Yūto Tonokawa

Yūto Tonokawa (都乃河 勇人, Tonokawa Yūto, born January 25) (pseudonym) is a Japanese scenario writer originally from Saitama, Japan. He had worked for the visual novel studio Key under VisualArt's. He began working with Key on their sixth game Little Busters! and wrote the scenarios for two of the main heroines: Komari Kamikita, and Yuiko Kurugaya.[1] Tonokawa also wrote the scenario for Sasami Sasasegawa in Little Busters! Ecstasy. He provided the lyrics to one of the ending themes from the same game, "Alicemagic", as his first job as a lyricist. Tonokawa wrote the scenarios for Chihaya Ohtori and Sizuru Nakatsu in Key's ninth game Rewrite.[2] Among Key's staff, Tonokawa updated the company's official blog the most often.[3] Despite his accomplishments, Tonokawa has referred to himself as "only an incompetent writer."[4] In July 2008, Tonokawa was living in the same apartment building in Osaka that Jun Maeda had once lived in, though he did not know this when he moved into the building.[5] Tonokawa resigned from Key in 2015.

Yūto Tonokawa
BornJanuary 25
Saitama, Japan
OccupationAuthor, lyricist
NationalityJapanese
GenreFantasy, Fiction
Notable worksLittle Busters!, Rewrite
Signature

Biography

Early life

Yūto Tonokawa started writing while in junior-high school, though these were only short stories. He stated himself that while he never read much, he did read light novels and modern literature while in junior-high. While in high school, Tonokawa read works by the philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Japanese folklorists Kunio Yanagita and Shinobu Orikuchi.[6] Tonokawa at one point wanted to be either a voice actor or manga author, and it was not until after he entered high school that he decided to become a scenario writer. Since he wanted to participate in a job that told stories, he feels that either way he has achieved that goal.[7] While still in school, Tonokawa experimented on the KiriKiri scripting engine and made an amateur "novel game", but it did not have visuals or music. He felt it was a good learning experience as a scenario writer since he discovered how different it is to write regular stories compared to writing scenarios for a game.[8]

Career

Originally, Tonokawa came to VisualArt's and applied under a different brand under the publishing company, but coincidentally the timing was just right since Jun Maeda of Key was looking for another writer to join the team, which ultimately led to Tonokawa joining Key as a scenario writer.[9] Tonokawa was able to initially catch the attention of the application examiners with a 600-page résumé featuring a story centering on a female protagonist, but since there was no market for this format at the time, he later filled out a regular application.[10] As noted by himself, Tonokawa started working for Key almost immediately after graduating from university,[11] and he sees this as a major turning point in his life.[12] Tonokawa said that Maeda was a major influence on his life, and if not for Maeda, he would not be where he is today.[13] Originally, Tonokawa was supposed to work in the role of an outsourced writer who would help Maeda as a scenario assistant, but was brought in-house due to a quick need for a new writer.[14] Due to Maeda stepping down as the main scenario writer for Key after the production of Little Busters! Ecstasy,[15] Tonokawa was the sole writer within Key at the time.

At the time Tonokawa joined Key in August 2005, the team was working on debugging Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life.[16] He started working with Key on their sixth game Little Busters! and wrote the scenarios for two of the main heroines: Komari Kamikita, and Yuiko Kurugaya.[1] Tonokawa also wrote the scenario for Sasami Sasasegawa in Little Busters! Ecstasy. He provided the lyrics to one of the ending themes from Little Busters!, "Alicemagic", as his first job as a lyricist, though feels that composing music is difficult.[17] Tonokawa also wrote some of the additional story for Takafumi and Kanako included in the PlayStation 2 version of Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life.[18] Tonokawa wrote the scenarios for Chihaya Ohtori and Sizuru Nakatsu in Key's ninth game Rewrite.[2] Tonokawa resigned from Key in 2015.[19]

References
  1. "Yūto Tonokawa's visual novel contributions" (in Japanese). Retrieved December 3, 2007.
  2. "Rewrite visual novel official website" (in Japanese). Key. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  3. "Key's official staff blog" (in Japanese). Key. Retrieved February 26, 2008.
  4. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 13, 2008. I'm only an incompetent writer. (自分は物書きしか能がないので...)
  5. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal 2" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 13, 2008. It was truly unexpected, but I heard that it is the same apartment building Maeda had once lived in. (全く偶然なのですが、以前麻枝さんが住んでいたマンションと一緒だそうです。)
  6. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 13, 2008. I think I started writing things like stories in junior-high school, though they were short stories. As a matter of fact, I don't read much, but in junior-high I did read light novels and modern literature. In high school, no one in the library (other than me) would read books by the philosophers Kierkegaard or Wittgenstein, or books by the folklorists Kunio Yanagita and Shinobu Orikuchi. (小説というものを書き始めたのは、中学校の頃でしょうか。当事は今で言うＳＳといったレベルの短編が主でした。本は実はあまり読まないのですが、中学の頃はラノベや近代文学、高校の頃は図書室にあっても誰も読まないようなキルケゴールとかヴィトゲンシュタインの哲学書や、柳田國男、折口信夫の民俗学とかの本を読み漁っていました。)
  7. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 13, 2008. I used to want to become a voice actor or manga author. By the way, it was not until after I entered high school that I decided to become a scenario writer. Concerning my previous dreams, perhaps I was able to achieve working in a job that told stories. (昔は声優か漫画家になりたかったんですけどね。ちなみにシナリオライターを志したのは高校に入ってからです。物語に携わる仕事ということで、その前の夢についても、達成できているのかもしれません。)
  8. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 13, 2008. In my student days, I used the KiriKiri engine and made a new independent novel game. While I am afraid to say that it did not have pictures or music, this experience was still very helpful. Now I understand the script and display format among other things, so I became able to understand my foundations...I believe that novels and scenarios have a different literary style. (学生時代は、吉里吉里というエンジンを使って、自主制作のノベルゲームを作っていました。残念ながら絵や音がなく公開には至りませんでしたが、これがとても役に立ってます。実際にゲームを作っておくと、スクリプトや表示形式など、基盤になることが理解できますので...小説とシナリオの文体の差異なども、肌で実感できると思います。)
  9. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal 2" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 13, 2008. Actually, at first I applied to another VisualArt's brand that was accepting applications. It was just right that Maeda was searching for a writer and I was received into work with Key. (実は当初はKeyではなくビジュアルアーツのほかのブランドの募集に応募していたのです。それがちょうどライターを探していた麻枝さんの目に止まり、Keyで仕事をしないかと声を掛けていただきました。)
  10. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 8, 2008. First of all, my application caught the eye of the application examiners. By the way, my application was a whopping 600 pages long, but since there was no market at the time for stories featuring young girls as protagonists, I later filled out a regular application. (直接の経緯は、ビジュアルアーツへの応募作が審査の方の目に留まったことです。ちなみに応募作は原稿用紙600枚超の、しかも少女が主人公の小説という業界では在り得ないものでした。その後ちゃんと別に正式な応募作を作ってあります。)
  11. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 8, 2008. By the way, after graduating from university, I immediately started working for Key. (ちなみに大学を卒業後、すぐにKeyの仕事に携わることになりました。)
  12. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 8, 2008. As I thought, the turning point was entering into Key. (やはり転機はKey入社です。)
  13. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 13, 2008. I think that [Maeda] was probably the number one influence in my life. If Maeda was not here now, I think I would not be either. (多分人生で一番影響を受けた人物だと思います。麻枝さんがいなかったら今の自分は確実にいなかったでしょうね。)
  14. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 13, 2008. Originally I was supposed to work in the role of an outsourced writer as an assistant to Maeda, but I was brought in-house due to the quick need after some examination. (元々は外注ライターとして麻枝さんの手伝いをする予定だったのですが、急遽ライターが社内に必要とのことで、色々と審査もあり入社することになりました。)
  15. "Getchu.com's yearly Bishōjo Game Ranking poll results for best overall game titles from 2007" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  16. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal 3" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 15, 2008. From the debugging of Tomoyo After. (智代アフターのデバッグからです。)
  17. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 13, 2008. Music is difficult. (音楽は難しいですね。)
  18. Tonokawa, Yūto (July 7, 2008). "Answering Questions Journal" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 8, 2008. When it was transplanted to the PS2, I was able to write some of the additional scenario. I was satisfied with Kanako and Takafumi. (PS2に移植になった際の追加シナリオを書かせていただいてます。河南子＆鷹文は満足でした。)
  19. "Key新作『Summer Pockets』発表! ヒロイン公開＆制作陣に独占インタビュー!" (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. December 8, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
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