I had Matoya on the list at one time (you can actually still see her page here: The Final Fantasy 500 - Matoya), but I had to drop her to make room for another character down the line. I figured both Matoya and Dr. Unne just weren't big enough characters to justify keeping them in while trying to fit in other much bigger characters. I've always loved Warmech, and consider him the original superboss of the series, so I felt compelled to keep him in, and I doubt I'll change that, just cuz I like him so much. There's a few other characters like that here and there that are on the list mainly because they're personal favorites of mine and I just really want them in the project(like the FFII Beavers, FFVII's Johnny, or Sagi from FFU).

As far as letting people take the same character, I don't have any problem with multiple people taking the same character if they really want to. There's two problems with this on a large scale though.

Firstly, if I let people take any character they like without regards to who's already taken and who isn't, I'll have everyone doing the same popular characters, with the lesser ones being forgotten and the project stagnating. With a one artist per character rule, it keeps the project moving forward and makes sure the lesser characters are taken. I don't have so many artists yet that I can afford to have them all doing the same characters. If I had literally hundreds of artists on the project, I'd be more open to the idea, but as it stands now, there just isn't enough support for it if I want to complete the project in anything resembling a timely fashion.

The second problem is more of a personal one. I don't like being the judge and jury of who's art makes the cut and who's doesn't. The idea of having someone work hard on a character, only to have me drop it because someone else later did it better is unappealing to me. It's true that this means that what I get for a character is what I get, and I don't have much choice in the matter, but I feel that's just the price I'm willing to pay to ensure an artist doesn't have to worry about their efforts going to waste.

Of course, that being said, I'm not stopping anyone from doing a character they really want to. Like I said above, multiple people can do the same character if they both want to, and I'll just suck it up and pick which one works with the project better. I try to keep that to a minimum though.

Also of note, I am willing to take characters not on the list if I like the piece enough. So if you're really that eager to do Matoya and Dr. Unne, then go ahead! I'll make room for them somehow.

For now I'll put you down for Hojo for sure, and wait for you to let me know about the rest.