Character designer for 'Honjo Shichi Shigi'.
| Psychic Strange Stories FILE38: The Ise Mermaid Story | Character design |
|---|
Related creations
Official production materials credit the character design and Takaya Ishiyama's direction and script work separately.
Production and performance
"Visionary Stories FILE38: Ise Mermaid Story": Character design.
Character briefings and script feedback
The characters in "FILE23" were provided by Takaya Ishiyama for age, gender, occupation, and brief impressions, while Kobayashi developed the styling based on Showa-era materials and TV impressions from the time. The two continued to fine-tune their expressions, such as pouting slightly while thinking; 2D illustrations also allow expressions that were previously difficult to achieve in 3D projects. After Harue's expression was complete, Ishiyama wrote lines based on the illustrations and arranged pauses. Kobayashi also proposed an all-sky sphere background, followed by Ishiyama shooting in Sumida Ward.
Realism and poster composition
In an interview in the June 2023 issue, Kobayashi recalled that the character designs in "FILE23" are closer to reality, while retaining moderate distortion to avoid losing a sense of closeness. He experimented with brush-like contour lines for the Showa-era vibe; The main visuals were inspired by hand-drawn movie posters of the time, presenting a group portrait and horror through the layout and color scheme of characters and cursed shadows.
Related entries
- Participated Works:Spiritual Vision Strange Tales FILE23 The Seven Great Mysteries of the Honjo
- Participated Works:Psychic Strange Stories FILE38: The Ise Mermaid Story
- FILE23 Design Proposal and Script Feedback Collaboration:The stone mountain is precious
- FILE23 Character and Main Visual Production:Spiritual Vision Strange Tales FILE23 The Seven Great Mysteries of the Honjo
- Background proposals in the FILE23 project:スクウェア・エニックス
References
- SQUARE ENIX: The official website of the Seven Wonders of our office
- Square Enix: FILE38 official website production list
- Gamer: Post-release interview on the production of Paranoma Site FILE23 Honjo Nanashigi
- Nintendo DREAM WEB: Gen Kobayashi 'FILE23' Character Design Secrets (Reprinted in June 2023 Issue)
Data compiled on: 2026-10-07.