A few weeks back I had the opportunity to ask the producer of ‘Shin-chan: Shiro and the Coal Town’ some questions about himself, the game, and its development. Akira Nagashima has directed and produced a number of games over his career, primarily family friendly titles such as ‘Crayon Shin-chan Otetsudai Daisakusen’, ‘Shimajiro Park’, ‘Kaiketsu Zorori no Yomitoki Adventure Island’, ‘Dragon Brain’, ‘Chizumon’ and ‘Insect Quest. Shin-chan’s “Otetsudai Saisakusen’ adventure in particular became a worldwide hit, with over 15 million downloads since its release.
Mr. Nagashima entered the console industry with ‘Puruchara Friends: Hoppe-chan and the Sanrio Characters’ for the Nintendo Switch in 2019 and ‘Issho ni Asobo~♪Koupen-chan’ in 2020, both again aimed at young children. And in 2021, he produced ‘Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation -The Endless Seven-Day Journey’ in collaboration with Kaz Ayabe, the creator of the ‘Boku no Natsuyasumi’ series. This title became a smash hit, with worldwide shipments exceeding 500,000 units. He once again has returned to write, direct, and handle art direction publisher Neos Corporation’s latest console game ‘Shin-chan: Shiro and the Coal Town’, which launched in Asian territories earlier this year on the Nintendo Switch.
In his recently produced titles, Mr. Nagashima has been using a technique in which he layers cel-shaded 3D models on top of hand-drawn artwork that is proportional to the production pipeline seen in Japanese animation. This visual style has been highly acclaimed by users and won the Excellence Award in the Visual Arts Category of the CEDEC AWARDS 2024 and was also entered for its Grand Prize.
With the introduction settled, have a gander below for our full interview with Akira Nagashima!
Heads up! This interview’s format has been modified for clarity but otherwise remains unchanged from its original script.
Hello, Mr. Nagashima! My name is Genghis and I’m with the Writing Team at XboxEra. I want to thank you for the chance to ask you some questions about yourself and Shin-chan: Shiro and the Coal Town.
Could you tell me a bit about yourself and how you found yourself working in the games industry? Was making games something you’ve always wanted to do?
I have been drawing pictures since I was a child. When I was in elementary school, I reproduced cartoons because I wanted to be a cartoonist, in junior high school I reproduced original drawings because I wanted to be an animator, and in high school, I drew storyboards because I wanted to be a movie director. After that, I went to design school and aimed to work in the game industry, but for some reason, I ended up working for a housing company. I didn’t get a job in the game industry until I was well past 40 years old. I wanted to do this job so much that even while I was working at other jobs, I was making game projects in my private time.
You’ve been in the development sphere for mobile devices for many years. What do you think of the phone and app market today compared to when you first started in the field?
I have been involved in content development since the days of the flip phone, so I have seen the evolution of devices and software up close. At that time, the expressive power of content was still limited, but I think it was a time when you could differentiate yourself from the competition if you worked hard to improve the quality of your content. On the other hand, in the smartphone market, where technology has evolved to the point where almost anything a planner can think of can be realized, competition has become global in scale, and differentiation is directly linked to higher development costs, which I feel is a very risky situation.
I see that your career has primarily been focused on family-friendly content. I’ve always noticed how the games industry at large tends to shy away from focusing on media for children, unlike televised media and books. Why the focus on making games for kids? And do you have any thoughts on kid-friendly content and its place in the game industry?
I started working on digital content for children more than 10 years ago when my daughter was born. At the dawn of the smartphone era, there was still a dearth of attractive kids’ content, and I had a hunch that we could still compete here. My motivation as a parent who wants to see my child as happy as possible and my nature as a businessman who wants to choose the blue ocean as much as possible were compatible, but I have a strong desire to create quality content that will genuinely please both children and adults.
Considering that there were many children’s games released until around the time of the Nintendo 3DS, I think the factors that have caused console game makers to distance themselves from children’s games in recent years are the spread of smartphones and changes in monetization. Many parents give their children smartphones they no longer use and use it as an excuse to purchase a new iphone. Most of the kids’ content released today is free to play, so you don’t have to open your wallet to see the smiles on children’s faces. Children also seem to be more interested in smartphones than game consoles, and we may see the scene less where parents give thousands of yen game packages to children as gifts.
I wanted to congratulate you and your team on your Shin-chan games. They have become breakout successes in Japan. I’ve a lot to ask, so do bear with me:
Why work on the Crayon Shin-chan IP? You have produced your own creative works before, why did you decide to work on an already established work instead?
We have developed many IP contents since the days of flip phones, but it was “Crayon Shin-chan Assistance Daisakusen”, a kids’ content, that triggered our decision to work on it. This game has already become popular with more than 15 million downloads worldwide, and at the beginning of the project, the original characters I had drawn were very active in helping out at home. The project was well received, and while we were preparing for development, we came up with the idea of replacing the characters with Crayon Shin-chan. We had to start over from the planning stage, and the release was postponed, but the intuition we had at that time led to the popularity of the game.
How did you go about adapting this series into a video game? Was a narrative adventure the first thing in mind as a genre?
After the success of “Assistance Daisakusen,” we decided to proceed with a video game project for Crayon Shin-chan. At first, we were considering going the route of action games and party games like the past titles, but my thoughts led me to plan the prototype for “Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation.”
I had always respected Kaz Ayabe’s work and had been thinking about the possibility of creating something like “Boku no Natsuyasumi” for a long time, so it was a natural progression for me. I think it was also a good decision to take the plunge and approach the original creator, Mr. Ayabe himself, about the project.
The art style of Shin-chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is beautiful! Not only do the characters of Crayon Shin-chan look as they do in the anime, but even the scenery itself complements their existence incredibly well. Could you give us some insight on how you and your team have managed to accomplish such a feat?
Actually, my desire to create a work like “Boku no Natsuyasumi” was attempted in the second Neos video game, “Issho ni Asobo∼♪Koupen-chan.” This was a method of layering cel-shaded 3D characters on top of hand-drawn background art. The art director we asked at that time, Takashi Nakamura, and I got along well in our approach to art creation, and he continued to be responsible as art director for “Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation” as well.
I fondly remember the nights when Mr. Nakamura and I would bring in sketches of each other’s work and get excited about what we wanted to do with the artwork. The deformation of the hand-drawn curves that would be realized in “Shiro and the Coal Town” was one of the ideas we had at that time. Unfortunately, Mr. Nakamura passed away before “Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation” was completed, but his thoughts and feelings have been passed on to “Shiro and the Coal Town.”
As a producer, you have quite a lot on your plate. I see you have planned, written, directed, and even handled the art direction for Shiro and the Coal Town. How do you balance all these responsibilities?
I tried very hard to share my thoughts and ideas in a tangible form, and that is how I ended up where I am today. The balance of my work is helped by my excellent staff. Thank you so much to all the staff.
I’ve read through some of the design decisions and looked at the rough sketches of the recent Shin-chan game. I see that a lot of thought even goes into the art on the game packaging! Did you have any notable challenges in balancing Shin-chan between his real world and the isekai Coal Town?
As a counterpoint to the everyday world in which Shinosuke and his friends live, I conceived of an imaginary town modeled on a time when the fossil fuel industry once flourished. We were particular about the visuals to create a slightly different feeling that was not too far removed from reality. It was technically difficult to implement the deformation of hand-drawn curves, but thanks to the hard work of the development staff, we were able to successfully achieve this.
What was the decision in bringing ‘Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation’ and ‘Shin-chan: Shiro and the Coal Town’ to English speaking audiences?
Unfortunately, the recognition of Crayon Shin-chan in the Western world is not as high as in Asia, where TV broadcasts and movies are regularly shown, but we have received many enthusiastic requests from fans. We hope that many people will enjoy “Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation” and “Shiro and the Coal Town.”
What aspect of video game development do you enjoy the most?
We are all working hard to create games that only we can make, or rather games that only we will make. It is a great pleasure when a system or expression that we think might please people comes to fruition.
Do you have a favourite video game? And are you playing anything right now?
“The Legend of Zelda,” “MOTHER,” “MOON,” “Boku no Natsuyasumi,” and “Shadow of the Colossus.” I am currently playing “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” slowly.
Is there anything you’d like players to know about the upcoming English release of ‘Shin-chan: Shiro and the Coal Town’ on PC and the Nintendo Switch? Any final thoughts you’d like to share?
While many games are bleak, “Shiro and the Coal Town” is a game that you can play slowly and relax. I would be happy if many people could play it.
Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Nagashima!
‘Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town’ will launch in western regions on the 23rd of October on PC via Steam and the Nintendo Switch.
