{"rewrite":{"id":"r_870dd06e506a616936ed1eeb","clusterId":"c_1bf4980cb279ae044ed124b9","slug":"rain98-director-ties-reina-to-a-1998-setting-and-an-ive-concert","model":"deepseek-v4-1-flash","headline":"Rain98 Director Ties Reina to a 1998 Setting and an IVE Concert","summary":"At Tokyo Game Show 2026, the director of Rain98, developed by C#4R4CT3R, described how the psychological thriller romance adventure began around the end of the year about two years ago, when he wanted to make a novel game. A K-pop song he heard at an IVE live performance turned his attention to the late 1990s, and he set the game in 1998 Tokyo.","whyItMatters":"The project's premise, a present-day protagonist sent back to the end of the century, is the developer's stated attempt to match the stagnation of the current era with the atmosphere of Japan around 1998 and 1999, and that framing is what the game is built on.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eReina, the heroine of Rain98, grew out of a K-pop performance. Shawn T said he attended an IVE live show, heard a song themed around Y2K, and started thinking about a novel game set at the end of the 1990s. Seeing Rei sing in a school uniform during that show fed into how he built Reina, a character he wants to work as a symbol of the era.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe setting carries the theme. He said the sense of stagnation in the present day, the feeling that society is somehow about to end soon, matches the atmosphere of Japan around 1998 and 1999, and he asked what a person from today would do if sent back and given the role of destroying the world.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Rain98's director says the game started from wanting to make a novel game, then an IVE live show turned his attention to the late 1990s. Reina came out of that same concert, and the 1998 Tokyo setting is meant to match the stagnation he sees in the present day.","twitterPost":"Rain98 director Shawn T says an IVE live performance set the project's direction: a present-day protagonist sent back to 1998 Tokyo. Reina grew from the same show, and the era is meant to mirror the stagnation of today.","threadsPost":null,"newsletterBlurb":"Rain98 director Shawn T explained at Tokyo Game Show 2026 where the project came from. Planning started around the end of the year about two years ago, and a Y2K-themed song at an IVE live performance pushed him toward the end of the 1990s. He set the game in 1998 Tokyo because he sees the present day's stagnation in that era's atmosphere.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"Game Spark\",\"url\":\"http://www.gamespark.jp/article/2026/10/11/173496.html\",\"title\":\"\\\"You Can't Tell What She's Thinking\\\" - How Was the Girl Reina Born? An Interview with the Director of \\\"Rain98\\\" on Her Black Eyes, Rain Sounds, and Loose Socks [TGS2026]\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4745,"outputTokens":667,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1791724031,"createdAt":"2026-10-11T13:01:45.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-10-11T13:06:06.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-11T13:06:06.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_1bf4980cb279ae044ed124b9","canonicalTitle":"「何を考えているかわからない」少女・玲奈はどう生まれた？『Rain98』ディレクターに聞く黒い瞳、雨音、ルーズソックスへのこだわり【TGS2026】","representativeArticleId":"a_c78c7505696bc0afd42e7530","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[\"Rain98\"],\"studios\":[],\"people\":[\"Sean T\"],\"type\":\"news\",\"domain\":\"games\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-10-11T12:00:04.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-10-11T12:00:04.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-11T13:06:07.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"Game Spark","url":"http://www.gamespark.jp/article/2026/10/11/173496.html","title":"「何を考えているかわからない」少女・玲奈はどう生まれた？『Rain98』ディレクターに聞く黒い瞳、雨音、ルーズソックスへのこだわり【TGS2026】"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":["Rain98"],"studios":[],"people":["Sean T"],"type":"news","domain":"games","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":null}