Reiko Nagase based on a man?

[JonnyCGood]

Quote

According to a magazine article for Incite Video Gaming Magazine about Ridge Racer 64 for the Nintendo 64 from February 2000[2], a Japanese male developer couldn't find a woman's face for Reiko so he had a quick shave, conducted a spot of eyebrow plucking and scanned his own head in as Reiko is "part man".

https://ridgeracer.fandom.com/wiki/Reiko_Nagase

And here is the page in question:

This is very, curious. It seems to be very specific information, but they don't explain where they got it. It would presumably be some Japanese magazine or guidebook for Ridge Racer R4 since that seems to be the CGI render of Reiko they're talking. She does in fact look fairy androgynous.

A lot of people question this though saying that Incite is not a good source and they could have just made it up. It's also unclear if they are translating properly. It's entirely possible that "scanned" doesn't refer to any sophisticated scanning rig, but instead a simple photograph. And using a photo as a reference when designing a cgi rener is pretty standard practice.

So anyone has any idea where this might have come from, or any Japanese source which backs up, please post it. It could be anywhere. The PlayStation, Dengeki PlayStation, Famitsu PS, Weekly Famitsu, etc.

 

[BlitzFitness]

Very interesting, had never heard that before either.  Curious to see if anyone else has.

[MigJmz]

i do see a striking resemblance.. 

[JonnyCGood]

On 7/1/2022 at 5:09 PM, MigJmz said:

i do see a striking resemblance.. 

Thank you, I was actually looking for a 22 year old picture of Katayama, as I could only find modern ones. He does look like Reiko with the same haircut and similar face. I think it's very plausible that he used a picture of himself as a reference when designing Reiko.

So I figure that it has to be a Japanese source, since if it was in English we would know about it.

[Rando1975]

I thought I saw this in another gaming magazine from the same time as well.