13:17]They're like void bubble particles and stuff. All right, so we got one, two hit with a drag.

[00:13:25]It's cool. She's like holding this orb that she seems to be controlling everything from as well. Back on the bubble again. And a bit all like protective body language.

[00:13:35]Oh, chill. One, two, three. Oh, she moves. Ooh, the teleports. Hang on.

[00:13:46]What the hell, girl? Get up. What are you doing? What the?

[00:13:51]As she floats back up with her little paw things.

[00:13:56]>> You can sort of feel how she doesn't have full control over this.

[00:14:00]Get lost.

[00:14:01]>> Get lost. She just falls over. She's right. She's not that good of a fighter.

[00:14:07]She's just thrown in resonator. So, it's a 1 2 3 4 into the That is crazy. Then she falls over out of that. Oh, nice. I love characters you can actually fight in the air. That slam is wild, by the way.

[00:14:21]>> Bit by bit.

[00:14:22]>> Bit by bit. Wa.

[00:14:25]Heavy in the Whoa.

[00:14:28]Heavy in the air into the instant.

[00:14:30]>> Meaningless fight.

[00:14:32]>> She doesn't care at all.

[00:14:34]>> Devour.

[00:14:38]>> Oh, she's so [ __ ] cool, man. Oh god.

[00:14:40]Playing with her humanity again, girl.

[00:14:42]Stop. Stop torturing fake humans.

[00:14:46]This body language is really, really cool.

[00:14:49]>> Piece by piece.

[00:14:51]>> Piece by piece. There's a two there into the fall over idol again. That is ridiculous. Like this kind of hurt her arm. Try basic attack. One, two, three, then jump and then repeat.

[00:15:07]>> Feel like I I jump cancel it.

[00:15:11]That's kind of cool though. You can kind of like uh combo. What is the ashes to ashes thing? Who says that in like that's not her?

[00:15:20]Jesus Christ.

[00:15:22]I guess I kind of understand the square stuff now, too. Other people are in there. Girl shell is there. No, I mean someone else said ashes to ashes before her, didn't they? Dust to dust. Who says that? The common saying. No, someone in the game says it. Or maybe a different game. I don't know. The base in the hits are weathering myself. Woo. Yeah, it's wild. Mortify. Maybe. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Oh my god. Is that a biblical thing? Yeah, I might just be straight up thinking about the Bible or some [ __ ] It's from funeral speeches.

[00:15:48]Oh my god. It's from I'm not thinking of a David Bowie song. I don't know any David Bowie song. And then I have to somehow get a magical second ult thing.

[00:15:56]So, let's go beat ass. I guess that finale that feels so [ __ ] good.

[00:16:12]>> Oh, I can't get the timing. She can juggle.

[00:16:15]>> Well, do what I say.

[00:16:19]>> What the [ __ ] How disappointing.

[00:16:22]>> Oh, the voice lines. And then our true final ult. Oh, look at the the spirals around there. Very cool.

[00:16:28]>> Radiant. No more.

[00:16:31]>> Oh, back to normal. Oh. Oh, [ __ ] >> Again.

[00:16:37]>> Hitting me.

[00:16:40]>> So annoying.

[00:16:42]>> I love the voice lines. They're going to die.

[00:16:46]Deconstructed.

[00:16:48]>> Good heals. Good heals. Good heals.

[00:16:50]intro.

[00:16:51]>> Tired of running.

[00:16:54]>> Yo.

[00:16:55]Oh, killed him. I killed him with fusion burst, I think. Oh my god.

[00:17:00]Okay, so she leaves behind a crazy void thing. Hang on.

[00:17:03]There's the ashes.

[00:17:06]And then back to normal form.

[00:17:09]It all makes sense. They made it make sense. Look at that. What the hell?

[00:17:13]Erosion field. Crowd control. Oh, is it a suck and does fusion burst? Oh, nice.

[00:17:20]Oh, that's amazing. What a what an alt.

[00:17:23]Oh, the little paper people. You see little people like zooming around.

[00:17:27]>> Bit by bit.

[00:17:28]>> Bit by bit. I swear someone else says Ash is ashes. I swear it. What's I trying to do? I want to get an intro.

[00:17:33]Intro. Intro. Intro.

[00:17:35]>> Is it my turn?

[00:17:38]>> She does that one.

[00:17:40]>> Tired of running.

[00:17:42]>> As she stands up with the ars behind the back. What the [ __ ] All right. She's really cool.

[00:17:47]>> You're getting away. Don't push your luck.

[00:17:51]>> All right. So, she doesn't have a ton of things. She's a sub DPS, right? I have like a uh power.

[00:18:04]>> It's a little performance win. Wow. You can really see how different a run animation is uh compared to. Her arms like really come all the way up. I is like I guess there's different like heights characters have different runs.

[00:18:16]Look at that. There's three different running animations here. Now, I'm like halfway up her body. She goes a little higher.

[00:18:24]And then Deia's arms go the whole way up to her chest. She's really like running really hard.

[00:18:30]She has such a stomp in her walk. She's so angry. How do I make her feet hurt again? She said that once. Such a little stompy queen. You'll hear it after you pull. Okay. I truly believe.