It’s been an exciting few days for Science Adventure fans! Earlier this week, Spike Chunsoft, Inc. revealed that the long-awaited next entry in the series, ANONYMOUS;CODE, would see its official English localization released on September 8, 2023 for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam—and if that weren’t enough, the company announced the game will also receive a full English dub, marking the first time a visual-novel entry in the series has received both Japanese and English voiceovers.
To add to the hype, Kiri Kiri Basara is pleased to present, alongside SciADV content creator and co-producer CinePresto, a brand-new interview with ANONYMOUS;CODE localization producer Yu Namba. The interview, conducted this week at GDC 2023, delves into the intricacies forming this upcoming Western release: from working with a futuristic worldview and fantastical setpieces, to translation efforts and challenges, to SciADV Series ties, and so much more.
Both the video interview and a transcript can be found below. We hope you enjoy the watch!
CinePresto: Welcome to another episode of CinePresto! Today, we’re doing something very special: we’re actually partnering with Kiri Kiri Basara to bring you the newest interview with ANONYMOUS;CODE localization producer Yu Namba.
Yu Namba: Hi!
C: Welcome to the show, Yu!
YN: Thank you for having me.
C: Yeah! We’ve done a lot of preparation, and we’re very excited to be talking about today, the newest game—ANONYMOUS;CODE! Congratulations on the work so far, the newest trailer just came out, and we’re learning that you guys are dubbing this game fully into English.
YN: Yes.
C: Which is incredible. We just got the trailer, as of the recording, I think yesterday? Yesterday—it already feels like a long time just processing it. And the game is out September 8th, 2023.
We’ve got ten quick questions for those anticipating the game, so let’s just get right into it. So, first things first, can you explain, for those who don’t know a thing about ANONYMOUS;CODE, what the central concept is?
YN: If you are in a game, and you did something wrong, what would you want to do—first and foremost? You wanna say, oh s***, y’know, can I just load back my old save and then start all the way back and do something different? That’s basically what ANONYMOUS;CODE is all about. The protagonist, Pollon, somehow acquires the ability to “save” your life. And whenever he wants to get something back in his past because something bad goes on or something gets screwed up, he has the opportunity to “load” that save and try something different. He first starts out, y’know, kind of being cool—white-hat hacker, doing little stuff, but he starts getting involved in something that even topples the entire world.
C: Wow, incredible. So, just based off that, what can newcomers and existing fans of the Science Adventure Series look forward to seeing in ANONYMOUS;CODE?
YN: As for cameo appearances, there’s a couple. There’s nothing like, huge, but I think Science Adventure Series fans might recognize them. But we also discuss some key concepts that are discussed in, let’s say, STEINS;GATE, and go further into it—to expand those concepts in ANONYMOUS;CODE. So I think you guys are gonna enjoy it and have fun discussing what happens in this game.
C: Anything for the newcomers?
YN: Newcomers… The whole entire thing about Science Adventure is “99% science, 1% fantasy.” It really has that strong root in what’s in our world right now. So having that feeling of your daily life with that fantasy kicking in, I hope you’ll find it very exhilarating and exciting to follow the story.
C: I think that’s the thing that’s really hooked a lot of the existing fans, just the fact that these very grounded science concepts can be turned into something very fantastic, something that people can really just fall into. Some of our interviewing staff knows this as well.
YN: And also the very well-known urban legends, conspiracy theories, things like that, the stuff that people are aware of—maybe some of them will be in ANONYMOUS;CODE.
C: Oh, okay! And on that note, actually, ANONYMOUS;CODE takes place in the year 2037—to us, the not-too-distant future, and a number that many Science Adventure fans will be familiar with. How did the setting with its futuristic technology and fantastical setpieces affect how the team approached the localization process?
YN: In the 2030s, the world—not just in Tokyo, but the entire world—a lot of people are equipped with this technology called “BMI,” where it’s kind of like A.R., but you can actually have everything “in” your eyes, or, like, in your head directly. It’s a little bit more cyberpunk-ish, I guess? That has a lot to do with the visual element of the game, and also, the story as well. We wanted to keep that new, futuristic aspect—just a little bit extending out of what we’re experiencing right now in our modern times—as realistic and believable as possible.
C: What would you say was your favorite part of localizing that, based on what you just told us?
YN: We did a lot of researching—well, more like background checking, I guess—of the different ideas, seeing if there’s anything relevant or equivalent to our current timeframe of the 2020s. And from there, transferring them over to the ANONYMOUS;CODE tech. And it was pretty cool thinking, “Okay, so right now it’s like this, but ten years from now, how’s it going to be?”
C: Right, and then, on the flipside of that, were there any challenges like that that you faced within that process too, of localizing it, y’know, based on our current time, or not? Did you run into anything that was like, “We don’t quite know that yet, how are we going to approach this”?
YN: That was more of what the original creators from MAGES. envisioned how things could be. And if there were questions that came out of the localization process, we contacted them to get their opinion. So, yeah, overall I think things went really good, localizing it.
C: Cool. Were there any challenges for you, just specifically within the localization process?
YN: So how this game was handled localization-wise was that we approached a gentleman by the name of Andrew Hodgson, also known as “Steiner,” I believe? He had vast knowledge in the Science Adventure Series, and especially STEINS;GATE, which he localized. So with this game having pretty strong ties with that game, we asked him to do the translation for us. Then, with the materials that we received from him, we double-checked on our end.
Personally, I think it’s always good to have multiple people look at the localization so that if there’s anything that one person misses, the other person can catch it and try to make the fixes and whatnot. So we tried to be as meticulous as possible staying true to the material, and also making sure that the materials were understandable to the Western audience.
C: Excellent. And you bring up a really great point, this is such an important thing to existing fans of the Science Adventure Series, it’s just, consistency, right? I think a lot of them want to know, what efforts are being made to keep things consistent with the previous entries in the Science Adventure Series? And as you said, you’ve already brought in a really big one, which is bringing in Steiner, right?
YN: Exactly. Yeah, that was a huge help for us, honestly. But in case there is something—we hopefully didn’t miss anything—but in case there is something, we still have time. We’re still right in the middle of localization work right as we speak, and also, voice recording as we speak. So, yeah, we’ll try to be as careful as possible so that we’ll make all our fans, existing fans and all newcomers, happy.
C: Excellent. And it’s great that you brought up voice acting, because you were actually a localization producer for the Persona series too, right?
YN: (laughs) Yes.
C: Okay. And you brought on a Persona alum, Max Mittelman, to voice Pollon for this one. This time, going into this game, knowing that this is the first Science Adventure game to be dubbed at the same time, did that affect how you guys localized this particular title by any means?
YN: We decided to bring in English voices to this game to, number one and foremost, expand the audience. The Science Adventure Series, mostly being a visual novel game-wise, I think it’s kind of, how should I say it, the fans—the avid fans—have no problem reading the text and listening to the Japanese voices, et cetera, et cetera. But for people who don’t know the series at all, we thought that it would be more approachable for them to come to the series if we had English voices. And there are always fans that like playing the game, or watching anime or whatever, in English now, and we wanted it to reach out to those fans as well.
C: Compared to your previous experiences localizing other games, what makes this game in particular stand out to you as a localization producer?
YN: To be completely honest, my stance doesn’t change—which is, whatever title that I work on, I try to be as authentic as possible to the original work, while making it enjoyable to everybody else in the world. I did that for all the other titles that I’ve worked on, and I did the same for this title. And then, on top of that, we’ve already discussed this, but with ANONYMOUS;CODE being in the Science Adventure Series, I really had to think about fans of that series too, so that was additional work that I tried to focus on.
C: You sound very dedicated, so I hope I can speak for a lot of the other fans too in saying, welcome aboard this crazy train that we call the Science Adventure Series.
YN: Thank you.
C: Having worked on the title so far, who would you say your favorite ANONYMOUS;CODE character is?
YN: Character? Ooh, man—I mean, I dig the story, I came to love all the characters, and hopefully that comes across in the English voices, but, hm… for male characters, I think I like Cross, and for female characters, there’s going to be a lady by the name of Rosario, and I think she’s pretty cool.
C: Sounds good. I mean, for people who don’t know yet, what, on top of that—what special surprises can people expect from ANONYMOUS;CODE?
YN: I mean, story-wise, it starts off pretty small and local, to something that completely changes the way this world works, really. So that huge story progression, transition, into the biggest climax, that’s something I really enjoyed when I went through the game, and I hope people will enjoy it, too.
C: Excellent, excellent. On that note, we’re also talking a little bit about the SteelBook Launch Edition of the game, which is also coming out September 8th, 2023. What’s included with that? Can you just tell us a little bit about that?
YN: Well, first of all, it’s going to be the same price as the Standard Edition, so $59.99 in US dollars. But yeah, it’s gonna have the Standard Edition in the regular case for both PS4 and Switch, with the SteelBook with pretty cool art—it kinda looks metallic, too—all packed into this one paper sleeve so nothing gets damaged and whatnot. So if you guys wanna have the game along with the SteelBook, that’s cool; if you wanna put the game inside the SteelBook, that’s cool, too. But yeah, I hope you guys enjoy it.
C: Excellent. And I know I’m one to speak as a fan too, we all love our little goodies every single time Science Adventure releases something new, they always have something really cool that comes with it.
So I guess we’re down to our last questions—this has been over ten questions, and honestly I would talk with you all day because we love getting as many nuggets as we can out of you. What would you consider ANONYMOUS;CODE’s strongest trait? Just up front.
YN: Strongest trait…
C: Yeah, if you could say that very briefly.
YN: I mean, honestly, this can apply to pretty much any kind of Science Adventure title, but, y’know, the root of our modern society with this awesome story—I think that’s the main focus of the game, really. I mean, visual novel, right? Story’s gotta be great. And I think this story’s great.
C: The story carries everything, the humanity of the characters always shines really brightly in my opinion. Final question, this one’s really fun—if you could pick just three words to describe the game?
YN: Three words.
C: Three words. I’ll give you a moment.
YN: Hm… “Save.” “Load.” “Hack.”
C: Boom. Excellent, excellent, excellent. I think that’s enough to end it on. You’ve gotten everyone hyped, I think we’re all looking forward to September 8, 2023. So, this has been a first-look interview with Yu Namba, localization producer for ANONYMOUS;CODE. Special thanks to Kiri Kiri Basara and Fasty for writing the questions with me.
ANONYMOUS;CODE releases September 8, 2023 on PS4, Switch, and Steam! Take care, everyone.
YN: Thanks!
(Editor’s note: Of note to some, ANONYMOUS;CODE’s Steam release will additionally support Traditional and Simplified Chinese subtitles.)
We will strive to keep you updated as more information arises on this upcoming release. For more ANONYMOUS;CODE coverage, check out this page.
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