They’re the products of an ancient worldview based in animism (the belief that anything, not just a human, can possess a spirit) and polytheism (the belief in not one God-with-a-capital-G but many gods and deities.) In fact, Japanese tradition holds that the land is home to eight million gods, which range from almighty world-creators all the way down to spooks that pop out of the shadows to give you a good scare. Many are what might be called haunted objects – man-made artifacts that have animated into life for whatever reason. It was a great pleasure and honor to work with the Platinum development team on World of Demons, and it was also a big thrill for us to see so many different yokai get such a starring role in a video game. We’ve always wanted to see yokai get their due, partially because we love them (so much so that we’ve written and translated numerous books on the topic!), but also because they play an important role as the ancestors of all the pop-culture characters people love about Japan today. They’re even part of Japan’s culinary tradition – kappa maki cucumber rolls are named after a cucumber-loving yokai called the kappa. Yokai have appeared everywhere from ancient historical chronicles, to the kabuki stage, to woodblock prints. ![]() It might surprise you to learn that the yokai are real – real in the sense that they’ve populated the fantasies of Japan for centuries. ![]() The monsters Onimaru faces in his quest are called yokai. This is Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda, who wrote the story and script for World of Demons.
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