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Harumaru

Harumaru
ハルマル

Harumaru's caricature from the Strider 2 Secret File

Occupation:

Illustrator, housewife[1]

Years active:

1998 - 2000

Harumaru (ハルマル) is the pen name used by the main illustrator of Strider 2. Harumaru worked as an artist for Capcom in-between 1998 and 2000, primarily as illustrator for a number of the company's fighting games.

Early Days

Harumaru had been sending fanart material to both video game and anime magazines ever since she was around 15 years old. These works were published under the full pen name "Ittōji Harumaru" (一塔寺春丸).[2]

In 1997, the magazine Gamest ran an art contest for Capcom's Darkstalkers series, titled the "Vampire Savior Darkness Illustration Contest". Harumaru decided to participate and sent an artwork featuring Lilith from Vampire Savior. The art piece was nominated for the final selection and although it didn't win the contest's main prize, it was still granted the Capcom choice award. Harumaru was also invited to a Darkstalkers tournament held in Tokyo as part of the prize.[2]

Work at Capcom

Shortly after the contest, Harumaru was approached by Yoshiki Okamoto and offered to work for Capcom. Harumaru would learn at a later date that Capcom's artist Akiman was the one who made the initial call, having really liked Harumaru's Lilith fanart from the contest[2]. Harumaru's first works were art design for both Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

Harumaru was chosen as the main illustrator of Strider 2 after submiting an artwork piece that'd eventually become Hiryu's main art[3]. Harumaru designed Hiryu primarily based on advice from fellow artist Shoei, who described Hiryu as a "crazy-style" protagonist that'd mechanically fulfill any assigned mission.[3]

Harumaru was also in charge of the in-game cutscene art shown at the beginning and end of each stage. To create the unique world setting in the game, Harumaru drew inspiration from American comic books, most notably works by Mike Mignola, Simon Bisley and the comic book series Spawn.[3]

Harumaru left the company a short time after the release of Strider 2 around the year 2000. In later years Harumaru has been called up on special occassions, such as providing tribute art for the 25th anniversary Street Fighter artwork[4] and to provide commentary for the release of the 2014 Strider.[5]

Harumaru currently continues drawing but does so mainly as a hobby.[2]

Gameography

Year Title Developer Publisher System Role
1999 Street Fighter Alpha 3
ストリートファイターZERO 3 		Capcom Capcom PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Dreamcast Character Design
1999 Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future
ストリートファイターIII サードストライク 		Capcom Capcom Arcade Original Artwork
1999 Strider 2
ストライダー飛竜2 		Capcom Capcom Arcade, PlayStation Illustrator
2000 Project Justice
燃えろ! ジャスティス学園 		Capcom Capcom Arcade, Dreamcast Original Artwork
2000 Cannon Spike
ガンスパイク 		Psikyo Capcom Arcade, Dreamcast Graphic Designer
2000 Capcom vs. SNK: Millenium Fight 2000
カプコン VS エス・エヌ・ケイ ミレニアムファイト 2000 		Capcom Capcom Arcade, PlayStation, Dreamcast Illustrator

Art Gallery

Character Art

Artwork

External Links

References

  1. ↑ Harumaru's personal blog's profile. Accessed May 27, 2016
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Harumaru (August 30, 2020). "Harumaru's twitter" (Japanese). Accessed September, 2020.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Capcom (March 10, 2014). "Capcom Legends Chapter 3: The Running Ninja from the Future, Hiryu!" (Japanese). Capcom's official site. Retrieved from Archive.org. Accessed August 17, 2020
  4. ↑ Capcom (December 17, 2012). "Street Fighter Art Works" (Japanese). e-capcom.com listing. Retrieved from archive.org. Accessed May 27, 2016
  5. ↑ Capcom (2014). "Launch Celebration Comments from Past Special-A Class Striders". Capcom's official Strider site (Japanese). Retrieved from Archive.org. Accessed May 27, 2016