Yuji Uekawa

Yuji Uekawa

Employment history: Sega Enterprises (1992^[1] – ) Divisions: Sega CS1 Sega CS3 Sega Software R&D Dept. 8 Sonic Team Sega Divisions: Global Entertainment R&D Dept. 1 Sega CS2 Sega Games Sega
Role(s): Artist, Designer

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Yuji Uekawa's (上川祐司) first major project was cult favorite Ristar, a character of his own design. His first Sonic title was the Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast, where he was a Special Stage artist. Since Sonic R, he's been the main series character designer. His hip, stylized drawings gave Sonic an entirely new visual personality in Sonic Adventure, and he's since loaned his talents to a number of Sonic Team titles, including Samba de Amigo and Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg.

Production history

Games

(; 1992) — Also Thanks to^[3] (as Kamikawa)
(; 1995) — Character Designer^[4]
(; 1995) — キャラクター制作^[5] (as 上川祐司)
(; 1995) — Character Production^[6]
(; 1995) — Character Design (as Uekawa Yuji)
(; 1996) — グラフィックデザイナー^[7] (as 上川祐司)
(; 1997) — Artists^[8]
(; 1997) — Character Designer^[9]
(; 1998) — Character designer
(; 1998) — Character designers
(; 1998) — Character designer
(; 1998) — Character motion designers
(; 1996) — Artists (SOJ)^[10]
(; 1999) — Art Director
(; 1999) — Character Designer
(; 2000) — Character Designer
(; 2000) — Character Designer
(; 2000) — Character Designer
(; 2001) — Art Director^[11]
(; 2001) — Player Character Designers
(; 2001) — Product Support
(; 2001) — Art Director
(; 2001) — Art Director^[12]
(; 2002) — Illustration^[13]
(; 2002) — Art Director^[14]
(; 2003) — Art Director
(; 2003) — Lead Character Designer
(; 2003) — Lead Visual Artist
(; 2003) — Art Director
(; 2003) — Art Director
(; 2003) — Character Coordinator
(; 2003) — Art Director
(; 2003) — Design Coordinator^[15]
(; 2004) — Art Director
(; 2004) — Art Director
(; 2004) — Art Director
(; 2004) — Art Director^[16]
(; 2004) — Art Director^[17]
(; 2004) — Art Director
(; 2004) — Special Thanks
(; 2004) — Illustrator
(; 2004) — Illustrator
(; 2004) — Manager
(; 2004) — Art Director
(; 2005) — Illustrator
(; 2005) — Illustrator
(; 2005) — Art Director
(; 2005) — Artwork Section Manager
(; 2005) — Special Thanks
(; 2005) — Special Thanks
(; 2005) — Special Thanks
(; 2006) — Character Art Director
(; 2006) — Character Art Director
(; 2006) — Character Art Director
(; 2006) — Character Art Director
(; 2006) — Publicity Artwork
(; 2006) — Publicity Artwork
(; 2006) — Illustrator
(; 2007) — Promotional Visuals
(; 2007) — Art Director
(; 2007) — Sonic Family Character Supervisors
(; 2008) — Sonic Family Character Supervisors
(; 2008) — Supervisors (Original Games)
(; 2008) —
(; 2008) —
(; 2008) — GE1
(; 2008) — Promotional Visuals
(; 2008) — ミスティッカー制作協力 (as 上川祐司)
(; 2009) — Cut Scene Artists
(; 2009) — Promotional Visuals
(; 2009) — Sonic Family Character Supervisors
(; 2009) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2010) — CS2 R&D
(; 2010) — CS2 R&D
(; 2010) — CS2 R&D
(; 2010) — Artists
(; 2010) — Publicity Artwork
(; 2010) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2011) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2011) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2011) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2011) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2011) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2011) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2012) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2012) — Character Artist
(; 2013) — Special Thanks
(; 2013) — Sonic Character Supervisor
(; 2013) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2014) — スペシャルサンクス (as 上川祐司)
(; 2014) — Supervisors (Original Games)
(; 2014) — スペシャルサンクス (as 上川祐司)
(; 2014) — Supervisors (Original Games)
(; 2014) — Character Supervisors
(; 2014) — Character Supervisors
(; 2015) — Special Thanks
(; 2016) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2016) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2016) — Character Supervisors
(; 2018) — Special Thanks
(; 2018) — Special Thanks
(; 2018) — Special Thanks
(; 2018) — ChuChu Rocket
(; 2018) — Sonic the Hedgehog
(; 2018) —
(; 2019) — Sonic Character Supervisor
(; 2019) — Character Supervision
(; 2019) — Development Support
(; 2020) — Special Thanks
(; 2020) — Character Supervisors
(; 2020) — Character Supervisors
(; 2021) — Publicity Artwork
(; 2021) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2021) — Publicity Artwork
(; 2021) — Publicity Artwork
(; 2021) — Publicity Artwork
(; 2021) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2021) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2021) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2022) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2022) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2022) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2022) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2023) — Publicity Artwork
(; 2023) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2023) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2023) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2023) — Sonic Characters Supervisors
(; 2023) — Sonic Characters Supervisors
(; 2023) — Sonic Characters Supervisors
(; 2023) — Sonic Characters Supervisors
(; 2024) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2024) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2024) — Sonic Character Supervisors
(; 2024) — Sonic Character Supervisors

Music

(; 1998) — Special Thanks
(; 1999) — CG Illustration^[18]
(; 2000) — Art Direction/Character Design
(; 2003) — Cover Art
(; 2004) — キャラクター原案^[19] (as 上川祐司)
(; 2005) — Art Director
(; 2007) — Special Thanks to^[20]
(; 2007) — Cover Art^[21]
(; 2007) — Art Director^[22]
(; 2009) — Artworks^[23]
(; 2011) — Artworks^[24]
(; 2014) — Artworks
(; 2014) — Cover Art & Artworks
(; 2016) — Artwork^[25]
(; 2019) — Special Thanks^[26]
(; 2020) — Illustrator
(; 2021) — Character Supervisor
(; 2022) — Illustration
(; 2022) — Character Supervisor
(; 2023) — Character Supervisor

Sonic X (2003) — Original Character Design
Sonic Boom (2014) — Sonic Character & Universe Supervision

Magazine covers

Print advert in (JP) #1998-25: "1998-25 (1998-09-11,18)" (1998-08-28)

Print advert in (JP) #1998-01: "1998-01 (1998-11-20)" (1998-11-06)

Print advert in (JP) #1999-01: "1999-01 (1999-01-01)" (1998-12-18)

Interviews

Some or all of the following content should be mirrored on Sega Retro (or Retro CDN).

Yuji Uekawa interview by Sonic Channel (April 3, 2006) [Translated]

Photographs

Main article: Photos of Yuji Uekawa

References

[https:.2F.2Fweb.archive.org.2Fweb.2F20230324000310.2Fhttps:.2F.2Fwww.ndw.jp.2Fsonic25th-interview01.2F-1] ttps://www.ndw.jp/sonic25th-interview01/ (Wayback Machine: 2023-03-24 00:03)

[https:.2F.2Fweb.archive.org.2Fweb.2F2.2Fhttps:.2F.2Ftwitter.com.2FSiFi_TZK.2Fstatus.2F1650138242291990529-2] @SiFi_TZK on Twitter (Wayback Machine: 2-- :)

[:File:Bio-Hazard_Battle_MD_credits.pdf_p-3] File:Bio-Hazard Battle MD credits.pdf

[:File:Ristar_MD_credits.pdf_p-4] File:Ristar MD credits.pdf

[:File:Kisuishou_Densetsu_Astal_Saturn_credits.pdf_p-5] File:Kisuishou Densetsu Astal Saturn credits.pdf

[:File:Astal_Saturn_US_credits.pdf_p-6] File:Astal Saturn US credits.pdf

[:File:Sakura_Taisen_Saturn_credits.pdf_p-7] File:Sakura Taisen Saturn credits.pdf

[:File:Sonic_Jam_Saturn_credits.pdf_p-8] File:Sonic Jam Saturn credits.pdf

[:File:Sonic_R_Saturn_credits.pdf_p-9] File:Sonic R Saturn credits.pdf

[:File:Sonic_3D_Blast_Saturn_credits.pdf_p-10] File:Sonic 3D Blast Saturn credits.pdf

[:File:ChuChu_Rocket.21_GBA_credits.pdf_p-11] File:ChuChu Rocket! GBA credits.pdf

[:File:Sonic_Advance_GBA_credits.pdf_p-12] File:Sonic Advance GBA credits.pdf

[:File:SonicMegaCollection_GC_US_Credits.pdf_p-13] File:SonicMegaCollection GC US Credits.pdf

[:File:Sonic_Advance_2_GBA_credits.pdf_p-14] File:Sonic Advance 2 GBA credits.pdf

[:File:Sonic_Battle_GBA_credits.pdf_p-15] File:Sonic Battle GBA credits.pdf

[:File:Sonic_Advance_3_GBA_credits.pdf_p-16] File:Sonic Advance 3 GBA credits.pdf

[:File:Puyo_Puyo_Fever_GBA_credits.pdf_p-17] File:Puyo Puyo Fever GBA credits.pdf

[:File:SADLCOST_CD_JP_booklet1.pdf_p2-18] File:SADLCOST CD JP booklet1.pdf, page 2

[:File:SonicXOST_CD_JP_booklet.pdf_p3-19] File:SonicXOST CD JP booklet.pdf, page 3

[:File:SeveralWIlls_CD_JP_booklet.pdf_p15-20] File:SeveralWIlls CD JP booklet.pdf, page 15

[:File:StHOST_CD_JP_booklet.pdf_p6-21] File:StHOST CD JP booklet.pdf, page 6

[:File:SRAOST_CD_JP_booklet.pdf_p3-22] File:SRAOST CD JP booklet.pdf, page 3

[:File:TrueColorsTray.jpg_p-23] File:TrueColorsTray.jpg

[:File:SonicCD_OST_Tray.jpg_p-24] File:SonicCD OST Tray.jpg

[:File:SonicAdventureMusicExperience_CD_JP_Box_Tokyo.jpg_p-25] File:SonicAdventureMusicExperience CD JP Box Tokyo.jpg

[:File:MaximumOverdrive_CD_JP_inlay_front.jpg_p-26] File:MaximumOverdrive CD JP inlay front.jpg

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