In his connecting blog post for this episode, Shamus brought up a lot of arguments he had heard in defense of the Resident Evil franchise. I don’t think each of those defenses were intended for Resident Evil 5, specifically. The one regarding controls, for example, was likely meant for the first three games plus the Code Veronica spin-off, where the tank controls were always of controversy even at the time.

In regards to the story, however, I think Shamus is correct in that the developers weren’t intentionally trying to imitate Western B-movie shlock. There are a surprising number of fans of grindhouse style features in the older sphere of Japanese game developers, but those games have a clearly distinct style to match. MadWorld or Shadows of the Damned bear those marks far more closely than anything Capcom has produced. Instead, Resident Evil is clearly inspired by the classic George Romero series of Living Dead films and more, a variety of creature features from several decades of time, as well as modern Hollywood trends.

However, this also dismisses the nature of Japanese entertainment itself and the variety of clashing tones it can possess. Having seen a variety of live-action films in addition to anime, Japanese entertainment often has a certain tone, or combination of tones, that do not always fit the standards of Western entertainment. Or rather, you ask two people to make two desserts based on chocolate and one person presents you with a cake while the other provides a milkshake. They are both sweet and chocolatey desserts, certainly, and both will contribute to a potential diabetes problem, but they aren’t the same kind of dessert.

Japan’s sense of humor, self-awareness, and concept of “cool” can often come off like that, and when presented out of context with the intent of appealing to a global audience, it can become downright goofy or dumb.

There’s also a question of audience. I have no evidence to suggest the majority of Paul W.S. Anderson’s fans of the Resident Evil film franchise weren’t fans of the games, but I have known few fans of the games that enjoyed those movies. There’s no doubt a decent percentage, however, as I have come across scattered opinions that identify certain characters or aspects of the franchise as “cool” or “awesome” or some other inappropriately used superlative. It’s like trying to understand what people enjoy so much from Michael Bay’s Transformers. My brain is simply not wired to comprehend.

To that extent, Resident Evil 5 is going to be a combination of what Capcom, as individuals, think is cool, but also what they think a global audience will think is cool based on successful Hollywood movies, including Anderson’s own take on the formula. This is a subtle difference from the original Resident Evil, which took inspiration from Western zombie films but wasn’t trying to be a Western zombie film. This is similarly the case with the original Dead Rising. Perhaps one of the better Japanese creators capable of fusing his Western and Eastern media influences is Hideo Kojima. The man is a lover of film, plain and simple, but he never made a Metal Gear game intent on specifically appealing to Western tastes. Instead, he simply drew upon the films that inspired him in the first place, the same inspiration that led him to create the original Metal Gear Solid.

This, I think, was the mistake a lot of Japanese creators made in the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation. There was a lot of anime and film in the 80’s and early 90’s that took homage and inspiration from Western film, particularly science fiction, but it was then reinterpreted through a Japanese lens. It wasn’t intentionally trying to mimic or imitate Western styles to sell to Western audiences. However, the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation was also one where the audiences were perceiving Japanese games as being archaic. This led to a lot of studios trying to better appeal to this massive market, one that easily outweighed the potential sales in the comparatively small Japanese market.

We’ve reached a place of stability, I think, and Capcom has gotten better at walking that fine line between cultural appeal. However, Resident Evil 5 will always remain a confused product whose narrative ambitions were anything but true to its own humble beginnings.