 Tom Nook is based on the tanuki, the raccoon dog.Although he is considered to be greedy by 1UP.com (due to his loan schemes that cost many bells), Rich Amtower and Reiko Ninomiya, members of Nintendo's Treehouse localization team, disagreed; describing him as a nice person.Amtower described him as "that first boss you ever had", adding that, "despite him being all business and not always having the time for pleasantries, Nook isn't a bad person; because he hired someone new to town.