Takehito Harada

Takehito Harada (原田 たけひと, Harada Takehito) is a chief executive officer of Studio ToOefuf and video game artist employed by Nippon Ichi whose art has been featured in video games such as Disgaea, Phantom Brave, and Makai Kingdom. His art style has been described as "crazy and bizarre" and features everything from cute pre-teen demons, to freaky pigs in royal clothing. His signature character, Pleinair, has appeared in Disgaea and Phantom Brave.^[1]

Along with his work for Nippon Ichi, Harada has published several Dōjinshi under the name of Haradaya. These include his kipple series and a Pleinair Handbook, which consist of short stories interspersed with various illustrations and fanart.^[1]

Pleinair Allaprima

Pleinair Allaprima (プレネール・アラプリマ, Purenēru Arapurima) is a fictional character who has made appearances in several games in Nippon Ichi's tactical role-playing game series. She is something of a mascot character for the artist and character designer of these games, Takehito Harada.

The name "Pleinair" is a reference to the French expression, plein air, which translates to "outdoor" in English. Her full name, Pleinair Allaprima, means "drawing freely in the huge outdoors".^[2]

Description

Due to her appearances in video games being little more than cameos, not much is known of Pleinair outside of her physical appearance. She is typically portrayed as a petite, blue-haired girl with red eyes, wearing a red ribbon, a white dress, white stockings, and occasionally glasses. She is often accompanied by a stuffed rabbit named "Usagi-san" and a stuffed shark named "Same-san". A common motif in images of Pleinair is Usagi-san being eaten (or at least gnawed or bitten) by either Pleinair or Same-san.

Appearances

• Pleinair served as the receptionist to the Dark Assembly in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, where she first had a speaking part.
• In Disgaea DS, Pleinair appears as a playable character after the player has cleared the game at least once.
• In Phantom Brave, the player visits the bustling city of Monetopia on several occasions. Random characters litter the background scenery, and Pleinair can often be found. Usagi-san has a separate cameo as a stuffed animal in Castille's bedroom.
• In Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, short scenes are shown between chapters in which Pleinair, Usagi-san, and Same-san serve as the crew for a news program. Usagi-san and Same-san both have speaking parts, while Pleinair is only credited with the occasional ellipsis. After conquering Dark World in a side quest Pleinair is the only one to deliver the news. After several ellipses and facial expressions she utters the word "Congratulations".
• Harada's personal website contains many images of Pleinair^[3] as well as an oekaki Bulletin Board System^[4] where fans draw pictures of Pleinair and other characters designed by Harada.
• A full section on Harada's site was devoted to Pleinair until it was taken down in 2004.
• Pleinair is occasionally featured in doujinshi or fan art by other artists. Figures of Pleinair ^[5] have also been created by fans. "PLEINAIR HANDBOOK," A compilation of Pleinair fan art by many different Japanese artists, was published in Japan in 2003.
• Pleinair makes a brief appearance in episode 22 of Pani Poni Dash!, walking along a hallway.
• In the recent publication of the Disgaea 2 manga published by Broccoli Books by Hekaton, Pleinair has a comparatively vocal part again as the Dark Assembly Receptionist.
• In Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, Pleinair takes a role similar to that which she had in the original, serving as the "Class Rep" and allowing the player to enter the Dark Assembly-like classroom. She is also one of the last downloadable characters on the PlayStation Network.^[6]
• In Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, Pleinair returns once again to a role similar to her roles in Disgaea and Disgaea 3. She allows the player to enter the Cam-pain(Play on the word campaign) HQ. In this role, she holds Usagi in her arms and he talks in her place. Pleinair can also be recruited if certain conditions are met in the downloadable Pirate Tournament Survival Mode.

See also

• Phantom Brave
• Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome
• Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
• Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories
• Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice

References

1. 1 2 http://www.bro-usa.com/wholesale/content/view/385/1/
2. ↑ Plenair Handbook
3. ↑ http://members3.jcom.home.ne.jp/u1h/cg/cg.htm
4. ↑ http://hoehoe3.sakura.ne.jp/u1h/ebbs/
5. ↑ http://hompyr.jocoso.jp/nfs/hp/blob4/623/115/0/115623/art/404/17/1/1017404/2/u7e3NO_RESIZED.jpg
6. ↑ http://disgaea.jp/3D/