Did the Death Note artist really redesign Castlevania?

Castlevania Judgment, developed by Eighting and released for the Wii in North America on November 18, 2008 and in Japan on January 15, 2009, was the series' first fighting game. Producer Koji Igarashi assembled a roster spanning the franchise's 22 years: Simon and Trevor Belmont, Alucard, Maria Renard, Sypha Belnades, Grant Danasty, Carmilla, Cornell, Dracula himself and a new character, the time traveler Aeon. Every one of them was redesigned from scratch by Takeshi Obata.

The designs are unmistakably his: elaborate, elegant and fashion-led. Hands-on coverage at the time noted that Simon had shed the rugged barbarian look of the early games for something more revealing and ornate, and that the cast carried an elegant, slightly feminine feel quite unlike the painted style of Ayami Kojima, the artist most associated with the series. Longtime fans were divided, and the game remains the one place where Obata's character design work exists as a physical game on a shelf.

It was not a random hire. Judgment was announced in July 2008, two years after Death Note ended, when Obata's gothic, fashion-heavy style was the most recognizable in manga. Konami was buying exactly the look this shelf documents.