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 series Akudama Drive.

Career

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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

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Video games

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Year Title Role Ref.
2006 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 Background art [8]
2007 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Background art [9]
2009 Dragon Ball: Raging Blast Character design [10]
2010 Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Character design [11]
2012 Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Character design [12]
2014 Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls Character design [13]
2017 Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Character design [14]
2020 Death Come True Promotion illustrator [15]
2023 Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Character design [16]
2025 The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy Character design [17]
TBA Tribe Nine Character design [18]

Anime

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Year Title Role Ref.
2016 Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School Character designer [19]
2020 Akudama Drive Character designer [20]
2022 Tribe Nine Character designer [21]

References

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  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. ^ Romano, Sal. "Aniplex, Too Kyo Games, and Media.Vision announce The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy for Switch, PC". Gematsu. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  18. ^ "Akatsuki and Too Kyo Games announce new project Tribe Nine, likely for smartphone". Gematsu. 2020-02-18. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  19. ^ "Danganronpa 3 Anime Will Air Both Arcs Simultaneously in July". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  20. ^ "Too Kyo Games announces original TV anime Akudama Drive". Gematsu. 2020-03-13. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  21. ^ "Rui KOMATSUZAKI - Anime News Network".