Censa

An earnest, cold-water denizen who makes up for her lack of people skills with a warm heart.

While she may not look it at first glance, Censa is a dragon of a different kind. Adamant against being called a mermaid and insistent that she’s a “sea dragon,” Censa lives peacefully in the open sea, often outfitting herself with whatever clothes happen to drift down to the depths. An easy-going type who mostly tends to her pet sea cucumber, Kyubei, the rise of GPS and the decline of ships and crews lost at sea to interact with has left Censa somewhat lacking in social graces over the past few decades – at least until a chance encounter at the beach reunites her with her old friend, Sashara.

Censa (and Sashara, in fact) were both from a scrapped series where they were more side characters, though Censa had a much different design. As it happens, I used to jokingly place a round, small shark on more… mature illustrations way back when, calling it the “Censorshark.” After putting a sticker on my water bottle at work, a coworker called it “the little fat shark,” and… well, sometimes that’s how characters are created.