Devil Summoner interview! I was bored so here you go, another interview with Kaneko about some Devil Summoner design details, favourite girls and Lucifer and gyudon.
Born on the 20th of September in the year Showa 39 [1964], Kazuma Kaneko was in charge of both the world setting and character design for Megami Tensei 2 and Shin Megami Tensei, and coordinated to a certain extent Majin Tensei and Last Bible. Together with an even stronger staff, and now closer to the position of director of Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner, he will talk about their usual objective, “creating characters that everyone will remember”.
Q: How did you end up in charge of the graphics for the Megaten series?
A: Truth is, I was a fan of the Famicom version of Megami Tensei published by Namco, so when I entered Atlus and heard they were the actual creators, I realised how lucky I was. Anyway, I want to draw for the Megaten series I love. I joined the creative team since Megami Tensei 2.
Q: Who are your favourite male and female characters so far?
A: Working on “Summoner” made Rei Reiho my favourite. I can’t get enough of her “playing dumb” moments. She won’t even notice when her partner’s someone else on the inside. (laughs) The second one is SMT2’s Beth. I realised how beautiful she is while drawing her. Her setup is great. A woman that exists for your sake. She’s beautiful, but at the same time she brings that sorrow of a brain-washed robot. I’m really attached to her.
Q: I see. I also heard that “if…“‘s female protagonist was among your favourites.
A: Oh! Her image is based on Uchida Yuki. She’s my third favourite.
Q: How about “Devil Summoner”?
A: Probably Kisaragi Marie. (laughs) At first, I proposed we name her Oda Meiko, based on Oda Mae, the fortune teller from the movie “Ghost“. I kept calling her that, so the staff collected signatures and to make me to stop. Made me feel a little sad. (laughs)
Q: Your favourite male characters?
A: I’m not too attached to male characters. (laughs) I like drawing female characters better.
Q: And demons?
A: I can’t choose, it’s hard. I’ve drawn too many. (laughs)
Q: What do you think about Lucifer?
A: He’s a character I think highly of rather than consider a favourite. To me, Lucifer hasn’t achieved his perfect form yet. He actually has 12 wings, but has only shown 6 of them in the games.
Q: So the next time he appears, he’ll receive a bigger “upgrade”. Speaking of which, we have also seen his human form.
A: Yes, Louis Cypher, with his suits with a silken handkerchief in his chest pocket. I like to imagine that after eating gyudon or the like, he’d probably go “Phoaa”, take out the handkerchief and wipe his mouth, then say “Mhm, thank you for the meal”. (laughs) I guess I am rather attached to him after all?
Q: What are your favourite art materials?
A: I’m using a MAC and now that I’ve finally learnt about extraction, I waste less time than before. I used Too’s Copic for the recent Shin Megami Tensei 2 Demon Encyclopedia, since there were a lot of models in a short amount of time. I use Liquitex for game covers .
Q: What kind of music do you listen to during work?
A: Eh, the type of music you hear in clubs. House. By the way, I don’t listen to hard rock at all. I wanted a “metal” feel for SMT2, so leather was the main style, but the whole thing stopped at their fashion sense.
Q: Is Kuzunoha Kyouji’s appearance inspired by Lupin the Third?
A: It’s one of the inspirations, yes. In my mind, Kyouji’s appearance was a mix of the first animated Lupin the Third, the TV version of “Detective Story”, “Ace Ventura Pet Detective” and the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Detective” from “The Adventures of Ford Fairlane”.
Q: Have you been told you resemble Lupin yourself?
A: I’m aware of that myself. (laughs) Manga characters always have the same appearance and it makes me think they’re probably very particular about their garments. If you open the dresser, perhaps lines of identical clothes will pop out! I can’t actually do that, but I’m aiming for that sort of image. (laughs)
Q: How do you see “Devil Summoner”?
A: It’s got a “Megaten Detective” image to me. The content is silly and hard-boiled…I guess? (laughs) Visually wise, I wanted to hint at those “hard-boiled” characteristics, so I gave Rei Reiho a rokumonsen choker, for example. Rokumonsen is the fee needed to pass the Sanzu River; in other words, she is always ready to die. Well, she’s got this cool setup, but on the other hand she is also wearing that weird red hairband. Let’s call it a symbol of that “silliness”. (laughs).
Q: About the arm terminal…The Megaten world has got an unexpectedly technologically advanced society and yet the hardware and the monitor are linked through cables. Why?
A: In order to avoid electronic jamming. Having a cable will reduce the risks of getting hacked. Apparently PHS and microwaves are bad for the brain…but oh weeell, I didn’t really think about it. (laughs)
Q: Why are they always different?
A: Simple: having the same model over and over again would be boring. Devil Summoner’s concept is “Megaten Detective”, so I designed it to resemble a gun. It looks like it will transform once you pull the trigger and like that it will do the dirty job. (laughs) When you finish, it’s supposed to return to its original form with only one move of the wrist but…it doesn’t look possible. (laughs)
Q: Just a trivial question, but why is the monitor of “if…“‘s female protagonist set as goggles, while the male protagonist’s is just one lens?
A: Ooh, you see, that’s because there are a lot of girls who put their glasses on top of their heads. I simply gave the girl protagonist goggles because I thought it looked cute. (laughs) Giving them to the male protagonist as well would have been boring, so I only made one version…oh no, if I think about it, I really treat male characters lightly, don’t I. (laughs)
Q: For the last question, ideas for the series’ future. We have “Megaten School” and “Megaten Detective”, so what will the next one be? “Megaten Baseball Team”…?
A: …ooh! I feel like it’s already been done. (laughs) “Astro Baseball Team” was nice! I want to do something related to sports too. (laughs) Well, the concept for every new game is based on what the staff is into at the moment, so I don’t know how things are going to evolve. (laughs)
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