Anyone feel like Kozaki is the perfect Fire Emblem character designer?

[Cysx]

He's definitely not my favorite, but I will say, I love his work on the enemies artworks.

[squkyshoes]

All I have to say is, that as a cosplayer who has worn some of these designs in real life, HOOP SKIRTS ARE NOT PRACTICAL FOR BATTLE GET THEM THE HECK OUT!

You can't sit on anything but the floor and maybe a stool your hoopskirt will fit over, so no sitting on benches, chairs, or ledges like a civilized person for you!

Also, it's very easy to get those hoops caught on things since two slits are exposed. Running through the forest and get your hoops snagged on a branch? Oh well, you're dead.

Plus, the hoops makes the area your body takes up wider as well. Need to fit through that narrow space to escape from the enemy? Oh well, you can't fit through!

Lastly, the hoops slow your body down. Not only do they bounce on your hips when you run, slowing you down, they also make it so you have to run with your arms upright and near your chest instead of down by your sides since the hoop takes up space where your arms would otherwise go.

Why are they bringing this back for Nohr imoto's clothes?!?

Other than that, they're really pretty.

[The Geek]

Kozaki does have high and low points, but that's true for most all of the FE artists. Lest we forget FE4 and FE6's character portraits and the vacant moe stare that at least a quarter of the Radiant Dawn girls seemed to be afflicted with.

Edited April 7, 2015 by The Geek

[Party Moth]

Kamui's two left feet are perfection at its finest.

[Neoleo21]

I think that he's done a good job this time around with most of the character designs so far and to me that's most important despite some questionable designs in the past.

[Five5]

The design of all the characters are great. can't stop comparing them to other atlus designs as it seems to have taken another step in that direction.

[NuggetofButt]

Haha, no. I actually like fanservice designs, but only when they're good and heck, they can be pretty practical. But these... no. I can deal with Camilla's giant breasticles, whatever, but why the flippityfloop can I see her underwear?

"I used to be a soldier.

... Until I took an arrow to the vagina."

I don't actually hate his designs, though. Most of the time they're pretty solid, other times I want to grab a torch and chase Kozaki back to the pit from which he came.

Edited April 10, 2015 by NuggetofButt

[goodperson707]

Haha, no. I actually like fanservice designs, but only when they're good and heck, they can be pretty practical. But these... no. I can deal with Camilla's giant breasticles, whatever, but why the flippityfloop can I see her underwear?

"I used to be a soldier.

... Until I took an arrow to the vagina."

I don't actually hate his designs, though. Most of the time they're pretty solid, other times I want to grab a torch and chase Kozaki back to the pit from which he came.

Uh i hate to nitpick but i don't think the chance of getting hit with an arrow in the groin area while riding a dragon is all that high especially since I'm pretty sure that area is covered by the saddle and the dragon, now if you want to say its impractical to ride a dragon with near naked upper legs then go for it.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I have mixed feelings. He has a bunch of character designs I quite like (Chrom, Frederick, Basilio, Lucina, Tiki, Cherche... from this game, I quite like Max/Marx, Camilla (despite the questionable armour... see below!), and the blond Nohr mage from what I've seen), but I find many of the supporting characters to have quite generic designs, and I'm not a fan of the palette he tended towards in Awakening (including the relatively bland array of hair colour). And he has serious problems with armour design (if that is him as well?), from the bizarre neck armour on cavaliers to the rotund-looking armour knights to the sculpted breast-armour on many of the female characters.

[BrightBow]

Well, if the new Art Director Kusakihara was responsible for the armor designs, and therefore at the very least also for toilet armor, jetpack armor and battle thongs, I don't think I have that many problems with Kozaki's art.

But admittedly, the artwork of the female characters tended towards expressionless poses and dull surprise facial expression but I find it hard to ignore that this was a consistent trend since FE12 that continued in the FE13 DLC. (Seriously, Katria looked just plain drunk on her Wallpaper. Cordelia is grinning like a lunatic but at least she has a facial expression, even if it is out of character.)

With that out of the way, his choice of color is very appealing, he draws with a great level of detail and the only issues I have with the male designs relates to the armor that he didn't design anyway. So I actually like his work quite a bit and I would love to see what we would get if he would work with a different Art Director.

Edited April 10, 2015 by BrightBow

[Thane]

I know next to nothing about things like these, but I really think it's a mixed bag. The characters look different which is quite a big feat for a game with so many different units, the color schemes are generally pretty great, and the environmental designs are usually pretty appealing.

That said, I dislike the overly strange hairdos and colors, some of the armor designs are incredibly questionable, especially when it comes to the women. Some characters also feel incredibly over-designed, where you can't really decide where to look.

Also, the poses the women have in the official artworks are just...ugh. I enjoy a bit of power fantasy and fan service every now and again, but it feels so one-sided and wrong.

[Tsunami922]

Is there official artwork of the other characters besides Kamui?

[Book of Ereshkigal]

Aside from the jp site banner, no.

[Jedi]

Kozaki is very good at Japanese inspired designs, see Say'ri and Lon'qu they have two of my favorite designs of Awakening (I like a fair bit of the designs), but these two stick out to me. It's probably why I'm loving Hoshido's aesthetics right now.

[NinjaMonkey]

I like his artwork, although I feel the Tellius artwork is slightly better.

[Rawkstar]

I like this guys work a lot. I've noticed that one of the biggest complaints is the lack of realism or canonical correctness. Guys, it's a fantastical game. Who gives a shit if "the helmet was only used for jousting" or if the "underwear on some character is visible"? What, are you scared of panties or something? Get over yourselves, there are people in the real world who do exactly that. I can't imagine how boring everything would look if everyone was correctly clothed and armored, and never had ample portions of anything. It's so silly to criticize.

[Rewjeo]

I like this guys work a lot. I've noticed that one of the biggest complaints is the lack of realism or canonical correctness. Guys, it's a fantastical game. Who gives a shit if "the helmet was only used for jousting" or if the "underwear on some character is visible"? What, are you scared of panties or something? Get over yourselves, there are people in the real world who do exactly that. I can't imagine how boring everything would look if everyone was correctly clothed and armored, and never had ample portions of anything. It's so silly to criticize.

No one in real life has ever gone into battle riding a horse (or anything) with their thighs bared, at least not when they had the choice not to. It's hard to get dumber than that without doing something fatal (like refusing to armor your chest...) And, really, a lot of the problem is that it makes no sense in universe. For instance, we know certain peoples have gone into battle stark naked in real life. Not because ~oooh naked bodies~ for random spectators (who don't even exist from their perspective) but because of the psychological effect it would have on opponents (and perhaps themselves). They had a reason. People riding mounts without proper pants will do them no good, except perhaps attracting men when they're in uniform but not fighting - and, really, honestly, do you think that every female in the game is that kind of person? It should be extremely rare that a person sacrifices function in the context of war for sex appeal. Now think of characters like Sully. It is totally out of character for Sully to try and be ~sexy~ instead of kicking butt. That's why I don't have as big a problem with Tharja's outfit being on Tharja (while DLC Micaiah is a travesty). But it still bothers me that mostly she just hangs out and no one really cares.

As far as it being boring: look up old designs.

[spoiler=some female designs from Tellius I'm totally on board with that aren't boring]

Some even have cleavage!

Edited April 11, 2015 by Rewjeo

[Loki Laufeyson]

I like this guys work a lot. I've noticed that one of the biggest complaints is the lack of realism or canonical correctness. Guys, it's a fantastical game. Who gives a shit if "the helmet was only used for jousting" or if the "underwear on some character is visible"? What, are you scared of panties or something? Get over yourselves, there are people in the real world who do exactly that. I can't imagine how boring everything would look if everyone was correctly clothed and armored, and never had ample portions of anything. It's so silly to criticize.

"Stop bitching about chainmail bikinis. No one wants to see fully armored badassery. Thats just silly!"

Please. If you honestly cannot imagine more interesting designs instead of slips of cloth and thigh cutouts, then you dont have much room to speak about such matters.

[goodperson707]

^^ you do realize there is only one game in the entire series that has no riders that have at least partly bare upper legs. And im not even completely sure about that one game,(anyone has a pic of miranda as a mage knight) the game is thracia 776 by the way.

Edited April 11, 2015 by goodperson707

[Rewjeo]

^^ you do realize there is only one game in the entire series that has no riders that have at least partly bare upper legs. And im not even completely sure about that one game,(anyone has a pic of miranda as a mage knight) the game is thracia 776 by the way.

I never said I liked it in the other FE games. And, until just now when I looked up the battle sprites, I actually always assumed that the in-game sprites wore white pants. A few frames definitely look like they're showing lots of leg, though. Shame.

[goodperson707]

Actually i had the opposite problem with Eda from thracia, she actually is wearing white pants but with this series track record i just assume the other way.

And sorry if i sounded rude but this thread is about Kozaki and i dislike people (not necessarily you) blaming awakening and if for having elements that have been in pretty much every game in the series, tellius being seen as the baseline or perfect ( mist had bare legs too), specifically irks me.

[NinjaMonkey]

I like this guys work a lot. I've noticed that one of the biggest complaints is the lack of realism or canonical correctness. Guys, it's a fantastical game. Who gives a shit if "the helmet was only used for jousting" or if the "underwear on some character is visible"? What, are you scared of panties or something? Get over yourselves, there are people in the real world who do exactly that. I can't imagine how boring everything would look if everyone was correctly clothed and armored, and never had ample portions of anything. It's so silly to criticize.

People are a bunch of prudes who take offense at the slightest bit of skin or cleavage shown. What really grinds my gears is people who complain about characters like Tharja or Aversa being "over-sexualised", and yet these same people have no problem with the fact that Hawkeye is bare-chested, despite it being the male version of the exact same thing.

Edited April 11, 2015 by NinjaMonkey

[Thor Odinson]

Awakening IS the game where the level of pantsless-ness got worse though like

It may not be exactly Kozaki's fault since it was the the art director guy's fault for the class designs

But battle panties were not a thing prior to awakening

And Kozaki is still responsible for the particulars of each character's design and I've checked Wyvern Lord (a terrible class design to start with, which is a shame because it's one of my favorite classes) and at least their dumb crotch curtain doesn't have an extra hole in it like what's the point, it doesn't look good, stop, you could've just left it at the curtain but no you had make the design look like someone got blindfolded and took a random ass assortment out of a bin and just dumped on poor camilla, it's a fucking mess

Tellius showed that designs that are mostly practical can still look great, is the thing, it's not 100% but it had a lot of good examples of designs that combine both aesthetics and practicality. It's also the 9th and 10th game in the series, which means that something they do that we liked, we see as improvements upon what came before. 13 is the next game to come along with actually fresh character designs, but it took away a lot of the things we liked, and in a sense we see that as regression. On top of that, it was made worse. And no, not every 13 design is bad and I think Kozaki is far more capable with the japanese aesthetic than the medieval european overall -- the hoshido stuff is genuinely pretty good, but understand that people should be allowed to have beef with 13's designs for whatever reasons and voice them.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Thor Odinson

[Dark Sage]

Personally I wonder how Akihiko Yoshida would do the character and class designs.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Black Frost

[Baldrick]

I think the reason the earlier non-Tellius games don't get as much flak is partly that they'd talked about less in general, and partly that expectations hadn't been set (e.g. RD's lack of support convos are generally made a bigger deal of compared to the SNES games.)

The deal with Tellius is that I think none of the specialist riders have bare legs and Mist is in the minority.

I wish they'd kept whoever did Tellius or Thracia's designs because pants just look better on any physical unit IMO.