As a big JRPG fan, one of my all-time favorites of the sub genre would be the Shadow Hearts series. Having started with Koudelka on the Playstation 1, and then only purchasing a Playstation 2 once I was told its sequel (The first Shadow Hearts) was out for it, you could say I grew quite attached to the story and its characters. So much so that it’s one of the few games I refuse to sell and still play them when nothing else clogs up my backlog.

That being said, If you’re also a fan of the series, you should know an interview has been conducted with the series co-creators Matsuzo Machida and Miyako Kato.

The discussions are surprisingly in-depth, with a lot of behind-the-scenes information about their sources of inspiration and the reasons behind their decisions being revealed, officially, for the first time. It’s of particular interest to JRPG fans who, if they aren’t into the more modern “cartoony” ones, wonder why darker and more serious fare isn’t explored all too much.

A couple of answers do stand out, the first one given when asked about what influenced the unique and very “classical Japan” design of the series:

Since I grew up in a pro-American age, I’ve seen with my eyes the new Tokyo that, after the Pacific war, rose from the ashes and entered a big progression phase. If we could go back about 100 years though, we would be able to see the beautiful Tokyo of the Taisho age, built from the Japanese people who, at that time, were strongly influenced by the sophisticated western culture and technology. When I learned how Japan used to be before the war, my mind was instantly filled with fascinating and amazing landscapes. People dressing in kimonos, living in houses built in a mixed oriental/western style, in a city barely lighted by neon and warm gas lamps. In the shadow of that age, many mysteries were still lurking and perhaps even youkai and inhuman creatures were hiding somewhere. I thought that one day I would have loved to tell people about this world. The idea thrilled me.

That’s how, when I was about 10 years old, a whole world combining fantasy and modernity was born in my mind. Once I grew up, I started my career as a game creator, in the golden age of the PS2.

The majority of Japanese RPG were based on western world fantasy and sci-fi but, in my opinion, they all looked very alike. I like the “classic” fantasy, Lord of the Rings or Excalibur style, but I wanted something that would stand out from the rest, a more peculiar world. Once I finally had the opportunity to work along with Koudelka on a project, I decided that I would have created a story that combined real historical events with fantasy, like a spiral drawn with a ribbon having reality and fiction on its sides. That’s how the Shadow Hearts project began.

One wonders what they thought of Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, since the entire premise for that game was the war between two Japans: The modern technologically advanced one and the ancient one steeped in myth and folklore.

On the hotly debated (Amongst fans, anyhow) subject of the series getting progressively more comical as it went on and having a lead that wasn’t Yuri in the third and final game:

After the release of Shadow Hearts, I received a lot of different type of feedbacks, among which several opinions about its being too dark, too scary, about monsters being too freakish and so on. Honestly, to me they were nothing but compliments, although unfortunately there have also been “big fishes” who compared Shadow Hearts to other classic best seller RPGs and told me, “No No, what are you doing? Look at how the other games are. Make something more standard!”

Part of what they said even made sense, and in the end I was even willing to adjust the atmosphere if that meant receiving a more positive support. Let’s just say it was a “political decision”. That’s why in Part 2, in order to attract a wider public, we decided to go easy on the dark atmosphere and to reinforce it only in the most important scenes.”

The final question of the interview is from a fan who wonders if an HD remake of the series could be made possible:

Currently there’s no such project, but I will continue to work hard with the rest of the staff to make so that one day it will be possible.”

Also at the end is concept art showing the two characters who would have been the leads in the third Shadow Hearts game, had things not been changed to suit their superiors.

The video is lengthy and offers up a lot of answers to fan’s questions, so if you are as big a fan of the series as myself, this is an absolutely must-see interview.