Volcano Oota Leaves Bandai After More than 20 Years

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January 16th, 2016. The original Digital Monster series project director Oota "Volcano" Kensuke announced over Twitter today that he has resigned from Bandai, transferring to another company. Oota explained that this was a decision he made as a result of entering his mid-40s, having thought for a long time that "A life without challenge is over!" (He turned 45 on January 2nd.)

The news came as a surprise to many, including those who had worked with him in the past; Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 author Yabuno Tenya was shocked, but encouraged Oota, saying "We're in different genres, but let's both do our best!" Fan @rastadog77 reacted by creating pixel art of Pile Volcamon, a Digimon based directly on Oota's likeness.

Oota later added that he was grateful to Bandai, promising to cheer for them from the outside, and discussed how he was facing the situation;

In truth, if you try to challenge yourself, you'll often have moments where you think "Huh? I don't have the ability to do this? Maybe I can't face it." But whether you can face it or can't, the fact that you do it must not change! I believe the phrase in English is "It's never too late to start." (In Japanese, "It's not too late to begin something.")

Oota's contributions to the franchise are numerous. He is responsible for masterminding the original Digital Monster series that launched the brand, as well as other associated electronics toylines up through the early 2000s. Oota hosted the related line of D-1 Grand Prix tournaments, contributed to several Digimon designs like Omegamon, and assisted with the development of several video games including the Battle Spirit series. The Digimon Volcamon and Pile Volcamon were directly based on the host character he cultivated for various incarnations of the Grand Prix, and many Japanese fans have fond memories of meeting Oota at his events during the height of the franchise's popularity. Digimon will sorely miss his creative input.

Oota remained involved with Digimon long after the demise of the D-1, working for Bandai for just around 21 years. He assisted in the creation of the fifteenth anniversary Digivices, and made guest appearances at various Digimon events through 2014. Most recently, in late 2015 he launched Volcano Channel, a line of videos in which he discussed Digimon franchise history and how certain design decisions were made. What his departure means for the future of Volcano Channel is unclear; Oota's homepage is still live at the time of this writing.

Early Omegamon Designs Shown on Volcano Channel

December 2nd, 2015. Former Digimon series project director Ota "Volcano" Kensuke updated his YouTube channel today with a new episode focusing on the first Digimon Adventure tri. film, Reunion. Ota discusses his involvement with Omegamon, featured prominently in tri., and how he and artist Watanabe Kenji first drafted the Omegamon design for the 2000 film Our War Game. The creation process involved WiZ's Kitagawa, illustrator Watanabe Kenji, and Bandai's Volcano Ota. Ota also briefly unveiled several personally-treasured illustrations featuring early versions of Omegamon, prior to the final design.

The sketches show a centaur-like form for Omegamon, with War Greymon fused over Metal Garurumon's body, and a winged version of Omegamon that wore War Greymon's Brave Shield as a pauldron. In the final design, the team responsible for Omegamon searched for a balance between the component Digimon. Attaching War Greymon and Metal Garurumon's faces to Omegamon's hands was done to help achieve that balance.

Ota Kensuke is the original project director for the 1997 Digimon virtual pets, who has continued to work with Digimon to the present day. Serving as a lead developer for all Digimon toys up to 2007, Ota came back to prominence in 2014 due to his involvement in the development and release of the Digivice Ver. 15th.

His personality "Volcano Ota" was originally created to promote the D-1 Grand Prix tournaments, and has remained a memorable component of his public persona for almost twenty years. In 2000 his character was made into an official Digimon, Volcamon, and in 2002 given the Ultimate form Pile Volcamon, corresponding to his "Pile Volcano Ota" upgrade. In 2015 Ota launched Volcano Channel, his YouTube channel where he discusses the development and history of the Digimon franchise. His previous video focused on the Digital Monster series of virtual pets, and their design process.