This is something I've been wondering about for a while now.

The discussion about Falcom credits is usually limited to music composition and occasionally the writing staff (incidentally, while I like reading interviews with Kondo, I would like to read an interview with Takeiri, too.) However, I'm curious to know if anyone has any insight into the specific character design staff; I have some of the art books but they don't go into that much detail. I'm aware of Falcom's (regrettable) policy as regards employee credits, but I find it a shame, because the artwork for Ys VIII and Ys IX are critical in establishing and updating a video game character that originated in 1987. Both VIII's shoujo-tinged designs and IX's dark fantasy add a lot of color and personality to the story and help express the kind of person Adol is.

Meanwhile, the Kiseki series has hit five million in sales (congratulations!) Rean Schwarzer has headlined five of those games. I don't know who is responsible for his character design. 

Falcom has occasionally worked with external artists/artists who started out at Falcom and later attained fame (Enami Katsumi for Ys SEVEN and Iwasaki Minako for Ys V and Gagharv among other works, plus VOFAN and HACCAN for cover art and costume designs, and Shinkai Makoto for opening animations.) I would be interested in seeing them try this again, because art design is critical in establishing a game's setting and atmosphere, particularly when the graphics are less cutting-edge. (Personally would love to see CyDesignation work on Ys.)

PS if you haven't seen Shinkai's Gagharv animations: https://youtu.be/xLvOZem3rMM