Norman facts and trivia: a thread!

(Sunny started showing symptoms of Norman withdrawal)
Norman was born in 2034, currently he's 13. His birthday is March 21 and blood group is B. His identification code is 22194 and he was one of the children under Isabella's care. Yverk refers him as "the best meat (a genius) since farm’s establishment."
When naming the two boys, Isabella wanted to give one of them a masculine name of English origin and the other a unisex name of unspecific nationality. She was holding Norman Rockwell's painting in her left hand and Ray Charles' recording in her right hand, hence these two names!
Few months back, Posuka wrote an author's comment where she said an Osamu Tezuka manga traumatized her as a kid, and the title of the book was Norman. https://twitter.com/TPNManga/status/1146989787250712576?s=20
In this manga, Norman was the name of the blonde haired charismatic prince of the moon kingdom, who gathered superpowered humans and aliens to prevent extermination of the moon. This group was called the Norman rangers.

(now *that* sounds familiar.)
As Per Shirai's concepts, Norman is supposed to look frail, angelic and ethereal. His initial design was revised to make him look weaker. Shirai noted that Norman is the "white horse," not the prince (which is Emma).

Viz translated it as "the shining armor, not the knight. "
Norman is a leftie! Perhaps the the reason Norman always sits beside younger kids and in front of Ray/Emma is to avoid elbow clash?

James Ratri is hinted to be left handed as well.
Few facts from the LN/CD drama!

-Norman liked doing laundry, because white sheets being blown by wind was a mesmerizing sight to him. He always tried to hang the clothes as neatly as possible. (Drama CD 2)

-Norman tends to forget his birthday every year. (LN 1, chapter 4)
Posuka originally gave Norman more "striking hair", but had to tone it down because of Shirai's simple design Philosophy.
Japanese tweets call his swirly strand of hair fukahire (フカヒレ: shark's fin). We've seen in chapter 1 that he has to clip it, or else it bounces up.
//pats
In twitter Q&A, Shirai said that Norman and Ray liked to disassemble machines in their parts. In a flashback before Norman's shipment, there was a panel where they were disassembling a music box.
Shirai also confirms that Norman never scored below the perfect score; and while he is really good at tags, he'd fall behind Emma and Ray in a simple straight line race.
Norman thinks it'd be nice if he can be with Emma and Ray if he makes it to human world; a much simpler dream compared to Emma's (riding a giraffe) or Ray's (visiting Mona Lisa and Sagrada Familia).

In anime he wanted to visit various places once he leaves the orphanage,(cont.)
, in the drama CD he wanted to be '' together with Emma.'' Similarly in the light novel he wanted to confess his feeling to her once he grows up.

Regarding characters' relationships, here's a proper and reliable translation of Shirai's answer (thanks to presume!)
The cupphones in the series were Posuka sensei's idea. She said that the cup phones Norman took with him were different from the flashback ones; as they made new cup phones each time Norman fell ill. Norman took the last pair which was made for him. (art book interview)
Unfortunately he couldn't take them all the way to lambda, though. Isabella retrieved them and kept them beside other toys of her lost children. The last pair of cups were burned down along with little bunny and everything else in the House.
Norman and Emma made cameo appearances in a chapter of Kaguya sama: Love is War. Try to spot them in the panel below!

(would appreciate if someone can inform me the chapter number!)
Update and correction:it wasn't Kaguya manga! Thanks to @papalette3310 for sharing the details: https://twitter.com/papalette3310/status/1217586572398186496?s=20
The three lines in tpn logo represent the three main characters. One of the lines was absent in chapter 31 cover, as a tribute to Norman.

So far, the update of volume profile pictures of the three main characters was related to Norman's situation in manga..(cont)
The initial pictures were changed from volume 5 and Norman's profile was scratched out. The scratch was removed from volume 10 onwards. The final update of their pictures came with volume 15; now Norman has two seals beside his name: one for GF and one for Lambda.
Norman appeared twice in alternate covers during his absence. Vol. 5 cover had him waving to his siblings, a paper on the ground foreshadowed his stay in lambda. Vol. 9 cover with him symbolically handing over a balloon to Emma.
Norman stayed in Lambda from November 2046 to February 2047. He could communicate with Vincent for the first time (Dec. '46) only a little more than a month prior to their escape.
It also confirms the mystery man who called the underground shelter (March '46) was *not* Norman.
There was a theory that Norman always looks at Emma when he's sharing a color spread/cover with her. Shirai addressed it in an author's comment last year. Although he secretly loves the theory, it's "probably a coincidence".
https://twitter.com/yakuneba_staff/status/1117759680317550592?s=20
The comment came with ch. 131. Chapter color spread featured the "eel streamer" the kids made in vol. 6 omake after learning the mechanism of carp streamers. According to Norman, Isabella taught him that when he has to learn about something, he should learn everything about it.
Shirai's original draft included Norman's shipment. Shirai deviated in various points from his original plan. He says he's pretty sure that the part where Norman said he liked Emma wasn’t there a long time ago.
Norman was supposed to be absent and naive boy like the ones from world master class theatre. His creepy smile from chapter 9 was Posuka sensei's improvisation that left a strong impression in Shirai sensei's mind, it influenced Shirai to move from the "absent" concept. (cont.)
Posuka sensei commented that she had to give him a sharp expression while he talked about killing.
The editor Suguru Sugita also mentioned this panel as one his favorites, as he personally thinks this is where Norman began to change as person and became cooler. (manga+ interview)
It's unclear if 'Norman Vs Emma' was Shirai's plan from start but there's a hint to it in chapter 1. Shirai specifically asked Posuka to make their designs distant from each other, hence Emma turned out to be very cheerful and Norman became quiet and mature. (Vol. 13 Q/A)
One of the non-manga inspirations for Shirai was Disney's frozen. (Kono manga interview, 2018)
....
There has not been any confirmation but Elsa and Norman are quite similar, aren't they?
//steals a gif
Initially, Demizu added a notepad and a pen in Norman's suitcase. She considered notepad to be more important than the phone as she thought writing materials would be one of the last things he'd keep.

Shirai told her she can take out the notepad but must keep the cup phones.
Anime ending 1 had a shot of a Vida flower with a shoe, a chess piece and a book representing the three main characters. The manga, too, symbolized Norman with a fallen King of chess in chapter 31; after his shipment.
Shirai sensei revealed that when he heard the song for ending 1 (zettai zetsumei) for the first time, Norman was the first person that came to his mind: https://twitter.com/TPNManga/status/1181190698587934721?s=20

He asked readers to listen to zettai zetsumei followed by ending 2 (lamp) after reading chapter 153.
Fun fact, Norman's identification code (22194) mistakenly changed into other character's multiple times. We saw him in Emma's (63194), Ray's (81194) and Gilda's (65194) ID numbers.
In Oyakusoku manga, Isabella changed the pronunciation No-man to Noma-n, which was comically used by Posuka sensei in her Oyakusoku volume promo image.

Text: <Noma-n>

This guy is scary!
Why, you ask? Read Oyakusoku no neverland!
I looked forward to it every week.
-demizu Posuka
The only two volume covers where Emma didn't appear were both Norman centric. Volume 14 inner cover implied him gesturing towards Emma (inner back cover), Volume 17 inner front cover featured his younger self with other lambda children.
Volume 13 cover was his first reappearance in manga covers after long absence, and he returned with ominous symbols: three fours around him. 4 is associated with death (4: shi>死>death).

Makes sense though.
Speaking of foreshadows, Volume 15 'foreshadowed' the reveal of Norman's sickness for volume readers, volume 5 foreshadowed lambda; and a filmstrip from the color spread celebrating anime announcement foreshadowed his entire arc back in ch. 88.
Some corrections:

* Vol. 16 title page (not 15) foreshadowed Norman's sickness

* Lambda stay duration:
November 3, 2045 (shipment) to February, 2047.

* The title logo had two lines in ch.30 as well.
--

Vol.18 cover ended up being visually similar to aforementioned filmstrip~
Speaking of details,
There's this observation that two hands of the clock in Volume 18's title page pointed at 6 and 8 which were the first numbers of Emma and Ray's identification codes. Whether it's intentional or not is unknown.. https://twitter.com/my_recipe/status/1239838172600655873?s=20
Unlike previous volumes, V.18 had two new pages added to a chapter; one before ch.153 color spread and the other after it.

The first page showed Norman sitting alone in the rubble, the scene continued in color spread, followed by another new page with a scratched out "help me."
Norman does great in Japanese popularity polls. During anime season, he earned places in newtype/animage male character's polls. In spite of his absence, he won second place in the only official popularity poll. He is also adored by anime voice actors, I'll come back to it later.
In the series itself, Norman is loved. His popularity helped him to lead the cattle children. It was comically extended to Lambda making a secret boss-admiration room filled with Norman's older belongings, and naming the owls after their boss.
Random bits from the extras:

-Norman can solve calculus problems in an instant while feeling dizzy under sun.
-His Minerva-suit is sewed by Vincent.
-Norman's room at the tree shelter was on top of everyone else's.
-He considers being taller than Emma as an achievement (lol)
-Another comical exaggeration: Norman can swim without properly learning it simply by following rules of physics.

-He would do the same for using weapons but due to weak physique/poor muscle strength, he wouldn't be able to use them in his first try.
In the House, Norman used to wear his cardigan for a longer duration compared to his siblings as he's prone to falling ill.
--

In the upcoming Live action film, Norman's role will be played by Itagaki Rihito (18). He sent the following message after the film's announcement.
Norman is voiced by Uchida Maaya, who defines the role as the one creating an atmosphere with constant sense of security, making it suitable for Emma. His stable demeanor isn't very child-like (V.13 interview), but he has a boyish gentle expression when looking at Emma.
Uchida focused on making Norman not too friendly when he gave instructions. But she's also conscious of his masculinity, and added a flirty tone when he admits his feeling for Emma.

Uchida auditioned for all three, while Ise (Ray's seiyuu) auditioned for the male duo.
Funny thing is, personally, Uchida wanted to be Ray and Ise wanted to be Norman.

Although not her initial desired role, Norman is now Uchida's first time being the voice of young male lead.
(Livedoor news interview)

Uchida thinks she's similar to Emma,
and would like get along with Norman and her.

Morohoshi Sumire (Emma's seiyuu) expresses her adoration for Norman in every given opportunity. Eventually, it became a norm in the studio to ask whose everyone's favorite between Ray/Norman, and she has majority on her side.
Mariya Ise (Ray) initially admired Norman more. He's Kaida Yuko (Isabella)'s immediate pick. Fujita Nao (Krone) prefers Norman, comparing him to pretty boy type that she'd watch from far and blush (lol).

Hino Mari (Thoma) likes Norman a lot, and would've loved to voice Sherry.
(Director's interview, BluRay 3rd boxset)

When explaining Norman's feeling towards Emma to anime director, editor said that it's "not romantic", making the staffs question him. They continued animating with this mindset until episode 10 where Norman embraces Emma's head.
Director says that this couldn't be seen as anything but Norman liking Emma as someone of opposite sex. "If it'd been the feelings between male comrades wouldn't it be embracing the shoulders instead?"

They discussed with editor again and concluded that such atmosphere is OK.
When asked what he'd like to add to the main story, Director Kanbe jokingly said that he would've liked to make Norman more clumsy/dumb; like overdoing while climbing the wall and hitting his head, having a nosebleed and broken teeth (lol that's specific)
(Vol.13 artbook, pg: 39)
Before closing up, returning to manga territory! Just want to put some Norman faces drawn by Shirai sensei. From Shirai's draft chapter released with aforementioned artbook and an illustration from 2018.
Although he compares Posuka sensei to Norman's reliable nature (V.13 sp. edition QnA), Shirai sensei's avatar posed as Norman with knife in Volume 17 author's note. Volume cover's knife holding posture was also used in the volume's promotional image.
And that empties my fact box, more or less! (for now)

Not all of these are my discoveries and I couldn't include all sources due to word limitation, but majority can be found here: https://twitter.com/ShamsTahsin/status/1273208467688321031?s=20
No guarantee but I wanna do Ray next. Thanks for making it this far🥺
Oh how could I not include Norman of all people promoting Yuna of all manga saying he sympathizes and gives supports to the person working hard for the beloved one living under same roof

Because it is absolutely belongs here, thanks WSJ for the random promotional choice 😂
Also the rare occasion of Posuka redrawing a character's face in volume version. This Norman's panel from ch. 128. ^^
Okay, I won't post more until fanbook comes out. For the moment I can take pride in writing the longest TPN thread in Twitter history *ehm*
You can follow @ShamsTahsin.
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