Tetsuya Nomura (born, October 8, 1970) is the director, concept designer, character designer, and base story writer of the Kingdom Hearts series.
Style
Tetsuya Nomura’s style is similar to the traditional anime style of drawing, but he also draws upon western influences. Many of Nomura’s character designs for games such as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts have been criticized for the overuse of belts and zippers, as well as for many of the male characters having androgynous appearances, and that many of his female characters are shown to be wearing revealing outfits; it has become a joke amongst fans to lightly tease Nomura’s designs for these characteristics. Nomura’s designs became much more “normal” in comparison to before the work on Kingdom Hearts II was finished. More recent designs from him, such as Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII or Aqua from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, do not show any excessive use of belts or zippers, but focus on creative accessories like ribbons or individually designed jackets. Sora’s Kingdom Hearts III outfit takes this more contemporary design choice to a higher level, with hardly any zippers in favor of a number of pockets and pairs of buttons.
