THE LIBRARY
Collector guides, cover censuses, and edition answers, documented issue by issue. Every page answers one specific question, completely.
FROMSOFTWARE
45 shelves
What is FromSoftware?
FromSoftware, the Tokyo studio behind Dark Souls and Elden Ring: founded 1986 by Naotoshi Zin as a business software company, King’s Field in 1994, Kadokawa…
The FromSoftware Box Art Gallery
Verified cover art for Demon’s Souls, the Dark Souls trilogy, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring, Nightreign, Armored Core and Otogi, with the Japan and West…
What was King’s Field?
King’s Field, FromSoftware’s first game (December 16, 1994): the Japan-only original, the Western renumbering of II and III, King’s Field IV, the Sword of…
What is Demon’s Souls?
Demon’s Souls (PlayStation 3, February 5, 2009): the troubled FromSoftware and Japan Studio project Hidetaka Miyazaki took over, its Boletaria, World Tendency,…
Why did Demon’s Souls become a cult hit in the West?
How Demon’s Souls conquered the West without a Western publisher: Sony’s pass, the import wave, Atlus in North America (October 2009), Namco Bandai in PAL (June…
How are Dark Souls and King’s Field connected?
The documented line from King’s Field (1994) through Demon’s Souls (2009) to Dark Souls (2011): spiritual succession at each step, Miyazaki’s own cited…
Who is Hidetaka Miyazaki?
Hidetaka Miyazaki: born 1974 in Shizuoka, Keio graduate, Oracle account manager turned FromSoftware planner in 2004 after playing Ico, director of Demon’s Souls,…
How did Miyazaki become president of FromSoftware?
Hidetaka Miyazaki’s promotion to FromSoftware president in May 2014, following Kadokawa’s purchase of the studio: the unprecedented ten-year rise, Zin’s move to…
What inspired Dark Souls?
The documented inspirations of Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls: Miyazaki’s childhood library reading, Sorcery! gamebooks, Ico, Dragon Quest, Zelda, King’s Field,…
What is Dark Souls?
Dark Souls (2011): FromSoftware’s spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls for PS3 and Xbox 360, the Lordran setting, bonfires and bloodstains, the Prepare to Die…
How was Dark Souls designed?
The design of Dark Souls: Lordran’s interconnected structure, bonfires that reset the world, bloodstains, asynchronous multiplayer, and the real architecture…
How does Dark Souls tell its story?
Dark Souls’ storytelling method: item flavour text, environmental detail and NPC dialogue in place of cutscenes, and Miyazaki’s stated preference for player…
Why is Dark Souls so difficult?
Why Dark Souls is difficult, in Miyazaki’s documented words: accomplishment through tremendous odds, death as a learning tool, the scrapped permanent-death idea,…
What is Dark Souls II?
Dark Souls II (March 2014): the trilogy’s only non-Miyazaki-directed entry, directed by Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura, designed by founder Naotoshi Zin, set…
What is Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin?
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (April 2015): the compiled edition with The Lost Crowns DLC trilogy, remastered visuals on PS4 and Xbox One, revised…
What is Dark Souls III?
Dark Souls III (2016): Miyazaki’s return as lead director, Lothric and the Lords of Cinder, the Bloodborne-quickened pace, Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City,…
What are the Dark Souls Design Works art books?
The Dark Souls Design Works books (Kadokawa in Japan, UDON in English): three hardcover art volumes for the trilogy, the Design Works interview with Miyazaki in…
Who composes the music for Dark Souls?
The composers of the Souls sound: Shunsuke Kida (Demon’s Souls), Motoi Sakuraba and Yuka Kitamura (Dark Souls trilogy), Bloodborne’s six-composer score, Sekiro…
What was the Japanese Dark Souls Trilogy Box?
The Dark Souls Trilogy Box (Japan, May 24, 2018): the Japan-exclusive PlayStation 4 set with all three games, every expansion and soundtrack, bookends, art…
What is Bloodborne?
Bloodborne (PlayStation 4, March 2015): Miyazaki and Japan Studio’s gothic action RPG, Yharnam and the night of the hunt, trick weapons and guns in place of…
How was Bloodborne made?
The making of Bloodborne: the 2012 Japan Studio approach, the Project Beast codename, parallel development with Dark Souls II, the deliberate 30 fps target, the…
What is The Old Hunters?
The Old Hunters (November 24, 2015): Bloodborne’s single expansion, the Hunters’ Nightmare, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower, the Fishing Hamlet and the…
What is Bloodborne Official Artworks?
Bloodborne Official Artworks: the 256-page official art book (Kadokawa in Japan, UDON English paperback 2017), Future Press’s 744-page complete guide, the Titan…
Why has Bloodborne never been remastered?
Why Bloodborne has never been remastered or ported: the documented record, the 2022 Sony legacy poll it won, Bluepoint’s rejected remake pitch, and Miyazaki’s…
What is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice?
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (March 22, 2019): FromSoftware’s Sengoku action game, Wolf and the Shinobi Prosthetic, resurrection and Dragonrot, its Tenchu origins,…
How is Sekiro different from Dark Souls?
Sekiro versus Dark Souls: one katana against hundreds of weapons, the posture system against stamina, no multiplayer or character creation, resurrection against…
What does Sekiro mean?
What Sekiro means: the contraction of sekiwan no okami, “the one-armed wolf,” Miyazaki’s reasoning for the wolf, and the origin of the Shadows Die Twice subtitle…
Why did Activision publish Sekiro?
Why Activision published Sekiro: FromSoftware’s first self-initiated publisher search, Activision’s worldwide role outside Japan and Asia, FromSoftware’s own…
What is Sekiro: Official Artworks?
Sekiro: Official Artworks: the official art book for Sekiro, its Kadokawa Japanese edition, the Yen Press English edition (the exception to UDON’s run of…
What is Elden Ring?
Elden Ring (February 25, 2022): FromSoftware and Bandai Namco’s open-world action RPG, the Lands Between, Miyazaki and Yui Tanimura directing, George R. R.…
How did George R. R. Martin help make Elden Ring?
George R. R. Martin’s role in Elden Ring, as documented by both collaborators: Martin wrote the backstory and mythology, Miyazaki was lead writer for the game,…
What is Shadow of the Erdtree?
Shadow of the Erdtree (June 2024): Elden Ring’s single expansion, the Land of Shadow and Miquella’s trail, its ten million copies, and its dedicated Official Art…
How many copies has Elden Ring sold?
Elden Ring’s documented sales: over 30 million copies, Shadow of the Erdtree over 10 million, Nightreign over 5 million, set against the Dark Souls series’ 39…
What are the Elden Ring Official Art Books?
The Elden Ring Official Art Books: Kadokawa Game Linkage in Japan and UDON hardcovers in English, volumes I and II for the base game, and volume III for Shadow…
What is Elden Ring Nightreign?
Elden Ring Nightreign (May 30, 2025): the standalone three-player co-operative spin-off directed by Junya Ishizaki, Limveld’s three-day structure, two million…
What is the Elden Ring manga?
The Elden Ring manga: The Road to the Erdtree by Nikiichi Tobita (Kadokawa, from September 2022), its comedy take on the Lands Between, the Yen Press English…
What is Armored Core?
Armored Core (from July 1997): FromSoftware’s mecha mercenary series, Ravens and corporations, hundreds of buildable parts, repair-and-ammo economics, Project…
How many Armored Core games are there?
The Armored Core catalogue counted: fourteen main games, seven spin-offs and three remastered re-releases from 1997 to 2023, the generational reboots, and the…
What is Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon?
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (August 25, 2023): the series’ return after a decade, Rubicon 3 and the Coral, C4-621, and the Miyazaki-to-Yamamura directorial…
Armored Core in manga and television
Armored Core beyond the games: the 2007 Fujimi Shobo manga Tower City Blade, and the 2024 Secret Level anthology episode “Armored Core: Asset Management”…
What did FromSoftware make before Dark Souls?
FromSoftware’s catalogue between King’s Field and Demon’s Souls: Echo Night, Shadow Tower, Eternal Ring, Evergrace, Lost Kingdoms, Chromehounds, Enchanted Arms,…
What is Otogi?
Otogi: Myth of Demons (Xbox, December 2002, Sega): Raikoh Minamoto, destructible environments, the Best Game No One Played nomination, and its documented place…
Which FromSoftware games never left Japan?
FromSoftware’s Japan-only games: King’s Field (1994), Spriggan: Lunar Verse, Frame Gride, Echo Night 2, Shadow Tower Abyss, Thousand Land, the King’s Field…
What is Déraciné?
Déraciné (2018): FromSoftware and Japan Studio’s PlayStation VR adventure, directed by Miyazaki, a faerie in a frozen boarding school, and the gentlest proof of…
How did Berserk influence Dark Souls?
Berserk’s influence on Dark Souls, kept to the documented record: Miyazaki’s stated fandom, Demon’s Souls’ named manga inspirations, and the Dark Souls Design…
FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST
3 shelves
Why does the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist anime end differently from the manga?
Because Arakawa asked for it: 28 chapters in, the weekly anime outran her monthly manga, so Bones built Dante and an original ending under her guardrails.
Why is there a second Fullmetal Alchemist anime, Brotherhood?
To adapt the manga faithfully and in full: announced in volume 20 in 2008, 64 episodes, ending weeks after the final chapter.
What inspired Fullmetal Alchemist?
Her parents' Hokkaido dairy farm, in her own words: Equivalent Exchange began as farm bookkeeping, before alchemy books and industrial Europe built the world.
GHIBLI
6 shelves
What inspired Laputa: Castle in the Sky?
Studio Ghibli's floating island comes from Swift, and the Welsh miners Miyazaki stood with in 1985.
Where did the name Ghibli come from?
Miyazaki took it from the Italian word for a hot desert wind, by way of the Caproni Ca.309 Ghibli scouting plane, for a studio meant to blow a new wind through anime.
Why was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind not a Studio Ghibli film?
Topcraft released it on March 11, 1984, more than a year before the studio existed. Its success founded Ghibli in 1985.
Why does the My Neighbor Totoro poster show a girl who is not in the film?
The poster kept the original single girl from Miyazaki's concept art. Production split her into Satsuki and Mei, and the poster was never redrawn.
What are Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away called in Japanese?
Majo no Takkyubin, built on a delivery company's trademark, and Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, the spiriting away of both of the heroine's names.
Who composed the music for Studio Ghibli's films?
Joe Hisaishi, Miyazaki's composer since 1984, who scored Laputa twice: once for Japan, and again from scratch for America.