Toshinobu Matsumiya is the scenario writer over at Game Freak. I've been looking through Matsumiya's twitter and have found some interesting tweets by him, which I've translated. That's what this page is dedicated to. My translations might have mistakes, and I'm just an amateur, but I try my best to make sure they are accurate. Credit is appreciated but not required.
In a Nintendo Dream interview translated by Lava Cut Content, Sugimori said that Masuda asked for N to be made into a "genius". This prompted a lot of discussion among the design team, and based on Matsumiya's 2013 tweets, it seems they eventually chose a real-life genius to base N's character on...
Though it's difficult because tomorrow, I've got a meeting with people from outside the company first thing in the morning, before long I'm heading to the Paul Klee exhibition. When we were shaping N's character, the genius we decided to use as a reference was Klee. Afterwards, I was surprised that Klee was in Sakanaction's songs... but I kept that secret until now.
For context: Sakanaction is a Japanese rock band.
He goes on to say in another tweet:
Taking Klee's quote - "Fine art tries to make the unseeable, seeable" - as the foundation, you can see that N's character as someone who seeks truth and ideals is partly constructed from this. I'm going to go to Klee's exhibit for sure!
Klee's original quote in English is "Art does not reflect what is seen, rather it makes the hidden visible." Matsumiya seems to be paraphrasing this.
Klee was well known for his abstract style and exploration of colour theory. His work is extremely important and infuential to modern art. In the same way, N's work (campaigning for Pokemon rights) has a big impact on the world around him, as well as being highly individual to him (because he's the only one who can speak to Pokemon, and he is one of the few people to approach the topic of Pokemon battling and ownership in that way). Klee was also known for his dry, mischievous, sometimes childish sense of humour, while N is associated with Zorua/Zoroark, Pokemon which embody those qualities (mischief and all that).
In November 2011, he tweeted about the two of them:
May and Brendan have established a reputation as friendly neighbours. At first glance, though, they seem to have no little rivalry - an impression which is spot on.
And then in 2014, he wrote out a short conversation between them:
Brendan: "Oh, you don't have any Pokemon? Want me to go catch one for ya?"
May: "Uh… We're only talking for the first time, but, like, you'd better watch what you're saying."
Looks like May's a bit sore about being underestimated, or maybe her lack of ability to catch Pokemon? This conversation also places May as the protagonist and Brendan as her rival, so make of that what you will.
This is one of Matsumiya's most well known tweets , and isn't as interesting as you'd expect, but I want to mention it here anyway. In 2014, he wrote that Red/Blue and Ruby/Sapphire happen at the same time, followed by Gold/Silver and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum (which again occur simultaneously); then Black/White happens, and then Black 2/White 2 and X/Y happen simultaneously.
This means there is a two year gap in universe between Ruby/Sapphire and Diamond/Pearl, and a two year gap between Black/White and XY, because there are two years between Reb/Blue & Gold/Silver and between Black/White & Black 2/White 2.
Around the same time that Matsumiya was tweeting about the timeline of the main Pokemon games, he also wrote about why BW1's protagonist is never seen in the sequels. The tweet was quickly taken down - like most of Matsumiya's other headcanons - but a Bulbagarden user, Silktree, managed to save it and had it translated by one of their friends:
As described by the social anthropologist Lévi-Strauss, the ones who passed the rites of passage will possess holiness. Therefore Cheren and Bianca can advance toward their respective dreams. But Hilbert and Hilda possess such excessive holiness due to Team Plasma that they are viewed as heroes, unable to dwell in the workaday world. But sharing this holiness with N shall balance it, so they continue their journey. But due to being the hero at the current moment, calamity ensues during their travels and they are unable to return to Unova....... This is my fantastic imagination for the BW protagonist.