k,
IS
© V
metal,
m
techno
h
,
no tr
,
ance
tr
,
ance jazz,
, j
azz,
whate
w
ver. My r
My oom is fi
room is lled
fi lled
with mountains of CDs.
ntains of CDs.
THE CRYING GAME
MOE_11_98-107.indd 99
13/2/14 10:23 AM
100
PG: You like to emphasize music at Key,
ey
,
right?
MJ: Right. We try to match emotion-
ally moving scenes with music that is
s
equally moving. Since Kanon, we have
e
tried to use music with personality, in
n
other words, music that is not simply
in the background. In Air, we had the
main heroine, Misuzu, sing a song
called “Natsu kage: Summer Lights.”
The music went with the image on
screen, and players were moved.
PG: How did you get into making
this type of adult game?
Clannad
Clannad: Fujibayashi Kyo and Ryo
MJ: I wanted to work in the game
industry and interviewed at companies
es
like Capcom and Namco
m
,
co but I didn’
, but I didn t make the
’t make the
cut. Then I tried smaller companies, but they
also rejected me. Finally I interviewed with
companies making bishojo games—dat-
ing simulator games featuring cute female
characters—and eventually was hired. At
the time, these companies would hire
anyone, even if you didn’t have the
right education or experience. Even
someone like me could get in and fi nd
YE
some measure of success. The late 1990s
T’S / K
and early 2000s was the time when bishojo
AL AR
games were getting interesting, so I count
UIS
myself fortunate.
© V
PG: Bishojo games offer a lot of opportunities for creators.
Kanon: Sawatari Makoto
MAEDA JUN
MAEDA JUN
MOE_11_98-107.indd 100
13/2/14 10:23 AM
101
MJ
M : Because these games
YE
ar
a e not expensive to pro-
T’S / K
duce
d
, there is a lot of room
AL ARU
for e
fo
xperimentation. You
IS
don’
do t have to worry too
muc
mu h about reaching a main-
S © 2004 VEG
stream audience the w
str
ay that
IMA
commer
com
cial games do. Instead
of ha
of h ving a committee making
budg
bud et-related decisions about
what g
wha
ames to make, control is
with the indi
with
vidual creator, who
is free to take risks.
is free
As a script-
writer
write ,
r I get to shape the end
pr
p oduct in a w
roduc
ay that is virtually
unhear
unhea d of in other media indus-
tries.
tr
I can cr
ies. I
eate stories for bisho-
jo g
games that w
ame
ould be impossible
in commercial games, because they would be seen as too niche.
This creative freedom leads to innovation and fresh ideas and that’s why so many bishojo games end up being adapted into anime series.
PG: What is your approach to writing scenarios for bishojo games?
MJ: Writers are divided into two types: there are those that begin with the characters and build a story around them, and there are those that begin with the story and then build the characters.
I fall into the latter category. This is an industry based on moé characters and creating them is the premise of a lot of works,
,
but I am the type of person who puts a lot
ot
of emphasis on story. If the characters
are good but there is no story, then the
player won’t be moved. It’s a real waste.
Kanon: Piro
THE CRYING GAME
YING GAME
MOE_11_98-107.indd 101
13/2/14 10:23 AM
102
02
So, I start with the story, and that will de-
termine the setting and situations that the
Y
characters move through until they reach
E
a climax that moves the player. [For a con-
T’S / K
trasting approach to moé as anti-narrative, AL ARUIS
see Azuma Hiroki, page 170.]
© V
PG: Many of your game scenarios have a
school setting. Why is that?
MJ: It is a sort of unwritten rule of the
bishojo game world that the setting should
be high school. Not middle school or uni-
versity, but high school. This is beginning
to broaden a bit, but it is still the norm.
Kanon: Tsukimiya Ayu
The time and place that everyone agrees
on, the aggregate desire of players, is high school. That is where the bishojo game players want to project themselves and their YE
T’S / K
AL ARUIS
© 2004 V
Clannad: Sakagami Tomoyo
MAEDA JUN
MOE_11_98-107.indd 102
13/2/14 10:24 AM
103
emotions. Almost everyone in Japan has been
to high school, and this shared set of expe-
riences is something that we build on.
It’s easy to write love stories about
that time of life, too. First of all,
not everyone had the best pos-
sible experiences in high school.
YE
So they want to go back and experi-
T’S / K
ence it as it might have been. Second,
AL AR
this is a time before people have jobs
UIS
and families and adult responsibilities,
all of which detract from romantic re-
© 2000 V
lationships. School romance seems
kind of like a dream of youthful
freedom.
PG: Is there a certain type of
character and scenario that you
have found to work well? Do Kanon,
Air, and Clannad share something
that has made them successful?
Y E KEY
’S / TT’S / K
AR L AAL AR USUSI
© V
Left
L
: Kanon, Kawasumi Mai;
ab
a ove Air, Kamio Mi
suzu
THE CRYING GAME
THE C
MOE_11_98-107.indd 103
13/2/14 10:24 AM
104
YE
T’S / K
AL AR USI
S © 2000 V EG
MAI
Air: above, Tono Minagi;
right, Kirishima Kano
MJ: I think the reason that these thr
h ee w
r
orks
ee works
have attracted so much attention is because
is because
they are emotionally moving stories.
e I don’
s. I don t think
’t think
any other producer has come up with g
with ames that
games that
have such an intense range of emotions.
o
K
tions. e
K y’
ey s
’s
works amp up the emotions to the gr
e g eat-
reat-
est possible level. I guess that’s why
hy
our games are called crying games,
s
,
because they move players to tears.
s.
In the 1990s, there were moving
and heartwarming games, but it
was more like players would sit
back, nod, and say, “This is a situ-
ation when I could cry.” Playing
the games that we make at Key, people
eople
actually cry. At fi rst I was surprised that
d that
bishojo games had come to a point
t
MAEDA JUN
MOE_11_98-107.indd 104
13/2/14 10:24 AM
105
where they could have such an impact on players, but then I came to think of the tears as a sign of our ultimate success. It is very diffi cult to create games that move people the way ours do.
PG: Was Key the originator of crying games?
MJ: Not exactly. Crying games began with story-centric bishojo games. First, at the company Elf there was a creator named Hiruta Masato, who made a game called Classmate (1992). Hiruta was followed at Elf by another creator named Kenno Yukihiro
[aka Kanno Hiroyuki], who made the game The Girl Who Chants Love at the Edge of this World Yu-No (1996). Then, a creator named Takahashi Tatsuya at the company Leaf made games such as Shizuku (1996), Kizuato (1996), and To Heart (1997). Hiruta, Kenno, and Takahashi were pioneers. All we did at Key was follow the work of those three people at Elf and Leaf. It is not as if we in-vented crying games. Bishojo games had just reached a new level in the late 1990s, and we rode the wave. But the actual term “crying games” only came into use around the time we made Kanon YE
T’S / K
AL ARUIS
© 2000 V
Air: Kirishima Kano
THE CRYING GAME
MOE_11_98-107.indd 105
13/2/14 10:24 AM
106
YE
T’S / K
AL ARUIS
© V
Kanon: Sawatari Makoto
in 1999, and that’s why people some-
times think the genre originated
with us.
PG: What does the word moé mean
to you?
MJ: It’s a reason to live. If it were to be taken a e taken w
a a
w y
a ,
y
many people would no longer be able to survive.
PG: Why do you think that moé is so important to so many people today?
MJ: Many people feel insecure. You go to school, ol
,
but you might not be able to get a job, and
even if you do it might not be a full-time
position. Without a stable income, it’s hard
to start a family. There is a general move
MAEDA JUN
MOE_11_98-107.indd 106
13/2/14 10:24 AM
107
toward isolation. People don’t have a direction or a purpose. That is why I said that moé is a reason to live. Once people fi nd something meaningful to them, they pursue it. Manga, anime, games, or whatever it may be provides a reason to live and a passion that can be shared with others. Otaku gather on video-sharing sites such as Nico Nico Douga and massive bulletin boards such as 2channel. This is an age where people struggle to live together. Everyone feels like they are fi ghting for what they believe in. That is why fans are so passionate and outspoken, and that energy fuels the moé boom. With so many people taking manga, anime, and games so seriously, it has become impossible to deny the importance of moé.
Y E
T’S / K
AL AR USI
© 2004 V
YE
T’S / K
AL ARUIS
Above: Clannad, Ibuki Fuko
© V
and Okazaki Tomoya;
right: Kanon: Kawasumi Mai
THE CRYING GAME
MOE_11_98-107.indd 107
13/2/14 10:24 AM
108
Interview with
Ito Noizi
SKS
WWOR
IA
ED
II MC
AS
//
HI
AHASK
TA TAO
HIRC
HSHIA
©Y© YA
Ito Noizi, born in 1977, is an il-
lustrator and character designer
for adult games at the company
UNiSONSHIFT. Her illustrations have
appeared in the games Wasurenagusa
Forget-Me-Not (2002), Nanatsuiro Drops
(2006), Alice Parade (2007), and Fly-
able Heart (2009). She also illustrated
the UNiSONSHIFT novel A Clockwork
Ley-Line: unmei no mawaru mori (2012).
In addition to her work at UNiSON-
SHIFT, Ito has illustrated the Shaku-
gan no Shana and Suzumiya Haruhi
series of young-adult novels, both
adapted into hit anime series. She
L
PAT
designed Neon-chan, the character
SOFS
SY SY
mascot for the Osaka district of Nip-
EESTR
pombashi. In this interview, Ito talks
OU C
PH
about how she got started on her
AR
OG
career as an illustrator and her per-
TOHOPH
spective on moé as a female artist.
ITO NOIZI
MOE_12_108-115.indd 108
6/2/14 4:43 PM
109
Girl Drawing Girl
On Bishojo Games
Patrick W. Galbraith (PG): Is Noizi your real name?
Ito Noizi (IN): It’s a pen name. I took Ito
from the name of the guitarist in the
band Siam Shade, and Noizi refers to
Noisy, the name of the bass player
from the band Sex Machineguns.
PG: I take it that you like rock mu-
sic. What else are you into?
T
IN: I like to go shopping for clothes with
NSHIFO
friends, although I sometimes go alone and just
UNIS
look at clothes. I’m a very normal person.
©
ESGA
IM
PG
PG:
: Your characters tend to be very fashion-
able
ab . Do you get ideas for your character
designs while looking at clothes?
de
IN: Y
: es. While walking in front of
store win-
dows,
dow ideas for illustrations will come to me.
The things I see become a r
The
eference for me.
PG: When did you start drawing?
IN: It wasn’t until middle school that I
really wanted to draw. I had a friend who
Facing page: Shakugan no Shana;
above and left: Flyable Heart
GIRL DRAWING GIRL
MOE_12_108-115.indd 109
6/2/14 4:43 PM
110
was good at drawing, and I would always bring her paper and a pen and ask her to draw me cute girls from manga and anime.
Being near someone so talented inspired me to start drawing myself. At the time, I never dreamed I would become a professional illustrator.
PG: So did you start off drawing cute girls like the ones your friend drew?
IN: Yes. It was just the usual stuff girls like to draw. Princesses and cute girls in fashionable clothes like the ones you see in shojo manga (manga for girls).
PG: When did you decide to make a career out of it?
IN: When I was in high school, games like Street Fighter were booming. My little brother was totally into fi ghting games, and TD.
O., L
N CETOH
A SWAKO
AD
T
O 2003 / KTI I
NSHIF
O
IZO
UNIS
A, N
©
WA
IG
AN
U T
ARG
© NA
Left: Suzumiya Haruhi;
above: A Clockwork Ley-Line
ITO NOIZI
MOE_12_108-115.indd 110
6/2/14 4:43 PM
111
I would go with him to the arcades. Seeing these g
g
games and
watching him pla
l y
a ,
y I decided I w
, I deci
anted to tr
ded I w
y to design g
anted to try to design game
ame
characters.
PG: So how did you come to UNiSONSHIFT?
you come to UNiSONSHIFT?
IN: I applied for jobs at major companies
jobs at major companies
such as Capcom,
m but I failed all m
,
y in-
but I failed all my in-
terviews. In the end UNiSONSHIFT hir
end UNiSONSHIFT hi ed
red
me and I’ve been with them e
n with them v
e er since
ver sin
.
ce
. At
At
the time, I only kne
k
w a
ne
bout mainstr
w a
eam
bout mainstream
a
games and had nev
ne er e
v
v
er e en hear
The Moé Manifesto Page 9
