He's a seeker of perfection.

[ghostdrive]

From Iwata Asks an interview by Satoru Iwata, President and CEO of Nintendo, with the creative team (made up of Kyohei Seki, Takafumi Masaoka, Masami Yone, Kou Takeuchi, and Kazuyoshi Osawa) of the Nintendo DS game Rhythm Heaven:

Osawa: [Yone is] very...kind. He knows how to read me...and cheers me up. When I'm feeling down, he e-mails me pictures of kittens.

Everyone: (roaring laughter)

Iwata: And th-that cheers you up. (laughs)

Osawa: Photos of cute kittens are a big help. (laughs)

Yone: In the morning, when he looks down-and-out, I send him pictures of kittens to help him relax.

Takeuchi: You do?! (laughs)

Yone: Sometimes.

Osawa: Sometimes.

Iwata: You shouldn't use company e-mail for that! (laughs)

Its good to know that even grown men aren't immune to the cheer-up power of kitten photos. XDD

The entire interview is a kinda long read, but really interesting, if only to hear that they all had to take dance lessons (lol, oh the power of Tsunku) in order to become more aware of rhythm. XD I really enjoy reading interviews involving video game industry people (like the ones here), so I found the whole thing a fun read.

Takeuchi: Iwata-san, as I'm sure you already know, Osawa-san can be very particular. He has his own very strong ideas. But he wouldn't openly express them, so others often don't understand what he means. You have to be good at reading him. (laughs)

Osawa: …

Iwata: He's a seeker of perfection.

Takeuchi: Exactly!

Osawa: …

Iwata: He must go his own road, and you can hear his spirit crying out, "Figure out which way I'm going from the aura that surrounds me!"

Funniest thing was the picture that accompanied this part of the interview: Yone and Takeuchi's laughing grins while Osawa was off to the side with this "why are you saying those sorts of things" expression on his face.

Iwata: And later you made character goods.

Takeuchi: Oh, that's right. I was grateful for that opportunity. They were mostly onions, though.

Iwata: Yeah. Lots of onions.

Takeuchi: Nothing but onions. I thought, "Couldn't they have come up with something cuter?" Oh well, I was the one who drew them.

Iwata: The onion's plucking the mustache in rhythm makes quite an impression.

Takeuchi: At first it wasn't an onion, but a person's face. We were using a real photo of someone's face, but it was a little too gross.

LOL, that reminds me of the nose picking minigame from Wario Ware, Inc.