※ Spoiler Warning ※ We recommend viewing this post after completing the game! #30 - Captivated by Endless Reflections: Cursed Soh And so with the final post, this is the "Kami" with whom the promise was made. Since Soh's design was intentionally gender ambiguous, I chose to give this a more distinctly feminine silhouette. The game's kaleidoscope motif and cherry blossom petal inspiration were incorporated into the textures. The outfit is akin to white ceremonial robes—a pure, untainted white trapped within a kaleidoscope, endlessly reflected and unable to escape. Each component was designed with a connection to Soh in mind, but with reversed placement—like two mirrors facing each other—an ambitious combination of cool, cute, beautiful, and mysterious. I got carried away with the stage design, too, and the sky became a kaleidoscope as well. And the music really hits home...it evokes memories of the entire journey...and our journey of the behind the scenes of the Seethe comes to an end! At 30 posts in total, it became quite long, but I hope you've enjoyed reading it!

※ Spoiler Warning ※ We recommend viewing this post after completing the game! #29 - “True Tangle Is an Unbreakable Knot”: Nanamagari This feels almost transcendent, doesn't it? Before I knew it, it came together—the very definition of being completely absorbed in the work. The most important idea was of a knot so tangled it tightens further when tugged, thus becoming impossible to unravel—which I incorporated into the abdomen's design. With a difficult expression to read and body that blends human and beastly elements, I aimed for something both ominous and divine—an entity whose true nature is impossible to grasp.

※ Spoiler Warning ※ We recommend viewing this post after completing the game! #28 - Defilement Accumulates and Becomes Entangled: Nanamagari I read a line that inspired me and served as the foundation for the final boss. Rather than a specific motif, I envisioned the being's design encompassing what's found in the mountains, and centered it around humans and animals. It's first form has two human-like arms that share a single face and protect the main body. The face itself consists of three faces fused together (one facing forward, one on each side), symbolizing possession of multiple perspectives. At this point, we were deep in the final stretch of development and finding time to work on it was a challenge. I heard it echoing: "When are you going to finish the final boss?" Many movement ideas were proposed which helped collaborative process take shape. In the end, I think we succeeded in creating something that feels unlike anything players have seen before.

#27 – What Is This Thing!? It’s a Lucky Bonus! Kagokaburi A basket (or box) with arms and legs sticking out. A joke-like character at first glance, Kagokaburi's role was originally designed to transport a giant Bupposo, hidden inside the box. Various design discussions led to the mischievous concept to tempt players with immediate rewards and distract them from the task at hand—making Kagokaburi a Seethe that showers players with treasure. While I initially thought it would be nothing more than a box with arms and legs, the internal structure and physical design were fleshed out in greater detail during the modeling process. The result impressed me, "Ah, I see—that makes perfect sense." In Otherwordly Venture, Kagokaburi can actually become a powerful ally for players as well!

#26 – The Most Troublesome Seethe: Yatsukahagi Yatsukahagi's boss role summons smaller enemies to do its bidding, instead of directly fighting itself—like a sneaky figure who sits back arrogantly while others do the fighting for them. The design has subtle bird-like qualities after evolving/drawing inspiration from Divine Bird associated calamities. Its voice is distinct—you can almost make out what it's saying, yet never quite get it. I think the sound team really nailed that. This Seethe also benefits from foot locking technology, which solved the animation challenge with its complex eight-legged movement. Looking back, I believe many of this game's designs were brought to life thanks to the team's technical capabilities.

#25 – Seethe Are All AbAout the First Impression—No, It's Their Uniqueness: Noderabo One planner requested a stronger, upgraded Daigaki. Naturally, its weak point is on its back since the front side is completely invulnerable. I was determined to treat the concept with complete seriousness despite it bringing old-school gag manga to mind. When it appears, its presence had to be recognizable through sound alone and pressure players before they see it—like "Uh-oh, that guy's here." The solution? Give it a large bell. It serves as both a source of distinctive sound and a form of protection—problem solved!

#24 – Is Raikobo the True Fan Favorite!? Raikobo is a sorcerer who manipulates curses and cursed objects, and underwent tremendous growth from an early concept sketch. Its lighning strikes are divine calamities sent by the gods. My main involvement was supervising its attacks, weapons, and movement style. Its the true form of the Seethe clinging to the torii gate! Its outfit was designed to abstractly evoke flesh, skin, and the human body (I may have made the artists struggle by insisting this). It also has an incredibly cool long-bladed weapon, and ultimately reigns as one of the most popular Seethe among the development team.

#23 – Too Many Challenges? Everyone Ends Up Exhausted: Yatsurao It required an unbelieveable amount of work and countless decisions to create a boss battle that spans an entire stage. I was fortunate enough to work on storyboarding the stage progression, contributing to the level design, and creating the finer, visual design details myself. I incorporated quite a few interesting ideas during development. Yatsurao (Eight-Faced King) was envisioned as a mountain deity, reminiscent of the Yamata-no-Orochi. I built the design around imagery of arms, hands, and fingers since it posesses natural objects. Eight different hand signs can be formed with its fingers, creating the appearance of different faces. Players can identify attack patterns/intentions based on the shape. This was one of the most ambitious Seethe in the game and required the entire team's involvement. Thanks to everyone's passion and dedication, we were able to complete it. And the music is fantastic, too!

#22 – The More You Look, the More You Wonder: Creepy or Cute?: Notsugo Starting from a gameplay function, the initial goal was to create an enemy with a visually recognizable weak point, exposed after breaking its parts. The image of Notsugo came to mind, since it was intended to be a marshland area boss. Building on that motif, I mixed in some frog-like characteristics to soften the concept...What? You don't think I softened it at all? At one point, the model's artist approached me with a great suggestion:"Based on the setting, would it be okay if we added the nuance that a parent-like something is protecting the weak point?" Combined with its petulant, tantrum-like movements, I think it ended up with an unsettling and oddly endearing charm.

#21 – When It Had Four Arms, and When It Didn’t: Jubaku Torii This enemy was designed around the image of something emerging from within the gate itself, serving as the entrance to and exit from the Otherworld. It appears as a large, withered humanoid figure taking possession of the torii gate and blocking the path foward. Come to think of it, there isn’t all that much to say about the design itself. The most important consideration was making it large enough for players to clearly read its reactions and animations when purified or exorcised. At one point, we also experimented with the torii gate itself moving and attacking the player—to prevent people from camping in front and defeating enemies there. However, that role was eventually given to another enemy.

#20 – Look Closely! Somehow Popular (Among the Dev Team) Despite Wearing Nothing but a Fundoshi! — Bupposo I had an absolute blast creating this. The concept was a foreign Seethe swordsman, who made its way to Japan. I started with a face mask inspired by a Kurama Tengu, then asked myself: "What if someone were completely taken over by that mask?" Early on, when it would've apeared as regular waves, I considered having it possess villagers and transform their appearance—but it was reimagined as a boss. It was more entertaining emerging from a small object on the stage, and the presentation was adjusted. The animation team was also enthusiastic with the character, and thanks to their work, it ended up looking incredibly cool and dynamic. But when you stop and think about it, it's still just a guy wearing a mask and a fundoshi!

#19 – A Shocking Appearance and Gameplay Function: Shiniku Zamurai Sword-wielding enemies are cool, right? However, because of the pulled-back camera angle, I figured an enemy dramaticaly drawing a sword wouldn't be seen very well. I remembered an idea from an early development meeting: an enemy that fights using swords lodged in its own body. I took that concept and concentrated the swords around what would normally be a human's head. The body itself was designed abstractly—deliberately shaped so that, depending on the angle or frame, different parts could be perceived as a face. It can be difficult for players to deal with its coordinated group behavior and I made a few unusual requests of the sound team, so I may have caused some headaches along the way. Still, the final result has a strong impact and is one of my favorites. Thanks to everyone who helped bring it to life!

#18 – A Terrifyingly Great Visual Punchline: Nurikabe Now this was a difficult one...very difficult. It moved slowly and there are limits to how large you can make a wall, so I kept wondering how we could make it work. Then, during a meeting, someone suggested: "What if a statue splits in half and opens up to become a wall?" From then, the design was basically complete. The obstacle's width was adjusted by changing how far it opened, and by advancing at a constant speed, it created a unique sense of dread. What really mattered was the visual impact of both its appearance and gameplay gimmick. I designed it to have a generic idol-like effigy—with a hidden Seethe inside with a giant face and flat, compressed body. It communicates its function when opened, and creates a sloping surface other Seethe can climb over. I left the rest in the responsible team's hands, whose passion carried it the rest of the way. I think it's perfectly fine for many different interpretations of what a Nurikabe can be. The animators were pretty surprised as well—after all, at its core, it was just a statue.

#17 – The Most Stylish of the Seethes! Shokera The title says it all. I'm often told, and will probably be true moving forward, the enemies in-game are rather eccentric. So wouldn't it be nice to have at least one enemy fitting the traditional "cool" archetype? The design draws from the traditional image of a Shokera, while refining its details and aggression to better fit the world/aesthetic of this game. A contemporary dancer brought the movement to life and infused it with incredibly captivating motion, resulting in a level of style and coolness that exceeded my expectations.

#16 – It’s a Seethe Boat! Hirafugai Since this stage is aboard a boat, we needed an enemy that belonged in water. It felt thematically off for other Seethe to simply board the ship, then I thought, why not just make the boat itself the enemy? Prior to that idea, we came up with various aquatic concepts, but none felt quite right. Things like lotus plants, aquatic vegetation, and floating water plants led me to think it may be interesting if their roots were actually human bodies. My head combined several elements: something that's large enough for multiple enemies to ride on, an obviously large vehicle, secretly a face, evokes the feeling of an Umibōzu, and large enough to sink boats. Together, those ideas resulted in today's design. With behavior and role quite similar to Hirafugai, we simply kept the name.

#15 – A Boss Born From Various Ideas: Batsu In the end, this boss turned into the near-exact enemy I had envisioned during early development. As a major boss with an association with drought, I followed a chain of visual associations: dryness → cracked earth → something resembling a spider web → spiders, and so on. I wanted the face to feel more human than animalistic, but opens to reveal a beast-like nature—akin to a blend of an Ushi-Oni and Kudan. While there weren't original plans for a tail, suggestions indicated the design needed a visual sense of front, back and vulnerable rear—so I added a highly mobile tail which produces spider-like threads. This element, and fluid movements, gave it a unique and unsettling sense of power. Looking back, it was a fond memory and real labor of passion to personally handle everything (design and modeling, to rigging and animation). The spider-web motif is greatly reinforced by the crack effects, while the programmed behavior brings it to life with dynamic movement. Its impact as part of a regular wave in Otherwordly Venture is something truly otherworldly!

#14 – Hidaru-gami, the Two-Faced Possessing Spirit! The original mask was designed to embody an opposing force to the power wielded by the villagers, but it lacked visual impact. The idea then evolved into an image of a human body growing from the mask—completely covering a person's head and controlling them like a two-person costume. Since both sides function as the "front," it has no true backside at all. The arms and legs were designed to resemble soft and flexible tentacles—envisioning an entity that steals a villager's limbs and turns them into a puppet. However, the two-person costume concept would likely create technical challenges, particularly with IK, and cause player difficulty recognizing when someone was possessed. We then simplified the design so the spirit only possesses the victim's face and rises above them. This made the possession state visually easier while preserving the core idea.

#13 – Can't help but add more over time! Tsurube-otoshi Starting with the idea of something falling from the sky and devouring people, we interpreted a large, round spirit drifting (or swimming) through the air before dropping down. A giant mouth actually falls from the sky and opens with faces of presumably eaten people. We used emissive textures to make the faces appear as though they were crying. This design was created in early development and ended up having more ideas/details than originally expected (as a regular minor enemy filling the same role as Hitoban). As the prototype model ended up with a high polygon count and number of bone structure, we understood it couldn't be spawned in large numbers. Its initial small-size made the inner-mouth's crowd of faces difficult to see. So we scaled it up dramatically, giving it an imposing size that felt more appropriate for a Tsurube-otoshi. One feature I found especially amusing is how it serves as a rideable object on the boat stage.

#12 – Reloading Faces: Enenra Its gameplay function began as an enemy that chants curses from a distance and interferes with player and NPC interactions. With game design in mind, an enemy that makes it harder for players to engage in combat must be easy to understand visually. The term "otakiage" (the ritual burning of offerings) came up during a meeting alongside sketches. That was it. The smoke continuously rises from its head—like shrines during a Setsubun festival or ceremonial burning rituals. It evolved into a Seethe that loads/burns condemned souls' faces into its head. The face is refined/dignified and resembles a receptable or ornate collar. It carries it's reloading "ammunition" at the waist, carefully holding the material in its other hands like something precious. Visually, the design feels complete once a face has been loaded into place. Its dance-like movements turned out incredibly cool as well.

#11 – What Was Supposed to Be a One-Off Mimic Gag: Gotaimen Initially centered around mimicry, the design's idea was to disguise itself as a patch of defilement and when it emerged-bam!-a giant face—which Gotaimen is a good representative of. Since it mimics defilement, it has an upside-down face on its palm and saprophytic plant-like elements were incorported into the fingers. The fingers fold to form the jaw and resemble a face when closed. The twist? A small Seethe emerges from inside it! However, having an enemy wait for the player wasn't practical from a gameplay perspective, resulting in its in-game role becoming a stationary turret. This allowed it to move and act in a flashier way. It serves effectively as a powerful turret-type threat instead of a mimic.