Studio Charon

Studio CharonAlso known as Charon. is a Japanese video game development studio founded and primarily lead by individual Kaoru Nekofuji.
The studio's earlier works primarily use of pixel art, as well as photographic, usually pixelated backgrounds. However, this pixelated style is not as commonly seen in later works.
==Style and themes==
Charon tends to make visual novel-styled games, often revolving around menhera. Their earlier games included some gameplay, but with a heavy emphasis on story rather than gameplay, however later games include no gameplay. The male leads in their games seem to end with "-rou" at the end, something common in Japanese boys' names. They also reuse a save point simply called "Bunny", also known as "Usagi" or "Usa".
Charon's best known of game engine is RPG Maker, which used primarily in the 2010s, started with her debut until The Cradle of Ruin; she ended up switched engines to TyranoBuilder and Unity for her later games, probably The Cradle of Ruin her last project made in RPG Maker program.
Most of Charon's works dealt with these themes around yanderes and menhera,A Japanese slang term used to describe a person, typically a woman, with a mental health disorder. often with horror and adult elements. Besides her primary themes, Charon's works are known of controversial elements almost entirely used to her games, with each topics including cannibalism, murder, rape, suicide, trafficking, and probably pedophilia.
Early games used some existing music, similarly to other games at the time due to lack of hiring composer. However, they've hired composers for original tracks in later works at the time.
Like other games, Charon's games most often have multiple endings determined by player choices included "Happy" ends, their games only contained Bad and True ends (with the exception of Shihori Escape which had an "Episode End").
==Works==
YEAR (Month/Day/Year)	TITLE 	DETAILS 	RPG MAKER
05/28/2013 	Mikoto Nikki 	Matarou, a young boy at school, confesses his feelings for his only girl, Mikoto. She invites him over to her house for dinner. While she's making dinner, Matarou looks around the house and collects pieces of Mikoto's diary. As he continues his strange quest, he slowly realizes that Mikoto isn't what she appears to be. 	2000
06/06/2013 	Mix Ore 	A young man named Kantarou wakes up in a hospital bed with amnesia. He has no memory of what happened to him and is confronted by a mysterious girl who makes a claim about their "relationship". Who is this girl and why is she pretending to be someone she isn't? 	2000
06/19/2013 	The Dark Side of Red Riding Hood	Little Red Riding Hood is sent at her mother's request to visit her ailing grandmother. What sort of horrible end awaits her? 	2000
07/30/2013 	Makoto Mobius 	Watarou, the main character, and Makoto, the girl who sits next to him, are classmates who have never really spoken to each other. One day, Makoto suddenly passes away. Watarou uses Mobius' help to try and save her, but... 	2000
08/29/2013 	Yanderella 	High school student Yatarou has been friends with two girls since childhood. One of them is the shy and feminine Hinata, who returned from Tokyo. The other, is the tough and tomboyish Honoka, who's always been there for him. When they reunite after being apart for years, Hinata and Honoka start acting strange and fight for Yatarou's affections.	2000
05/28/2014 	You, Me and Empty Words 	Shintarou and Akino are best friends, who bonded for their love of the artist Sepia Mimosa. The two go to the hot springs together, although Shintarou has started to notice feminine traits of Akino the more he gets to know him. He'll have to take a decision which will change their lives. 	2000
05/28/2014 	Shihori Escape 	Kitarou wakes up in his house, dazed and confused about his current situation. He wanders around his house, collecting scraps of paper and remembering a girl named Shihori. As he progresses, he slowly realizes that there's something sinister going on. 	WOLF
04/01/2017 	Full Bokko Youchien 	The story is about a boy, Mitarou who's in kindergarden. One day his mother wakes him up and promises to make him omurice when he gets home. Mitarou meets up with his only friend, Kotomi. 	WOLF
12/28/2017 	The Cradle of Ruin 	Hotarou lives in a white shelter together with four women. They never doubt the happiness in their daily life, but it suddenly comes to an end one day. The first but the most difficult choice lies in front of Hotarou. He has to do something to escape from the circling and repeating tragedy before their whole world is destroyed. 	MV
CANCELLED 	Fake Worlds End 	The story about "Taro" attends the Sanchikawa Gakuen with her childhood friend "Ayuri". They joined the club under the name "Paradise Research Department", where they seek a separation from reality. 	MV
==Trivia== 
*Kaoru Nekofuji, the primary individual leading Charon has published an autobiography and game about her personal life. She announced getting remarried in early 2024.
*Charon's games are initially published in Japanese, however they occasionally hire translators and are fine with fan translations.
*Charon is the name of the ferryman of River Styx. This was confirmed to be their namesake in the remastered version of Dice Psycho, known as Seventh Heaven.
*Charon's cancelled RPG Maker game, Fake Worlds End, was made unplayable due to the discontinuation of RPG Atsumaru; however, a revamped version using Tyranoscript was released in December 2023 with a completely new storyline and a proper conclusion.
==References==
===List===
===External links===
Category:Studio
Category:Horror