director
Yoshinori Kitase
北瀬佳範
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 3 games in the museum they worked on — in the order they happened.
- 1994
- 1995
- 1997
Also connected to
- hironobu sakaguchi 共作（chrono trigger） / 共作（final fantasy vi） / 共作（final fantasy vii）
- nobuo uematsu 共作（chrono trigger） / 共作（final fantasy vi） / 共作（final fantasy vii）
- yasunori mitsuda 共作（chrono trigger）
- yuji horii 共作（chrono trigger）