Nomura

Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, September, 2005

In 1991, a then-21-year-old Tetsuya Nomura applied for a job at Square Enix. It’s been said that his admiration for Yoshitaka Amano’s artwork for the Final Fantasy series inspired him to apply at Square, and his first job was as one of the monster designers for Final Fantasy V. He quietly worked on the monsters until he got a chance to design actual characters for Final Fantasy VII; he happened to be the creator behind some minor characters such as Cloud Strife and Aerith Gainsborough. After that, he continued to create characters for Square, and he even directed some of the more famous sequences in Final Fantasy VIII (the opening movie and the ballroom dance scene). Kingdom Hearts marked his first time in the lead director’s chair.

OPM How has the working relationship between Disney and Square Enix changed from KH to Kingdom Hearts II?

TETSUYA NOMURA Most of the staff that were working on the Disney [side] when we created the original, they’re all gone. I don’t know how to interpret that. [At a recent meeting with Disney], they commented, “Oh, with this ending, are we going to be able to continue this series?” And that’s not something I expected them to say.

OPM Since you were an artist before becoming a director, does that affect your work as a director?

TN I think the biggest advantage, and probably my specialty, is that [since I’m] both a director and an artist, if I have something arty in my head, I can put it down as a visual item and not just explain it in words or in programming code. It creates a goal for all my staff in their different departments that I can already show them what I’m looking for in the product. That’s my specialty, and I believe that when you have a goal, you should be able to show it visually to everyone. To be able to communicate that not only through words, but through my drawings and artwork, is what groups everyone together in my staff. Another one is that for all the trailers for all of my products, I’m literally there, directing the trailers. That’s another advantage, because I’m able to take what I’m thinking in my head and portray it in the actual trailer. You probably didn’t know that, but I’m there, editing every frame of the trailer.

OPM What games do you like?

TN I have to confess, I don’t play a lot of games. There are some particular types I play, but that’s about it.

Tetsuya Nomura’s Resume

MONSTER DESIGNER

Final Fantasy V

GRAPHIC DIRECTOR

Final Fantasy VI

CHARACTER DESIGNER

Parasite Eve

Parasite Eve II

Brave Fencer Musashi

Samurai Legend Musashi

Ehrgeiz

The Bouncer

MAIN CHARACTER DESIGNER

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X-2

DIRECTOR & CHARACTER DESIGNER

Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts II

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