In 2021, Daisuke Miyata spoke with SMRPG monster designer and character design supervisor Kazuyuki Kurashima in a 9-part interview. The series begins here: https://logmi.jp/knowledge_culture/culture/324339
I commissioned Kakipii to translate partial excerpts of the series (mostly everything related to SMRPG and Kurashima’s time at Square).
Miyata: Ah I see. So you took sort of a unique path to get there. Were you just really into the games of the time or what?
Kurashima: Yeah I’d always loved games. I got my start with the original Mario Brothers and just kept on gaming through middle school and high school. My grades started to decline, and my academic prospects went with them. I was halfway decent at drawing, so I thought I might like making video game art someday. I’d look into attending a handful of different art schools but would never find a good fit. Or maybe I was the bad fit for them [laughs].
Miyata: Oh so it wasn’t you weeding them out? [laughs].
Kurashima: I was just awful at the practical tests. I eventually got into a technical school who basically accepted any applicant with a pulse. My studies there had absolutely nothing to do with video games, but I still wanted to somehow get into the industry. I finally got my in through a friend’s brother who worked at a gaming company. So starting in my third year at the college I would take contracts here and there, contributing my art and designs for video games. That was basically how I got my foot in the door.
Miyata: Well let’s move on from these humble beginnings to the path that would lead to a blockbuster title: you joining the Mario RPG team.
Kurashima: Sure.
Miyata: What led to you joining the Mario RPG team?
Kurashima: Well I seem to remember the Live A Live team basically just organically becoming the Mario RPG team.
Miyata: So it sounds like you guys were sort of just ready for the next project at that point. How did you picture your team’s role in the development of Mario RPG? Since you were collaborating with Nintendo now, I could see how it might be hard to know for sure where your team fit in.
Kurashima: We were just sort of on the periphery. Team Periphery, ya know?
Miyata: Oh yeah I can see that.
Kurashima: Well if the Final Fantasy team were the army generals, we were mere infantrymen; we were the farm team. That sounds kinda condescending but you know what I mean.
Miyata: [Laughs]
Kurashima: We were little fish in a big pond, if you will.
Miyata: So you guys weren’t exactly The A-Team at Square [laughs].
Kurashima: It was very much Team A and Team B.