director
Yoshinori Kitase
北瀬佳範
Someone had to believe a game could make you cry — before a single one ever did.
About
Yoshinori Kitase is a Japanese game director and producer at Square Enix, born in 1966. He studied film at Nihon University College of Art, then worked briefly at an animation studio before Final Fantasy inspired him to switch to games; he joined Square in 1990. He directed Final Fantasy VI (1994) and Final Fantasy VII (1997), bringing cinematic storytelling techniques — pre-rendered cutscenes, dynamic camera angles, and character-driven narrative — into the JRPG mainstream. He served as co-director on Chrono Trigger (1995) alongside Takashi Tokita and Akihiko Matsui. From Final Fantasy X (2001) onward he transitioned to producer, a role he has held ever since.
Timeline & Works
Career milestones and all 4 games in the museum they worked on — in the order they happened.
- 1994
- 1995
- 1997
- 2001
Also connected to
- nobuo uematsu 共作（chrono trigger） / 共作（final fantasy vi） / 共作（final fantasy vii） / 共作（final fantasy x）
- hironobu sakaguchi 共作（chrono trigger） / 共作（final fantasy vi） / 共作（final fantasy vii）
- kazuhiko aoki 共作（chrono trigger） / 共作（final fantasy vii）
- akihiko matsui 共作（chrono trigger）
- akira toriyama 共作（chrono trigger）
Explore the work
Each title has its own page — history, trivia, and collector's notes.
PlayStation 2 · 2001
Final Fantasy X
The first Final Fantasy where a face could break before the voice did.…
PlayStation · 1997
Final Fantasy VII
They gave her to you first, so losing her would be real.…
Super Famicom / SNES · 1995
Chrono Trigger
They traveled to the ends of time — to find out what you can still change today.…
Super Famicom / SNES · 1994
Final Fantasy VI
They let the world break — then asked who you'd go back for.…