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Tetsuya Nomura (野村 哲也, Nomura Tetsuya?, born October 8, 1970) is a Japanese video game director and character designer working for Square Enix (formerly Square), best known for his work on both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series. He is the Director, Character Designer, Concept Design Artist and Base Story Writer for the Kindom Hearts series.
'''Tetsuya Nomura''' is a Japanese video game director and character designer in the famous Square Enix game company. He is the Director, Character Designer, Concept Design Artist, and Base Story Writer for the {{c|Kingdom Hearts|series}} series. He is also known for creating and directing many of the games and characters in the {{ff|Final Fantasy_Series|Final Fantasy}} franchise, notably the {{ff|Compilation of Final Fantasy VII}} and other games outside each franchise.  


== Nomura's work with SquareSoft and Square Enix ==
Nomura's first job in SquareSoft was to make battle graphics for {{ff|Final Fantasy IV}}. He then went to work as the graphic director and minor character designer for {{ff|Final Fantasy VI}} under Yoshitaka Amano. His big break ,in 1995, was when he was employed as lead designer for {{ff|Final Fantasy VII}}. Nomura then went on and contributed {{ff|Final Fantasy VIII}} and {{ff|Final Fantasy X}} before creating his own franchise Kingdom Hearts with Disney Interactive Studios and Square Enix. He also  directed a CGI animated film called {{ff|Final Fantasy VII Advent Children|Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children}} which was released in North America on April 25, 2006. This was also Nomura's film debut, and he also re-designed the characters from Final Fantasy VII for the film. He wrote some of the lyrics for the Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack.


== History ==
Many designs, quotes, battle terms and items are inspired form the Final Fantasy series and Disney.


Tetsuya Nomura began his career at a vocational school, creating art for magazine advertisements. It was not until the 1990s that he was recruited by Squaresoft to contribute to Final Fantasy IV's battle graphics, and then to work as graphic director and minor character designer under Yoshitaka Amano for Final Fantasy VI.  
The major games he is currently working on are ''Final Fantasy Verses XIII'' and [[Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance]].


Nomura got his big break in 1995, when he was employed as the lead character designer for Final Fantasy VII. In 1998, he worked on both Parasite Eve, Brave Fencer Musashi, and Final Fantasy VIII. More recently, acted as director, concept artist, character designer, and zipper purveyor for Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II.
== Style of artwork ==
Tetsuya Nomura's games tend to be "modern" and "sci-fi". These games, in particular, also tend to have storylines that are darker in tone. In addition, his character names tend to draw inspiration from physical science and weather, in particular, the sky, land, and sea; the central character almost always has the sky-based name, such as [[Sora]] meaning "Sky" in Japanese or [[Ventus]] meaning "Wind" in Latin.  


Nomura was also responsible for directing Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and is currently at work designing characters for the Fabula Nova Crystallis series and Dissidia Final Fantasy. In addition, he will be directing Final Fantasy Versus XIII and It's A Wonderful World.
Nomura's style is very similar to the traditional anime style of drawing, but he also draws upon western influences as well. Many of Nomura's character designs for games such as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts have been criticized for the overuse of belts and zippers, as well as for many of the male characters often have androgynous appearances, and that many of his female characters are shown wearing very revealing outfits; it has become a joke amongst fans to lightly tease Nomura's designs for these characteristics. This can noticeably be seen in Nomura's Final Fantasy X character design of {{ff|Lulu}}, as a large portion of her dress consisted of only belts. However, his designs became much more "normal" in comparison to before the work on [[Kingdom Hearts II]] was finished. More recent designs from him, such as {{ff|Lightning}} from {{ff|Final Fantasy XIII}} or [[Aqua]] from [[Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep]], do not show any excessive use of belts or zippers, but instead focus on creative accessories like ribbons or very individually designed jackets.  


Nomura's art style was slowly losing its anime influences but this all changed in Nomura's participation in Kingdom Hearts. Due to the immense amount of western influences from the Disney characters in Kingdom Hearts, Nomura adopted a much more anime/cartoon look for his characters and this style has been later reused again in Kingdom Hearts II. However, {{ff|Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core}} and {{ff| Dissidia Final Fantasy|Dissidia Final Fantasy}} featured much more mature looking designs and were defined by a very detailed shading. In the Nintendo DS game, ''The World Ends With You'', Nomura departed from the style he used in Kingdom Hearts and instead, relied on a much more traditional anime look for the characters even though there are still similarities to his Kingdom Hearts style. However, recent artworks of him for Kingdom Hearts show yet another change in his style. While the anatomy of the characters is relatively unchanged, the eyes of the younger characters like [[Roxas]] now look much more innocent then before. Also, he carried over his Final Fantasy coloring style to the Kingdom Hearts franchise.


== Nomura's Work with Squaresoft and Square-Enix ==
Nomura's style has been defined by the vibrant colors in which he uses as well as the unique amalgamation of eastern as well as western influences. His work has become very well known in a large part due to Final Fantasy, and his style of artwork has been loved and criticized by many, mostly by fans of Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy VI, due to the big departure from the traditional Japanese style of Yoshitaka Amano, who was responsible for the earlier Final Fantasy titles.  
Note: Things in '''Bold''' are his [[Kingdom Hearts]] work.


{|border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%; text-align: center;"
== Gallery ==
|-
<gallery>
! Game name !! First released !! System name(s) !! Nomura's role(s)
File:Sora (Early Concept) 1 (Art).png|Sora's original design by Nomura.
|-
File:Riku KH Artwork.png|Riku's artwork by Nomura.
! ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]''
File:Kairi (School uniform) (Art).png|Kairi's school clothes design by Nomura.
|| 1991 || <small>[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]], [[PlayStation]], [[Game Boy Advance]], [[Nintendo DS]]</small> || <small>Debugger</small>{{citation needed|date=October 2010}}
File:Terra's Keyblade Armor (Art).png|Terra's original design by Nomura.
|-
File:Ventus's Keyblade Armor (Art).png|Ventus's original design by Nomura.
! ''[[Final Fantasy V]]''
File:Aqua's Keyblade Armor (Art).png|Aqua's original design by Nomura.
|| 1992 || <small>[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super Famicom]], [[PlayStation]], [[Game Boy Advance]]</small> || <small>Battle Graphics </small>
File:Sora, Kairi, and Riku (Concept Art).png|Early sketch of Riku, Sora, and Kairi by Nomura.
|-
</gallery>
! ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]''
|| 1995 || <small>[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]], [[PlayStation]], [[Game Boy Advance]]</small> || <small>Graphic Director </small>
|-
! ''[[Live A Live]]''
|| 1994 || <small>[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super Famicom]]</small> || <small>Tosa-ben Translation</small>
|-
 
! ''[[Chrono Trigger]]''
|| 1995 || <small>[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]], [[PlayStation]], [[Nintendo DS]]</small> || <small>Field Graphics</small>
|-
! ''[[Front Mission]]''
|| 1995 || <small>[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super Famicom]], [[PlayStation]], [[WonderSwan Color]], [[Nintendo DS]]</small> || <small>Graphic Designer</small>{{citation needed|date=October 2010}}
|-
! ''[[Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars]]
|| 1996 || <small>[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]], [[Virtual Console]]</small> || <small>Boss Monster Designer</small>{{citation needed|date=October 2010}}
|-
! ''[[DynamiTracer]]''
|| 1996 || <small>[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]]</small> || <small>Concept Designer</small>
|-
! ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''
|| 1997 || <small>[[PlayStation]], [[Windows]], [[PlayStation Network]]</small> || <small>Character Designer, Battle Visual Director, Original Story</small>
|-
! ''[[Parasite Eve (video game)|Parasite Eve]]''
|| 1998 || <small>[[PlayStation]]</small> || <small>Character Designer</small>
|-
! ''[[Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring]]''
|| 1998 || <small>[[Arcade game|Arcade]], [[PlayStation]], [[PlayStation Network]]</small> || <small>Character Supervisor</small>
|-
! ''[[Brave Fencer Musashi]]''
|| 1998 || <small>[[PlayStation]], [[PlayStation Network]]</small> || <small>Character Illustrator</small>
|-
! ''[[Parasite Eve II]]''
|| 1999 || <small>[[PlayStation]]</small> || <small>Character Illustrator</small>
|-
! ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]''
|| 1999 || <small>[[PlayStation]], [[Microsoft Windows]], [[PlayStation Network]]</small> || <small>Character Designer & Battle Visual Director</small>
|-
! ''[[The Bouncer]]''
|| 2000 || <small>[[PlayStation 2]]</small> || <small>Character Designer</small>
|-
! ''[[Final Fantasy X]]''
|| 2001 || <small>[[PlayStation 2]]</small> || <small>Character Designer</small>
|-
! ''[[Kingdom Hearts (game)|Kingdom Hearts]]|| 2002 || <small>[[PlayStation 2]]</small> || <small>Director, Concept Design, Character Designer & Base Story</small>
|-
! ''[[Final Fantasy X-2]]''
|| 2003 || <small>[[PlayStation 2]]</small> || <small>Main Character Designer</small>
|-
! ''[[Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII]]''
|| 2004 || <small>[[Mobile phones]]</small> || <small>Character Designer</small>
|-
! '''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories]]'''|| 2004 || <small>[[PlayStation 2]], [[Game Boy Advance]]</small> || <small>Director, Character Designer, Concept Design & Base Story</small>
|-
! ''[[Final Fantasy VII Advent Children]]''
|| 2004 || <small></small> || <small>Director</small>
|-
! ''[[Musashi: Samurai Legend]]''
|| 2005 || <small>[[PlayStation 2]]</small> || <small>Main Character Designer</small>
|-
! ''[[Last Order: Final Fantasy VII]]''
|| 2005 || <small></small> || <small>Supervising Director</small>
|-
! '''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]''' || 2005 || <small>[[PlayStation 2]]</small> || <small>Director, Character Designer, Concept Design & Base Story</small>
|-
! ''[[Final Fantasy V Advance]]''
|| 2006 || <small>[[Game Boy Advance]]</small> || <small>Monster design</small>
|-
! ''[[Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII]]''
|| 2006 || <small>[[PlayStation 2]]</small> || <small>Character Designer</small>
|-
! ''[[Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII]]''
|| 2006 || <small>[[Mobile Phones]]</small> || <small>Character Designer</small>
|-
! ''[[Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII]]''
|| 2007 || <small>[[PlayStation Portable]]</small> || <small>Creative Producer & Character Designer</small>
|-
! ''[[The World Ends With You]]''
|| 2007 || <small>[[Nintendo DS]]</small> || <small>Creative Producer & Main Character Designer</small>
|-
! '''[[Kingdom Hearts coded]]''' || 2008 || <small>[[Mobile Phones]]</small> || <small>Director, Concept Design, Character Designer & Base Story</small>
|-
! ''[[Dissidia: Final Fantasy]]''
|| 2008 || <small>[[PlayStation Portable]]</small> || <small>Creative Producer & Character Designer</small>
|-
! '''[[Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days]]''' || 2009 || <small>[[Nintendo DS]]</small> || <small>Director, Concept Designer, Character Designer, Base Story</small>
|-
! ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''
|| 2010 || <small>[[PlayStation 3]], [[Xbox 360]]</small> || <small>Main Character Designer</small>
|-
! '''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep]]''' || 2010 || <small>[[PlayStation Portable]]</small> || <small>Director, Concept Designer, Character Designer & Base Story</small>
|-
! '''[[Kingdom Hearts Re:coded]]''' || 2010 || <small>[[Nintendo DS]]</small> ||  <small>Director, Concept Designer, Character Designer & Base Story</small>
|-
! ''[[The 3rd Birthday]]''
|| 2010 || <small>[[PlayStation Portable]]</small> || <small>Creative producer, Concept design, Character Designer</small>
|-
! '''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix]]''' || 2011 || <small>[[PlayStation Portable]]</small> || <small>Director, Concept Designer, Character Designer & Base Story</small>
|-/
! ''[[Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy|Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy]]''
|| 2011 || <small>[[PlayStation Portable]]</small> || <small>Creative Producer & Character Designer</small>
|-
! ''[[Final Fantasy Versus XIII]]''
|| TBA || <small>[[PlayStation 3]]</small> || <small>Director, Concept Game Designer, Character Designer & Base Story</small>
|-
! ''[[Final Fantasy Agito XIII]]''
|| TBA || <small>[[PlayStation Portable]]</small> || <small>Character Designer</small>
|-
! '''[[Kingdom Hearts 3D]]''' || TBA || <small>[[Nintendo 3DS]]</small> || <small>Director, Concept Designer, Character Designer & Base Story</small>
|}
 
 
== References ==

Latest revision as of 12:59, 6 June 2022

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Tetsuya Nomura is a Japanese video game director and character designer in the famous Square Enix game company. He is the Director, Character Designer, Concept Design Artist, and Base Story Writer for the Kingdom Hearts series. He is also known for creating and directing many of the games and characters in the Final Fantasy franchise, notably the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and other games outside each franchise.

Nomura's work with SquareSoft and Square Enix

Nomura's first job in SquareSoft was to make battle graphics for Final Fantasy IV. He then went to work as the graphic director and minor character designer for Final Fantasy VI under Yoshitaka Amano. His big break ,in 1995, was when he was employed as lead designer for Final Fantasy VII. Nomura then went on and contributed Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X before creating his own franchise Kingdom Hearts with Disney Interactive Studios and Square Enix. He also directed a CGI animated film called Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children which was released in North America on April 25, 2006. This was also Nomura's film debut, and he also re-designed the characters from Final Fantasy VII for the film. He wrote some of the lyrics for the Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack.

Many designs, quotes, battle terms and items are inspired form the Final Fantasy series and Disney.

The major games he is currently working on are Final Fantasy Verses XIII and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Style of artwork

Tetsuya Nomura's games tend to be "modern" and "sci-fi". These games, in particular, also tend to have storylines that are darker in tone. In addition, his character names tend to draw inspiration from physical science and weather, in particular, the sky, land, and sea; the central character almost always has the sky-based name, such as Sora meaning "Sky" in Japanese or Ventus meaning "Wind" in Latin.

Nomura's style is very similar to the traditional anime style of drawing, but he also draws upon western influences as well. Many of Nomura's character designs for games such as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts have been criticized for the overuse of belts and zippers, as well as for many of the male characters often have androgynous appearances, and that many of his female characters are shown wearing very revealing outfits; it has become a joke amongst fans to lightly tease Nomura's designs for these characteristics. This can noticeably be seen in Nomura's Final Fantasy X character design of Lulu, as a large portion of her dress consisted of only belts. However, his designs became much more "normal" in comparison to before the work on Kingdom Hearts II was finished. More recent designs from him, such as Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII or Aqua from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, do not show any excessive use of belts or zippers, but instead focus on creative accessories like ribbons or very individually designed jackets.

Nomura's art style was slowly losing its anime influences but this all changed in Nomura's participation in Kingdom Hearts. Due to the immense amount of western influences from the Disney characters in Kingdom Hearts, Nomura adopted a much more anime/cartoon look for his characters and this style has been later reused again in Kingdom Hearts II. However, Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and Dissidia Final Fantasy featured much more mature looking designs and were defined by a very detailed shading. In the Nintendo DS game, The World Ends With You, Nomura departed from the style he used in Kingdom Hearts and instead, relied on a much more traditional anime look for the characters even though there are still similarities to his Kingdom Hearts style. However, recent artworks of him for Kingdom Hearts show yet another change in his style. While the anatomy of the characters is relatively unchanged, the eyes of the younger characters like Roxas now look much more innocent then before. Also, he carried over his Final Fantasy coloring style to the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

Nomura's style has been defined by the vibrant colors in which he uses as well as the unique amalgamation of eastern as well as western influences. His work has become very well known in a large part due to Final Fantasy, and his style of artwork has been loved and criticized by many, mostly by fans of Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy VI, due to the big departure from the traditional Japanese style of Yoshitaka Amano, who was responsible for the earlier Final Fantasy titles.

Gallery