This yr’s Summer time Recreation Fest gave us an prolonged take a look at Slitterhead, the upcoming horror action-adventure title from Bokeh Recreation Studio, and the unique Silent Hill creator, Keiichiro Toyama. Set within the neon-filled streets of a fictional Asian metropolis, a boundless entity is tasked with destroying the titular monsters that disguise themselves as people. It’s a premise that anime followers will resonate with, sharing a thematic area with the likes of Jujutsu Kaisen and Parasyte, and the creator just lately confirmed a variety of the sport’s inspiration hailed from manga.
Having beforehand helmed Siren and Gravity Rush, Toyama has additionally integrated a number of parts from these titles into Slitterhead’s gameplay, along with harboring a number of atmospheric Silent Hill components within the blueprint, like hiring composer Akira Yamaoka to work his magic on the rating. Combining manga, Silent Hill, and even the design of a brain-eating Chinese language monster throughout the studio’s affect pool, Slitterhead is shaping as much as be an amalgamation of wealthy materials that’s already beloved by anime followers.
Slitterhead Attracts Inspiration From The Anime Greats
Throughout an interview with IGN, Toyama famous that he was “particularly impressed” by manga like Gantz, Parasyte, and Tokyo Ghoul. The “essence of horror” and the “battle motion” that takes place in these specific creations made the fabric “extra accessible” within the creator’s eyes, and he wished Slitterhead to be “approachable for a wider viewers” too. Combining veteran anime followers’ concern a couple of character’s dying with an off-the-cuff watcher’s leisure from high-octane battles is an “method distinctive to Japanese manga”, says Toyama, and he wished this essence to additionally exist in Slitterhead.
There’s a transparent visible similarity between the monstrous, mutated creatures in Slitterhead and the organisms from Hitoshi Iwaaki’s manga collection Parasyte, which was additionally tailored into an anime. Faces opening up like orchids as soon as contaminated and the parasites hiding in plain sight beneath the quilt of human pores and skin would be the predominant risk in Bokeh’s sport additionally. Moreover, Sui Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul has a slew of creatures devouring human flesh, and the sport’s protagonist, Hyoki, has the looks of the main half-ghoul, Ken Kaneki. Ishida’s manga additionally discovered success in an anime adaptation, and followers of each physique horror initiatives will seemingly discover so much to admire in Slitterhead.
One other manga-turned-anime that the neighborhood can be all too conversant in is Jujutsu Kaisen. Created by Gege Akutami, followers have barely recovered from the brutal Shibuya Incident Arc that claimed the lives of well-liked characters, and its setting is one thing akin to Slitterhead. Regardless of not being talked about as a supply of inspiration for Toyama, JJK’s final arc came about within the coronary heart of Japan’s busy metropolis heart behind the Cursed Spirits’ curtain, making a pocket of chaos on Halloween, and Slitterhead’s description additionally mentions a “mysterious incident” happening in a bustling Asian metropolis, which is certain to remind followers of the anime’s occasion. The Cursed Spirits dealing with Yuji Itadori and the sorcerers additionally carry a parasitic design and that is one more hyperlink to attach anime followers to Slitterhead’s expanse.
Yegouzi From Chinese language Folklore Is Slitterhead’s Foremost Attraction
If the prolific trio of Parasyte, Tokyo Ghoul, and JJK wasn’t sufficient bait to hook anime followers, Toyama additionally discovered stimuli in Japanese comics the place “monsters that eat people” would seem continuously. This led the creator to dive into Chinese language folklore and uncover Yegouzi, a monster from the traditional novel “Unusual Tales from a Chinese language Studio” recognized for preying on corpses and sucking out their brains. Toyama thought Yegouzi was the right monster to match the sport’s Asian metropolis setting, and the studio ended up utilizing the “very wealthy and sophisticated” design of the monster as a base for all Slitterhead’s enemy varieties, sporting the physique of a human with the top of a canine. The skeletal construction of the monster seen within the sport’s trailer can even remind the initiated of Eren Jaeger’s ultimate type in Assault on Titan, additional proving this sport is a gold mine for anime followers.
Slitterhead is about to supply a singular journey for manga and anime lovers in a gameplay format, which can be one other deal with in an identical vein to Tango Gameworks’ Ghostwire: Tokyo. The 2022 title noticed the titular metropolis being haunted by a supernatural presence, and Toyama and his staff had their eyes on it whereas growing Slitterhead. As an alternative of being a first-person shooter, nevertheless, Slitterhead guarantees melee fight inside a trendy Chinese language setting infused with folklore to create distance between the 2, and echoes of Toyama’s inspirations promise a deliciously horrific expertise for anime followers to sink their enamel into.
