A Political (And Literary) Analysis On killer7 

Shinji Mikami: "Hey guys, this is Suda51. He wants to make a game, do you mind giving him the cash?" Capcom: "Sure, what's the game about?" Suda51: "Stuff."

The way I interpret Alter Ego is how propaganda is enforced through the media we consume to the point we don’t even notice. The Handsome Men are popular heroes but in reality serve to push the ideas and work for the government. Through this they also instill these ideas in children, like how Con is a fan. We even learn the company of the comic was going to be bought out by another company related to propaganda. Lastly but certainly not least, with Kun LAN’s appearance at the end of the chapter, it proves it was just another chess move between him and Harman shown like an online game, further solidifying both the Handsome Men and Killer7 as nothing more than pawns, or rather playable characters. You could even argue the group is a showcase of a foreign concept being completely Westernized, since their clearly based on Super Sentai, which was westernized into the Power Rangers.

I think Killer7 and Metal Gear Solid 2 are some of the most timeless games ever made because the themes and ideologies are still relevant to this day which I'm glad MGS2 is finally getting the recognition it deserves instead of people going "hur hur Raiden sucks". Anyway,another fantastic video! This one was a great watch.

Killer7 is proof that video games are an art form

Serious comment after my joke one: This video is phenomenal and informed me that Ulmeyda's "Perfect City" while at once serving as a commentary for military base neighborhoods, was based on a real group of people in connections with the FBI! That has shaken me, not going to lie! Have a great day, GhenryPerez!

The silver case: Killing me is not something you can live with. Killer7: I'm learning to live with a lot of things.

It’s crazy how the lore is so crazy and deep to where the released game only has 1/3 of the actual story

Killer7 was the game that made me realize what games could be, that games were created by artists with vision, that made me realize that gameplay wasn't something that had to follow a template. It's what made me realize that mechanics were designed, and what made me realize that I wanted to be a game designer. The batshit insanity of the whole experience, and especially the esoteric gameplay really changed my life and helped me discover what I love to do. I'll always recommend this game to people as a true work of art.

"You play Killer7 at my apartment while I do whatever I want - m4m"

Also the Ulmeyda business model based on image instead of real products seems like a good prediction of current marketing shit.

I remember the first time I finished Killer7: All I did was going out to walk for 2 hours thinking about the whole game and what it tried to tell, I pieced together a lot of the narrative the game offered and after experiencing the game I felt lucky and inspired by this incredible work Suda has done, I still can't stop thinking about this game... Great video sir, finally an analysis that covers what Killer7 tried to tell with a lot of it's symbolism and awkard yet meaningful moments.

Killer7 is a masterpiece.

Killer 7 is one of those games I got because it looked cool. It took me 3 playthroughs to understand what the hell was going on. Worth every second playing.

Killer 7 is such an under appreciated game. I’m glad you decided to dig deeper in this odd game!

This video is your magnum opus, when I thought it was about to end, turns out it was only chapter 1.

I love how you post the FEW HOURS AFTER I end up finishing Killer7 WHAT THE HELL

Killer7 still holds up so well today. It’s clear Suda51 took from great artists like Quentin Tarantino, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Takashi Miike, and especially David Lynch, but placed all the insanity and surrealism within the backdrop of a politically charged war/world dealing with terrorism. The fact that it does say something about the futility of war, the meaningless of political strife, the means of stopping terrorism and more shows how complex it is when you take the time to pay attention. I’ve found it better with each playthrough as I try to dissect the story bit by bit. Also a great example of unconventional surreal horror. Nothing is what it seems and isn’t always explained. I also can’t get over that Mikami co wrote the story given his background with RE. I would give my life up for a directors cut of K7, as the Japanese book Hand in Killer7 gives a timeline which was originally going to begin with Harman’s birth , how he met Kun Lan, the US Japan peace treaty, and much more. It also would’ve had closer ties to The Silver Case and Flower, Sun, and Rain since they’re all set in the Kill the Past universe.

I always thought the handsome men were meant to represent the conception of Yin and Yang I think this is represented in the random cutscene with the boy (mithra) his entire monologue is about light and darkness encompassing each other. Similarly the Killer 7 and Handsome Men are complete subversions of good and evil. The psychotic apathetic Assassin's are the one's fighting for good against morally objective and self assured Superheros When they face each other at the end its completely meaningless because good and evil are one and the same. Good can have evil motivations and evil can have good motivations. Therefore no side can win.

"Heaven Smiles represent individuality" Holy shit, now that one blew my mind. Thanks for the analysis, I've always craved this kind of perspective on this game, and yours is great

Finally NMH3 comes out next month! We have been waiting for way too long.

I noticed here through your commentary that the first exchange we see between Harman and Kun is that Kun mentions: "Our chess games, you always seem to win those" Harman replies: "Do you know why?" Kun asks Harman to elaborate Harman answers: "Because you're a bad player." This may be that Western and Eastern conflict going at it. Western ideals seeming to come out on top and gaining more control, eastern ideals asking how are you winning. How are your ideals consistently successful. The west replies "You're a bad player." You just aren't using the world correctly, its rules, its power etc. This may even be Suda touching on or even directly bashing his own side of the water and saying the West "wins" because we fuck up, not that the west is necessarily competent at worldly politics. Something to think about.

I've been under the spell of K7's style since the beta trailers years ago, but managed to play it for the first time and beat it only 3 months ago. My mind is blown the fuck off still. I so desperately want more games like this to exist, I might just will them into being if I focus hard enough. Who knows...

Most underrated game of all time

I think what makes this game incredible is how you can make so many interpretations, and almost all of them can make sense of all the content Killer7 has to provide, with the game itself and leaks / beta content. *Though I wouldn't mind a full version of killer7 either, SUDA...*

Finished Killer7 last night. I can already tell I'll be thinking about this game for the rest of my life.

Finished the game not long ago, a true masterpiece.

Much of this I never thought about, but its all very fascinating. The literary analysis of the Handsome Men chapter intrigued me the most, especially after how much shit I give to Disney and any other entertainment corporation.

My favorite game of ALL time. Really hope that complete version comes out someday! Have a signed copy from Suda, all the comics, and the Hand in Killer7 book.. 16 years later I still can't get enough of this game.

I finished killer 7 yesterday , cant wait to watch this

There's always time for fun, it's Friday night.

Killer7 is a political game done right.

I would really like to see a complete version of Killer 7, mostly for the Flower, Sun, and Rain connections that were dropped. With No More Heroes getting more firmly tied in with the other Kill the Past games, I feel that it would be good to have more Killer 7 connections beyond Edo McAllister's appearance at the Union and Dan's cameo in Travis Strikes Again.

Suda51 poured everything into this masterpiece. Haven't played it in years or beaten it, but it's really fun.

Thanks for pinpointing the "its just zaniness" conclusion. I also feel like its a matter of laziness or self-defense when people come to that conclusion....as if they are protecting themselves from the shame of not understanding the story after a single play. I'm generally hesitant to bring it up because I don't wanna tell people they like something for the wrong reason. I also agree that Killer7 has intentional room for interpretation, but I also think that this easily leads sort of the opposite of the "zaniness" conclusion where other conclude that it "means whatever you want it to mean" which is an equally bad take imo. Some details of the game are left unanswered within the game(and are answered elsewhere) and some are not answered at all. Some questions were left unanswered for a decade or more and then answered in later games. Some unanswered questions could reveal important truths and some may be inconsequential. Some of them....might have their answers in upcoming games. I think an issue to watch out for is becoming too attached to a particular analysis. Stick with it for as long as it works. When something is contrary, re-evaluate. Maybe this connects to the game's themes of individualism and death of the author^__^ ...but you still can't ignore what is there even if you missed it. I just really like when people go digging in other Suda works and interviews and start piecing stuff together. Its a fun journey. That being said.....some things I think you missed that might be a problem for your analysis....or at least give new angles to view the literal events of the game from: -In an interview Suda has stated that each of the playable characters is, in fact, a unique body. These are no mere split personalities. You can see this in-game when Jean DePaul speaks specifically to Mask, Trevor speaks specifically to Dan, and the fingerprint scanner reacts specifically to Garcian. This does not mean the Garcian is NOT a split personality, but it means that more is going on....and the answer to that comes from combined info from Hand In Killer7 and Travis Strikes Again. Another thing to lead in the right direction: consider the number of times Dan Smith has died....and consider any of your non-Garcian characters dying in general during gameplay. -Regarding the Smiles as a symbol of individualism and their interruption of world peace: The original Smiles are said to have been created by Kun Lan and I think the game makes that pretty clear, but we learn that the US government has learned and started manufacturing Smiles themselves. If you view the Smiths' trips into the Vinculum Gate(and the soul shells) as recovered pieces of Garcian's memory then that puts the timeline of events such that when the world peace treaty was attacked by the "Smiling Faces" the US government was already in production of Smiles(possible connection to Michigan?). This likely means that the US government wanted to participate in a facade of world peace(as you imply in your analysis) while still maintaining a scapegoat for "hard power" actions whenever they pleased. -Consider also: The internet. Within this video you explain how the internet was shut down, but then later we get a clip of Mills explaining real world terrorism that is later "updated in the online game". Outside of that bit, a conversation with Iwazaru in Harman's Room describes Samantha as a "net surfer". There is no answer to this puzzle that is given directly that I know of, but if you consider the possibilities you can narrow it down. Is the internet "officially" shut down but there is a blackmarket/underground/illegal internet in operation? If so, is it well-hidden or does the government intentionally allow it to operate? Makes you wonder.....how much of that cutscene at the start of Sunset is exposition and how much of it is propaganda? There are just so many angles and details about Killer7 that beg for answers and whether or not they are important to the messages of the game they work as great gateways into Suda's other games and the "Sudaverse" world as a whole.

after I finished the game I watched nearly every analysis and explanation of killer 7 video in RU-vid but every video is entertaining but there’s lack of some info but at last you present us with this video. Thanks 🙏 ghenryperez

You came back and bring this full-length video. Dear creator, you have my gratitude. Any contents of Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture works are always appreciated.

I’m excited to watch this, I’ve probably played this game a little too early I’m currently 18. Yet for some reason I love Killer7 without really fully understanding it. Maybe now I can find some new appreciation for a game I already love so dearly.

Woah Ghenry is giving us an hour long analysis video about The absolute master class that is Killer 7? Instant like, comment, and subscribe! You are honestly my go to for anything Suda! I am so excited to spend my evening watching this video thank you for all your hard work!

Killer7 is my favourite game, and ghenry is my fav youtuber, HELL YEA

Hello Mr.Perez. The release date for No More Heroes 3 is drawing near. Have you decided on your pre-order? If you haven't, please let Amazon make the most of your precious cash. Thank you and have a nice day.

The best "key" I read for this game is "to know the world you have to know yourself". That Garcian's experience is so confusing, while the world's events take place around him.

Fantastic video! The first thing I saw of yours was the Deadly Individualism video on killer7 3 years ago. It convinced me to play the game on Steam and I could never stop thinking about it ever since. Playing through all of Suda's games made me realize the uniqueness of how unconnected they are but in essence truly are connected. For me, I can't describe how much killer7 changed me, especially since I'm not very good at expressing my thoughts in general. However, seeing this video in a way gives not just me but others a way to convey that. The fun in killer7 is not only to experience it but also to interpret it and make sense of what Suda provided. Thank you for doing what you do Ghenry, keep up the good work! (BTW, the ending made me laugh my ass off, especially since I love Viewtiful Joe. xD)

I’ve seen people say that the killer 7 represent individuality while the smiles are unnoticeable masses but this is the first time I’ve heard the opposite be argued and I like to

This is such an incredibly eloquent essay on one of my favorite pieces of fiction ever. Thank you so much

I’ve been waiting for a long Killer 7 analysis for a real long time. Thank you for this amazing video.

this may sound odd, but this video helped a ton with my own personal mental health, especially around the end. specifically in regards to OCD, i won't go in-depth into it, but i appreciate those words, and ill apply them more towards my life

I wish you could've talked more about the aspects of the game in relation to immigration and American culture being a dominating force. Every single member of the smiths was a first generation immigrant (Kaede was Japanese, con was Chinese, Kevin was Australian) or a second generation one, except for Emir. Its interesting to see how the heaven smile created by the representative of the east strips its combatants from all of their humanity and personality, whilst the killer 7 which represent the west sometimes literally weaponize identity and diversity for the purpose of violence and making people fall in line. I played this game when I was 13 so many years ago, and as an adult that is one of the portions of the game that interests me the most.

I finished K7 last week and I wanted more, thank you for this upload! Keep on, keeping on!

HOOOOOLYYYYY CRAAAAAAAPPPPP THANK YOU IVE WANTED THIS TYPE OF VIDEO FROM YOU FOR SO LONG

Killer 7 was my very first Suda 51 game and I never looked back since! It’s been a wild ride but I’ve been forever faithful to Grasshopper studios

17:19 An interesting note: I think that this message also parallels the relationship between ivy leagues and the government in an American context. Intelligence institutions like the CIA and State Department were founded by and or populated by Ivy league alumni, Yale alumni in particular. And due to their exclusionary statutes like secret societies based on racial, ethnic, and religious grounds, created a concentration of power that was attractive to foreign spies. The NKVD and KGB, in particular, due to their absolute guillotine choke on intelligence and counter intelligence operations, exploited this concentration of power through the education to government pipelines, recruiting Ivy league professors/students via political front groups and/or sending moles through these universities into the intelligence community, along with other sorts of iron-clad espionage techniques to penetrate every corner of top secret classified government projects like the Manhattan project, Project VENONA or pretty much most CIA projects. All of this is just healthy speculation on an already obtuse game of course, great video!

I’m so happy you made this! I loved the Deadly Individualism video (and series), but I really wanted a deep dive into the narrative like this.

Love the video. Aaand it’s cool to see you did read that infamous analysis of killer7 on Gamefaqs. I keep revisiting it with every playthrough.

Appreciate your content. Keep it up man, we're rooting for you!

One of my absolute favorites. Can't thank you enough for this video! Great work.

ok mr Suda 51 affianado, now do the Silver Case trilogy for 5 hours.

This is damn good stuff, Bravo! Thank you for making it!

Man, Killer7 is a game I could just hear about people talk about all the time~ I should really play it again, so thank you for making me download this game again

Always happy to watch a video about Killer 7, glad to see it was one of yours.

Great analysis. I've said this before, but it's always amazing to me that no matter how much I research about this game there's always something new to learn about it. Also, is that transition at the end hinting at a potential video on The Silver Case? If so I'm super hyped!

BRO I REMEMBER BEING 13 AND FINISHING THIS GAME! God damn, I remember when it was revealed that it was just Emir the entire time shifting himself from personality to personality so well that even the people he encountered thought he was someone else. What a crazy twist, I cant get over the image of Emir shifting in front of the cameras - going from kevin and dan just by shifting his body language and the positioning of his body. Its kind of like clark kent coming home after a long day of work, changing his outfit and glasses, and taking the heroic pose in a superman film to transform into the hero.

"Master. This is a pinch! This is the pinchiest of pinches! That RU-vidr, GhenryPerez... He's made a video about us! A video about us that's almost an hour long! I can't believe this! The nerve! The absolute nerve! He made a thick video about us and he didn't even think to interview you for it, Master! And now the whole world has its eyes on you! Oh, how is Master to work under such conditions? In the name of Harman..." Great video, sir!

This is the video that has finally kicked me into gear in order to play this wonderfully weird game. Gonna have to watch the rest once I've finished it, it's been at the top of my must play list for ages now. Love Suda's other games so I imagine I'll buzz off this.

Gotta say, your videos are very informative when it comes to Suda, keep up the great work!

I'm still hoping Suda is able to make a remake of this game with all the hours of cut content/story. The Hand in Killer7 book shows the lore goes even deeper.

This must have been an insane undertaking and I commend you for it. Beautiful video.

oh good, another good youtuber. love to find these!

I remember there is an analysis in game spot’s website I’ve found many years ago. I saved it and still read it every once in a while. It helped me understand many things of this master piece. EDIT: I can’t believe it! You linked it in the description. Woah!

Killer video dude, and it's awesome that you shouted out sal4. He's one of the most talented people I've ever met, and his modding resume within this one game is super impressive. I remember when the PC version came out and he was diving straight into it to provide model swaps, restoring some content to make it playable in the PC version, creating an entirely new (small) stage, etc. He's the reason I went to go look for the source code and dig deep into this games' messages and lore, along with trying to piece together the old cut content such as the Temple of Horizon and how it related to the rest of the game. I've been following you for years, and this is easily your best video. Far better than James Howell's analysis which many people try to read by itself rather than viewing it as a guide to pull from while playing the game. Referring to it during a play session makes it a lot more understandable rather than trying to understand it as a comprehensive definitive view of the game. This video on the other hand is much more focused and essay-like, which due to my bias I prefer as a format.

This game was absolutely phenomenal. I've always wanted it since I was a kid, never knowing what it was about. I was honestly just interested in the box art at the time, but later in my life, in my mid 20s I finally got two copies of this game (one for PS2, and one for Gamecube) and after playing the Gamecube version, it became a game I would never forget. This game had a surprisingly good story and the twist was unlike anything I have seen. The art style allows it to age very well.

I love you for making killer7 content

29:39 "And a man-made landmass as large as a city, was built over an ocean". Reminds me of Kiyonori Kikutake's Ocean City project.

WOOOOOOO THATS WHAT I WAS WAITING FOR

This came out fantastically. What a masterpiece.

Fantastic video. The silver case also deserves deeper analysis.

Another awesome vid!!!

Thank you for analysis!

I can’t wait to watch this!

I've yet to watch the video in full, but I cannot thank you enough for making this exact video. I geniunely think Killer7 has some meaningful ideas in it's otherwise convoluted plot, and seeing someone other than me talk about such brings me joy. Before I go in, I want to write what I took away from Killer7, which was the concept of nihilism (spoilers ahead). Killer7 is quite a depressing game when you piece it all together. You try to stop Kun Lan, but he goes through with his plans. The two bosses in Sunset have already set an inner conflict within Kenjiro, Andri tries to stop the Heaven Smile in his own way to no avail, and just how much Curtis gets away with kidnapping and hurting children for his own pleasure. That's not even getting into the political aspects of the game much. World War III is on the horizon, and so west vs. east tensions are high. The Handsome Men are sent to kill any political opponents that get in the way, Greg Nightmare has been messing with the votes all along and all but Garcian die. Then Garcian learns the truth about his identity; how he killed the other Smiths and how he's the host. The end of the game really solidified my perception of this message, where whether you decide to kill Kenjiro or let him live, WWIII happens anyway. And then Kun Lan and Harman's battle starts all over again, like as if nothing happened... Indeed, I think Killer7 is about how ultimately your choices as an individual citizen don't matter in regards to politics. That no matter who you vote for, what you avocate for, everything will remain the same unless a driving force forces change to happen. The Heaven Smile at least get eradicated, but thats just a small piece of gold in the giant haystack of the bigger plot at hand. TL:DR, Killer7 is, in my opinion, about the nihilism and corruption in politics.

Excellent video love this game subbed

It may not be the best game in terms of gameplay, but it more than makes up for it with such a deep and open-ended plot that you just... Put your own pieces together... And even then, the gameplay is unique. Killer7 is probably one of my favourite games, it's always giving me something to think about.

Can't wait to run through this again on my steam deck when it drops. Really fun with gyro aiming

One hour of killer7 content... Yeah!!

Perhaps the true Killer7 is all the friends we made along the way

aww yeah it's a good day when you upload

You put way more thought into this than Suda51 ever did.

to me the message of killer 7 is the past doesn't define who you are but its the future you should be fighting towards, Probably the most clear a kill the past game can get aside from matchmaker. from the central conflict: UN vs LP it always points out to a cycle of the past until The killer 7 and Matsuken meet at the end.

This game is so much more lucid than most people will lead you to believe. It is without a doubt eccentric and difficult to click with. Over the years I haven't really considered the cut content or supplementary material as anything more than that, I don't think I'd change anything about this game. But having read suda's other stories did change my mind about a lot of things, particularly the imagery and themes, how he writes chapters guided by aesthetics, how a dialogue may start from the simplest most mundane things but evolve into this massive conflict when left unattended. The karmic bonds that close in like walls leading characters to an inevitable conclusion that seems so logical at its peak, that just by eyeballing you can correctly calculate the gravity of a given situation and empathize with a character's struggle, as abstract as it may be. -Akira's Christmas Eve at triangle towers. -Sumio Mondo's departure from LossPass. -Garcian witnessing Emir parkreiner at the Union hotel. The images chosen to accompany scenes like these are incredible to me. The humor, poetry and even pop culture references in these games are purposeful and powerful, whereas in other games these types of things don't carry such transcendence. These many angles in storytelling are something attributed to killer7 such that, cuts aside I consider it a perfect game. Amazing Amazing Amazing.

As if the unconscious mind has bought us together, I bought Killer7 the day you posted this. I've just beaten it, and I'm trying to wrap my head around it.

Oh boy let's get into it

This video is still monetized somehow it is very educational thanks for making it. Also don't be too hard on the old video it had another reason to be and was a part of your journey. I used to hate my kid poems now I find them cute and a part of me xD great work on the video

A 1 hour video on killer7? Hell yeah

Just finished Killer7 and the twists at the end hit me hard. Definitely a forgotten gem.

This is making me love this game even more.

So of note around 26:00 - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Democratic_Party_(Japan). In many ways Japan has been something of a one-party democracy, as the LNP has controlled the Diet for most of its existence, if to varying amounts. It was hard to overlook that when I was playing through the game, though it's been a while so I don't remember the entire context of its use. The dictatorial use of 'soft' power you discuss a bit afterwards has been coined as 'sharp' power, and funny enough Xi is one of the biggest pioneers. China's spat a few years ago with Korea and their state-issued recommendation that Chinese tourists not patronize Korean destinations against the backdrop of South China Sea expansion was a good little microcosm of it. Not unlike his chapters in 25th Ward and Silver Case, Suda seems to want to distill social and political critique into vague, shifting, genuinely Kafkaesque parables more than into concrete, digestible form. I oddly don't feel that Killer 7 is an opus, though - not simply because it's incomplete. More because it feels like explorations atop explorations, ideas that needed to be given form and in some cases came out incomplete. It feels like Suda has glimpsed something, and K7 is one of several flawed attempts to capture it - but flawed shouldn't really be taken to mean 'bad'. Creativity without flaws is just industry, after all.

Woah. I am playing this game (about to beat Handsome Men) and you made a video about it.

Great video. Its difficult to make the argument that a piece of fiction has an inherent value in its lack of concrete interpretation and the viewer's personal inventory of what it means to them. It can come off as a cop out along the same lines as "the game becomes fun when you play it in co-op" or "you'll enjoy it once you've read the extended fiction." Suda is nowhere near as obscurantist as Lynch, and the major cut and thrust of his games are generally pretty clear once you've heard out the whole plot. Its in the minutiae that the vagueries creep in and invite speculation, which is the less frustrating way of courting the viewer's speculation and discussion.

was reluctant to watch cause I haven't finished but realized I wouldn't understand it even if I did finish it

I've been on a journey to play all the Kill the Past games. I finally beat Killer7 and can finally watch this video. I'd love if you did Silver Case, FSR, and 25th Ward one day.

I had no idea about the E.L.B.O.W. connection in the japanese version, that blows my mind. I wonder what the role is that sundance was meant to play in this game. great video