Ah okay, I can see where you're coming from now.

My reply to you seems to have been deleted, so I'll restate it. Kamitani's letter is in no way a non-statement, he clearly explains the reasoning behind his character designs and makes his apology to Schrier. I don't believe he should have to apologize for anything, but the letter is one of goodwill. Just because the…

Actually no, I disagree. The letter does makes a statement, it's trying to draw this mess to a conclusion. Schrier started this shitfest with hostility, Kamitani is trying to end it civilly, knowing that his initial response provoked an already growing fire and not wishing for it to escalate. It's pretty blatantly…

I love the dwarves picture as well. I don't find anything sexual about it.

I highly doubt Atlus made him do anything, because he's the freaking CEO and founder of Vanillaware, in addition to being the lead artist. He made sure to separate any connections this fiasco may have had with Atlus because when shit blows up it's good business sense to minimize the damage it could bring to your…

FFXII has a good following across the US and EU. Vanillaware's previous titles Odin Sphere, Muramasa, and GrimGrimoire all have niche but decent followings. Not sure what you're getting at.

George Kamitani is the lead artist, founder, and CEO of Vanillaware.

Ow. As one of the collector's edition owners of the PS3 version that definitive remark hurts my pride a bit. Oh well. I still need to get Artorias...

I don't disagree with that. But two gestures of bad form don't make one right. If you work at a company and your coworker does something stupid publicly, do you publicly shame them as well? No, because that would send a message to your company that you'd willingly give them bad PR. When you work for money, your ass is…

Certainly not, but at least when it comes to communication, they are usually polite. Kamitami's response was definitely tongue-in-cheek and snarky, but I don't believe he was intending to insult Schrier's sexuality. The picture conveys a jovial atmosphere, and there's nothing sexual going on.

What would substance be for you?

It's okay if a real woman shows massive cleavage, but the moment a drawn character shows up it's "this was designed for male eyes and is evil to all women! BURN THE ARTIST"

The people complaining likely have never even played any of Vanillaware's games, and probably didn't know they existed until Schrier's article. They probably wouldn't have given them a chance either way. It's a damn shame...

Kamitami's designs are always storybook-ish in aesthetic. He doesn't draw characters for people to envision themselves as, rather he designs them to fit into the story he wants to tell. In that way he's pretty old-fashioned, much like Hayao Miyazaki's characters.

It only comes off as attacking his sexuality IF you live in a culture where such attacks are prevalent.

How was the illustration insulting? The three dwarves are smiling and showing off their awesome muscles, as dwarves are wont to do. The pic is hardly insulting unless you live in a culture where gay insults are thrown around. Kamitami later apologized because he realized this culture difference. The pic itself is…

If you read Hakuto's posts in the previous article about this, he shows the connection between the sorceress's design and fertility goddesses throughout history, as well as how it's a running theme with many of Kamitani's character designs who use necromancy. Just because a character has very exaggerated proportions…

You realize that it's in bad form to publicly criticize your coworker for the world to see, right?

I can't speak for anyone else, but while I'm not at all averse to building my own desktop, I really can't be bothered to spend the time, as time is a commodity often in short supply for me.

Personally, I see the sorceress as a woman who really knows how to strut her stuff and kick ass, using her magic powers to keep her clothes from flying off. Completely non-realistic and absurd. You haven't really touched on the rogue girl character, who is much more realistically proportioned (relatively of course,…