I found this old post on r/japan that asks the same question, but there was no real answer. I'm hoping to re-open this conversation, and hopefully learn some reasoning behind why this may be the case.
if you go to this link on emoji's, you'll see that the alien monster is designed differently for mostly japanese companies, where it looks a bit like an octopus. au by KDDI, Docomo, playstation, Samsung at one point, and Toss face all have these octopus designs that differ from the western designs. (Toss face is used by a korean fintech platform though.)
What gives? Please let me know your thoughts or if you have any leads lol.
by goldwasp602
3 comments
Presumably they’re a take on the iconic enemies from Space Invaders, which is mentioned in the post you linked. Googling “space invader enemy design” gives:
>I then tried a solider and was satisfied with the movement, but there was an opinion that shooting people was not a good idea, and so I gave up on that,” says Nishikado… A solution arrived in the form of War of the Worlds. Nishikado remembered the 1953 film from his childhood and became inspired by various media depictions of the invaders, which often resembled sea life. “I based a new target on an octopus, and since it was now an alien, there was no problem shooting it,” he says. And with the shape not having to be specifically recognizable, any issues with realism went away. Nishikado set about creating further enemies, abstracted from marine creatures like crabs and squids.
https://www.wired.com/story/space-invaders-45-years-tomohiro-nishikado/
That answers the question imo.
I think Japan was really influenced by the world of the worlds type octopus martians and it stuck
It appears to be due to the popularity of “The War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells and how it depicted the Martians, which popularised this kind of design in Japan and inspired more designs like it, including Space Invaders.
See: https://steranet.jp/articles/-/404