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Kazuma Kaneko (金子 一馬,Kaneko Kazuma, born September 20, 1964) is a Japanese video game artist and designer for Japanese video game companyAtlus. Kaneko is best known for his work in theMegami Tensei series of video games, acting as a character designer across multiple games. Kaneko is often referred to as the "Demon Artist"^[1] due to his artistic ability to represent otherworldly and demonic forms. During his professional career, Kaneko has also done freelance work for videogame companiesCapcom andKonami, designingDante andVergil's Devil Trigger forms^[2] in the video gameDevil May Cry 3, as well as designing the characters Inhert and Lloyd inZone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner.

Kaneko was born on September 20, 1964, in the neighborhood ofShimokitazawa, located inTokyo,Japan. His parents owned a sushi shop where he would occasionally work at and his residence was located close to the property.^[3] As an only child, Kaneko spent a lot of time watching television (specificallykaiju shows and films likeKamen Rider) and studying mysterious anomalies, which further expanded into the analysis of religious literature and cultures.^[4]

Kaneko initially started off his professional career as an animator, but due to low pay rates across Japan, he was hesitant to continue.^[5] After playing the video gameDigital Devil Story: Megami Tensei on theNintendo Famicom, he was enthralled with how the game had a darker tone compared to otherrole-playing video games at the time and its interweaving of order and chaos. Kaneko then applied to and joinedAtlus in 1988.^{[citation needed]}

One of his first projects was working on the gameKing of Kings as a character designer. most notably designing theLucifer demon featured in the game. Kaneko has stated that working on the project is what helped inspired his future designs for theShin Megami Tensei series.^{[citation needed]}

Whenever Kaneko made professional appearances on television and published interviews, he always wore black clothing with sunglasses to represent his dark personality and his interest in fashion, specifically influenced by the filmSaturday Night Fever.^[3] He occasionally would be mistaken for a member of the Japaneseyakuza.^{[citation needed]}

Later in his career, Kaneko would act as a mentor to newcomer artistShigenori Soejima,^{[citation needed]} who joined Atlus in 1995 and would later take Kaneko's position as the acting art director for the company.^[6]

Whenever Kaneko designs characters and demons for a game, he takes inspiration from all forms of mythology as well as artifacts left behind from ancient civilizations.^[4] Kaneko takes a lot of inspiration from particularlyNative American mythology.^[7] Kaneko's artistic inspirations include close friend and manga artistHirohiko Araki andSuehiro Maruo. Kaneko's character designs usually include modern day fashion and motifs that stray away from the standard fantasy trope inRPGs. This artistic decision was made to make the characters feel more relatable to players.^[8] Kaneko also considers the personality traits and backstories of characters during the design process which helps him decide on aspects such as the clothes they wear.^[9] Kaneko's demon designs take a more serious approach, where there is more focus on the historical context and mythologies of the figures being represented.^[4] Kaneko draws his designs on paper first, then transitions to scanning them onto a computer, where coloring and additional details are added.^[10] There were cases where Kaneko's designs would receive scrutiny from higher-ups atNintendo, requesting him to censor certain aspects.^[3] At first, Kaneko struggled finding his own unique style and means of expression but eventually was able to solidify his artistic works.

Kaneko has been credited on working on a majority of Atlus' game catalog, as both a character designer and a scenario writer, but his personal favorite project to work on was thePlayStation 2 RPGShin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, a game he shares a deep connection with. After presenting the original concept behind Nocturne to Atlus staff, Kaneko acted as the character designer and worked as a co-producer along withAtlus founder Kouji Okada. Nocturne represented a turning point for not only Atlus, but Kaneko's artistic career as a whole.

The Vortex World represented within Nocturne was designed by Kaneko, and ties into the teachings ofGnosticism andcosmology.^[11]

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