is a Japanese

video game artist Game art design is a subset of game development involving the process of creating the artistic aspects of video games. Video game art design begins in the pre-production phase of creating a video game. Video game artists are visual artists invo ...

. She is best known for her work with

Square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

(now

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...

), in particular with the ''Final Fantasy'' series.

Biography

Shibuya was born in 1965. While in middle school, she began creating illustrations and animations inspired by anime series including ''

Space Battleship Yamato is a Japanese science fiction anime series written by Yoshinobu Nishizaki, directed by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto, and produced by Academy Productions. The series aired in Yomiuri TV from October 6, 1974 to March 30, 1975, totaling u ...

'' and ''

Galaxy Express 999 is a Japanese manga series. It is written and illustrated by Leiji Matsumoto, later adapted into a number of anime films and television series. It is set in a spacefaring, high-tech future in which humans have learned how to transfer ...

''. As a high schooler she enrolled in a technical school to study animation and worked part-time for animation studios on popular anime including ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...

'', ''

Area 88 is a Japanese manga series by Kaoru Shintani serialized between 1979 and 1986. The story is about a young pilot named Shin Kazama and his experiences at Area 88, a mercenary air force base secluded in the desert in the fictional nation of ...

'', and ''

Obake no Q-taro and are a class of ''yōkai'', preternatural creatures in Japanese folklore. Literally, the terms mean ''a thing that changes'', referring to a state of transformation or shapeshifting. These words are often translated as "ghost", but prima ...

''. In 1986, as she was losing interest in animation work, she was recruited by video game company Square. Shibuya's first work for Square was providing illustrations for ''

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

'' game manual and graphics for several games in development. In 1987, prompted by the success of

Enix was a Japanese multimedia publisher who handled and oversaw video games, manga, guidebooks, and merchandise. It was founded in 1975 by Yasuhiro Fukushima as Eidansha Boshu Service Center, initially as a tabloid publisher and later attempting t ...

's ''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a series of role-playing video games created by Japanese game designer Yuji Horii (Armor Project), character designer Akira Toriyama (Bird Studio), and composer Koi ...

'' the previous year, Square released ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

''. Shibuya created graphics including characters, spells, monsters, fonts, menus, and the game's opening bridge scene. By ''

Final Fantasy II is a 1988 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Family Computer as the second installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Like other ''Final Fantasy'' sequels, the game is set in its own world, and does not follow ...

'', she was one of two designers creating all the pixel art for the game. Shibuya went on to design graphics for other Final Fantasy games, most notably the iconic chibi versions of characters, monsters, fonts, and menus. She was the primary pixel artist for many well-known games including entries in the ''SaGa'' series and ''Mana'' series (of which she created all the graphics for the first game). In 2019, during a lecture at Japan Expo Paris, Shibuya was invited by Women in Games to be a member of honour.

Notable works

* ''

'' (manual illustration) * ''

King's Knight is a scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the Nintendo Entertainment System and MSX. The game was released in Japan on September 18, 1986 and in North America in 1989. It was later re-r ...

'' (graphics) * '' Suishou no Ryuu'' (graphics) * ''

Rad Racer ''Rad Racer'', known as in Japan, is a racing video game developed and published by Square for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1987. In this game, players drive a Ferrari 328 or a generic Formula One racing machine through a ...

'' (graphics) * '' The 3D Battles of WorldRunner'' (graphics) * ''

'' (graphics including opening scene and user interface) * ''

'' (graphics and user interface) * ''

Final Fantasy III is a 1990 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Family Computer. The third installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it is the first numbered ''Final Fantasy'' game to feature the job-change system. The story r ...

'' (graphics) * ''

Final Fantasy Adventure ''Final Fantasy Adventure'', known in Japan as or simply and later released in Europe as ''Mystic Quest'', is a 1991 action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Game Boy. It is a spin-off of the ''Final Fantasy'' series ...

'' (graphics) * ''

Final Fantasy IV titled ''Final Fantasy II'' in its initial North American release, is a 1991 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The fourth main installment of the ''Final ...

'' (package design) * ''

Final Fantasy V is a 1992 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square. It is the fifth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. The game first appeared only in Japan on Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainmen ...

'' (chibi character graphics, package design, opening and closing scenes) * ''

Final Fantasy VI also known as ''Final Fantasy III'' in its initial North American release, is a 1994 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Final Fantasy'' ser ...

'' (chibi character graphics) * '' Final Fantasy Dimensions'' (2D dot design) * ''

Final Fantasy IX is a 2000 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. It is the ninth game in the main ''Final Fantasy'' series. The plot focuses on a wa ...

'' (sub character graphics) * ''

Romancing SaGa ''Romancing SaGa'' is a 1992 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Famicom. It is the fourth entry in the ''SaGa'' series. It was subsequently re ...

'' (chibi character graphics) * ''

Romancing SaGa 3 ''Romancing SaGa 3'' is a 1995 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the Super Famicom. The sixth entry in the ''SaGa'' series, it was also the last developed for the platform. Originally releas ...

'' (chibi character graphics) * ''

SaGa Frontier is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. It is the seventh game in the ''SaGa (series), SaGa'' series, and the first to be released on the PlayStation. It is ...

'' (chibi character graphics) * ''

SaGa Frontier 2 is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation. It is the eighth original game in the ''SaGa'' series. Initially released in Japan in April 1999, an English version was made available in North America in Febr ...

'' (chibi character graphics) * '' Blue Wing Blitz'' (graphics director) * '' Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles'' (menu graphics and user interface) * ''

Code Age Commanders is a Japan-exclusive action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix on October 13, 2005, for the PlayStation 2. It is part of the ''Code Age'' series, a franchise created by video game artist Yusuke Naora and designed to span di ...

'' (menu design) * '' Final Fantasy IV: The After Years'' (chibi character graphics) * '' Final Fantasy Dimensions II'' (chief designer, chibi character graphics, menu design) * ''

Dragon Quest Monsters ''Dragon Quest Monsters'' is a spin-off series of the ''Dragon Quest'' games. Primarily developed by Tose (company), Tose and published by Square Enix (formerly Enix), it sets the player in a medieval/fantasy world filled with magic, monsters a ...

'' (monster and background graphics) * '' Nanashi no Game'' (character graphics) * '' Yosumin!'' (design director) * '' Terra Battle'' (monster graphics) * '' Adventures of Mana'' (Original staff, graphics) * '' Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius'' (character supervisor and designer of

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

’s character) * ''Season of Mystery: The Cherry Blossom Murders'' (art director)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shibuya, Kazuko Anime character designers Final Fantasy designers Square Enix people Japanese women illustrators Living people Japanese video game artists 1965 births

Biography

Notable works

See also

References