Hello there!
I’m lead facial animator for Bayonetta 3, Akifumi Sengan. I’m here to talk to you about the game’s facial animation.

Bayonetta

The 3D modeling of Bayonetta’s face is a little more realistic this time compared to the previous installments, so I was very particular about how to make sure her expressions didn’t break her character. She has a brand new hair style this time, so at first it was incredibly tough to make her seem like Bayonetta.

For the third installment, in addition to the Bayonetta-like expressions, she also has the addition theme of being “cute”.

I had to work very hard to not stray from Bayonetta’s characterization while also adding in that additional layer of cuteness.

Viola

The game’s new character, Viola demonstrates a variety of expressions akin to the main character of a Japanese comic book. She shows us a lot of expressions depending on the situation.

Viola’s lively and passionate nature is conveyed through her facial expressions, and we were tweaking them right up until the very last minute to get the Viola we wanted. I personally really like the way she ended up.

With Bayonetta’s expressive posing and Viola’s animated facial expressions, the aspects of each character we focused on contrasted in a way that I feel helped to bring out their individual charms.

The story of Bayonetta 3 weaves together a number of bewitching characters, so I hope you will enjoy it.

Akifumi Sengan Technical artist at PlatinumGames.Was involved in the development of games such NieR:Automata and ASTRAL CHAIN, and worked as lead facial animator for Bayonetta 3.