trends. Following this philosophy, Suda dislikes making games based on other people's concepts, instead preferring his own concepts and designs. Despite taking on a less involved role with later titles due to the growing demands of his position as company CEO, Suda continues to seek deeper involvement with projects. Multiple sources have influenced Suda's work, from literature to games to foreign and domestic films and television. His favorite author is Franz Kafka, a German language author who focused on a combination of mundane and surreal scenarios. Suda's liking of Kafka was originally expressed in Kurayami, an in-development title based on The Castle, with a focus on nighttime combat and survival. Kurayami would eventually evolve into Shadows of the Damned. Numerous films have inspired elements of Suda's work on The Silver Case, Killer7 and the No More Heroes series. When creating Lollipop Chainsaw, Suda used the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer to flesh out his initial concept. Popular culture has also played a part in Suda's work, with several characters in his games being named after or being homages to sports people or pop singers. He also draws inspiration from and references a number of rock bands including The Stranglers and The Smiths. A defining part of Suda's original work has been its balance of humor, dark or mature themes, violence and sexuality. His focus on death is because he feels it needs a rationale behind it, and so he focuses on those closely tied with death such as assassins. In his action titles, he considered the reasons behind each character's wish to fight and the reason for their deaths. His portrayal of death in his games was influenced by his time as an undertaker. Sexuality, while a big part of many of Suda's works, is not an important element from his perspective, and when used he is attempting to express a core part of the overall story and theme; some elements of his later work had him worried that Grasshopper and himself would become associated with erotic content. Another recurring theme in his work from The Silver Case onwards is the focus on the criminal elements in society, in addition to people with equally valid views coming into conflict with each other. Following the serious tone of The Silver Case, Flower, Sun, and Rain saw a stylistic shift to a more light and casual tone. This approach of switching styles