Hello, Happy New Years and I hope the holiday season has been going well for everyone! This is Moku from the Kirei team. (Kirei team. . .?)

It has been a long time since our last Devlog. . . Which is completely my fault since I told Skai I would do the next one and then took forever on it. I’m very sorry. However, I have started brainstorming for some future log’s already so hopefully that will change and we can give more consistent updates about game. . . ! 

As a quick game update for now, we have been slowly but steadily working towards the next update, which hopefully will come out early next year! There will be new backgrounds, more Corben (. . . Is this a good thing? Hopefully) and maybe someone new to introduce (which means new music to introduce too, yay!). 

I want to send another thanks to everyone on the team for sticking by and still working with us - I really don’t say this enough and hoping we get to keep working in the future too. And also, of course, thanks to everyone who played the game. . . And you who is even reading the Devlog! I will keep saying this too, it means a lot to be given a chance like this.

Going into the actual content of the Devlog, I wanted to take a chance to talk about the names of characters and notable places; talking about why we chose certain names, about what Kanji they use, and a little on why we chose that from a character-making perspective (rather than a in-story reason). As there are a couple of characters and places, I am splitting this up (see, the future devlogs ARE planned!); this first one is on the title and our main character, Nikko. 

Hope it does solve some mystery on the names (if anyone was wondering) and perhaps add a new perspective on the game too!

The Title: Kirei 

• Kanji: 綺麗
• Romaji from Kanji: Kirei
• Meaning: ‘Beautiful’, ‘Beauty’

As said in our first Devlog, the idea of this game started from ideas Skai had and this was the original title they had for the game. And so, we stuck with it. Paying homage! Also, another repetition from the past log, but I personally couldn’t have thought of  a more fitting title for the game myself.

I do understand that sometimes, using single, foreign words for titles can feel iffy, giving off the impression the person doesn’t know the proper usage of the word, but I thought this title worked because 1. it’s a word that can be used alone (even if it is not a noun) 2. it’s fairly easy to pronounce in English (so I felt it doesn’t come off as forcing foreign words for the sake of it).

Plus, since the whole game is very ‘Japanese’, from the story itself to the visual aspects, using a Japanese word made more sense to me than using perhaps, a normal English phrase. 

Aaand, (at least on my Google) searching “Kirei game” leads to our Ichi.io page, sooo. . . Yay!

The only thing I think I did briefly think about was which kanji to use, since ‘Kirei’ uses two kanji (‘綺麗’ & ’奇麗’). Both kanji have the same meaning, it’s used in the same places. . . There are just two different kanji in existence, for some reason. . . 

For anyone interested, the difference it as follow: 

• 奇麗: Uses something called Jōyō kanji, or the ‘Common Kanji’; It’s a kanji on an official list made by the Japanese Ministry of Education as the “Guideline for the use of Kanji  when writing the modern Japanese language”. So official documents, books, newspapers, etc. mainly use kanji from this list, thus when they write ‘kirei’, this is the more commonly used Kanji. 
• 綺麗: ‘綺’ isn’t part of the list above, so that’s why it’s not used in the newspaper. . . However, I personally do see this ‘Kirei’ used more (I will keep it at a ‘personal’ level since the only source I could find saying people more commonly use this kanji nowadays was a X/Twitter poll by the Nikkei Newspaper. . .). However, both versions of ‘kirei’ have been used in Chinese (“绮丽”/”奇丽”), which is probably where the kanji originates from, so both versions can be seen in historical documents.

*The links fly to Ukiyo-e Prints/old books that use the kanji, for anyone who wants to see them in historical documents!

I will be honest, I went for 綺麗 since I like how the kanji looks mostly. . . But one of the meaning for ‘綺’ as a single kanji does kind of relates to the protagonist, Nikko. 

• 綺: 1. Silk, figured silk, herringbone weave silk.

(No, it was not definitely an afterthought when trying to justify something you want visually to be the ‘right’ thing in your head.) . . . Thank you again, creative freedom.

The Main Character: Nikko

• Kanji: 日光
• Romaji from Kanji: Nikkou / Nikkō
• Meaning: ‘Sunshine’, ‘Sunlight’

Looking at the Kanji, this name is probably one that perhaps needs most explanation (and one reason I did want to write about names for the Devlog).

Like the title of the game, the name Nikko was what Skai used for the protagonist when they first pitched the idea to me. So, we stuck with that, mainly since I feel sticking to original ideas always brings the least regret, and plus, by the time we started thinking of names again, the main character was already ‘Nikko’ in my head. Putting a meaning to her name (aka. adding the kanji) was a bit of an afterthought if I remember correctly, as a way to justify that being her name. I think it is a fitting name for her, meaning wise plus having a very literal name does let you make a lot of jokes in story. . .

I think I did confuse everyone who can read romaji, since the normal way to write the romaji for “日光” is as above (Nikkou / Nikkō). We actually do have a fair amount of people who can read Japanese in the team so we had a conversation about how to write her name in English, and it was interesting (if not a little scary haha) how everyone had different opinions. I do get worried a lot about the use of Kanji and how to write Japanese words in English, since I worry about getting it wrong, so I do keep this quote close to my heart; if there are multiple answers, perhaps no answer is technically wrong. . . And in the end everyone was very nice and lenient so they just let me have the last say, despite everyone having really convincing descriptions on how to write Nikko’s name  (I know how to call the romaji types in English now from reading everything, yay!). 

As for my justification of writing “日光” as “Nikko”, it was because a town near my hometown is called “日光” and they write their name as “Nikko” in documents. And so to me, I just read “Nikko” as “Nikkou” naturally in my head because of this. And so yes, I was unfortunately the cause of the confusion and discourse. . . 

I will be honest, I did have a few days after that where I kept thinking back to it and being like ‘Should I rethink the name. . .?’, but in the end, like I said, I think it does cause the least regret when you just stick to your original idea, instead of changing it over and over again. . .  Nikko being Nikko like she is today has grown on me, so I will continue telling myself it is all right. Though writing for this Devlog HAS resurfaced past feelings,so I will go fight this now. 

NOW, me and Skai have talked about a Japanese translation for the game one day (as a dream), so I will have to come back to the Romaji/Japanese thing again one day, but that I leave to future me since right now I am busy with the Devlogs.

Hi there, I’m currently hard at work outlining Midori and Ao’s routes and I really can’t wait to begin the process of finally writing it after a year of development has gone by since last year. The year 2024 had a lot of really high points for me but on the year’s end I crashed and burned. Hopefully 2025 is an uphill climb and hopefully we’re able to deliver a good story to all of you, whether in the next update which completes the common route or in future ones after that. Thank you so much for giving our little VN a read! :))