On a whim, and because this is one of my favourite games of all time, and because it probably hasn't been done already, I thought I'd translate a short interview with Mariko Ohara, the writer of the Super Famicom game Gaia Gensouki (successor of Soul Blader/Blazer, predecessor of Tenchi Souzou/Terranigma).
Click here: Mariko Ohara Interview (Gaia Gensouki/Illusion of Gaia Scenario Writer)
Not really any earth-shatteringly amazing revelations but it did inspire me to watch the "Stand By Me" movie which was based on the Stephen King novel "The Body". I was on the lookout for similarities the whole time. The most obvious one being the general theme of a group of boys going on a journey (albeit more local than international like the Gaia crew) and dealing with adult matters the best a young person can deal. Others include them playing cards early on in the film at their treehouse hideout vs Gaia's seaside cave, Teddy Duchamp's mentally unstable father vs Rob/Lance's mentally challenged father, and a reference to vampires on a magazine (Gaia has a pair of boss vampires), and maybe a few minor things I forgot. Granted, I'm not an expert movie analyser so I'm sure others will be better at connecting the dots between the movie and the game. Doubly so comparing the book with the game (since I haven't read it). Now that I think about it, female characters are glaringly absent in the movie and probably book, so perhaps Ohara was also conscious of this as she penned Illusion of Gaia's story?
Disclaimer: Translation may or may not be accurate. Most of it/the general gist should be okay though.
PS. For my buddies at Gamengai only, here is a full size photo of the translation page. Feel feel to compare and don't be afraid to critique my translation. If necessary, I will also fix up anything that needs fixing. I do have a few questions if anyone's Japanese here is better than mine.