Stellar Blade director Hyung-Tae Kim has drawn the ire of Nier: Automata character designer Yoshikaze Matsushita due to a picture the previous posted in celebration of Yoko Taro’s new Evangelion undertaking. Matsushita, who labored on enemy design for Nier: Automata, is finest recognized for sculpting the ‘Emil head’ masks that you’re going to usually see Yoko Taro sporting throughout public appearances. He took exception to the picture, which was shared by Kim to commemorate the information of the Evangelion anime directed by the Nier creator.
“I am completely thrilled to listen to that Mr. Yoko Taro is taking the helm on a totally new Evangelion undertaking, and my coronary heart is overflowing with real congratulations,” the illustrator, Stellar Blade director, and Shift Up CEO wrote by way of social platform X. “Because you talked about feeling some stress as nicely, I am going to change to a lighter picture for this. Please take excellent care of Asuka.” He hooked up an image of Asuka, one of many major characters in mecha anime Evangelion, in her signature pink plugsuit, sitting atop a pile of smiling Emil heads.
Accusations of the picture being AI-generated rapidly flooded in. Whereas there is not any agency affirmation, Kim has not denied this, and has beforehand been a vocal advocate for the usage of such instruments. At a South Korean briefing in January, he spoke concerning the problem for Korean recreation builders to compete with the manpower of Chinese language studios, and prompt that utilizing AI expertise can be a beneficial software in overcoming this hole in order that “one particular person can carry out the work of 100 individuals.”
Matsushita didn’t deal with Kim straight at first, however posted a seemingly pointed message on his personal web page, which reads (by way of machine translation): “That is the primary time I’ve seen one thing I created clearly integrated right into a generative AI. The peepholes and paint quirks stay precisely as they have been.”
He then shared a picture displaying that he had been blocked by Kim’s account on the platform, writing, “Ah, so that you do have some self-awareness, huh? It is mainly a peephole, in any case, proper?”
Shortly after this, Kim provided a obvious apology, though he did not level to the incident straight. “Lately, an error with ‘Blue Blocker’ [a third-party extension] brought about a few of my followers to be unintentionally blocked. I need to make clear that I by no means block anybody based mostly on their private opinion of my creative route. Should you discover that you’ve been blocked, please let me know so I can resolve it. I sincerely apologize for any concern this may increasingly have brought about.”
One reply calls this “the worst excuse I’ve seen in my life,” to which Kim responds, “That is proper. However it’s true – what ought to I do? Life is brutally entertaining.”
Matsushita provides some extra context in response to a different commenter, this time in English. He claims that Kim “in all probability simply wished to rapidly and simply make one thing high-quality that may go viral. It is unhappy.”
The consumer, ‘Kaitsu,’ says they consider Kim as “actually among the best artists within the gaming trade. His type is so iconic that you’ll know it is his. He doesn’t want something to go viral. That is why I am confused. It is unhappy.”
“Sure, I believe so too,” Matsushita replies. “The brilliance of his work and his contributions to gaming will not disappear. Nevertheless, not less than for me, I in all probability will not be enjoying video games from his firm any extra.”
