Square Enix Didn’t Want to Emphasize Tifa and Aerith’s Feminine Curves in Rebirth

We were surprised by some really sad news. For some time now, it has been known that Square Enix has an “ethics” department that reviews and, in some cases, censors the work of its illustrators.

Now, images from a Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth artbook have appeared online, and since the game includes a beach section where the characters wear swimsuits, some comments from the illustrators have caught attention for being quite disappointing.

For example, on the page where Aerith appears wearing her pink bikini, there is a staff comment saying:

“This bikini was created in response to a request to conceal her feminine curves as much as possible.”

…What? Why exactly?

Well, Tifa’s bikini also received a similar comment:

“I tried several different designs for Tifa’s bikini, but getting approval for any of them was a major challenge. Since players can view the characters from any angle in the game, we had to keep certain things under control so as not to emphasize her feminine figure.”

And the issue was not limited to the female characters. Even Cloud had a comment that caught attention:

“The beach outfits worn by Cloud and other characters were designed so they would not emphasize their bodies. This was done according to ethical rules and internal feedback.”

Square Enix seems to be censoring itself. I remember that the creator of Dragon Quest also complained about this kind of censorship in an interview some time ago, and the video was later removed.

via Twitter