Kaneko is no stranger to swinging wide when it comes to contemporary popular culture, and while the man shares a particular fondness for the western variety, it should come as no surprise that some targets skew closer to home. Here are a few of the more relevant cases, in honor of the holiday season, or something.
TATTOOED MAN: Even when you have a roster of 400+ demons in an SMT game, fellows like Tattooed Man make you question if his spot couldn’t have been better represented. But you can’t say he’s not inspired: Kaneko admitted as much in a 1999 interview when he said he loves the image of Japanese actor Ken Takakura in yazuka flicks. Sure enough, Tattooed Man and his slick crew cut are a match for Takakura in the movie Brutal Tales of Chivalry 2: The Chinese Lion and Peony Tattoo, with or without a certain cool customer on his back.
GHOST Q: Not-so-subtle hints in artbooks confirm that SMTII’s Ghost Q is based on the incorporeal Q-tarō from the manga series Obake no Q-tarō, but, other than the comically large kissers, the only other clue is in the name itself.
OKAMOTO: Aleph’s one-time trainer is pulling inspiration in both character and design from Danpei of Tomorrow’s Joe fame, another bummy but driven fight coach in the grand tradition of underdog boxing narratives. In fact, his design is practically just a sleek, nominally futuristic take on Tetsuya Chiba’s more beleaguered original - a Kaneko trademark!
RAIDOU KUZUNOHA XIV: Raidou is channeling a no less appropriate source for his iconic design: Yasunori Kato of Teito Monogatari, one of the more notable pieces of occult pulp to influence the series. Kaneko manages to bend Kato’s Lieutenant attire into that of a Taishou era school uniform, and with his cloak down he’s a dead ringer for Amano’s original design.
