Ascending the hill with my celestial brush in hand, I felt my tendons burning as I raced through the grass towards the bright sun at the apex of my destiny. The fields of Shinshuu lay behind me, a slice of jade in the daylight, swaying to the breeze that had been written into the sky by my hand. I reached the summit in due time and stared at what lay before me: my kingdom. Poetically majestic, these lands of Nippon are mine, for I am the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, and all that I touch from my heavenly throne falls under my domain and my protection. If there should ever prove a day that these lands are threatened, then let the darkness fear my return. I will slice it down with my tools of judgement and the brush and ink I carry, which paints worlds into existence.
It begins with a legend about a great white wolf named Shiranui and a love-struck swordsman named Nagi. Finding the village of Kamiki threatened by an eight-headed demon with a taste for virgin blood, Shiranui once protected the villagers from the demon’s ravenous hunger, defying the village’s customs when one of its maidens, Nami, had been singled out as the sacrificial offering to the demon. Nagi, her lover, and Shiranui went in her stead and faced the demon in its home, defeating it in an epic battle and sealing it away for all time. This valiant battle cost Shiranui her life, the great demon’s poison seeping into her body as she wasted away. The villagers erected a monument in honor of her sacrifice beneath the Konohana Tree and thus she lives on, watching the village from her tomb.
But that demon didn’t stay sealed away and neither would the great Shiranui.
At its heart, Okami breaks the mold of what one comes to expect from a game. Perhaps it’s the fluid way the black lines meet the vibrant kaleidoscope of colors or the playful way Amaterasu and Issun interact, the former voiceless and the latter full of spunk and vigor, but one must approach it differently than other tales of this sort. With the dark demon, Orochi, resurrected from his place of enshrinement at the Moon Cave, Shiranui, the great wolf that once defeated the eight-headed serpent, must live again to do battle as Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess whose celestial brush can paint anything into life.
Drawing heavily from Japanese folklore, almost everything presented in Okami’s unraveling tale can be linked to legends of triumph and loss shared among the people of both ancient and modern Nippon. Whether it’s Amaterasu’s Shinto origin re-imagining, a story with references to Nagi and Nami, or the Satomi House novel, a tale about the eight spiritual sons of Princess Fuse, a slice of Japanese history visits every step of the way.
But what good is an adventure without a sidekick? Especially one as talkative as the great Issun, wandering artist, wordsmith extraordinaire, and “bug.” Don’t let his size fool you, though; Issun may be little, but he packs a mean punch. Well, perhaps not mean, but he has a way with words, especially ones directed at the many voluptuous women the pair encounter on their quest. If his entrance from the bosom of a tree sprite is any indication of his personality, then Issun’s greatest ambition is wooing the ladies.
Well, that and the missing brush strokes that Amaterasu has inconveniently forgotten. A lot can happen in a hundred years and proper painting techniques ranks last on the list of things to keep in mind when one is encased in a shrine. Not to mention, with the other gods missing, those who would willingly grant their powers to the sun goddess, there’s no way to use those great celestial powers even if one could remember them. Locked away by both the forces of evil inhabiting Oni Island, where the enemy is said to hail from, and forgetfulness, on the part of quite a number of them, there is no way for Amaterasu to confront the great eight-headed Orochi without those brush strokes. To do battle with a demon so great, all of the gods must come together through the celestial brush that Amaterasu wields like the sabers, rosary beads, and reflectors gracing her back. The combined attack should be enough to thwart the forces of Orochi.
Or will it? Amaterasu is not as agile as she once was, even with a sweeping orchestral score swelling behind her as flowers spring up in her wake. There may be comedic or poignant moments punctuated with traditional Japanese instruments, but none of it matters if Amaterasu isn’t the best she can be. Luckily, the local dojo trains all who can afford the steep fee. Even if Amaterasu is of lupine origin, the dojo master, Onigiri Sensei, does not discriminate. In a roundabout way, the Sensei prepares Amaterasu for her final confrontation, without knowing her motivations.
Regardless, Issun scribbles away on his scrolls, both as a way to chronicle his journeys and prove that he participated despite what others might say. It’s because of his constant note taking that Amaterasu knows the weaknesses of her enemies, the lay of the land, and where their adventures take them next. In spite of what Issun might display from time to time, he pulls his weight where archiving is concerned.
One can not talk about Okami without talking about it’s deliciously captivating art style. Inspired by both modern cel-shading, ancient wash painting, an art style first developed in China and later imported to Japan via Korean missionaries, and Japanese wood block print, one is immediately floored by the richness of Okami’s palette. The original release on the PlayStation 2 had a more pronounced “paper filter,” the texture covering the screen that gives it that thick rice paper appearance, but there is no mistaking how beautiful this version is, with its more vibrant colors and widescreen aspect ratio.
But it’s the little touches that pull one into Okami’s mystical world: how sculpting the wind affects the people and the trees, the way slowing down time can buy Amaterasu an escape route, or moving great bodies of water with a single brush stroke. With each new brush technique, Amaterasu’s world opens up, broadening the paths which she can travel and the people she can meet.
It’s obvious, however, that a hundred years hasn’t been kind to Amaterasu’s inking abilities. Though the brush is responsive, in a pinch it can become a nuisance, making it necessary to draw the same strokes repeatedly. Thankfully, during timed events where this becomes particularly troublesome, one has only to skip the sequence to start over, like the Konohana Blossom dance performed by Mr. Orange, one of the many colorful characters Amaterasu and Issun meet on their journey across Nippon. Yet, when Amaterasu finds herself face to face with the enemy, she excels at drawing cherry bombs, swiping the enemy with her celestial brush blade, and stirring up air. Since it’s a focused affair, combating the villains offers a smaller chance of drawing a similar brush stroke in a place where it makes little sense, such as drawing the sun into the sky in place of cherry blossoms.
Between the varied, ingenious little puzzles that require manipulative brush work to the imaginative enemies that float along colorful scrolls across the field and hop and taunt when engaged with Amaterasu, one grows to appreciate the adventure and the colorful commentary by one mischief little “bug” the further the adventure unravels. The questions that continue to creep up, like Waka’s seemingly annoying manner of showing up only to fight Amaterasu or the lingering fate of the brush gods scattered across all of Nippon, drive the journey forward.
There’s only two reasons to be disappointed, but neither of them pertain to the experience itself: the closure of Clover Studio’s and the missing credits at the end of Okami. Sadly, with Clover Studios gone, there can never be another Okami with the same attention to detail and polish that this one has received. Likewise, with the missing credits, it feels as if a piece of the original vision is gone. Any savvy internet user will know where to find the full credit roll, yet it is still sad to see that such an expression of artistic vision was compromised for legal reasons.
Whether it’s the sea-blown shores of Ryoshima, the bountiful flora of Shinshuu Fields, or the cursed lands consuming all that Amaterasu’s heavenly kingdom once shone upon, Okami delivers everything it promises. Wrapped in one of the most heroic sagas to ever grace a system, it seeps into your very being, swaddling adventurers in its essence until you can’t help but become enchanted by it. There may never be a chance to step into the world of Okami through a succession of titles, but at least we can relive Amaterasu and Issun’s adventures again and again whenever the fancy strikes us. And that’s all any development house, past or present, would ever want.
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