Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-121.7.195.67-20161128145037/@comment-28150993-20161208021437

If same smith = brother, and different smith = not brother, then everything would have been so simple... But tourabu being tourabu (Nitropluuuuss) and history being difficult to ascertain (myths, missing records, etc.), there's just too many points that don't match up nicely. So I'm using canon/semi-canon material given by the official team instead of using real-life information.

Sorry I kept on talking about character design. Just want to point out that the finer details and costume variation are often left up to the illustrators, but the base is determined by nitroplus themselves. That's why all the Awataguchi had the double-breasted navy-colored uniform even though they're drawn by different illustrators. And why the Kunihiro blades had that blue striped jacket in their normal costume and wear red+black jersey for internal affairs despite having different illustrators.

Applying the same logic here, Sanjou being so varied might mean something (Nitroplus planning something?). Fans have also pointed out that the Sanjou blades who don't exist in our current time (Iwa, Ima and Kogi) wear only one side of their sleeves.