It’s becoming increasingly common to see deceased actors, musicians, and the like recreated digitally for hologram concerts, movies, video games, and more. There is a wide range of ways studios and creators approach doing so. Using generative AI (for image and voice) is absolutely the worst way to go about it, as it’s a disgrace to both the deceased and the living; there are also digital recreations made by artists, which is less disgraceful, I guess, but still murky waters – look no further than Ryu Ga Gotaku Studio’s use of deceased West Coast hip hop artist Tupac in Stranger Than Heaven.
I’m always surprised when any creator or studio decides to resurrect the dead for a project. Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Capcom’s upcoming return to the samurai action series after a 20-year hiatus and the latest game to grace the cover of Game Informer, is using the likeness of late actor Toshirō Mifune for its protagonist Miyamoto Musashi.
Toshirō Mifune
Fortunately, Capcom isn’t using generative AI to do so, nor is it attempting to create a Musashi that moves, acts, and talks like Mifune – it’s strictly using Mifune’s visual likeness for the character, and according to Way of the Sword director Satoru Nihei, that was the plan from the jump.
“[Using Mifune’s likeness] was something we felt very strongly about from the beginning,” Nihei tells me. “Wanting to have this very iconic samurai image, the first name that came to mind was Mifune. Once we decided on that, I approached the producer to ask if we could do this [and it went from there].”
As for why Mifune was the first name that came to Nihei’s mind, it’s because Mifune famously portrayed the historic Musashi in various films.
Born in 1920, Mifune performed various iconic roles throughout his life before his death in 1997. He’s likely most famous to many for his leading parts in Akira Kurosawa films, including some that put him in the armor of a samurai, but Mifune also portrayed Musashi in director Hiroshi Inagaki’s 1950’s Samurai Trilogy, which consists of Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954), Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955), and Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956).
Pundits argue that Inagaki’s trilogy and Mifune’s portrayal of the iconic samurai, alongside other seminal Japanese works like Eiji Yoshikawa’s newspaper serial-turned-novel-epic Musashi, solidified Miyamoto Musashi as the most legendary swordsman in Japanese history. That’s why Mifune’s likeness for Way of the Sword’s Musashi was part of the original pitch for the game.
During our discussion, Nihei correctly points out that Onimusha has always used celebrity likenesses: Onimusha: Warlords’ protagonist, Samanosuke Akechi, is played by Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro, for example, while late actor Yūsaku Matsuda was the model for Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny’s protagonist, Jubei Yagyu. Even Onimusha 3: Demon Siege did this, featuring French actor Jean Reno as Jacques Blanc in the time-traveling threequel. In that sense, Mifune’s likeness being used for Way of the Sword’s Musashi falls in line with the series. But, as someone generally in favor of allowing the dead to stay dead, I still press Capcom on how such a resurrection works.
Producer Akihito Kadowaki tells me it all began with Mifune’s family. Capcom first requested permission to use Mifune’s likeness. Then, the artists got to work digitally recreating the late actor in the RE Engine, ensuring that drafts and associated materials were passed along to the family throughout the process for approval (and tips, pointers, and suggestions, too). Kadowaki says the family was impressed with Capcom’s recreation, though he’s quick to note that Way of the Sword’s Musashi is unique to Onimusha, despite the visual likeness.
Criterion
Toshirō Mifune as Miyamoto Musashi in the Samurai Trilogy
“[We were not] necessarily looking to recreate and feature Toshirō Mifune as the face of the series; it’s more of a case that we wanted to create our own particular unique Miyamoto Musashi […] and we felt that Mifune-san was a really good match, just because a lot of his characteristics, his performance, and his expressions were a good match for elevating that vision we had for Musashi,” Kadowaki explains. The team tells me this Musashi, in his 20s, hasn’t yet discovered his dual-wielding technique, which is why his only weapon will be his one katana (and the Oni Armaments, but those are separately equipped from the sword). It’s also why he’s more brash, arrogant in his abilities, and selfish in his values and ways – he hasn’t yet learned all that the Musashi learned across his 40-plus years of samurai life.
Animation team lead Hiroshi Yugen says he and the rest of the team behind Way of the Sword’s combat took some inspiration from Mifune’s movies and other entries in the samurai-action genre, taking special care to capture the human element of this feudal combat. Yamashita adds that seeing Mifune come to life as Musashi’s likeness was one of his favorite things about Way of the Sword, especially as a fan of Mifune’s breadth of work. “I’m quite proud of what we’ve managed to achieve,” he says.
Art director Hiroyuki Nara says using Mifune’s likeness for Musashi made the artistic process easier for his team. It’s much easier to have that base to follow than a blank canvas, he explains, before noting that it wasn’t a concern having to check in with Mifune’s estate, but rather an exciting and helpful part of the process.
Though I’m ultimately team let-the-dead-stay-dead, after talking with Capcom, I ultimately feel far more comfortable playing Onimusha: Way of the Sword with its Mifune-likeness recreated onto Musashi than, say, Stranger Than Heaven, with its posthumous use of Tupac. If there is such a way to do this respectfully, it seems like Capcom has attempted to pursue that path.
I’ll be diving deeper into Capcom’s return to Onimusha as part of Game Informer’s month of Way of the Sword coverage. We’ll be publishing exclusive gameplay and behind-the-scenes videos (including a Rapid-Fire Interview) on the Game Informer YouTube channel as well. Keep an eye on the Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub so you don’t miss any of it.
In the meantime, here’s some additional Onimusha: Way of the Sword reading for you:
How do you feel about the deceased appearing in video games? Let us know in the comments below!