by Mitch - 04.17.08
If you’re somewhat of an Earthbound fan, you should be somewhat familiar with Shigesato Itoi. If you’re an Earthbound fan and you’re not, then, well, you’ve got bigger fish to fry, don’t you?
Regardless, it’s a well-known fact in the Earthbound fandom that Giygas, the final boss of Earthbound, was inspired by childhood trauma that Itoi suffered as a kid. As he retells it, he’d accidentally wandered into a movie meant for adults and saw a scene of a Japanese actress being raped. After some translation magic, we came up with the title of the film he’d seen: The Military Policeman and the Dismembered Beauty.
It’s no secret, dudes – it’s an obscure Japanese movie from the 50s. That crap was hard to track down. But, valiant as he is, 4cr’s favorite fruit (oh god, i’m sorry tomato that came out wrong) managed to hunt down a copy and dutifully translated it from scribbly lines to American. Excellent!
So, if you’re a self-proclaimed (or… somebody’s proclaimed YOU? How did that happen?) Earthbound fan, give it a look-see – it’s really cool to see where Earthbound came from, even if it is just trivia.
I’m still struggling with if I want to see this or leave the inspiration for Giygas some ambiguous story.
Decisions.. Decisions…
Still, gotta love Mato. He does so much for us. We need to throw him a parade.
Mookie - 04.17.08 3:47 am
You have to wonder how different the world would be if this is how Miyamoto got his inspiration, instead of all that walking around in the forest.
Kyattsuai - 04.17.08 9:01 am
This seems like a really bad idea. Watching the movie was a BAD experience for him. You want everyone to replicate it? (And watch some rape scene, because they’re fans of EarthBound??)
Simon - 04.17.08 10:45 am
You know, after reading the article, you realize it wasn’t really a rape scene - it was a love making scene, just a little rough. The most striking part for him was when the man grabbed the woman’s breast. He said it squeazed into a circular shape, and that traumatized him. Maybe that’s why Gyigas has a twisted spiral shape.
Artefacto - 04.17.08 11:26 am
i can understand that, nudity in japan isnt such a problem with kids, but the scene sounds like it took sex to a kinky level, which for an uneducated person can be freaky.
i wonder if he chose as an adult never to have rough sex because of that or if he got over it like a girl does her first period.
hey, i have no taboos, if you do thats your problem.
waltermh - 04.17.08 12:03 pm
I find it amusing that something like rough sex traumatized him and not the dismembered people.
Nobody - 04.17.08 1:53 pm
I don’t think he saw those things, NoBody. He says he accidentaly walked in on the sex scene. Figure that’s the only part he saw.
Mookie - 04.17.08 5:12 pm
Even then, it seems like Itoi’s memory has been warped by time. So, it’s an interesting look.
Mitch - 04.18.08 2:56 am