 Watsuki describes Sanosuke's visual motif by referring to his design model, Lamp, the main character of Susumu Sendo and Takeshi Obata's "Mashin Bōken Tan Lamp-Lamp".Watsuki, working as an assistant on Obata's manga, formed the character by doodling in sketchbooks, adding and subtracting elements from the proposed character "with blessings from the original artist, of course.