Hiroshi Kajiyama
Kensuke Suzuki (鈴木健介, Suzuki Kensuke), better known by his pen name Hiroshi Kajiyama (梶山浩, Kajiyama Hiroshi), was an artist and game designer whose contributions to the Shining series include character design and illustrations for Shining Force Gaiden, Shining Force Gaiden II, Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict, Shining Force CD, Shining Wisdom, and Shining Force III.
For the creation of the character designs of Shining Force III, Kajiyama was joined by Shin Yamanouchi, who had previously designed characters for Shining the Holy Ark, and with whom Kajiyama's credits are sometimes confused.
Suzuki was the president of the production company Rit's, which provided some art to Shining Force II: The Ancient Seal and is credited for work on all of the Gaiden games and CD.
After leaving the Shining series, Kajiyama continued to work with Camelot Software Planning, for whom he created monster designs for their Golden Sun series.
In addition to his work on Shining Force, Kajiyama was known for Dragon Master Silk, a series of dungeon-crawling RPGs with sexually provocative artwork. Suzuki would go on to publish a large volume of pornographic illustrations using the name Hiroshi Kajiyama.
Before the release of Dragon Master Silk and Shining Force Gaiden in 1992, Suzuki only published artwork in a more realistic style. Suzuki painted cover illustrations inspired by Western fantasy art for games like Dark Wraith, Wardner, and the North American release of Dragon Warrior II.
Kensuke Suzuki died in 2018.[2]
Translated Statements
Kajiyama writes the following in the Shining Force Gaiden section of the art book Half Quarter Book One.[3]
Shining Force Gaiden
This is character line art from Gaiden. Some people said that the relaxed poses lacked dynamism and detail and would only appeal to kids. But that's such an unbelievable lie. And from the beginning, people looked at the main character Nick and said, "I really think that character looks like a girl." How could they say that? (Famitsu's editorial department seems to have propagated these sentiments.) Characters like Teddy are a counterpoint.
外伝のキャライラストの線画です。 ひねらず、こだわらず自然体で、子供が見てわかりやすいモノを。というのは大嘘で、主人公のニックははなから「実は女の子に見えるキャラ」なんて考えてました。(ファミ通の編集さんには通じたらしい) テディとかは趣味丸出し。
When I was working on this, I hadn't really done any professional work as Kajiyama (梶山), and I hadn't published anything in this style before. I think that when the job started, Sonic was originally asking for my usual realistic style. (I'd previously done realistic illustration work under another name.) I showed them the first roughs and said, "I can draw like this, too . . ." and they seemed impressed.
この仕事の頃は、まだ「梶山」でそんなに仕事はしてなくて、絵もあまりにでていなかったのでソニックさんのほうでは「いつものリアルな絵」を想像していたみたいです。(※別の名前でリアルな絵柄の仕事をしていたので) 最初のラフの時「こんな絵も描くんだ・・・」と感心されたし。
Game Credits
For some games, Suzuki is credited for different roles under both the name Kensuke Suzuki and the pseudonym Hiroshi Kajiyama.
| JP Release | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Jan. 1987 | Dragon Warrior II | Cover Art (uncredited) |
| Aug. 1989 | Dark Wraith | Scenario, Graphics; Illustrations (uncredited) |
| April 1991 | Wardner (Genesis) | Cover Art (uncredited) |
| Jan. 1992 | Cyber Dodge | Character Design, Cover Art |
| Dec. 4, 1992 | Dragon Master Silk (PC-98) | Game Design, Graphics Design |
| Dec. 25, 1992 | Shining Force Gaiden | Character Design, Graphics |
| June 1993 | Shining Force Gaiden II | Character Design, Graphics |
| June 1994 | Stronghold ~Kōtei no Yōsai~ | Cover Art (uncredited) |
| July 15, 1994 | Blue Garnet | Illustrations |
| July 22, 1994 | Shining Force CD | Character Design, Graphics |
| Oct. 1994 | Moldorian | Production, Character Design, Graphics |
| June 1995 | Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict | Character Design, Graphics |
| July 1995 | Shining Wisdom | Character Design |
| Aug. 1995 | Dragon Master Silk II (PC-98) | Game Design, Graphics Design |
| March 1997 | Dragon Master Silk (Saturn) | Character Design |
| Dec. 1997 | Shining Force III Scenario 1 | Character Design, Illustration, Battle Backgrounds |
| Feb. 1998 | Sugoventure: Dragon Master Silk Gaiden | Character Design, Character Graphics |
| April 1998 | Shining Force III Scenario 2 | Character Design, Illustration |
| Sept. 1998 | Shining Force III Scenario 3 | Character Design, Illustration |
| Dec. 1998 | Shining Force III Premium Disc | Character Design, Illustration |
| Aug. 2001 | Golden Sun: The Broken Seal | Monster Design |
| June 2002 | Golden Sun: The Lost Age | Monster Design, Illustration |
| Oct. 2010 | Golden Sun: Dark Dawn | Monster Design, Djinn Design |
| Feb. 2014 | Super Heroine Chronicle | Character Design: K-86X |
External Links
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KAJIYAMA_
References
- ↑ Sega TV Game Key Art Gallery (セガ TVゲーム 原画ギャラリー, Sega TV Gēmu Genga Gararī). Graphic Sha, August 25, 1994.
- ↑ "Video Game Designer, Illustrator, Manga Creator Hiroshi Kajiyama Passes Away", Anime News Network, animenewsnetwork.com. Crystalyn Hodgkins, July 15, 2018.
- ↑ Half Quarter Book One ~Remake Version~. Hiroshi Kajiyama. Sunrise Publication, August 13, 2000. [Contains nudity.]
- ↑ Twitter post, @KAJIYAMA_, Twitter, Twitter.com. Hiroshi Kajiyama, May 3, 2018.
Staff Directory
| Shining Staff | |
|---|---|
| Artists | Yoshitaka Tamaki・Hiroshi Kajiyama・SUEZEN・Fumihide Aoki・Shin Yamanouchi・Tony Taka・Masaki Hirooka・Yuriko Nishiyama・pako・Noizi Ito・Shishizaru・HACCAN・Ryota Murayama |
| Musicians | Masahiko Yoshimura・Motoaki Takenouchi・Motoi Sakuraba |
| Writers | Masaki Wachi・Sami Shinosaki |
| Translators | Victor Ireland |
| Programmers | Kan Naito・Yasuhiro Taguchi・P. E. Jareth Hein |
| Directors | Kenji Orimo |
| Producers | Hiroyuki Takahashi・Shugo Takahashi・Tsuyoshi Sawada |
| Related Staff | |
| Artists | Masanori Sato |
| Translators | Jon Rodgers |