This year in August 2021, we did a Crossover with Hana no Keiji.
We cannot express our pride in having not just Kenshiro Kasumi, but now even Keiji Maeda appear in FOTNS: LR.
While FIST OF THE NORTH STAR will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023, Hana no Keiji celebrated its 30th Anniversary in 2020, becoming a signature work of Hara-sensei.
Hana no Keiji also followed in the footsteps of FIST OF THE NORTH STAR by earning a regular spot in a weekly magazine.
"Maeda Keiji Kabuki Tabi" is currently being published in Comic Zenon, continuing to provide fans with exciting stories to this day.
Today we'll be talking about the recent Hana no Keiji Crossover and the finer details that went into it.
Let start off by looking at the illustrations.
Firstly, we have Keiji's beloved steed Matsukaze.
Matsukaze has a number of different outfits for different scenes. We chose the one he is seen wearing at the battle at Sado.
Consisting of armor and tiger print, it leaves a lasting impression.
The illustration for Matsukaze in the Crossover is based on this outfit. This illustration was created under the supervision of Hara-sensei.
A few days after consulting with him, we received a draft of the design and this is what it looked like:
As Matsukaze appears in the game as a solo playable Fighter, his armor and saddle became key aspects of his design. For this reason, his design is based on his outfit from the battle of Sado with a touch of extra decoration.
Apart from his saddle and armor, the additional decoration also gave him a bit more flair, making him look even more heroic.
Now let's talk about Keiji Maeda.
Keiji Maeda was not just a strong military commander, but also an iconic Kabukimono who risked his life for fun and games while his country was at war.
As a man who lived a spontaneous and risky lifestyle, something about his crazy ways captured the admiration of many.
In order for users to enjoy Keiji's crazy Kabukimono ways regardless of whether they have read the manga or not, we made sure to include the use of his pipe in many aspects of the game.
From his Secret Technique Kokuzoin Ittoryu to his victory scene animation, you can see Keiji using his pipe up close.
His pipe can also be spotted in pretty much all attacks including regular attacks and his Special Technique.
The animation for his Special Technique Tiger Strike is a recreation of a scene in the New Cover Edition volume 4 pages 80-82, where he throws his pipe in the air.
While the pipe is still in the air, he slices straight through his opponent, just in time to catch his pipe.
Sukeemon Okumura and Kanetsugu Naoe also have animation scenes based on the original manga.
We took up the challenge of recreating one of Sukeemon's most iconic scenes. An elegant scene that takes place in the moonlight, where he throws a sake cup and proceeds to gracefully slice through his opponent.
In the original manga, Sukeemon's attempt to strike Keiji actually failed because he struck his armor. However, in the recreation, he succeeds at slicing through his opponent.
He sheathes his sword, and, after a brief moment, the opponent is torn into two. A classic period drama-like scene.
As arguably the most handsome character of Hana no Keiji,
we made sure to recreate each aspect of him down to his movement and gestures very carefully.
As a member of the Uesugi clan's elite Spear-wielding army in both the manga and real life, Kanetsugu Naoe's reputation as a master spearman had to be portrayed in-game.
His valiant moments in the original manga were recreated down to his attacks. However, the truth is, that there are almost no scenes in the manga where he attacks with his spear, so scenes from the manga had to be combined to recreate his attacks.
This is the scene where he demonstrates his skills as a master spearman.
The sound of his spear as it cuts through the air is enough to instill fear into his enemies.
No matter which crossover we are working on, we do a lot of research by thoroughly reading the manga.
Tetsuo Hara's characters, (including Matsukaze, of course) are so captivating that we can't take our eyes off them.
There are just so many scenes that we want to include, so the process of selecting them was a lot of fun.
Having implemented a Fist of the Blue Sky and now even a Hana no Keiji crossover, we are looking forward to introducing more of Hara-sensei's other works in FOTNS: LR.
