FFXIV producer Naoki Yoshida’s T-shirt choices cause him to trend on Twitter
Square Enix released Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.4 – The Dark Throne on May 23. Many players have been looking forward to this new, large-scale update that includes a wealth of new content in addition to updates for existing content.
But what became a hot topic among the excited community right before the eagerly awaited patch release was the T-shirt worn by the game’s producer and director Naoki Yoshida during the patch note stream. It has become customary for a patch note stream to be held prior to the release of each major update for FFXIV, and Yoshida’s attire in the latest one caused the odd term “Yoshida’s T-shirt” to start trending on Twitter in Japan.
The T-shirt worn by Yoshida is the Kuusou Neko-chan T (White), which is part of the merch lineup available during Japanese singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu’s live tour, “Kenshi Yonezu 2023 TOUR /Kuusou.” The tour began in April and will run until July, with performances in 11 cities across Japan. The official web page for the tour also includes FINAL FANTASY XVI / SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. in the list of tour co-sponsors.
This makes sense considering that Kenshi Yonezu is the artist behind the theme song for Final Fantasy XVI, a game that is being produced by Yoshida. Yoshida may have chosen to wear the T-shirt during the patch note stream in an attempt to hint at this connection. It seems that, originally, Yoshida had planned to wear the track suit worn by Yonezu in the music video for his song “KICK BACK” but abandoned the idea after realizing that someone would definitely edit him into the scene where Yonezu gets hit by a truck.
What’s more, Yoshida quietly changed his shirt during a short break in the stream and returned wearing a T-shirt featuring the floorplan to the house in Yukito Ayatsuji’s mystery novel The Decagon House Murders. Yoshida and Ayatsuji recently participated in a one-on-one discussion project that will be published online in the near future, and Yoshida mentioned that the T-shirt that he wore was a gift that he received shortly after the discussion.
(2nd tweet): The project that was originally conceived three years ago but put on hold due to COVID-19 has finally been realized. Yoshida is an even bigger fan of honkaku mystery than I had imagined. Our discussion mainly focused on games and mystery stories. Of course, the Pui Pui* were also thrilled. (*Guinea pig cars from anime series Pui Pui Molcar)
It’s nothing new for members of the FFXIV fan community to go about identifying the clothing worn by development members who appear in live streams or at events. The hoody worn by Yoshida during a stream in 2019 was identified by fans, and fashion shopping site BUYMA got in on the fun by adding “The design worn by Naoki Yoshida” to the item’s name (Related article, in Japanese). Additionally, the animal costume used as the base for the cosplay outfit worn by FFXIV global community producer Toshio Murouchi during a stream in July 2021 was also tracked down by fans (Related article). It’s possible that Yoshida was aware of this fan behavior and wore the T-shirts knowing fans would pick up on the meanings.
The Kuusou Neko-chan T-shirt worn by Yoshida will also be available to purchase from the Kenshi Yonezu Online Store at a later date, while The Decagon House Murders T-shirt can be obtained as a backer reward for a crowdfunding campaign in Japan. Any fans who are eager to replicate Yoshida’s wardrobe should take a look.
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Written by. Marco Farinaccia based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-05-23 18:05 JST)
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