Danganronpa Wiki
Register
No edit summary
Tag: rte-source
No edit summary
(30 intermediate revisions by 14 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Stub}}
 
 
{{Real Person}}
 
{{Real Person}}
  +
{{Quotes V2|As long as I can create something that I find new and interesting and exciting and unique, that's all that matters.|Kazutaka Kodaka}}
 
 
{{People
 
{{People
 
|name = Kazutaka Kodaka
 
|name = Kazutaka Kodaka
|image = Kodaka.jpg
+
|image = Kazutaka_Kodaka.png
 
|occupations = Creator<br>Director<br>Scenario Writer
 
|occupations = Creator<br>Director<br>Scenario Writer
|birth_date = {{Cancer|July 8, 1978}}<ref>{{Twitter|username=@kazdokaka|name=Kazutaka Kodaka|url=https://twitter.com/kazkodaka/status/882915784384806912|tweet=My birthday is July 8th! It is the day after tomorrow. I am in the Japan Expo!|img=|date=7 July 2017}}</ref>
+
|born = {{zodiac|cancer|July 8, 1978}}<ref>{{Twitter|username=@kazdokaka|name=Kazutaka Kodaka|url=https://twitter.com/kazkodaka/status/882915784384806912|tweet=My birthday is July 8th! It is the day after tomorrow. I am in the Japan Expo!|img=File:Kodaka's confirmation about his birthday.jpg|date=7 July 2017}}</ref>
  +
  +
|gender = {{gender|male}}}}
  +
'''Kazutaka Kodaka''' (小高和剛) is a Japanese video game creator and writer. He is the creator and scenario writer of the ''[[Danganronpa]]'' series. He is a former employee of [[Spike Chunsoft]] and the co-founder of TooKyo Games game developer studio.
   
  +
==Biography==
|gender = {{gender|male}}}}'''Kazutaka Kodaka''' (小高 和剛 ''Kodaka Kazutaka'') is the creator, director and scenario writer of the ''[[Danganronpa |Danganronpa]]'' series.
 
  +
===Early Life===
  +
Kodaka was born on July 8th, 1978, and lives in Tokyo, Japan<ref name="Sai Zen Sen Interview 1">{{ref|site=Sai-Zen-Sen|url=https://sai-zen-sen.jp/works/sessions/danganronpa-zero-interview/02/01.html|title=サイコポップ”が『ダンガンロンパ/ゼロ』に至るまで--|date=SEPT 3, 2011}}.</ref>. As a child, he attended a private boys' junior high school where he made very few friends, instead spending all his free time away from school watching anime, watching movies, and playing video games<ref name="Sai Zen Sen Interview 1"></ref>. He was very studious in high school, but became tired of studying for his college entrance exams in his third year, until he learned that he could study film at the {{wiki|Nihon University|Nihon University College of Art}}. He majored in and graduated with a degree in film studies<ref name="Sai Zen Sen Interview 1"></ref>.
   
  +
While at university he worked part-time in Chameleon Club video games store, during what he feels was a turning point in the video game industry since they were having a huge surge of popularity with the increased availability of home consoles. He was able to play a lot of games because he got them at a discount from working at the store, and his interests changed from being focused on movies to heavy interest in video games. Kodaka explained to his professor that although he was majoring in film, he did not want to become a film director like his classmates, and instead intended to apply his film degree to making video games. The professor helped him get the opportunity to work as an assistant director to {{wiki|Kinji Fukasaku}} during the production of {{wiki|Clock Tower 3}}, where he contributed to the cutscene videos featured in-game. Kodaka's first post-graduate role was writing for the ''{{wiki|Jake Hunter}}'' (known in Japan as Tantei Jingūji Saburō) mobile game series in 2008, contributing to 6 of the games, and several tie-in books, and was later hired by {{wiki|Spike (company)|Spike}} (now {{wiki|Spike Chunsoft}}) to write the scenario for the Nintendo DS game ''{{wiki|Case_Closed#Video_games|Meitantei Conan & Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbou}}''<ref name="Gamer Interview">{{ref|site=Gamer Interview|url=https://www.gamer.ne.jp/news/201309080001/|title=ゲームコレクター・酒缶のスーパーリコレクション第11回:ゲームでオリジナルを作りたい「ダンガンロンパ」シリーズ 小高和剛氏|date=SEPT 8, 2013}}</ref>.
He is known within the fan base as being very passionate about ''Danganronpa''. He is also notorious of teasing fans of the series via his Twitter account.
 
   
==Profile==
+
===Danganronpa===
  +
Seeking the opportunity to write an original work with his own scenario, Kodaka submitted a pitch to Spike for what would later become ''[[w:c:danganronpa:Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc|Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc]]'' alongside character designer [[Rui Komatsuzaki]]. After some initial reworking to tone down the dark scenario to make it more easily marketable, the pitch was accepted and the first ''Danganronpa'' game was released on November 25th, 2010 for PlayStation Portable. Though the game was only expected to sell around 50,000 units, the game instead became a cult sensation through word-of-mouth, selling 25,564 units in its first week and debuting in 8th place in the weekly game sales charts<ref name="Week 1 Sales DR">{{ref|site=IGN|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2010/12/03/gran-turismo-5-tops-the-charts-in-japan|title=Gran Turismo 5 Tops the Charts in Japan|date=MAY 4, 2012}}.</ref>, with sales topping over 85,000 within the first three months of release<ref name="Week 1 Sales DR">{{ref|site=Siliconera|url=https://www.siliconera.com/2011/02/25/danganronpa-sells-85000-units-spike-ceo-pleased/|title=Danganronpa Sells 85,000 Units, Spike CEO Grins Like Mono-Bear|date=FEB 25, 2011}}</ref>. ''Danganronpa'''s cult popularity led to three critically acclaimed sequels: ''Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair'', ''Danganronpa Another Episode'', and ''Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony'', which were all given an English localization by {{wiki|NIS America}} from 2014 onwards.
=== Works ===
 
Kodaka is the creator of the ''Danganronpa'' series, and is the director and writer for all of the series' main content.
 
* ''[[Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc]]'' (Video game; 2010)
 
* ''[[Danganronpa/Zero]]'' (Novel; 2011)
 
* ''[[Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair]]'' (Video game; 2012)
 
* ''[[Makoto Naegi's Worst Day Ever]]'' (Novel; 2013)
 
* ''[[Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls]]'' (Video game; 2014)
 
* ''[[Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School]]'' (Anime; 2016)
 
* ''[[Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer]]'' (Manga; 2016-2017)
 
* ''[[Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony]]'' (Video game; 2017)
 
* ''[[Danganronpa Kodaka ~ 860 days for "Danganronpa"|Danganronpa Kodaka]] ''(Non-fiction book; 2017)
 
   
  +
===Too Kyo Games===
In addition to working on the ''Danganronpa'' series, Kodaka has also contributed to a number of other anime and film productions.
 
  +
After the completion of ''Danganronpa V3'' and the ''Danganronpa'' spin-off anime series ''Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School'', Kodaka approached his ''Danganronpa'' character designer Rui Komatsuzaki and composer [[Masafumi Takada]] to discuss his plans to create his own independant development company. Along with other industry veterans and fellow Spike Chunsoft employees such as Kodaka's long time friend, the ''Zero Escape'' series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi, the group founded the studio {{wiki|TooKyo Games}} in 2017 and officially left Spike Chunsoft. The company's name is a wordplay on Tokyo – where they are based – and the Japanese word kyō (狂, "crazy"), thus meaning "Too Crazy Games"<ref name="Famitsu TooKyo">{{ref|site=Famitsu|url=https://www.famitsu.com/news/201809/12163849.html|title=小高和剛氏、打越鋼太郎氏らによる新会社Too Kyo Games設立! 日本独自のゲームで世界に挑む、新会社設立に迫るインタビュー|date=SEP 12, 2018}}</ref>. As Kodaka explained, "The object of this company is to do something new, which is the creation of a new IP commonly known all over the world, and in the future we will make indie games by ourselves. This new company enables us to move freely towards the goal"<ref name="Gamesindustry.biz">{{ref|site=Gamesindustry.biz|url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-09-11-former-danganronpa-zero-escape-fate-grand-order-developers-form-too-kyo-games|title=Former Danganronpa, Zero Escape, Fate/Grand Order developers form Too Kyo Games|date=SEP 12, 2018}}</ref>. As of 2020, the studio has five titles in development: ''[[w:c:deathmarchclub:Death March Club|Death March Club]]'', FMV game ''[[w:c:deathcometrue:Death Come True|Death Come True]]'', two other untitled video game projects, and an anime series created by studio {{wiki|Pierrot (company)|Pierrot}}. He also mentioned that he would still like to go back to the ''Danganronpa'' franchise at some point in the future.<ref>[https://www.famitsu.com/news/201809/12163849.html Returning to Danganronpa]</ref>
* ''{{Wiki|Clock Tower 3}}'' (Video game; 2002) - Sub-director
 
* ''Guren 5'' (Manga; 2013-2015) - Writer
 
* ''[[wikipedia:Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life#Anime|Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life: Phantasmagoric Arc]]'' (Anime; 2015) - Script writer <small>(alongside Yun Kouga, Shigeto Koyama, Yousuke Kuroda, Yoshiko Nakamura, Tatsuya Takahashi, Makoto Uezu, Gen Urobuchi, Yuniko Ayana, Kazuyuki Fudeyasu, Masaya Honda, and Jirou Ishii)</small>
 
   
==Gallery==
+
==Works==
  +
===Video Games===
<gallery position="center">
 
 
*'''{{wiki|Clock Tower 3}}''': Video Assistant Director <small>(2002)</small>
Kodaka and Monokuma.jpg|''Danganronpa Kodaka''
 
  +
*'''{{wiki|Jake Hunter}}''' series: Scenario <small>(2008)</small>
Kodaka and Kanda MyNavi.png|[[Sayaka Kanda]] and Kodaka MyNavi collaboration.
 
  +
**The Six Sheets of Crime (6枚の犯行)
</gallery>
 
  +
**Search for the Dying Smoke! (亡煙を捜せ!)
  +
**The Night of Quito (キトの夜)
  +
**The Square Trap (四角の罠)
  +
**The Man Who Was Called a Dog (イヌと呼ばれた男)
  +
*'''Bakuso Dekotra Legend Black''' <small>(2008)</small>
  +
*'''{{wiki|Case_Closed#Video_games|Meitantei Conan & Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbou}}''': Scenario (2009)
  +
*'''{{wiki|Danganronpa}}''' series: Creator and Scenario
 
**[[Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc]] <small>(2010)</small>
 
**[[Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair]] <small>(2012)</small>
 
**[[Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls]] <small>(2014)</small>
 
**[[Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony]] <small>(2017)</small>
  +
*'''School of Ragnarok''': Scenario <small>(2015)</small>
  +
*'''[[w:c:deathmarchclub:Death March Club|Death March Club]]''': Creative Director <small>(2020)</small>
   
==Quotes==
+
===Anime===
  +
*'''Danganronpa: The Animation:''' Scenario (2013)
*“When I write my stories, my main goal is to keep myself interested, and write the kind of game and story, and characters, and scenario that I would be entertained by.”
 
  +
*'''{{wiki|Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life}}:''' Screenplay (2015)
*“When it comes to ''Danganronpa'', I'm there.”
 
  +
**Detective Wooser's Final Problem (名探偵うーさー、最後の事件)
*“The reason why ''Danganronpa'''s blood isn't red is because of "psychopop" itself.”
 
 
*'''Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School''' (2016)
   
==Trivia==
+
===Books===
  +
*'''Detective Saburo Jinguji: The Ghost of Shinjuku''' (探偵 神宮寺三郎 新宿の亡霊): Novel (2006)
* Kodaka's favorite ''Danganronpa'' character is [[Monokuma]], because he is the easiest to write for as Kodaka can have him say whatever he wants.
 
  +
*'''Detective Jinguji Saburo Shining Mirai''' (探偵 神宮寺三郎 輝かしいミライ): Novel (2007)
* Kodaka's favorite mystery-genre novelist is {{Wiki|Nisio Isin}}.<ref name="interview1">[http://www.usgamer.net/articles/danganronpa-director-kazutaka-kodaka-on-the-power-of-psychopop ''Danganronpa Director Kazutaka Kodaka on the Power of "Psychopop"'', Bob Mackey - USgamer - Published 12/28/2015]</ref>
 
 
*'''[[Danganronpa Zero]]''' (ダンガンロンパ/ゼロ): Novel (2011)
* If Kodaka was punished by Monokuma, he stated that he would die from not creating a game scenario on time. Overworking, writing continuously until he fell apart.<ref name="interview2">[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2015-07-22/interview-danganronpa-creator-kazutaka-kodaka/.90760 ''Interview: Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka'', Jacob Chapman - Anime News Network - Published 07/22/2015]</ref>
 
  +
*'''Guren 5''' (グレン5): Manga Series (2013)
* Kodaka likes eighties American music, especially {{Wiki|Bon Jovi}}.<ref name="interview3">[http://nichegamer.com/2015/03/09/danganronpa-interview-with-writer-and-creator-kazutaka-kodaka/ ''Danganronpa Interview with Writer and Creator Kazutaka Kodaka'', Brandon Orselli - Niche Gamer - Published 03/09/2015]</ref>
 
 
*'''[[Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer]]''' (ダンガンロンパ害伝 キラーキラー): Manga Series (2016)
  +
*'''Gamblers Parade''' (ギャンブラーズパレード): Manga Series (2018)
   
 
== External Links ==
 
== External Links ==
* [https://twitter.com/kazkodaka?lang=en Kazutaka Kodaka] on Twitter
+
*'''Twitter''': [https://twitter.com/kazkodaka?lang=en Kazutaka Kodaka]
* [https://www.facebook.com/kazutaka.kodaka Kazutaka Kodaka] on Facebook
+
*'''Facebook''': [https://www.facebook.com/kazutaka.kodaka Kazutaka Kodaka]
   
 
==References==
 
==References==
 
{{Reflist}}
 
{{Reflist}}
 
{{Clr}}
[[ru:Казутака Кодака]]
 
  +
==Navigation==
[[Category:Developers]]
 
 
{{Creators}}[[ru:Казутака Кодака]]
[[Category:Revamp Needed]]
 
  +
[[Category:Game Development Team]]
  +
[[Category:Maintenance: Article Revamp]]

Revision as of 18:30, 28 December 2019

Real World THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT A REAL PERSON
Please ensure any edits and additions to this page are respectful, on-topic, and constructive.
Do not share any of this person's private information, or any of your personal opinions or speculation.


Kazutaka Kodaka (小高和剛) is a Japanese video game creator and writer. He is the creator and scenario writer of the Danganronpa series. He is a former employee of Spike Chunsoft and the co-founder of TooKyo Games game developer studio.

Biography

Early Life

Kodaka was born on July 8th, 1978, and lives in Tokyo, Japan[2]. As a child, he attended a private boys' junior high school where he made very few friends, instead spending all his free time away from school watching anime, watching movies, and playing video games[2]. He was very studious in high school, but became tired of studying for his college entrance exams in his third year, until he learned that he could study film at the Nihon University College of Art. He majored in and graduated with a degree in film studies[2].

While at university he worked part-time in Chameleon Club video games store, during what he feels was a turning point in the video game industry since they were having a huge surge of popularity with the increased availability of home consoles. He was able to play a lot of games because he got them at a discount from working at the store, and his interests changed from being focused on movies to heavy interest in video games. Kodaka explained to his professor that although he was majoring in film, he did not want to become a film director like his classmates, and instead intended to apply his film degree to making video games. The professor helped him get the opportunity to work as an assistant director to Kinji Fukasaku during the production of Clock Tower 3, where he contributed to the cutscene videos featured in-game. Kodaka's first post-graduate role was writing for the Jake Hunter (known in Japan as Tantei Jingūji Saburō) mobile game series in 2008, contributing to 6 of the games, and several tie-in books, and was later hired by Spike (now Spike Chunsoft) to write the scenario for the Nintendo DS game Meitantei Conan & Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbou[3].

Danganronpa

Seeking the opportunity to write an original work with his own scenario, Kodaka submitted a pitch to Spike for what would later become Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc alongside character designer Rui Komatsuzaki. After some initial reworking to tone down the dark scenario to make it more easily marketable, the pitch was accepted and the first Danganronpa game was released on November 25th, 2010 for PlayStation Portable. Though the game was only expected to sell around 50,000 units, the game instead became a cult sensation through word-of-mouth, selling 25,564 units in its first week and debuting in 8th place in the weekly game sales charts[4], with sales topping over 85,000 within the first three months of release[4]. Danganronpa's cult popularity led to three critically acclaimed sequels: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Danganronpa Another Episode, and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, which were all given an English localization by NIS America from 2014 onwards.

Too Kyo Games

After the completion of Danganronpa V3 and the Danganronpa spin-off anime series Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, Kodaka approached his Danganronpa character designer Rui Komatsuzaki and composer Masafumi Takada to discuss his plans to create his own independant development company. Along with other industry veterans and fellow Spike Chunsoft employees such as Kodaka's long time friend, the Zero Escape series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi, the group founded the studio TooKyo Games in 2017 and officially left Spike Chunsoft. The company's name is a wordplay on Tokyo – where they are based – and the Japanese word kyō (狂, "crazy"), thus meaning "Too Crazy Games"[5]. As Kodaka explained, "The object of this company is to do something new, which is the creation of a new IP commonly known all over the world, and in the future we will make indie games by ourselves. This new company enables us to move freely towards the goal"[6]. As of 2020, the studio has five titles in development: Death March Club, FMV game Death Come True, two other untitled video game projects, and an anime series created by studio Pierrot. He also mentioned that he would still like to go back to the Danganronpa franchise at some point in the future.[7]

Works

Video Games

Anime

  • Danganronpa: The Animation: Scenario (2013)
  • Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life: Screenplay (2015)
    • Detective Wooser's Final Problem (名探偵うーさー、最後の事件)
  • Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School (2016)

Books

  • Detective Saburo Jinguji: The Ghost of Shinjuku (探偵 神宮寺三郎 新宿の亡霊): Novel (2006)
  • Detective Jinguji Saburo Shining Mirai (探偵 神宮寺三郎 輝かしいミライ): Novel (2007)
  • Danganronpa Zero (ダンガンロンパ/ゼロ): Novel (2011)
  • Guren 5 (グレン5): Manga Series (2013)
  • Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer (ダンガンロンパ害伝 キラーキラー): Manga Series (2016)
  • Gamblers Parade (ギャンブラーズパレード): Manga Series (2018)

External Links

References

Navigation

v  e
CREATORS