Stable Snake’s Japanese voice and movement seize actor is eager to return for a brand new sport, although feels conflicted about any contemporary entry with out the involvement of creator Hideo Kojima.
In an interview with Bunshun (translated by IGN), Snake actor Akio Otsuka reminisced about his deep attachment to the Steel Gear collection and eager want for Konami to make one other entry — which can come as a shock for Japanese followers of the collection. Famously, Otsuka beforehand mentioned he wouldn’t make a brand new sport sans Kojima — a quote that unfold across the franchise’s Japanese fandom after the Konami/Kojima break up.
Reflecting on that and his bond with the collection’ creator, Otsuka mentioned: “My job as a voice actor is to do what I’m informed. However on the subject of the Steel Gear collection, it was created by Kojima, and I take pleasure in having helped convey it to life.”
“So I (beforehand) mentioned ‘I don’t wish to do a Steel Gear that doesn’t contain Kojima.’ Now I’ve mentioned that, I am unable to take it again,” he laughed.
Given Konami and Hideo Kojima’s removed from amicable break up, it appears fairly unlikely that Kojima will ever helm a MGS sport once more. When requested whether or not Otsuka had informed Kojima that he’d just like the Dying Stranding director to make a brand new Steel Gear sport, Otsuka merely replied: “I am going to go away that to your creativeness.”
Trying again over his years of voicing Snake, Otsuka recalled that Stable Snake’s well-known “Stored you ready, huh?” (mataseta na) line was really an adlib in the course of the Japanese language recording. “It was subsequently utilized in advertisements too,” Otsuka added, with David Hayter’s English rendition of the road turning into equally iconic.
Otsuka additionally recalled how surreal it was to have his real-life father, voice actor Chikao Otsuka, voicing Massive Boss in MGS4’s finale, whereas Otsuka himself offered the efficiency seize. “After I arrived on set, my father’s eyes widened on the sight of me within the movement seize swimsuit, and he requested with shock ‘Am I really going to be voicing you?’ It was fairly amusing.”
Otsuka expressed a lot fondness and empathy for Kojima all through the interview. “He went via so many difficulties after leaving Konami but managed to complete making this main sport,” Otsuka mentioned, referring to the creator’s subsequent mission, Dying Stranding. “In spite of everything, if Dying Stranding had failed he may have simply ended up with money owed that he would not have been capable of repay even when he continued working for the remainder of his life… So when the sport was completed they usually introduced its launch, I burst into tears.”
Otsuka has additionally beforehand expressed help for former members of Kojima’s group nonetheless working at Konami, who for numerous causes didn’t bounce ship to Kojima’s new firm Kojima Productions. In an MGS cutscene-worthy bit on his Nameless Mouse podcast again in June 2023, Otsuka emphasised that “I need the followers to know this. I do not need them [the remaining MGS staff at Konami] to be made out to be villains. The individuals who stayed at Konami had been a part of the crew on Kojima’s ship. These individuals, who inherited the director’s legacy, wish to defend Steel Gear.”
Simply as David Hayter is usually held up by MGS followers because the definitive English voice of Snake (regardless of his controversial substitute by Kiefer Sutherland in MGS5), Otsuka’s efficiency holds related significance for Japanese followers. “I actually have a deep attachment to Snake,” Otsuka concluded. “In spite of everything, to the [Japanese] followers, Snake will at all times be Akio Otsuka, no matter what occurred between Kojima and Konami. After I consider the followers… nicely I am actually caught within the center.”
Whereas Kojima could also be busy for the foreseeable future engaged on new initiatives O.D. and Physint, Konami clearly nonetheless has an curiosity in Steel Gear — one thing that will nicely result in an all-new entry in future. Final 12 months’s profitable Steel Gear Stable Delta Snake Eater reused Otsuka’s authentic efficiency from 2006’s MGS3. Nonetheless, plainly the actor is likely to be open to engaged on a brand new Steel Gear Stable, ought to Konami select to make extra than simply remasters and remakes of the groundbreaking stealth collection.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance author who beforehand served as editor, contributor and translator for the sport information web site Automaton West. She has additionally written about Japanese tradition and flicks for numerous publications.