That was intense. Did you enjoy these games? A: Yeah, I liked them because of the drama. But I always prefer to see the happy endings, so it was a bit boring because you couldn’t change anything. So it was just a little draggy. Q: Where did you get the idea for the game? A: It was like two years ago. At first, I just wanted to do an “RPG game” with three main characters. Then I wondered about one of the characters – a girl named Natsuki, and how much fun it would be to bring her on a date to the amusement park. When I imagined Natsuki meeting the main character, I felt so excited. At that time, my editor asked if I wanted to do a dating simulation game – as in “romance simulation games,” like Koi to Uso or Natsuiro Dances with Loving Wishes. I asked him if he could add to me all the characters from the games, and he gave me the three heroes from the first game. I was, like, “Oh, my God!” I asked “why they were all boys” and he said “because you’re a girl.” I was, like, “OK, let me make a girl.” [laughs] Q: It must have been hard to find the right personalities for them. A: Yeah. The first idea was the three main characters. But it was a nightmare trying to decide. We also put in the ones that didn’t make it through the first draft. It took months of thinking before we really knew what it would be like. And even after we made the rough draft, it was like, “Ah, is this better than before?” It was really tough. So many people said that they wanted to create games like this one. But I always felt I wanted to create something new. If it didn’t seem like a new idea, I didn’t want to create it. Q: You made a game that lets people dream about being with people from different games. It’s very interesting. A: The funny thing is, I haven’t played the games that I made my characters from. I do want to play them, but when I was making the game, I tried to think as if I had never seen them. Otherwise, I thought I’d be biased about the stories, so I tried to be objective. But it wasn’t that easy. Q: How did you design the heroines’ character models? A: I used a lot of references. I tried to see the heroines I liked in the real world. With Natsuki’s design, I used a lot of reference. With her glasses, I used a character in a Korean fashion magazine. But even if we were going for realism, we still couldn’t make the body right. And the faces didn’t look as good as I wanted them to look. So I tried to do something else. I was like, “What about a half-faced girl?” Then I thought, “How about a half-faced girl that only has one eye?” I thought that would look nice, and so I did that. Q: What is your favorite of the game’s costumes? A: The one with the big hat was my favorite. We tried to see how much I could make it like a schoolgirl, and she ended up looking quite cool. There were also some outfits that felt too much like a real game. When she was talking with the heroine in the classroom, I thought it looked like it was meant for a real game. So I took off some details and tried to give her a more casual feel. But when she was playing tennis, there was a little too much clothing involved, and she looked too formal. We tried to make her look more casual, and ended up changing the clothes too much. Q: How was the working environment? A: For the office, I had one room with four computers. It was pretty cramped, but I really enjoyed it. Even if it was really hard, I always had fun because I was talking with the staff. I loved it so much. Because I was so into the game design, I would try to do every job at the office. When people were listening to music, I would try to see how the game design comes out, and then it was fun to hear that from others. At first, when I was just getting started, some people didn’t know what I was doing. They would just look at me and say, “What?” Then, when I made this outfit, they were like, “Oh!” Q: You went shopping? A: No, not really. I wanted to ask other people’s opinions. I thought it would be good to have three people trying this game at the same time. So I brought everyone together and told them, “This is what it’s about,” and they could give me their opinions. I was amazed at how much they knew about games. Q: How did you become involved in the development of “Senran Kagura”? A: I was at first really nervous about taking on a new project. But now I look at it in a positive way. I think it’s still a good project to be involved with, because it’s popular. Everyone at the company is really good and knows what they are doing. I didn’t want to do something that people would call bad quality. So I thought, “If it’s a popular game, then I want to do it!” Q: What are you currently working on? A: We’re making a new “Senran Kagura” game with these same characters. But this time, the female staff are going to work on the girls’ costumes, so it’s going to be interesting to see if people like it. Q: How did you make the story? A: I decided, “I want to make this game, and I want to make it a ‘Senran Kagura’ game, but in a more casual way.” And I thought, “Let’s have some kind of love story.” And I thought, “It would be interesting if one of the three girls had a crush on the hero.” So I thought, “OK, let me make her a little crazy!” Q: Did you feel like you were making an episode of a TV show? A: No. That would have been a completely different story. In “Senran Kagura,” it was really important to show how you go into a game. So I wanted to show that she really does have feelings for the hero, and it didn’t make sense to have a simple love story. I wanted it to feel serious. Q: What do you think you learned about love through this game? A: I like to think of it as more of a dating sim than a game. Because it’s a dating sim, it makes me think about how much I would enjoy it if there was some kind of relationship between the characters. So I always try to enjoy what I’m doing. And since you play as the character that everyone is attracted to, you can be different from how you are in the real world. So I feel like you really have to enjoy it. If you just want to play games and don’t like the characters, then maybe this isn’t for you. Q: You think it’s okay to try something different? A: It’s really important to be yourself, so I would say try not to give up and stick to your idea. Some games are really popular. That’s very great, but at the same time, you shouldn’t make them just to try to make money. Make games that you really want to do. Make games that you think are great. That’s how I think. Q: What does Japanese music mean to you? A: I like J-pop music. I was a big fan of AKB48, and I really liked “Pocky & Rocky.” I like Shibuya-kei. I used to live near Shibuya, and I was there a lot. That’s the name of a district in Tokyo, and I used to go there a lot. I was an AKB48 fan, and I really loved the “Pocky & Rocky” album that had the characters from the game on it. “Cherry Girl” and “Bara Girl” are the songs that are my favorites from the album. That’s why I was a fan of AKB48. I liked those characters. Q: If you could travel through time, where would you want to go? A: We’re working on a game for the Nintendo Wii at the moment. It’s still not finalized, but it’s one of the games in the U.S. “Yoshitsune’s Collection of Mini-games.” When we get that ready, I’d like to go there and show them. I’ve never been to Japan, but I’ve heard a lot about it. Q: What is your dream job? A: I’m getting ready to make another game. It’s very exciting. I want to make another dating sim with a different setting. I’d really like to make a game where there is no