Introduction 1 Samurai in Videogames 2 the Cinematic Factor 16 Samurai of Legend 26 Mythification, Immersion and Interactivity 3
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INTRODUCTION 1 SAMURAI IN VIDEOGAMES 2 Sword of the Samurai (2003, JP) 2 The W ay of the Samurai (2002, JP) 6 Onimusha W arlords (2001, JP) 8 Throne of Darkness (2001, USA) 11 Shogun: total W ar, the warlord edition (2001, UK) 13 THE CINEMATIC FACTOR 16 The lone swordsman 16 Animé 20 The Seven Samurai 23 The face of the silver screen warrior 24 SAMURAI OF LEGEND 26 Musashi 26 Yagyu Jubei 28 Oda Nobunaga 30 MYTHIFICATION, IMMERSION AND INTERACTIVITY 32 Mythification 32 Immersion, Interactivity and Representation 34 CONCLUSION 39 BIBLIOGRAPHY 41 Introduction The Samurai, everyone has a certain mental image of these warriors, be it the romanticized noble warrior or the ruthless fighter, or even the lone wanderer who is trying to change his fate by the sword. These images of the Samurai are most often based on popular (mediated) productions like the Japanese period film (Jidai Geki) and, most recently, Samurai videogames. It is this last and newest of these mediated productions, the videogame, which will be the main subject of this Thesis. I will start by describing videogames that incorporate these warriors, then I will try to determine if film has had any influence on this representation. From the influence of film I will move on to other contemporary media: the novel, Animé films and Manga comics. It is my goal to determine in what manner all these forms of contemporary media have influenced the representation of the Samurai in videogames. I will use a theory by Desser, which he calls —Mythification of history“. Desser claims in his book, —The Samurai films of Akira Kurosawa“, that the Japanese film has a tendency to elevate certain historical periods, figures, facts and legends into mythic proportions. I will try to determine if this theory is indeed applicable to film and videogames and whether videogames themselves —Mythify“ Japanese history. I tend to believe that this assumption is false; I think that the mediated productions that revolve around the Samurai are not —mythifying“ history but are creating new tales of mythic proportions set in an historical setting. In other words I think that the creators of many fantastical tales concerning historical periods and display strong archetypes create new myths that the audience sees as such. Thus they create —neo mythology“, where new myths are created around era‘s, historical events or even legendary figures, and as such these are not transformed into myth but surrounded by it. Desser does provide a usefull division of Samurai film into sub genres, I will use these sub genres extensively in this thesis, for they provide a good overview of the different aspects of mediated productions that incorporate Samurai. Finally I will try to determine if the videogame, as a medium, brings any unique changes to the representation of the Samurai. I will use —Rules of play“ (2003) by Salen and Zimmerman and —More than a Game“ by Barry Atkins as guidelines to determine what the aspects of the videogame are and what effect it has on the Samurai as represented in popular media. 1 Samurai in videogames As stated in the introduction, several games incorporate the Samurai (or a definition of the Samurai) as playable characters. In this chapter I will describe a number of these games and see how the Samurai are represented. I have selected the games; —Sword of the Samurai“, —Way of the Samurai“, —Onimusha Warlords“, —Throne of Darkness“ and —Shogun: total war“ because of the difference in genre and origin, thus I hope to get a better view of the worldwide representation of the Samurai and the way they are incorporated in various videogame genres. Three of the five games I will discuss are from Japanese origin, these are: Sword of the Samurai“, —Way of the Samurai“ and —Onimusha Warlords“. —Throne of Darkness“ was developed in the USA and —Shogun: total war“ has been developed in the United Kingdom. As mentioned earlier, the games also differ in genre: —Sword of the Samurai“ is a part of the fighting game genre, —Way of the Samurai“ is a single character role playing videogame, —Onimusha Warlords“ is an action adventure, —Throne of Darkness“ is a party based role playing game and —Shogun: total war“ is a real time strategy game. Each of these genres has its own characteristics, and it my intention to see if the difference in genre effects the representation of the Samurai in the videogames altogether. Moreover I will see if these games —share“ content from other media that represent(ed) Samurai.1 Finally I will see if the Samurai characters that appear in the game have a historical basis (e.g. if they are a representation of certain legendary Samurai) and if they differ from this historical foundation. Sword of the Samurai (2003, JP)2 The first game that I will discuss in this chapter is the Playstation 2 game —The Sword of the Samurai“ (2002 Genki co) which was developed in Japan. On the back of the games‘ cover the reader will find a short description of the content, thus the potential player can get an idea of what will happen in the game. The cover states the following:3 —A real Samurai is not afraid of battle, only of the reflection of 1 Other media include: Jidai Geki film, Period novel, Manga comics and animated productions. 2 This game was published in Japan as: “Kengo 2” 3 Authors Translation, original text: Een echte Samurai vreest geen gevecht, alleen de reflectie van de maan in kalm water. Om een echte Samurai te worden moet je het bloederige pad van de Samurai betreden en de geheimen van de geschiedenis van de Samurai ontdekken” 2 the moon in calm water. To become a real Samurai, you must walk the bloody path of the Samurai and discover the secrets of the history of the Samurai. Samurai Maxim“ Here the creators of the game present what they claim to be a —Samurai maxim“. There are hundreds of Samurai maxims, so it is hard for me to determine whether this really is a Samurai maxim. One thing I do know for sure is that this maxim cannot be found in several (translated) books that were written by Samurai in their respective age, these works include the —Hagakure“4 by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, —The Book of Five Rings“5 by Miyamoto Musashi, The —Bushidoshinshosu“6 by Taira Shigesuke, the —Unfettered mind“7 by Takuan Soho and —the Sword and the Mind“ 8by Yagyu Munenori. Many works by Samurai are not translated of course, and therefore, I (as a Gaijin9) cannot truly determine if this —maxim“ which is cited on the cover of —the Sword of the Samurai“ is authentic or not. The description continues by providing the player with prospects on what he or she can do within the game environment: —Partake in numerous missions: assassination, defence, rescue, tournament fighting and more. Create your own Sword master, train with the best historical Samurai masters. Fight against 30 legendary Samurai including Miyamoto Musashi and Yagyu Jubei using authentic weaponry and fighting styles. Be a master with the sword in any situation- one vs. one, one strike kills, combinations and combat against multiple enemies.“ 10 Here the creators of the game continue to emphasize the representation of the —historical Samurai“ and use legendary Samurai like Musashi to underline this relationship with the —authentic Samurai“. The use of the legendary Samurai doesn‘t end with the featuring of legendary Samurai as opponents, but continues by using 4 Yamamoto, T. (1979) Hagakure. Tokyo, Kodansha International. 5 Musashi, M. (1994). The book of five rings. New York, Bantam Books. 6 Daideoji, Y. (2000). The Code of the Samurai: A Contemporary Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke. Boston, Tuttle publishing. 7 Soho, T. (1988). The unfettered mind, Kodansha Europe. 8 Munenori, Y. (1996). The sword and the mind. New York, The Overlook press. 9 A gaijin is a term used in Japan to indicate a person who is not from Japanese origin. 10 Authors Translation, original text was Dutch. 3 them (or at least popular versions of them) in their introduction FMV (Full Motion Video) cut scene. As the game starts the player sees a rough looking Samurai in a boat moving towards an island where another, more civilised, Samurai is waiting for him. This scene can be directly linked to the book —Musashi“ written by Eji Yoshikawa where he describes the famous fight between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro.11 This description fits the FMV sequence exactly, and thus it is more than logical that Yoshikawa‘s popular work has been used to supplement the image of the Samurai that the game creators want to present to the players. During the same introduction FMV sequence a Samurai is shown wearing a eye patch . which is made of a tsuba (the hand guard of a Japanese katana sword) , this figure is supposed to represent Yagyu Jubei, a legendary and mysterious Samurai sword master who lived in the 17th century.12 Clearly, the creators of the game make the choice to include historical Samurai of legendary status into their game, and to include them in such a manner that they themsleves become a focal point. Apart from the FMV sequence, the legendary Samurai do indeed feature in the game.13 The game revolves around a figure that the player can create. The player does so by choosing the gender and appearance of the avatar who will represent him or her in the game.14 The chosen warrior will represent the players own masterless Samurai (Ronin) who has the goal of becoming the best swordfighter in Edo period Japan (1600-1868).