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.

Concept and creation

Kim Kitsuragi is a police officer, serving as a non-playable partner character to the player-character, Harrier Du Bois. When designing Kim, the team wanted players to have to put effort into learning more about Kim rather than learning about him through dialogue trees. They did this by providing opportunities for players to learn more about Kim in various scenes and situations throughout the game. Du Bois has a "Thought Cabinet" where various personalities communicate and guide Harry. Lead writer Robert Kurvitz noted that Kim had a Thought Cabinet of his own. He commented: "I like to think Kim has a Thought Cabinet project called Revolutionary Aerostatic Brigades that he's worked on since he was a teenager ... This raises the learning caps for his Reaction Speed and Interfacing." However, he clarified that Kim did not actually have a stat sheet in the code like Harry did, adding that they only conceptualized what some stats might be, in order to help characterize him. He said that Kim would have low Motorics, but high Volition, which contributes to him being so closed-off. Over the course of the game, Harry can develop a certain copotype - a mechanic in the game that lets players define the type of cop Harry is over time - which Kim does not. Kurvitz felt that if asked his copotype, Kim would say "copotypes are stupid." Kim was designed to find Harry funny, and despite his typically better judgment, will occasionally humor Harry's whims. Kurvitz commented that his willingness to occasionally go against his instincts "gives him a warmth that's so endearing."

Kim represents a theme in the game of unsatisfying answers or resolutions, and serves as a "systemic metaphor" for Disco Elysium. Kurvitz commented: "What he does for the officer is what Disco Elysium tries its darndest to do for the player. Let's get through this shit, it says. It's not fair, or easy, but it's not entirely impossible either ... And hey, it's not much, but you have me."

When picking Kim's voice actor, the team sought to find someone who would fit in the fictional city of Revachol, and thus aimed to make Kim sound "vaguely French." However, finding the right actor took four years, until they discovered Jullian Champenois, who became Kim's voice actor. He was found via a voiceover casting agency that was hired by developer ZA/UM to find Kim's voice actor, with the casting call requiring a French accent and a certain tone and personality. The sheet also contained a short description of Kim as well as a handful of early-game prompts. He did an audition in summer 2019, and was chosen for the role a few days afterward. Once chosen, he was given early access to play the beta of Disco Elysium and was told by the co-producer Kaur Kender to not change his manner of speech as they wanted his authentic voice. This helped put Champenois at ease for the role. Kurvitz explained that he chose Champenois because he fulfilled "the cool, the deadpan, and the warmth" personality they intended for Kim. Champenois, when reading about the role, felt like there were certain aspects of Kim that paralleled his own life, which he was excited to utilize in his performance. During voice recording, artistic director Jim Ashilevi and sound engineer/voice actor Mikee Goodman guided Champenois through the scenes, explaining the context and purpose of these scenes. Champenois called upon his "lonely, quiet and composed" side when voicing Kim. The first day of recording was both the longest and slowest, where Champenois and others worked to perfect the tone, vocabulary, and intonations for Kim's character.

Appearances

Kim Kitsuragi first appeared in the 2019 video game Disco Elysium as one of its main characters. As a frequent companion to the protagonist, Harry Du Bois, he is able to provide assistance during the investigating of a murder as well as other things, including Harry's identity, political and economic theories, the region they are in, and more. He later appeared in Disco Elysium - The Final Cut, a remaster of Disco Elysium, with new content that involves Kim.

Reception

Kim Kitsuragi is frequently praised as an essential part of Disco Elysium and its overall critical acclaim. Lauren Morton of PC Gamer declared Kitsuragi as the "breakout star" of Disco Elysium, explaining how "an empathetic enough detective can manage to uncover brief moments of vulnerability" in the otherwise unflappable character.

Kim Kitsuragi has been praised as having some of the best moments in the game, particularly for his deadpan responses. Writing for PC Gamer, Jody MacGregor highlighted the interaction with Kitsuragi during an autopsy, saying that "his approval is delicious", "a drug so potent it makes me decide on the spot to chase more of it". Leanne Taylor-Giles also focused on the autopsy sequence in Games and Narrative: Theory and Practice, praising Kitsuragi's reactions to the player's choices in a way that reinforces his character. Eric Van Allen of Destructoid was struck by moments of "small kindness" between the Kitsuragi and the protagonist, when the player can simply allow Kitsuragi to correct a minor error without embarrassment. RPG Site writer George Foster felt that Kitsuragi was frequently part of his favorite moments from the game, feeling a bond with the character as they danced together, nodded at each other, or shared a stolen sandwich. Jimmy Donnellan of Cultured Vultures noted Kitsuragi's exasperated reactions to the player-protagonist, calling him an "infinitely likeable supporting character". Joe DeVader from Nintendo World Report similarly felt that his favorite moment was one of Kitsuragi's annoyed reactions.

Cameron Kunzelman of Waypoint described how Kitsuragi seemed to help the protagonist professionally and personally, 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." 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." 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". Dmitry King also had high praise for Kitsuragi's portrayal the queer experience, including his subtle reactions to other queer characters in the game.

Kitsuragi was nominated as one of the best video game characters of 2019 by Adventure Gamers, as well as Fanbyte. Kitsuragi has been hailed as "perhaps the finest companion character in a game" by Edwin Evans-Thirlwell of Eurogamer The character has similarly been called one of the best companions in video games by writers for Comic Book Resources, Vooks, Sirus Gaming, and Shacknews. Lillian King of the Toledo Blade declared Kitsuragi 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." David Molke of GamePro called Kitsuragi one of his favorite heroes in games, describing how he reacts against the player's antics with a mind of his own, while still showing patience and loyalty. He has been noted for his popularity in making Disco Elysium one of the best games ever written, according to The Mary Sue. TheGamer declared Kitsuragi as one of gaming's best voiced characters, and best gay characters. Jimmy Donnellan of Cultured Vultures described him as "the best human being ever created".

In the Cyberpsychology Journal of Psychosocial Research, Piotr Klimczyk discussed players who felt strongly about earning Kitsuragi's approval, with some players experiencing feelings of personal growth while others experiencing sadness that the game was finished. As part of the Digital Games Research Association in 2023, Jon Stone suggests that Kitsuragi's approval acts as a moral anchor for the player, while giving them agency to test the game's boundaries with humorous benign violations. 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. Lena Aeschbach describes how the player-protagonist's inconvenience to Kitsuragi achieves a Brechtian distancing effect, demonstrating an alternative to protagonists that are designed for immersion.

NME noted Kitsuragi as an example of the game's intelligent approach in fictionalizing issues of politics, culture and race. 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". 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. 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".

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". The Kitsuragi-themed jacket earned similar praise from Noelle Warner of Destructoid. 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. 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. 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. Kitsuragi has been noted for his likability and popularity by numerous commentators.

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." 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. 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.