Interview with Toru Kubo
In conjunction with our review of Gungrave, we are proud to present an exclusive interview with Toru Kubo of Red Entertainment in which we talk about Movies, Sakura Taisen, and (of course) Gungrave.
In conjunction with our review of
Gungrave, we are proud to present an
Exclusive interview with Toru Kubo of Red Entertainment in which we talk about Movies, Sakura Taisen, and (of course) Gungrave.
Kubo-san is the producer for Gungrave and a key member of Red Entertainment.
Games are Fun: We are big fans of Robert Rodriguez's films, especially "Desperado." After watching Grave execute his Demolition Shot and meeting the enemies with the machine gun briefcases, we're pretty sure you gentlemen are too. Did the movie Desperado influence some of the moves and weapons in GunGrave?
Toru Kubo: Yes, we love the movies too, so of course there’s some influence there. As for the Demolition Shot you mentioned, we were even calling it the “Desperado move” during the early stages of development. There are also a lot of other influences from different gun action movies. Oh, and we love John Woo films, too. (laughs)
Games are Fun: The animation in GunGrave is beautiful with the character designs of Yasuhiro Nightow really brings the action alive. With Red's past success with anime versions of Sakura Taisen, are there any plans to do a GunGrave television series or movie?
Toru Kubo: Yes, we’ve already announced in Japan that we’re moving forward with the conceptual work for an animation project. I can’t really discuss the details yet, but want to make a very high-quality work, as well as an entertaining work that can be enjoyed be people all over the world.
Games are Fun: Red is famous for its Sakura Taisen and Thousand Arms role playing games. Was it difficult to move into the action genre with GunGrave?
Toru Kubo: As far as normal action games go, we’ve made many in the past, so it probably wouldn’t have been very difficult if GunGrave were just another action game. But we tried to make a kind of game that had never been made before, so things were very challenging up until the very end. So we hope we were successful in making something new, but what do you think?
Games are Fun: We know it is probably too early to be asking about a sequel but is there a possibility of a GunGrave 2?
Toru Kubo: To give you a straightforward answer... I, as the producer, really want to make a sequel. That’s just my opinion, though. I think Mr. Naito also feels the same way, so in an ideal world, we could start making a sequel right now. But unless GunGrave sells, there can’t be a GunGrave 2. So, we need to ask for your cooperation in making sure as many copies of GunGrave as possible find their way to the hands of users. If the game sells well, GunGrave 2 is all but assured.
Games are Fun: We are all big fans of the Sakura Taisen series and the announcement of six new Sakura Taisen titles for the PS2 has us very excited. Do you think this will finally be the chance for Sakura Taisen to come to the United States?
Toru Kubo: Of course, our global strategy includes the US market as well. I have no doubt that Sakura will make it to the US, but at this point it hasn’t been decided which game will arrive first, so details to follow.
Each of the games will be good ones, so please look forward to them!
A special thanks goes out to Bryce Baer at Sega for making this interview possible. Make sure you check out our review of
Gungrave and pick up a copy to assure a sequel!
