Frontier Aja Discusses Past, Future, And Your Koumajou Densetsu II Questions

By John . February 3, 2011 . 3:00pm

Last month, Siliconera covered the release of Frontier Aja’s Koumajou Densetsu II. Aja’s Yanagi agreed to an interview to discuss some of fans most asked questions: the progress of the game’s updates, future games, and the voice casting process.

 

Yanagi-san, what titles have you created in the past?

 

Yanagi, Director and Sound Designer: I have overseen all of Frontier Aja’s projects, which are Koumajou Densetsu and II, and our current project Bigbang Beat 2. I also worked on the sound for the games.

 

I am curious what kind of games doujin circles would create using the Xbox Kinect. What would you like to design?

 

Kinect is a unusually charming device. A new rhythm game immediately comes to mind. However, Japanese people seem to really like using game pads, and Frontier Aja’s staff is small. Therefore, we feel compelled to work on advancing games like Majou Densetsu and fighting games first.

 

Speaking of fighting games, can we have an update about Bigbang Beat 2?

 

After the next Koumajou Densetsu II update, we plan on updating Bigbang Beat 2. Since we only have five team members, we haven’t had time. Please wait a little longer!

 

 

Do indie and doujin developers work together?

 

Indie and doujin developers generally get along really well. They often gather for drinks, and several new projects are created that way.

 

Who handles Frontier Aja’s translations? Are more doujin games being translated nowadays?

 

We have our staff member Benj from France handle our translations. He lives in Japan and even works in the same space.

 

Many doujin games have yet to be translated. There are various hurdles to overcome in doing this, but the biggest hurdles seems to be that overseas users don’t know how to legally purchase doujin games. However, Frontier Aja’s games are for digital purchase.

 

When can we expect the Koumajou Densetsu II English and French patch?

 

We were anticipating a release soon. However, part of the data was a bit late in production, so the patch may arrive a little late.

 

< Note: There is a patch to version 1.02 available. Users must first update to 1.01 here. Then they can update to 1.02, which most notably adds the Phantasm stage. Users must clear the game once for the new stage to appear. An auto-update feature was also added. >

 

Koumajou Densetsu II’s voice acting is impressive! How did you recruit these voice actors?

 

A representative of mine works as a sound designer. Because of that, he knew of many companies and relied on these connections. I am a really big fan Shiina Hekiru and saw her in Magic Knight Rayearth.

 

Shiina Hekiru voices Yuyuko Saigyouji

 

You have many fans overseas. Where can they buy games, possibly outside of ecchi site DLSITE.com?

 

Unfortunately, the only English friendly sites for purchase are Palet Mail Service for air mail deliver and for digital download from DLsite.com. (Only Koumajou 1 is at DLsite so far). It’s not general practice to offer digital downloads in Japan, so unfortunately we are restricted to using sites that sell ecchi material.

 

There is now a website to pay with Paypal. The site is in Japanese, but will soon have an English page. Please stay tuned to our blog’s purchase details.

 

Do you have any doujin friends you can introduce the world to?

 

We have many friends, but there is one in particular that sells Touhou games from the DLsite named False English Gentlemen Group (偽英国紳士団).

 

May we have a look at your office?

 

“This is a really, really big face.”

 

Via Twitter, Yanagi responded about fans’ request to Koumajou Densetsu 3. While the company hasn’t decided much about the game yet, if domestic and international demands are strong, Yanagi thinks they will go ahead with a sequel. Voice your interests with the following email: info@aja-games.com. Here’s a link for those who want to read the original Japanese interview text.