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A Conversation with Kazuya Yamada and Spike Chunsoft at Anime Expo
🕑 Added 2025-08-05 03:21:11 +0000 UTCNote: Due to time constraints, this will be published on Anime Herald's main site on August 9, 2025. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Author: Seth Burn
Editor: Samantha Ferreira
Anime Herald: Tell me about the next entry in AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES series, “No Porn for Kaname Date.”
Yu Namba: No porn?! Oh man.
Alex Flagg: Never. We would never take the character in that direction.
Anime Herald: He would die. He likes what he likes, and Aiba likes bugs.
Yu Namba: Yeah.
Alex Flagg: That’s right.
Anime Herald: So, tell me about No Sleep For Kaname Date - From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES. What are you allowed to share about it?
Kazuya Yamada: If this interview sells us a million copies, we can talk about anything.
Alex Flagg: Be sure to give us those receipts.
Anime Herald: Let’s talk about the timeline. Does this take place shortly after AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES – nirvanA Initiative, or does it take place in a different time frame?
Kazuya Yamada: I can’t say, specifically, exactly when this game takes place. I’ve always thought of it taking place directly in the middle between the first and the second game.
Anime Herald: What’s the story with Kaname Date in this game?
Kazuya Yamada: The reason why Kaname Date is in this game is because everyone likes Date, and I like Date. I wanted to write about Date.
Anime Herald: When is Boss going to get her stand alone game?
Mimi Saito: That’s a really good idea.
Kazuya Yamada: I’m considering it.
Anime Herald: How long did it take from coming up with the idea to starting development?
Kazuya Yamada: From me getting inspiration and the idea, it took me a month.
Anime Herald: You work very fast.
Mimi Saito: Yeah.
Yu Namba: I think what he meant to say is that was just putting the concept together. The actual development hadn't started.
Anime Herald: That’s still very fast.
Yu Namba: Very fast.
Anime Herald: What were your favorite games growing up?
Kazuya Yamada: The SaGa series from Square-Enix.
Anime Herald: Do you still have time to see what other games are doing, or do you not have time because you have to focus on your own games?
Kazuya Yamada: I have a deep passion for games. If I could, I’d give up sleep to play games. During the development of No Sleep For Kaname Date - From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES, I averaged about three hours of sleep.
Anime Herald: No sleep for Kaname Date, no sleep for Kazuya Yamada.
Mimi Saito: (Laughs) That’s a good one.
Anime Herald: Do you watch anime or read manga, or is it just straight video games for you?
Kazuya Yamada: I’m a huge fan of Kamen Rider. I watch episodes of it all year long.
(Editor’s note: There was a brief discussion about Kamen Rider, and the new line of Kamen Rider toys from Rokimoto)
Anime Herald: Do you ever feel guilt for some of the horrible things you do to some of the characters in your games?
Kazuya Yamada: Yeah. The characters have been through some rough times. I guess so.
Anime Herald: What is your origin story? How did you decide to enter the industry?
Kazuya Yamada: I entered the video game industry around twenty years ago. Before that, I was a stage actor. I considered my future. I wasn’t getting paid that much. Even if I made it big, I would only be famous in Japan. I thought “If I want to be really famous, I should go into the video game industry.” That’s how I started.
Anime Herald: Interesting. That’s not what most people do. Where did you start in the video game industry?
Kazuya Yamada: For the first two years or so, I was in a very small development company making a myriad of different genres of mobile games. I did shoot ’em ups, RPGs, escape games, romantic adventure games. I did everything apart from the programming and graphic works.
I wrote scenarios, dialogue, coordinated with clients.
Anime Herald: That’s very good training.
Kazuya Yamada: I was only able to go home from work a few days a week.
Anime Herald: Sleep under the desk.
Yu Namba: I’ve done that too.
Mimi Saito: Did you really sleep in the office?
Kazuya Yamada: I was too tired to do the fifteen-minute walk back home. This doesn’t happen anymore.
Anime Herald: Shoji Kawamori told me stories from back when he visited an anime studio and multiple people were sleeping under a desk.
Mimi Saito: I thought this was only a TV thing.
Anime Herald: No. That happened.
Are you going to be able to go around and check out Anime Expo?
Kazuya Yamada: I was able to walk around yesterday. The industry booths were fine. I was fascinated by the smaller individual booths. I saw a booth filled with wall scrolls that I wanted to buy and felt bad, because I can’t fit them on my wall.
Anime Herald: Do you have any questions for us?
Kazuya Yamada: (Laughs) How disappointed was everyone when they found out Uchikoshi-san wasn’t writing the scenario for this game?
Mimi Saito: He keeps worrying about it.
Anime Herald: It’s wait and see. We love the characters. We want to see how the story goes.
Kazuya Yamada: I really hope people enjoy it.
Anime Herald: Which of the Somniums that you invade in the previous games was your favorite?
Kazuya Yamada: Kusemon GO.
Anime Herald: That one was funny. You expect Iris’s father to be the boss. It turned out he was just the mid-boss.
Mimi Saito: Maybe the last question.
Anime Herald: In that case, what questions would you like to ask Yamada-san?
Mimi Saito: Do we have any questions?
Anime Herald: Yes you do. I’m sure you do.
Alex Flagg: If you could design your own AI-Ball, what would it look like?
Kazuya Yamada: It would look like Kamen Rider, with flames coming out when it was installed.
Anime Herald: What would your Somnium look like if someone were to invade it?
Kazuya Yamada: I would be a member of the Power Rangers protecting porno magazines.
Anime Herald: There is a French sentai movie you have to see called Smoking Causes Coughing.
Kazuya Yamada: Thank you.
Anime Herald: Thank you very much.
