Today the good folks at the YouTube channel Archipel released a mini-documentary on Atlus’ popular character designer and Artwork Team leader Shigenori Soejima.
The video focuses mostly on the upcoming Catherine: Full Body, but it also delves deeper into Soejima-sensei’s inspiration and work.
Interestingly, we learn about the genesis of Catherine, and how the initial idea did not include the “erotic touch” we all know and love. We hear how Soejima went about designing the heroine Catherine and Katherine, and then the new character Rin for the remake.
Most interestingly we also get the first real look into Studio Zero, Atlus’ secretive new Studio with Katsura Hashino at the helm. We see how the developers enjoy themselves when they relax, creating chemistry between veterans and newbies. We even see a lovely retro box for the upcoming and still mysterious PROJECT Re FANTASY.
You can check out the video below. If you recognize the style, it’s because it’s by the same people who you possibly know for the Toco Toco series of short documentaries/interviews. If you want to see more videos by the same team, you can enjoy more of these lovely mini-documentaries on Yoshitaka Amano, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, SWERY, Goichi Suda, Daisuke Ishiwatari , Keiichiro Toyama, UME, Katsura Hashino, Yoko Taro and Kazutoshi Iida. You should definitely watch their recent long-form documentary Ebb and Flow – Conversations on the recent momentum of Japanese games.
Catherine: Full Body The game is set to come to North America and Europe in 2019, but no platforms have been announced for the west (We do know that it’s coming for PS4 and PS Vita in Japan).You can also watch the latest trailer from E3 2018.