Pokémon Designers

[Adam Levine]

So Megumi Mizutani's recent Tweet revealing that she designed the Tinkatink and Tandemaus lines, as well as Hitoshi Ariga Tweeting a few days before that he designed Espathra, the Nacli line, and one more Pokémon he'll reveal "in due time," it got me thinking about Pokémon designers as a whole. One of my favorite trivia about a Pokémon is learning who designed what, and even though only a fraction of all Pokémon have had their designers revealed, it's still a pretty good fraction, and there are a good number of people that have been credited for certain designs. Here's a list of confirmed Pokémon by designer, compiled by Bulbapedia user Altruis.

So, this thread is exactly about that: the minds behind your favorite creatures! Who are your favorite Pokémon designers, based on their creative outputs? Do you know who designed your favorite (and least favorite) Pokémon? Are there Pokémon you think might have been designed by someone, even if it hasn't been outright confirmed? Are there any designers whose other non-Pokémon works you're familiar with? We can even discuss character designers within the Pokémon franchise if that's up your alley!

Hitoshi Ariga has consistently been one of my favorite Pokémon designers. He's responsible for Mega Beedrill, Pangoro, the Inkay, Tyrunt, and Amaura lines, Charjabug (my favorite Pokémon of all time) and friends, the Galarian fossils, Hisuian Sneasel (we don't talk about Sneasler), and now Espathra, some pretty solid designs overall imo. Considering that he's only designed five Pokémon for Scarlet and Violet and only one of them is unrevealed, I was a little shocked to learn that he wasn't behind the entire Charcadet line, considering his past work on the Mega Man series. It'd be really cool if it turns out he designed Flutter Mane though, since Misdreavus is his favorite Pokémon.

Obviously a name that shows up constantly in Pokémon-designer discussions is James Turner. While his Pokémon portfolio is overall average for me, he's responsible for some favorites of mine including Golurk, Buzzwole, and the Poipole line. And yes, let me say it: I'm a certified Vanilluxe enjoyer. I also recently learned that shortly before his departure from Game Freak, he designed Professors Sada and Turo, which I think is interesting.

 

[Orion☆]

I'll be honest: I never expected to learn who designed Mimikyu at all, but I'm glad I did. I'm not the biggest fan of Megumi Mizutani's contributions for Generation IX, but even then I can appreciate her style and recognize that they're cut from the same cloth as my favourite Ghost baby. I also have to thank Atsuko Nishida, for without Pikachu, Mimikyu probably wouldn't be what we know it as. (In fact, I believed she had designed Mimikyu before a quick Google search proved otherwise!)

Speaking of Atsuko Nishida, she also designed Raichu, one of my favourite Electric-types - if not the favourite! I'm also fond of James Turner's off-the-rocker designs, even if they aren't all to my taste. His general art direction for Sw/Sh has been one of the best in the entire franchise, and I was very sad to see him leave Game Freak - yet happy that he can devote his time to his own projects. Lastly, I'm more acquainted with Hitoshi Ariga from my brief stint in the Mega Man fandom, because he wrote a long manga about it, but I gotta say his record for Pokémon isn't bad. I've grown fond of Sneasler in the last few months (to the point I now like it more than long-time favourite Weavile!), and of Garganacl in the past few days.

 

[ReKoil]

Idk who designed my favorite Pokemon. Who designed what Pokemon is not something I normally concern myself with.

Using that link it looks like Atsuko Nishida designed Vaporeon Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Glaceon and Sylveon.
Motofumi Fujiwara designed Eevee, Flareon and Jolteon.

I find it interesting to see some lines being split up between designers, such as Dratini/Dragonair being designed by Atsuko Nishida and Dragonite by Shigeki Morimoto.

It does say at the top that there's no guarantee all the info on that page is correct though so I'm taking that page's info with a grain of salt.

 

[Corveone]

Well, most of my favorite designs aren't there, but at least I see a few: Aurorus, Scolipede, Glaceon, Bulbasaur, and Ninetales.

I guess Atsuko Nishida would be the best for me since all of her designs are at least good+. Funny to see how she designed Dratini and Dragonair, but another artist created Dragonite. Dragonite allways looked like it was meant for another line.

 

[Devalue]

Based on the list, Atsuko Nishida. Designed most of the eeveelutions, Alolan Raichu, Zorua, Lilligant, and Kricketune.

Struggles to pick a least favorite. Mixes good and bad quite often. Maybe Shigeki Morimoto? Does not like the direction Dragonite went with that line. Is not a fan of Piloswine after Swinub either.

 

[Dastr95]

Based on the first generation alone, Atsuko Nishida. Designed many of my favorites in Kanto.

 

[Sheep]

Motofumi Fujiwara designed my favorite eevelution, Flareon. Also Eevee. Will forever be a fan! But Atsuko Nishida is probably going to remain the favorite for a long time.. I mean, designing Whimsicott and the Minccino line?! Petilil and Zorua too, heck even Musharna is great. She really knows how to design mons I love. :D

 

[Adam Levine]

Ladies and gentlemen, we got a new desginer reveal. Yusuke Kozaki, who previously designed the Toxel line and Falinks, recently revealed that he also designed the Cetoddle and Varoom lines. What do you think about his contributions to the series? While I'm not the biggest fan of these four new Pokémon, I applaud him for bringing these two concepts I'm fascinated with (cetaceans and sentient vehicles) to life, and Falinks is one of my favorite Fighting-types.

In somewhat related news, I wanted to talk about this in the first post, but I'll say it here anyway: this generation we saw at least one new face on the Pokémon design team, Kazuyuki Kurashima, who designed Greavard and Houndstone. Kurashima's past portfolio interests me: he had character design work on Super Mario RPG, and also worked on games such as Live A Live, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and Patapon 3. Greavard's a really neat and distinct design, and it sorta does give me SMPRG vibes, same with Houndstone.