You may have noticed that for a Japanese studio, Kojima Productions doesn’t use a lot of Japanese actors inDeath Stranding 2: On The Beach. In fact, there aren’t many Asian actors in Hideo Kojima’s earlier games either. It seems there are two reasons for this, and while the first one is understandable, the second reason is a bit strange.
Death Stranding 2 features only one Japanese actor, while the rest are mostly Hollywood A-listers or other prominent celebs who make a cameo. It seems the main reason for this is that the studio does its recordings in Las Angeles, where finding a Japanese actor with native-level English speaking skills isn’t very easy. However, Asians also have flawless skin, which looks too fake when recreated in-game.
Asians Are Just Too Beautiful For Kojima To Recreate
“We record with other actors in a studio in Los Angeles, so it’s a bit of a problem if they don’t have native-level English skills,” said Kijima in an interview withIGN Japan. “I searched for someone who could speak Japanese and also native-level English, but it was difficult. Kutsuna grew up in Australia, can speak English, and when I met her, I found her to be a nice person, so we decided to work together.”
As we know, Kojima loves meeting celebs from all over the world and scanning them. However, there are technical issues when doing so with someone from Asia or Asian descent due to their flawless skin. When recreated in the game, this skin makes their characters look more like computer graphics than thephoto-realistic approach that Death Stranding 2 beautifully follows.
“It’s difficult to make Asians look like their real-life counterparts,” he said. “Women and young people in particular have such beautiful, smooth skin. Asians, and not just Japanese people, are known for their beautiful, smooth skin, so it ends up looking like CG.” However, he explained that he’d like to work with more Japanese talent in the future.
“On the other hand, it’s easier to bring out the details in older people or people with lots of freckles," Kojima continued. “I’ve tried to use Japanese people in the past, but it’s hard to make them look like their real-life counterparts. However, this time I used new technology, and I’m quite satisfied with the results. Well, I’d like to do even better next time.”
