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Kazuma Kaneko

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"Demon Artist" redirects here. For the magic type in Bleach, see Demon arts. For the Darkane album, see Demonic Art.
Kazuma Kaneko
金子 一馬
Born (1964-09-20) September 20, 1964 (age 60)
Shimokitazawa, Japan
Other namesDemon Artist
Occupation(s)Video game artist, character designer
Years active1988–present
Employer(s)Atlus (1988–2023)
Colopl (2023–present)

Kazuma Kaneko (金子 一馬, Kaneko Kazuma, born September 20, 1964) is a Japanese video game artist and designer for Japanese video game company Atlus. Kaneko is best known for his work in the Megami Tensei series of video games, acting as a character designer across multiple games. Kaneko is often referred to as the "Demon Artist"[1] due to his artistic ability to represent otherworldly and demonic forms. During his professional career, Kaneko has also done freelance work for videogame companies Capcom and Konami, designing Dante and Vergil's Devil Trigger forms[2] in the video game Devil May Cry 3, as well as designing the characters Inhert and Lloyd in Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner.

Early life

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Kaneko was born on September 20, 1964, in the neighborhood of Shimokitazawa, located in Tokyo, Japan. His parents owned a sushi shop where he would occasionally work at and his residence was located close to the property.[3] As an only child, Kaneko spent a lot of time watching television (specifically kaiju shows and films like Kamen Rider) and studying mysterious anomalies, which further expanded into the analysis of religious literature and cultures.[4]

Career

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Kaneko initially started off his professional career as an animator, but due to low pay rates across Japan, he was hesitant to continue.[5] After playing the video game Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei on the Nintendo Famicom, he was enthralled with how the game had a darker tone compared to other role-playing video games at the time and its interweaving of order and chaos. Kaneko then applied to and joined Atlus in 1988.[citation needed]

One of his first projects was working on the game King of Kings as a character designer. most notably designing the Lucifer demon featured in the game. Kaneko has stated that working on the project is what helped inspired his future designs for the Shin Megami Tensei series.[citation needed]

Whenever Kaneko made professional appearances on television and published interviews, he always wore black clothing with sunglasses to represent his dark personality and his interest in fashion, specifically influenced by the film Saturday Night Fever.[3] He occasionally would be mistaken for a member of the Japanese yakuza.[citation needed]

Later in his career, Kaneko would act as a mentor to newcomer artist Shigenori Soejima,[citation needed] who joined Atlus in 1995 and would later take Kaneko's position as the acting art director for the company.[6]

Artistic process

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Whenever Kaneko designs characters and demons for a game, he takes inspiration from all forms of mythology as well as artifacts left behind from ancient civilizations.[4] Kaneko takes a lot of inspiration from particularly Native American mythology.[7] Kaneko's artistic inspirations include close friend and manga artist Hirohiko Araki and Suehiro Maruo. Kaneko's character designs usually include modern day fashion and motifs that stray away from the standard fantasy trope in RPGs. This artistic decision was made to make the characters feel more relatable to players.[8] Kaneko also considers the personality traits and backstories of characters during the design process which helps him decide on aspects such as the clothes they wear.[9] Kaneko's demon designs take a more serious approach, where there is more focus on the historical context and mythologies of the figures being represented.[4] Kaneko draws his designs on paper first, then transitions to scanning them onto a computer, where coloring and additional details are added.[10] There were cases where Kaneko's designs would receive scrutiny from higher-ups at Nintendo, requesting him to censor certain aspects.[3] At first, Kaneko struggled finding his own unique style and means of expression but eventually was able to solidify his artistic works.

Notable works

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Kaneko has been credited on working on a majority of Atlus' game catalog, as both a character designer and a scenario writer, but his personal favorite project to work on was the PlayStation 2 RPG Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, a game he shares a deep connection with. After presenting the original concept behind Nocturne to Atlus staff, Kaneko acted as the character designer and worked as a co-producer along with Atlus founder Kouji Okada. Nocturne represented a turning point for not only Atlus, but Kaneko's artistic career as a whole.

The Vortex World represented within Nocturne was designed by Kaneko, and ties into the teachings of Gnosticism and cosmology.[11]

Works

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Year Game Role(s)
1988 Erika to Satoru no Yume Bōken Character designer
King of Kings
1989 Dungeon Explorer Assisting role
1990 Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei 2 Character designer, demon designer, sprite artist
Maniac Pro-Wrestling: Ashita e no Tatakai Graphic designer
Cosmo Tank Debugger
Bikkuriman World: Gekitō Sei Senshi Supporting role
1991 Somer Assault Character designer
Rockin' Kats Original planner
1992 Shin Megami Tensei Character designer, demon designer, sprite artist
Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Coordinator
1994 Shin Megami Tensei II Character designer, demon designer, sprite artist
Majin Tensei Coordinator
Shin Megami Tensei If... Character designer, demon designer, sprite artist
1995 Kyūyaku Megami Tensei: Megami Tensei I ・II Character designer
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Character designer, demon designer
1996 Revelations: Persona Character designer, Persona designer
1997 Giten Megami Tensei: Tokyo Mokushiroku Character design
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers Art director, character designer
1998 Kartia: The Word of Fate Artistic supervisor
1999 Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible II (GBC version) Character producer
Persona 2: Innocent Sin Character designer, Persona designer
Maken X Art director
2000 Super Robot Wars Alpha Mecha designer
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment Character designer, Persona designer
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children - Aka no Sho Graphics supervisor
2001 Maken Shao: Demon Sword Art director
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children - Shiro no Sho Graphics supervisor
2002 Shin Megami Tensei: Nine Demon designer
2003 Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner "Inhert" and "Lloyd" designs
DemiKids: Light and Dark Versions Graphics supervisor
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Creative director, character designer, demon designer
2004 Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga Character designer, demon designer
2005 Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Dante and Vergil's "Devil Trigger" form design
3rd Super Robot Wars Alpha: To the End of the Galaxy Mecha designer
Sangokushi Taisen Character designer
2006 Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army Art director, character designer, original concept
Persona 3 Original demon design
2007 Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Demon designer
Persona 3 FES Original demon design
2008 Persona 4
Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon Producer, art director, character designer, original concept
2009 Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Supervisor, devil designer
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona Art director
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Producer, character designer, original concept
Persona 3 Portable Original demon design
2011 Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Dante's "Devil Trigger" form design
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Demon designer
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Dante and Vergil's "Devil Trigger" form design
2012 Persona 4 Golden Original demon design
2013 Shin Megami Tensei IV Scenario drafts, demon designer
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Original demon design
2014 Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
2015 Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition Packaging artwork
2016 Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse Scenario drafts, demon designer
Persona 5 Demon modeling supervisor, demon designer
2017 Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux Scenario concept, demon designer
Puzzle Fighter Special thanks (Guest character designer)
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
2018 Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth Original devil design
2019 Persona 5 Royal Demon modeling supervisor, demon designer
2020 Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - HD Remaster Series devil design
2021 Shin Megami Tensei V
2022 Soul Hackers 2 Original demon designs
2024 Persona 3 Reload Original demon designs
Metaphor: ReFantazio
TBA Project Dark Character designer

References

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  1. ^ dijeh (2016-10-31). "The other face of the Demon Artist, Kaneko Kazuma (Digital Devil Apocalypse)". dijehtranslations. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  2. ^ "Atlus designer Kazuma Kaneko working on Devil May Cry 3". GameSpot. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  3. ^ a b c shmuplations (2021-12-29). "Kazuma Kaneko x Tomomi Kobayashi – 1996 Interview - shmuplations.com". Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  4. ^ a b c dijeh (2016-08-08). "Demons Bible Kaneko Interview". dijehtranslations. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  5. ^ "Otaku USA: "An Interview with Kazuma Kaneko"". 女神転生・学. 2013-09-29. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  6. ^ "Atlus Is Currently Hiring! Interview With "Persona" Character Designer Shigenori Soejima #DESKWATCH". pixivision. Pixiv. 2017-04-28. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  7. ^ "Otaku USA: "An Interview with Kazuma Kaneko"". 女神転生・学. 2013-09-29. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  8. ^ "In Character: Kazuma Kaneko from 1UP.com". 2015-11-21. Archived from the original on 2015-11-21. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  9. ^ "Gamasutra: "E3 Q&A: Atlus' SMT Character Designer Kazuma Kaneko"". 女神転生・学. 2013-03-02. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  10. ^ Sheffield, Brandon (2006-05-12). "E3 Q&A: Atlus' SMT Character Designer Kazuma Kaneko". Game Developer. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  11. ^ "Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne from 1UP.com". 2015-06-04. Archived from the original on 2015-06-04. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
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