Acclaimed Tales of artist Mutsumi Inomata has passed away

Mutsumi Inomata, the character designer for Bandai Namco’s acclaimed Tales of RPG series, has passed away at the age of 63. This is a heavy loss as Inomata worked on several of the aforementioned Tales of games and various anime in her illustrious career.

Inomata’s official Twitter account confirmed the artist’s death happened on March 10, with the post saying that her passing was “sudden,” as she was still working on other projects. Her family held a private funeral for the artist.

Gamers know Inomata’s work from the Tales of series, where she made a ton of iconic character designs that would stand the test of time. This includes the fan-favorite Tales of Destiny games on PlayStation, Tales of Hearts, Tales of Graces, and so much more. Inomata also collaborated with various artists in other Tales of games.

This has been a difficult few weeks for fans of Japanese artists, as we just lost Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. Losing Inomata is just as big since her art for various games and anime continues to be praised. Fans have since shared some of their favorite works of Inomata, showing just how much of an impact she’s made.

Details on Inomata’s passing haven’t been revealed yet, though it was truly sudden, as we mentioned earlier. The fact that Inomata was still working on a draft at age 63 shows that she has plenty more to share with the world. It’s a shame that we’ve lost another great artist in such a short period but their works will ensure that they will never be forgotten.

Unfortunately, some of Inomata’s Tales of games aren’t readily available, as a number of them are only on older systems. Luckily, the acclaimed Tales of Berseria is still readily available so that fans can check out some of her work there. The fact that this is one of her last games is a true shame and we hope Bandai Namco start porting more of them soon.

We at Gfinity give our condolences to Mutsumi Inomata’s friends and family in this challenging time.