>Are those descriptions taken together *supposed* to make me think of
>Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi, respectively, a la Pacific Rim?

Not necessarily, but it's not the worst read. Clemson is young for his rank, quite a bit younger than Elba was in Pacific Rim (my mental image of him looks more like Jacob from Mass Effect 2), but he speaks similarly.*

As for Akitsu Maru, well, again, the parallels are not exact, but you're not too far wrong, either.

(Note that in that picture, she has more of a facial expression than Kongō has ever seen on her.)

--G.
* As an aside, this just reminded me that one of my favorite things about Elba's performance as Stacker Pentecost in Pacific Rim is that he has two different accents. In the scene where he's so worn out and just done with it all that he finally unbent a bit, and he's talking to Raleigh about his illness, he loses his clipped military diction and reverts to what I suspect is the character's "native" accent, which is way more "rough part of London". "The Mark Is... we frew dem bad boys togedder in six monfs." It's brilliantly done.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.