I vote Fuse or Kazuya Nuri as lead art director for either of the franchises. And I hope Tatsuro Iwamoto will stay in the background, because he's not a very good artist imo. Kazuya and Fuse have both made some really memorable character designs. Not that Iwamoto hasn't, but there's a lot of AAI/GK2 characters that have designs that are forgettable or downright ugly.

I would also love to see Kumiko Suekane return because I loved GS1's art-style.

A quick list of artists for each game, as taken from official credits, for the sake of comprehension:
GS1: Kumiko Suekane
GS2: Tatsuro Iwamoto (Some designs by Kumiko Suekane)
GS3: Tatsuro Iwamoto
GS4: Kazuya Nuri (Extra designs by Tatsuro)
GK1: Tatsuro Iwamoto
GK2: Tatsuro Iwamoto (Some designs by Fuse Katuro)
GS5: Fuse Katuro

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Last edited by linkenski on Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:07 am, edited 2 times in total.

Personally, I didn't like the colour choices for the initial GS1 Art (The pale colours, Phoenix and Maya's pink skin), but I still liked the designs!
I liked the Yomigaeru Saiban (And i think it was the same one for AJ) artist (I think it was the same person that did PLvsAA), but they changed Phoenix's eye colour to blue for some weird reason (Maybe due to the sprite's limited colours and the art was based off them?)
The AJ art I also liked a lot. I looked at Ema's 3 designs, and I liked them all, but I liked her initial one the most.

My favourite was the T&T Artist then followed by the AAI one (Was DD done by the same artist for AAI and AAI2?)
I liked the DD artist as well (I think it was Fuse?) That's after the AAI ones.
The DD official Art poses for the non-main characters are very static. (and their outlines are kinda thick!) I loved the comical poses of the older characters! (Although Trucy's art looks nicer than her AJ one)

I'm sorry if I've made 1 artist into 2, but I'm going by game art, not so much by the artists.

So I'd like the AAI Artist for the next game! Even the DD one would be fine! Although the character poses need more creativity, and are not front facing ones. (Although not all were standard front facing, like Biyouin and Shouko)

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I don't know anything about the character artists themselves, but I can tell you what style I prefer. I generally like it when character designs are relatively down to earth, but still weird enough to stick out, like Maya and maybe Simon, who pushes that limit to the max.

I don't find the appeal in characters who are too...weird-looking, for the lack of a better term.

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I share the same thoughts Thane.

I think it's okay to have weird characters like Jake Marshall, The Bellboy and Damon Gant, etc. who are all exaggerated characters... but I prefer when they look more like actual believable people, like Phoenix, Edgeworth, Kristoph, Apollo, Ema Skye, Mia Fey, etc.

Some of the designs, especially since AAI have had some really strange desgins, to the point when they're just plain bizarre. I think Means for example is funny, but he doesn't look like a human being. Making a character who looks exactly like a statue is going over the border IMO, just like characters like Scones, that devil-horned kid, Huang, Agent Lang and stuff like that are also taking it too far IMO.

I just think lately they've been going too much for the figurative symbolic characters, and I'd prefer if they tone it down in the future, or at least for once give us some more characters who look ordinary (thank god for case 5-3!). It's hard to be immersed when the characters become too unbelievable.

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Dual Destinies characters were way too 'out there', and not really what you'd normally see (That's not to say the scenarios are normal, it's the in fashion in 2027 it seems!)

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I did think they were somewhat better than most of the characters from AAI though. It's still in the same "non-sensical" vibe. I don't dig that too much, but at least it looks pretty in Dual Destinies.

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Wasn't Iwamoto one of the character artists for DD? Fuse was the art director, but I recall reading somewhere that Iwamoto may have created some of the characters designs for that game too.

Can anyone clear this up for me?

A very late edit: I beat the game and I found that the credits also list Fuse as the character artist. No Iwamoto, whoops.

Last edited by Vivi on Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:51 am, edited 2 times in total.

I prefer the style from Rise From the Ashes and Apollo Justice best, so my first choice would be Kazuya Nuri.

If he isn't available, I'd be fine with Fuse Katuro. His art fits with the style that Kazuya Nuri established.

After that, I don't really have any preferences regarding my ranking of the other art; I've always liked all of the art from the games, but Kazuya Nuri and Fuse Katuro stand out to me.

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I really liked the character designs in AAI/AAI2, so Tatsuro Iwamoto it is!

I just beat the game and I was scouting for his name in the credits. Nowhere to be seen, apparently :/
But that makes me all the more comfortable in saying I prefer Kazuya Nuri. Katuro had some great and vibrant designs but I felt like his facial proportions for characters, especially Phoenix and Edgeworth seemed awkward looking. Same goes for a certain character's mom. She just looked ugly to me.

Yeah, I think Kazuya is all-round the best artist for the series. AJ:AA had some really creative and witty witnesses. I loved just about every character design I saw in AJ, especially the magicians.

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I agree. GS4 and GS5 are both too anime-like... My personal favorite art style is GS1's, which I particulary find very realistic.