Representing one of the sponsors of Kanako Ito’s visit was the Nitroplus president himself, Digitarou. After meeting him at Kanako’s press panel, he was kind enough to give us some of his time for a brief interview. We asked him about Nitroplus’s foray into the English-speaking market, from his initial impressions to his hopes for the future.

For those unfamiliar with Nitroplus, it is a visual novel company founded in 2000. Their first release was Phantom of Inferno, which was brought over to the USA in 2003 by Hirameki International. Their works include Deus Machina Demonbane, Saya no Uta (Song of Saya), and the mascot character Super Sonico. Currently, they are partnering with 5pb. Games to produce the Science Novels series (ChäoS;HEAd, Steins;Gate, and Robotics;Notes), and with JAST USA to release Nitroplus games in English.

There was initially no thought given to expanding Nitroplus outside of Japan, but their work with Hirameki exposed them to the American market. In preparation for Phantom’s English release, Digitarou took his first trip to America; he visited Anime Expo 2002 in order to conduct market research. Now, 10 years later, he is still surprised that there is not much difference between the fans in America and those in Japan. Even though the fans are from different countries and cultures, they have the same kinds of reactions to Nitroplus’s works. Digitarou also believes that the core idea of the stories is still successfully communicated — that in order to gain something, you must lose something. He actually estimates that about 70% to 80% of each story will be interpreted in the same way regardless of language.

Moving beyond games, Digitarou is interested in releasing English translations from the NitroplusBooks line of novels. However, he is concerned that the costs of translation will exceed the income from sales of novels. It does not seem like a possibility in the near future. Also, if he had the chance to turn one of Nitroplus’s stories into a Hollywood-style movie, any one would be fine, but Saya no Uta seemed the most interesting. For now, Digitarou would like to keep visiting conventions around the world; Nitroplus is supporting Kanako Ito’s July visit to Germany for AnimagiC. Also the game partnership with JAST USA will continue, and anybody interested in translating a Nitroplus game should contact JAST USA.

We would like to thank Digitarou for giving us the chance to interview him, and George Trombley, the president of Japanfiles, for offering to help translate during the interview. We would also like to thank Nitroplus, 5pb. Games, and Anime Boston for helping make this happen.