Ryukishi07

Ryukishi07 (竜騎士07, Ryūkishi Zero Nana, born November 19, 1973) is the pen name of a Japanese man originally from Chiba Prefecture, and the original creator for the idea of the visual novel series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni. He is the representative member of the group 07th Expansion. His pen name originates from the Final Fantasy series, "Ryūkishi" being the Japanese term for "Dragon Knight", and "07" goroawase for the name of Final Fantasy V character "Lenna".^[1]

Career

Ryukishi07, who was interested in video games, anime, and manga, studied at a vocational school that specialized in art. During that time, he wrote doujinshi. During his time in college, he tried to write manga and novels, but he came to realize that "No matter your passion for something, without skill, you can never make it as a professional." One day, he met with a colleague from a theatre troupe, and he was inspired to write a play called "The Hinamizawa Bus Stop" (雛見沢停留所, Hinamizawa Teiryūjo) which he submitted to a contest that he later lost.^[2]

After graduating from the vocational school, he dreamed of becoming a video game developer, so he focused on finding a job at a video game manufacturer. However, none of his attempts at this were successful. Reluctantly, he took up a position at a menswear store, but after a few months, he tentatively took up an offer for a civil service position based on the civil service test that he had taken during the job search.^[3]

Reactions to worldwide spread of his works

In a 2012 interview with Damien Bandrac for the Journal du Japon, Ryukishi07 said that:

Initially, my audience was otaku who attend Comiket, which are a very small fraction of Japanese otaku, themselves a small part of Japanese people in general! I never thought for one second that I could be read, published, edited at the other end of the planet, in France... As for Higurashi, I never thought that people outside Japan might be interested. Umineko in particular is a text that even Japanese people can have difficulty reading. So, to imagine that foreigners have made the effort to read it, understand it, and translate it, is an indescribable happiness to me.^[4]

Writing process

Ryukishi07's writing has been described as alternating between "macabre scenes and schoolboy humor".^[4] He has said that, "a story should be like a roller coaster. That is to say before writing a really cruel scene, I have to lift the people's spirits, for example, with a fun scene... Before writing a scene of pure despair, we must go through scenes of hope. And indeed, when I write, all of this amuses me very much."^[4]

He has cited Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None as one of his major influences.^[4]

Works

• Higurashi When They Cry (screenplay and illustrations, Kodansha Box novels)
• Kaidan to Odorō, Soshite Anata wa Kaidan de Odoru (怪談と踊ろう、そしてあなたは階段で踊る), novel, serialized in Faust
• Higurashi Daybreak (screenplay)
• Umineko: When They Cry (screenplay and illustrations, Kodansha Box novels)
• Rewrite by Key (partial screenplay)
• Ōkami Kakushi by Konami (original plan/director)
• Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni
• Natsu no Kagerō (なつのかげろう), a 3D game collaboration with Twilight Frontier
• Rose Guns Days (screenplay and partial character design)^[5][6]

References

External links

• 07th Expansion's official website (Japanese)