There are several people with the name Keiji Inafune working on the Mugen Souls series. Compile Heart and Inafune have been collaborating for a bit after he made a speech about how Japanese game companies are spending too much money without even thinking. Two more Inafunes have been born after the creation of the Mugen Souls series.
Mugen Souls and Mugen Souls Z were produced by people with his name but are not the same Keiji Inafune, the real Keiji was labeled as an "Overwhelming Guest Character Designer" in many news articles. The two Inafune Keiji dopplegangers seem to have very overwhelming and nonsensical personalities, matching the craziness levels of the games they produce.
Real Inafune Keiji[]
The real Keiji Inafune was previously a member of Capcom and one of the most beloved game producers, Keiji Inafune has left the company in hopes of owning a new one. He is known by his negative statements towards games in his own country in which he considers "inferior" compared to games created by Western developers. Inafune Keiji (real) has appeared in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series as a humorous summon but has helped them out again with this series also.
In a Dengeki article, Compile Heart announced that they are going to release a title in collaboration with an overwhelming producer. The two character he designed was the Sun Goddess for the original Mugen Souls and the Moon God for Mugen Souls Z.
Shininafune Keiji[]
Despite having the same name as Inafune, he is not the same one who created the Megaman/ Rockman series. Shininafune Keiji has taken many paths of life and has worked in various fields. He was formerly pursuing in in a career in music but there were lots of troubles happening along the road. All these events has caused him to take a more awkward route so he ends up joining Compile Heart.
He is the overwhelming producer for the original Mugen Souls. Shininafune Keiji is also the singer for the main theme of Mugen Souls called 圧倒的ヒーロー, also known as "The tutorial fight song" by English speakers. He is quite passionate and overzealous about his work.
Shininafune Keiji shows up near the end of this dance video.
Inafune Shooting Star Keiji[]
On 12/25/2012, Compile Heart announced that there is a new successor to Inafune Keiji and he will be working on them on their next project. He is the overall producer for Mugen Souls Z and appeared in many advertisements doing perverted things and ending his commercials with the catchphrase "どんな判断だ!", a very famous saying by the real Inafune that has become a meme for Compile Heart which has been translated as "Who authorized this decision" in NIS America's version of Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2.
Just like, his predecessor Shininafune Keiji, he is also very absurd and energetic. Inafune Shooting Star Keiji changed the overall theme of Mugen Souls Z from overwhelming to nonsensical. Shooting Star Keiji claims that he was the one behind the improvements of the bath minigame in Mugen Souls Z.
External links[]
- http://books.rakuten.co.jp/event/game/ps3/mugensouls/ Rakuten's interview with Shininafune Keiji (JP)
- http://newnafking.exblog.jp/ Shininafune Keiji's blog (JP)