Toyonaka Ozaki / 尾崎豊中, AKA Zahiro / ざーひろ, Hiroshi Maezawa / 前沢ひろし, Mahiro Sasaka / ササカマヒロ

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Games
Other video game related works
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Pixiv (Zahiro)
Pixiv (Mahiro Sasaka, NSFW)
Twitter 1 (Toyonaka Ozaki. Not archived)
Twitter 2 (Mahiro Sasaka. Not archived)
Twitter 3 (Osaki Fox, used to promote Masaki Segawa’s work. Not archived)
Website

Profile

Born on September 9 (presumably 1967-68), Toyonaka Ozaki had a brief career as a graphic designer, character designer and illustrator at Sega between the late 80s and early 90s. A graduate of Tokyo University of Fine Arts, it was after playing Falcom’s Xanadu on her brother’s computer that she realised that working in video games might be for her.
She joined Sega around 1988 and made her debut on Chouon Senshi Borgman, released the same year on Mark III. Her first work as an illustrator was probably the Mega Drive version of Super Hang-On (she is not credited in the game, but her art style is easily recognisable in the illustrations in the manual). Her best-known work is Phantasy Star III, a game for which she designed the characters and drew some of the illustrations, in collaboration with Masaki Segawa, who until then had been attached to Sega’s arcade division and who was art director on this 3rd episode. Production of the game was so intense that she worked overtime for almost a year.

The last known game she worked on was released in 1992, and it was probably in that year that she retired from the video game industry to become a housewife after marrying Segawa. However, she continued to draw under various pseudonyms: Zahiro / ざーひろ for her Pixiv account, Mahiro Sasaka / ササカマヒロ for her 18+ dōjinshi, Hiroshi Maezawa / 前沢ひろし for her numerous Sangokushi dōjinshi, a game series she was a fan of, and Toyonaka Ozaki (her real name remains unknown) for her Phantasy Star III-related art. In 1997, she drew a PSIII dōjinshi with her husband, who had become a mangaka after leaving Sega in the early 90s (he is best known for the Basilisk series). She more or less became his community manager, running first a website and then a Twitter account relaying news about Segawa’s work. She died in July 2024 after a long illness. Her friends and family were asked not to announce her death publicly until 49 days later, which coincided with her birthday.
Her three known Twitter accounts have since been deleted, while her website and forum (on which Phantasy Star III composer Izuho Numata sometimes posted) were closed down several years ago.

Sources:
Self-introduction published in the August 1991 issue of Mega Drive Fan
Profile written in English for her website
Message posted by one of her friends
Message posted by her husband announcing her death (archived here)

Games (in alphabetical order)

Chouon Senshi Borgman / 超音戦士ボーグマン (Mark III – 1988)
(Source: Mega Drive Fan – August 1991)

Clutch Hitter / クラッチヒッター (? – 1991)
Art (character portraits for 3 teams) (Source: Mega Drive Fan – August 1991)
.Note: There are no in-game illustrations or portraits in the Game Gear version of Clutch Hitter, so she probably worked on the arcade version, even though she was part of Sega’s consumer division.

Golden Axe II / ゴールデンアックスII (Mega Drive – 1991)
Background Design (Source: in-game credits)

Hokuto no Ken: Shin Seikimatsu Kyuuseishu Densetsu / 北斗の拳新世紀末救世主伝説, AKA Last Battle (Mega Drive – 1989)
Designer (Source: in-game credits)

Honō no Tōkyūji: Dodge Danpei / 炎の闘球児ドッジ弾平 (Mega Drive – 1992)
Designer (Source: in-game credits)

Ozaki Naomichi no Super Masters / 尾崎直道のスーパーマスターズ, AKA Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf (Mega Drive – 1989)
Game Over screen (Japanese version only) (Source: credited on the screen)

Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom / (時の継承者ファンタシースターIII (Mega Drive – 1990)
Character design (Source: in-game credits)
Character illustrations (Source: artwork featured in a doujinshi published by Ozaki, Phantasy Star III kōshiki character settei-shū / ファンタシースター3否公式キャラクター設定集)

Super Hang-On / スーパーハングオン (Mega Drive – 1989)
Design, manual illustrations (Source: Mega Drive Fan – August 1991)

Super League / スーパーリーグ, AKA Tommy Lasorda Baseball (Mega Drive – 1989)
“Fielder Designer” (Source: in-game credits)