Scopely’s globally popular hit game, *Marvel Strike Force*. As the official partner managing its Japanese Discord server, we created a special gift (smartphone wallpapers) for Japanese fans. Our mission was to maintain the universal brand image of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) while maximizing the identities of the Japanese characters “Silver Samurai” and “Lady Deathstrike” within a “Japanese” context. Rather than simply translating text or cropping images, we worked closely with the localization team from the initial conceptual stages. We carefully selected traditional Japanese motifs—such as Mount Fuji, Katsushika Hokusai’s “The Great Wave,” and gold folding screens—from stock images and creatively reimagined them. Furthermore, for the title logos and character names, we adopted Japanese-style fonts that evoke the feel of sumi-e ink paintings and traditional Japanese patterns (for example, stoic line art matching the texture of Silver Samurai’s armor, and textures matching Lady Deathstrike’s hair color). Through this meticulous adjustment of the “texture” and “feel,” we embodied a refined “Japanese aesthetic” that feels natural even from the perspective of native speakers of various nationalities. We achieved a creative solution that resonates intuitively with fans in the target cultural regions, even for a global IP.
