Kawano Junko

Kawano Junko

Kawano Junko (2020)

Physical Information

From

Japan

Kawano Junko (河野純子) is a writer, illustrator and video game producer formerly employed by Konami Corporation.

History

Early involvement with Suikoden

Kawano Junko is said to have first joined Konami in 1992. When fellow Konami newcomer Murayama Yoshitaka was picked to develop a game for Konami's planned video game console, she began collaborating with him. This game was scrapped in the early stages of development.

Kawano, Murayama, and ten other employees were instead assigned with developing Konami's first games for Sony's upcoming console, the PlayStation. With the pick of making a baseball game, a racing game or an RPG, Murayama and Kawano decided to reopen their RPG project.

An illustrator for Konami, Kawano performed illustrations for the first Suikoden as well as the illustrations for the series of Suikoden novels. She is stated to have been the lead designer for the original Suikoden in 1995.

Following Suikoden, Kawano worked on Twinbee RPG as part of the planning team as well as the lead designer. In conjunction, she would serve as a cover illustrator for several Twinbee CD releases. She also worked on Dolphin's Dream (Diver's Dream in Europe) with both games seeing a 1998 release. Additional Kawano character designs were used for two sets of cards in the Genso Suikoden Card Stories CCG in 2001 and 2003.

Continued career with Konami

In 2001, Kawano worked on the game Shadow of Destiny (Shadow of Memories in Japan) as a planner, writer, 2D designer and character designer. She also made a credited cameo as the voice of a cat. Following the release, Kawano mentioned that she would like to form a series from the title, using different characters, but these plans never came to fruition.

2004 saw Kawano take the reins of the Suikoden series, being chosen for the producer spot for Suikoden IV as well as that of lead writer. She also held the same level of control over Suikoden Tactics. She also held the position of Motion Capture Director for Suikoden IV.

Since then, Kawano has been given a 'special thanks' from the US localization team for Suikoden V as well as being credited as a producer in the Japanese release. She has also worked on 2008's Time Hollow for the Nintendo DS as a character designer and director and served as director for the 2010 Nintendo DS title Zac and Ombra: Amusement Park of Illusion.

She was rumored to be working on Suikoden VI based on small comments made on the now-defunct Konami School Blog but had no involvement in either Suikoden Tierkreis or Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki.

Post-Konami work

Kawano left Konami in 2015. In April 2019, she was announced as the lead character designer for the mobile game Arcalast: The World that Ends and the Fruit of the Diva, for Fuji Games.

On July 24th, 2020, Kawano was revealed as the lead character designer for the upcoming title Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

Works

Game	Role	Releases	Platform
Suikoden	Designer	1995	Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Microsoft Windows
Suikoden II	Other (Ending Theme "La passione commuove la storia")	1998	PlayStation, Windows
Twinbee RPG	Planner	1998	PlayStation
Dolphin's Dream	Planner	1998	PlayStation
Shadow of Memories	Writer, Director, Character Designer	2001	PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox, PSP
Suikoden IV	Writer, Producer, Designer	2004	PlayStation 2
Suikoden Tactics	Writer, Producer, Designer	2005	PlayStation 2
Suikoden V	Special Thanks	2006	PlayStation 2
Time Hollow	Writer, Designer	2008	Nintendo DS
Zack & Ombra: The Phantom Amusement Park	Writer, Director	2010	Nintendo DS
Arcalast: The World that Ends and the Fruit of the Diva	Designer	2019	Mobile devices
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising	Character Designer	2023	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes	Character designer, illustrator	2024	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
Suikoden I&II HD Remaster	Character designer, illustrator	TBC	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Games Main series Suikoden • Suikoden II • Suikoden III • Suikoden IV • Suikoden V Side stories Genso Suikogaiden Vol.1 • Genso Suikogaiden Vol.2 • Suikoden Tactics The Infinity Genso Suikoden Tierkreis Hoshikuzu no Shiro • Suikoden Tierkreis • Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki Spin-offs and compilations Genso Suikoden Card Stories • Genso Suikoden I&II • Pachislot Genso Suikoden • Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Setting Suikoden series timeline Locations City-State of Jowston • Grassland • Highland Kingdom • Holy Kingdom of Harmonia • Island Nations Federation • Kooluk Empire • Queendom of Falena • Scarlet Moon Empire • Zexen Federation Races Cave dwarf • Dragon • Duck • Dwarf • Elf • Griffin • Human • Kobold • Nay-Kobold • Lizard • Mermaid • Vampire • Winged Horde Lore Events Dunan Unification War • Gate Rune War • Island Liberation War • Sun Rune War • War of the Champions True Runes Beast Rune • Circle Rune • Dragon Rune • Eight Section Rune • Gate Rune • Moon Rune • Night Rune • Rune of Life and Death • Rune of Beginning • Rune of Change • Rune of Punishment • Sovereign Rune • Sun Rune • True Earth Rune • True Fire Rune • True Lightning Rune • True Water Rune • True Wind Rune Terms 27 True Runes • 108 Stars • Alchemy • Blinking Mirror • Chinchirorin • Creation Myth • Elevator • Howling Voice Guild • Infinity • Potch • Rune • Sindar • Solar calendar • Teleport • World of Wings and Scales