Rui Komatsuzaki (Japanese: 小松崎 類, Hepburn: Komatsuzaki Rui) is a Japanese illustrator and character designer. He is best known for designing and characterizing the cast members from the visual novel adventure games Danganronpa and the anime Akudama Drive.

Career edit

Komatsuzaki was a sculpture graduate before becoming involved with Spike, and Danganronpa was his first experience as a character designer.[1] The word "Danganronpa" originated from Komatsuzaki which was first written in kanji but it was later taken to katakana for the logo.[2]

For most games, he was in charge of designing characters with outstanding designs while the protagonist were meant to look like common people. As a result, Komatsuzaki designed Makoto Naegi character to wear a hoodie to complement his look, thinking the player was going to see his back a lot. After that, the artist added some character to his hair by adding an "antenna", and highlighted his "herbivore nature" by making him short. His coloring is subdued, but Komatsuzaki used a color palette he enjoyed.[3] He also redesigned the older cast members from the first Danganronpa for the anime sequel Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School to make them look more mature, and illustrated the characters for the spin-off novel series Zero, Kirigiri, and Togami.[4]

Besides Danganronpa, Komatsuzaki was one of many artists to design characters for Fate/Grand Order, an RPG mobile game based on the Fate/stay night series. He designed both Edmond Dantès and Cleopatra.[5] He was also the main artist for the anime series Akudama Drive from 2020. Cindy H. Yamauchi adapted Rui Komatsuzaki's original character designs for animation.[6] He also created a collaboration illustration between Danganronpa and the anime Akudama Drive in late 2020.[7]

Works edit

Video games edit

Year Title Role Ref.
2006 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 Background modeling [8]
2007 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Background designer [9]
2009 Dragon Ball: Raging Blast Character designer [10]
2010 Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc [11]
2012 Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair [12]
2014 Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls Character designer, standing graphic [13]
2015 Fate/Grand Order Guest character designer
2017 Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Character designer, character graphic [14]
2020 Death Come True Promotion illustrator [15]
2023 Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Character designer [16]
TBA Tribe Nine [17]

Anime edit

Year Title Role Ref.
2016 Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School Original Character Designer [18]
2020 Akudama Drive [19]
2022 Tribe Nine [20]

References edit

  1. ^ "全4回に渡ってお届けする『ダンガンロンパ』の特集記事。ラストを飾るのは、本作の開発のキーマン3人のインタビュー! 開発秘話から本作の魅力までを、3人にアツく語っていただいたぞ。". Famitsu. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  2. ^ "Danganronpa 10th Anniversary Special - Dangan TV: Hope Keeps on Going! 1st Period". Archived from the original on February 7, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2021 – via Youtube.
  3. ^ Danganronpa Visual Artbook. Softbank Creative. 2011. p. 11. ISBN 978-4797363579.
  4. ^ "完全オリジナルアニメ『ダンガンロンパ3 -The End of 希望ヶ峰学園-』発表! 苗木くんたちが成長して再び登場!?". Animate Times (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 8, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  5. ^ "「小松崎類」氏が担当するサーヴァント・礼装一覧". Kamigame (in Japanese). Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  6. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (May 14, 2020). "Akudama Drive Anime Delayed to October Due to COVID-19". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  7. ^ "Akudama Drive Releases Collaboration Image with Danganronpa". Anime News Network. November 25, 2020. Archived from the original on December 3, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  8. ^ "Kazutaka Kodaka". IMDb. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  9. ^ "Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 - Story Mode Credits Ending/Outro (Final Part 49)【HD】". YouTube. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  10. ^ "Dragon ball raging blast xbox 360 credits". YouTube. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  11. ^ "Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Credit Information - GameFAQs". gamefaqs.gamespot.com. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  12. ^ "Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Credit Information - GameFAQs". gamefaqs.gamespot.com. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  13. ^ "Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls Credits". Giant Bomb. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  14. ^ "Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (2017) Windows credits". MobyGames. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  15. ^ "Tookyo Games". Tookyo Games (in Japanese). Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  16. ^ "Spike Chunsoft and Too Kyo Games announce dark fantasy mystery game Enigma Archives: RAIN CODE". Gematsu. November 27, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  17. ^ "Akatsuki and Too Kyo Games announce new project Tribe Nine, likely for smartphone". Gematsu. 2020-02-18. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  18. ^ "Danganronpa 3 Anime Will Air Both Arcs Simultaneously in July". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  19. ^ "Too Kyo Games announces original TV anime Akudama Drive". Gematsu. 2020-03-13. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  20. ^ "Rui KOMATSUZAKI - Anime News Network".