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Veteran Super Robot Wars Game Designer Daisei Fujii Passes Away
posted on by Egan Loo
The Super Robot Wars game franchise's producer Takanobu Terada announced on Friday that the franchise's veteran designer Daisei Fujii passed away on October 12.
Fujii was born in Kanagawa prefecture, and he worked at a toy design company at the age of 21 before becoming a freelance designer. He specialized in SD character illustrations, original mecha designs, game screen art, and toy product development sketches and designs.
His animation portfolio included the mechanical designs and design works in SD Gundam Force (pictured right), Super Robot Wars OG: Divine Wars, and Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector. He also contributed to various SD Gundam video games, card games, and toys, as well as illustrations for Monster Hunter toys.
Terada noted that he and Fujii first worked togther on Super Robot Wars II G for the Game Boy system in 1995. Fujii handled the package illustrations and the robots' SD art for that game, and he continued working in the franchise until this year. He created the key visuals for the latest game, Super Robot Wars 30 (first image above), as well as the SD key visuals for this fall's Super Robot Wars OG exhibition (pictured below). In recent years, he drew the key visuals for the standard editions of the Super Robot Wars V, Super Robot Wars X, and Super Robot Wars T entries.
Fujii not only worked on key visuals, but also the robot line art used within the games, such as the Full Armor Hyaku Shiki Kai mobile suit and other designs in Super Robot Wars 30. His innumerable original mecha design contributions included enemy mecha designs; the protagonists' original mecha in Super Robot Wars 64, Super Robot Wars A, and other entries; and the "last bosses" in Super Robot Wars R, Super Robot Wars D, and other entries.
Terada said he personally thinks that Fujii's signature designs included the original robots Soulgain, Vaisaga, AS Soleares, AS Alegrias, and Beaudrifer. Terada added that Fujii took the initiative to come up with designs on his own, such as the interior detail for the cockpits of the Soulgain, Ashsaviour, and other mecha, as seen in the Super Robot Wars OG exhibition. Terada described Fujii as not only one of the creative forces behind the games, but also a passionate fan who played the newest entries as they came out.
Source: Super Robot Wars's official blog via Hachima Kikō
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