Interviewer & Author: Horosuke (ほろすけ) – June 1st 2026
A Miraculous Encounter with a Persona 5 Development Staff Member!
A Unique Worldview Born from the Fusion of Modern and Classic Artstyles
From here, we will bring you our interview with Rice Games representative and developer, Mr. Julian Rice.
—First, could you please introduce yourself again, including your development team?
Julian Rice (hereafter, Julian): I’m the founder of Rice Games, the game director, and the core solo developer behind the project. Our team members are incredibly important people from all around the world, including illustrators, composers, QA testers, and writers who help take the scenarios I write and turn them into charming, engaging dialogue.
—Could you briefly introduce Shujinkou 2?
Julian: First, the Shujinkou series is planned as a trilogy. Last year, we released Shujinkou overseas on Switch, PlayStation 5, and Steam. Shujinkou 2 begins right after the ending of the first game, with the protagonist and his companions visiting a snowy nation called Fubuki.
Their goal there is to negotiate with the leader of this nation, but of course, things are never that simple. All sorts of problems start to appear, so the characters have to travel to different places and carve open a path forward. Along the way, they need to deepen their bonds with the people of Fubuki, and the feeling is very much like a classic shonen manga. You go to a new land, meet new allies, and face powerful enemies. Even if you have not played the first game, our goal is to make Shujinkou 2 something you can enjoy as a completely new, standalone game.
—After actually playing it, I definitely felt a strong love for the Persona series. Were those kinds of works originally something you loved, and did that lead into the creation of this game?
Julian: I love them! Even within the team, people often say, “This feels kind of like Persona 5.” But if I had to name my absolute favorite games, I’d say the Etrian Odyssey series, the slightly more classic Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, and Shin Megami Tensei IV. Of course, I also love Persona 4.
This game uses a third-person camera, but I also really love first-person battles. I wanted to express more dynamic and interesting camera work and motion compared to the first game, so I challenged myself to create a screen composition where you can see the characters from behind. As a result, it accidentally created a modern atmosphere that felt somewhat close to Persona.
In terms of visual style, there is no question that my team and I are inspired by the modern sense seen in Atlus games. At the same time though, I also love the beautiful ink art of Okami and the powerful ink-like expression you see in the key art of Danganronpa. By fusing those elements together, we are pursuing a unique style where modern and classic can exist side by side.
—When we talk about the works that influenced you, would you say the ones you just mentioned are the main ones?
Julian: I feel a bit bad that I keep bringing up Atlus games, but yes. I absolutely love Fire Emblem: Awakening. Especially when it comes to character art style, I was deeply influenced by Yusuke Kozaki’s illustrations.
At the foundation of my taste are games like Fire Emblem Awakening, Etrian Odyssey IV, and Paper Mario TTYD. I also love games from Nihon Falcom, so people sometimes tell me the music from Shujinkou sounds like a Falcom game. I try to take the best inspiration from the games I truly love, while also adding my own creative new features, so that we can create something truly unique.
—For your exhibition at BitSummit this time, what kind of reactions did you receive from users who played the Japanese version?
Julian: There was one person who got really, seriously into it, and I was honestly moved. It made me feel from my core that supporting Japanese this early was worth all the all-nighters. We are actually working on Japanese support for the first game as well, but because of the terrible programming code I wrote back then, localization has become extremely time-consuming and expensive. So for Shujinkou 2, I designed the game so that people can enjoy it 100% from the beginning, even if they have not played the previous game. My goal is to release Shujinkou 2 worldwide in English and Japanese at the same time.
“There was one person who got really, seriously into it, and I was honestly moved.”
—How did Mr. Matsushita Asuto become involved with the one-shot manga?
Julian: There was a very clear reason for that. No matter what we did, Shujinkou was often recognized first as a “language-learning game,” and some people would dismiss it before looking deeply at the pure story of the game itself. So I thought, “In that case, let’s make a pure entertainment work with none of the learning elements at all.”
The other reason comes from the pacing of JRPGs, which is one of my favorite genres. In JRPGs, the story often progresses slowly because you are exploring towns, going back and forth through dungeons, and so on. But the appealing world and character drama I want to deliver to players are not things that can only be understood after playing an 80-hour game. I started thinking about what medium could let people instantly understand this wonderful world and these lovable characters without even launching the game, and I reached the conclusion that it had to be manga. This booklet is an original one-shot scenario set near the end of the first nation’s story arc, Genya, after the protagonist Shu, Jin, Kou, and the others have all gathered together.
—Which side approached the other?
Julian: I did! I attended a networking event for game developers, and by chance, I met someone who said, “I know someone who worked on planning for Persona 5.” That person introduced us.
I didn’t literally get down on my knees and beg, but emotionally, I was 100% bowing on the ground with everything I had. I desperately told him, “I really, really love Persona 5! Let’s make something interesting together!” Somehow, I managed to convince him, and he agreed to help us. From there, the three of us, including the extremely talented creator, Yazawa-sensei, who handled the manga art, worked desperately to complete the manga in only about three and a half weeks. We also had three assistants join us for backgrounds and coloring, and thanks to them, the final work became incredibly dense.
—So it truly was a miraculous connection brought together by passion!
Julian: I’m really grateful. From the beginning, he showed a strong interest in the concept and gameplay of Shujinkou. Even though the game had only been released in English at the time, he bought it himself and played through it in English so that he could study it and perfect the manga script. That professional attitude genuinely moved me.
—Finally, could you please leave a message for our readers?
Julian: My biggest wish is honestly that everyone will play it. To make that possible, we are adding a wide range of difficulty options and accessibility features, and we are aiming for a game with a low barrier to entry that anyone can easily pick up.
We are also planning to make the price easier to approach. The first game took about six or seven years to develop, and during that time, I went through all kinds of trouble. It was an extremely painful period where I was basically fighting for my life.. and my studio. This time, we have been able to build a much smoother and more efficient development structure by using that experience. I don’t want the “heartstrings story” of development hardship to drag down the price or the overall gameplay experience. We are aiming for a volume of around 50 hours, or about 100 hours if you really take your time and play deeply, while still delivering the best possible experience. We will keep the price reasonable and deliver a purely fun game that RPG fans will absolutely fall in love with. Please look forward to it!
—Thank you very much!
Shujinkou 2 is currently in development for PC (Steam). Let us look forward to more future news about this work, which combines original ideas with solid game quality.