Kim Kitsuragi

Kim Kitsuragi
First game	Disco Elysium (2019)
In-universe information
Origin	Revachol

Kim Kitsuragi is a character in the 2019 video game Disco Elysium. Kitsuragi is a police lieutenant for the Revachol Citizens Militia (RCM) and serves as partner to detective Harrier Du Bois, the game's protagonist. Contrasting Du Bois' more vibrant and unpredictable personality, Kitsuragi acts as stoic and serious partner. He is voiced by Brussels-based voice actor Jullian Champenois, who was chosen after years of searching for an actor who was able to portray what they wanted for Kim, specifically a French accent.

He is gay as well as mixed-race, being part Seolite and part Revacholian; each based on multiple Asian and European countries, but primarily Japan and France respectively.

Kim has received generally positive reception for his role in Disco Elysium among both fans and critics.

Local law enforcement solving one little homicide decides nothing... Not solving it... can have real and calculable effects. Things can always get worse.^[1]

— Kim Kitsuragi, in Disco Elysium, Day One

Kim Kitsuragi first appeared in the 2019 video game Disco Elysium as the non-playable partner of the player-protagonist, both men working as detectives in a murder case.^[2] The character is defined by his calm stoic personality,^[2][3] as well as his Asian-inspired "Seol" culture,^[4] private queerness,^[5][6][7] and signature orange bomber jacket.^[8][9] In the remastered Final Cut released in 2021, the role of Kitsuragi is expanded with additional voiced dialog.^[10] His popularity was notable by early 2024, when ZA/UM included him in a "collage mode" where players can arrange game characters into scenes.^[11] ZA/UM also began selling merchandise from the game, modelled after Kitsuragi's orange bomber jacket.^[8][9]

The story of Disco Elysium focuses on an unsolved murder in Martinaise, a disenfranchised region between two competing police departments.^[12] When both districts send a detective to investigate, Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi begins working with Harry DuBois, the player character.^[12] As DuBois struggles with a hangover and loss of memory, Kitsuragi becomes a source of professionalism, competence, and advice.^[13] In one of the game's endings, the player can earn the option to invite Kitsuragi to switch precincts and join forces with DuBois.^[14]

Kitsuragi's remains aloof for much of the story, but is distinguished by his interactivity, as he reveals more of his personality based on the player's decisions.^[2] For example, Kitsuragi reacts with approval when the player forms intelligent theories about the murder case.^[13] Other times, Kitsuragi make deadpan responses to the player's failures.^[15] While he can become annoyed with the player's antics,^[16] he sometimes cooperates with the player's more eccentric behaviors, and even show moments of vulnerability.^[2] At one point, the player can ask Kitsuragi about his sexuality, who confirms that his is gay with a witty remark.^[5] Another rare moment occurs where Kitsuragi makes a small error, and the player can decide how to react.^[3] The game includes many choice interactions with Kitsuragi, such as sharing a stolen sandwich, having a dance-off, or silently nodding together.^[17] When another character directs racism towards Kitsuragi, the player can decide whether to intervene, which leads to further complex reactions from Kitsuragi.^[18][19] These fleeting interactions both define and reveal his character, as well as shaping the tone of the game.^[20]

Kim Kitsuragi was created by the Estonian game studio ZA/UM for the 2019 video game Disco Elysium.^[2] Most of the team had never made a video game. Lead designer and writer Robert Kurvitz leaned into his tabletop role-playing game experience,^[24] where they had first explored the Elysium setting.^[2] The team wanted to avoid the role-playing game convention of exploring every option in a dialogue tree, instead designing Kitsuragi to only open up in specific scenes and situations.^[2] Kurvitz tried to expand the game's choices and consequences through small moments of reactivity, "where your coworkers remember every embarrassing thing you said last night when you were drunk".^[25] The team decided that Kitsuragi should find the player character amusing, and occasionally indulge him against his better judgment. Kurvitz commented that Kitsuragi's willingness to occasionally go against his instincts "gives him a warmth that's so endearing."^[2]

In comparison to the main player character, the writers discussed what beliefs and statistics that Kitsuragi might have. While these were not implemented in game, Kurvitz considered that Kitsuragi would excel in volition, making him resistant to personal questions.^[2] Although Kitsuragi was written as attracted to the same gender,^[5][6][7] the game did not provide an option for the player-character to kiss him, a decision that writer Justin Keenan felt would heighten the player's desire.^[26] Kurvitz sees Kitsuragi as a "systemic metaphor" for the game, commenting that "what he does for the officer is what Disco Elysium tries its dardnest to do for the player. ... It's not fair, or easy, but it's not entirely impossible either ... And hey, it's not much, but you have me."^[25]

When selecting an actor to voice the character, ZA/UM decided that a "vaguely French" accent would fit with the fictional city of Revachol.^[2] After a four-year search,^[2] they discovered actor Jullian Champenois by hiring a voiceover agency,^[27] selecting Champenois for his French accent and emotional tone.^[27] Lead writer Robert Kurvitz recalls how the actor embodied their intention for the character, especially "the cool, the deadpan, and the warmth".^[2] ZA/UM gave Champenois early access to Disco Elysium's beta, with co-producer Kaur Kender advising him to maintain his natural speech, easing his performance.^[27] During recording, artistic director Jim Ashilevi and sound engineer Mikee Goodman guided Champenois through the context and purpose of each scene.^[27] Champenois recalls the first day of recording was the longest, while they worked to perfect the nuances of the character's tone, vocabulary, and intonations.^[27] The actor found parallels between himself and Kitsuragi, and ultimately called upon the "lonely, quiet and composed" aspects of his own personality.^[27] In the expanded Final Cut, Champenois became one of the few original actors retained for voice performance.^[28]

Kim Kitsuragi is frequently praised as an essential part of Disco Elysium and its critical acclaim. Lauren Morton of PC Gamer hailed Kitsuragi as the game's "breakout star", describing how "an empathetic enough detective can manage to uncover brief moments of vulnerability" in the otherwise unflappable character.^[2] GamePro's David Molke called Kitsuragi one of his favorite game heroes, highlighting his subtle reactions against the player's antics, while still showing patience and loyalty.^[29] He has been noted for his popularity in making Disco Elysium one of the best games ever written, according to The Mary Sue.^[30] Cameron Kunzelman of Waypoint described Kitsuragi's dual role in the protagonist's professional and prersonal life, explaining that "Kim is written in such a way that I came to feel that I really knew him and why he cared about all of this in the end."^[31] Andy Kelly of PC Gamer praised the character's writing and voice performance as a "soothing presence", offering a "voice of reason" portrayed with "reassuring warmth and an endearing, deadpan cool."^[10] Diego Arguello of Inverse also praised Kitsuragi for offering a compelling contrast with the protagonist, "building an unbreakable bond of kindness that persists throughout the story".^[32] Overall, commentators frequently mention the character's popularity and appeal,^[33][34][35] with Sam Chandler of Shacknews declaring that "you will either want to marry Kim Kitsuragi or drown your sorrows in tequila."^[36]

Kitsuragi is celebrated for his role in the game's most memorable moments, particularly his nuanced responses to the player's actions.^[15] Joe DeVader from Nintendo World Report remembers purposely annoying Kitsuragi as one of the game's best moments.^[16] Lena Aeschbach describes how annoying Kitsuragi achieves a Brechtian distancing effect, offering an alternative to characters designed for immersion.^[37] In Games and Narrative: Theory and Practice, Leanne Taylor-Giles highlights Kitsuragi's reactions during the autopsy sequence for reinforcing his character while giving useful feedback to the player.^[38] PC Gamer's Jody MacGregor also highlighted the autopsy sequence, explaining how "[Kitsuragi's] approval is delicious", likening it to an addictive drug.^[13] At the 2023 Digital Games Research Association conference, Jon Stone suggested that Kitsuragi's approval serves as a moral anchor for the player, granting them agency to humorously test the game's boundaries with benign violations.^[39] Writing for the Northern Illinois University College of Law, Evan Bernick cites Kim's approval and friendship as a moral compass in a failing legal system.^[40] In the Cyberpsychology Journal of Psychosocial Research, Piotr Klimczyk found many players who felt strongly about earning Kitsuragi's approval, noting feelings of personal growth and post-game melancholy.^[25] Eric Van Allen of Destructoid praised the moments of "small kindness" shared between Kitsuragi and the protagonist, when the player can simply allow Kitsuragi to correct a minor error without embarrassment.^[3] RPG Site writer George Foster felt that Kitsuragi was frequently part of his favorite moments from the game, feeling an emotional bond as they danced together, nodded at each other, and shared a stolen sandwich.^[17]

NME noted Kitsuragi as an example of the game's intelligent approach to social and cultural issues, particularly his "Seol" heritage that is familiar yet fictional.^[4] Fraser Brown of PC Gamer noted a moment where the player can attempt to challenge racism directed at Kitsuragi, describing how after "a seemingly throwaway conversation, I reconsidered the relationship between Kim and his forgetful partner, and it grounded me in the world".^[18] Madeline Carpou of The Mary Sue also reacted to this sequence as part of "one of the best representations of an Asian immigrant story I’ve seen in a video game" and an element of the character's overall popularity.^[19] Dmitry King had high praise for Kitsuragi's portrayal the queer experience, including his subtle reactions to other queer characters in the game.^[6] The Gamer has noted him as one of gaming's best gay characters,^[5] with Gab Hernandez further praising Kim as "as one of the most iconic gay characters in video games" because of the "nonchalant" and "mundane" way in which his sexuality is a part of his identity.^[7] Colin Spacetwinks of Waypoint connects the muted political hopes of the game's authors with the masked feelings of the game's characters, allowing Kitsuragi to feel surprisingly sincere in declaring, "I'd rather not talk about it".^[14]

Kitsuragi was nominated as one of the best video game characters of 2019 by Adventure Gamers,^[41] as well as Fanbyte.^[42] Lillian King of the Toledo Blade praised him their favorite game character of the year, who felt he was "[e]xceptionally well-written ... bolstered by a myriad of fleeting interactions that let players see into the detective’s inner life, rounding out his complexity with the little contradictions that make us all truly, chaotically, human."^[20] TheGamer declared Kitsuragi as one of gaming's best voiced characters.^[43] Kitsuragi has been further praised as "perhaps the finest companion character in a game" by Edwin Evans-Thirlwell of Eurogamer.^[1] The character has similarly been called one of the best companions in video games by writers for Comic Book Resources,^[44] Vooks,^[45] Sirus Gaming,^[46] and Shacknews.^[47]

After the ZA/UM produced a small line of handmade garments inspired by the game, Kotaku writer Renata Price praised the orange bomber jacket styled after Kitsuragi, calling him "a veritable digital drip-god".^[8] The Kitsuragi-themed jacket earned similar praise from Noelle Warner of Destructoid.^[9] ZA/UM further appealed to Kitsuragi's popularity with the release of "Collage Mode", an update that allows players to create custom scenes of Disco Elysium characters.^[11] Vaspaan Dastoor of TheGamer noted a backlash to the game mode announcement, with fans concerned that it contradicted Kitsuragi's character as intended by the game's creators, who were being ousted from ZA/UM in a lawsuit.^[48] Madeline Carpou of The Mary Sue felt that marketing around "Collage Mode" was an example of rainbow capitalism and queerbaiting, using the excitement over Kitsuragi's romantic interest to distract from the ongoing litigation against the original authors.^[49]

Lead writer Robert Kurvitz and the rest of the team were surprised by how well-received Kim was, stating that they "felt [he was] a real person and our friend."^[2] Champenois was similarly surprised as well as flattered by the positive reception, mentioning that he received a lot of positive comments from fans about his performance.^[27] A portrait of Kim Kitsuragi was put on the wall at the Disco Elysium booth at Eurogamer Expo 2022, which led to it developing into a shrine of fan letters, inspirational messages, and fan art of Kim.^[50]