Meta:Kaoru Hasegawa

Kaoru Hasegawa (Japanese: 長谷川 薫), born 1971, is a Japanese game artist, and part of Spike Chunsoft's affiliation. Since 1994, he contributes to the company, with the Mystery Dungeon franchise as the main character designer for the Shiren the Wanderer series since its first title in 1995, and as an artist for other video game titles.

Career

Before working in the Mystery Dungeon franchise, Hasegawa contributed to Kamaitachi no Yoru as an artist. He later participated in the production of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer for the Super Famicom. In an interview with Chunsoft, they wanted someone who could work on the then sequel of Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon, but he was not familiar with the title, nor the roguelike genre at the time of the interview. After being interested in the genre by playing the aforementioned game and being employed in the company, he was able to work on the game. The game was set in feudal Japan, as the game's scenarist, Shin-ichiro Tomie decided to set the game in this theme instead of a western art style, like Akira Toriyama's Dragon Quest characters. Many drafts were made for the silent protagonist of the eponymous game, and its mascot monster the Mamel, but the majority of them were lost. Since then, he has contributed in the series as a character designer, occasionally as an art director like in Shiren the Wanderer 2.

Hasegawa has participated in a few events related to the series. In 2012, during the first Nico Nico Game Master event, he and Tomie appeared in the finale of a real-time attack of the first Shiren the Wanderer game. For the 20th anniversary of the Shiren the Wanderer series, he appeared in an exhibition of the series' artworks and performed a live painting on July 11, 2015. Likewise for the series' 25th anniversary, another exhibition was held featuring his works, and he participated shortly in the event. Additionally, he has contributed a new artwork for the Steam and Nintendo Switch port of Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate.

Unrelated to the Mystery Dungeon franchise, he would contribute as an artist in other video games and media. One such was a towel featuring both Shiren the Wanderer′s Koppa and Danganronpa′s Monokuma during an exhibition of goods from the company, and the release of Kenka Bancho Otome. Another artwork was made for the PlayStation's 20th anniversary, along with many other video game artists.

Works

Mystery Dungeon Franchise

Year	Game	Role	Ref.
1995	Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer	Original Art
	BS Shiren the Wanderer: Save Surala	Original Art
1996	Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer GB - Monster of Moonlight Village	Character Design
2000	Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 2 - Shiren's Castle and the Oni Invasion	Art Director / Character Design
2001	Shiren the Wanderer GB2: Magic Castle of the Desert	Character Design
2002	Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden - Asuka the Swordswoman	Character Design
2004	Shiren Monsters: Netsal	Character Design
2005	Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red and Blue Rescue Team	BG Illustration
2008	Shiren the Wanderer	Character Design
2010	Shiren the Wanderer 4: The Eye of God and the Devil's Navel	Character Design
	Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate	Character Design
2012	Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity	2D Art
2015	Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon	2D Art
	Etrian Mystery Dungeon	Character Design

Other media

Year	Title	Role	Ref.
2004	Shiren the Wanderer: Flowers Dancing in the Golden Town Amteca	Character artist
2006	Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out of the Gate!	Special thanks

References

• Wikipedia (EN)
• MobyGames