As stated already become a commonplace phrase, “the night is dark and full of horror.” This quote is quite applicable to the extremely distant from the source of the remarks Japanese folklore.
I’m sure many of you have read in childhood tales of horrible Japanese traveler who meets the woman without a face and farmers with a lot of eyes on my feet, dead mothers continue to feed their children milk, and vengeful wives killed by husbands.
In addition, it is difficult to find someone who is not experienced with urban legends, at least at the level of: “But one familiar familiar familiar girls went at night in the park, and more it has not been seen, even the corpse did not find And then another girl went. in the same park and something translucent began her choke. ”
Yomawari: Night Alone by Nippon Ichi Software, known mainly for its tactical serials, could easily pass for a Japanese fairy tale, generously seasoned with urban legends.
The game and its main character exist within its own logic, and therefore wondered why the girl behaves a certain way ( “This is stupid!” Or “But I would in her place …”), it is meaningless. Why do many peasant eye on the calves? Because. And it is the world Yomawari.
But let’s order (although the beginning of the game, too, perhaps, absurd from the point of view of the average person). Girl walks her dog Poro. Along the way, she finds a stone and throws it on the roadway.
Poro catches him, and hit by a car, and the woman left alone with ragged bloody leash. On this occasion, it is not too refleksiruet and goes home, where she was waiting for an older sister.
The heroine does not dare admit to her what had happened, and my sister goes in search of the alleged runaway dog. It takes an hour or two, it becomes quite dark, and younger sister, unable to stand, goes in search of the senior.
From this moment it begins to explore the city. Not a single person (except the sister), you will not see here, but the town at the same time gives the impression of a living, present.
In this place there is no place concrete skyscrapers, and roofs in small houses covered with shingles, with around here disciplined street lamps, flower beds and neatly decorated meet periodically illuminated vending machines.
Yes, someone wandering around the pretty town of the same type may seem dull, but those who find a special charm in this side of Japanese life, indifferent to the game will not leave.
And who roams the streets, if the people around did not seem to have left? Of course, ghosts, and various otherworldly creatures – in a word, youkai. Somehow I was able to call Takahata cartoon “Pom Poko” encyclopedia of Japanese folklore;
Yomawari on this title, of course, is not intended, but it perfectly illustrates how diverse and not similar to each other can be invented by the Japanese monsters ready, juicy munching, eat heroine.
Interestingly, the typical youkai different there splints and Kitsun, not here at all. Most of the local monsters created rather “based on”, if not exploited (as a reference?) Familiar from pop culture images like the dead girl, looking exactly, almost to the details of how Sadako of the “Ring.” Some images are reminiscent of “Princess Mononoke” and “Spirited Away” by Hayao Miyazaki, the other – something like a much more little-known like “Scary stories from school: Hanako came.” Drawing monsters coexist here with like robots beings, something amorphous with insect and so on.
Moreover, Yomawari if deliberately evokes associations with many famous horror like Fatal Frame. The only one created by the compatriots on the game is not a bit like – it’s probably,
Silent Hill. This means that the various allusions here to search is not necessary, as well as to build intricate theory of why this or that monster looks like, and not as something else.
Do not forget that we are in a fairy tale / urban legend that goes back in essence to God knows what ancient legends, customs and traditions. And decide where these traditions go, please leave the relevant specialists.
But I digress; do not forget that we are talking after all about the video game. Thus, the main task of our unnamed heroine – find the missing sister.
To do this she has to walk around the town (and even alternative version thereof) as well as the nearby rice fields and factories.
As a rule, each major separate location like the same fields and school grounds with a swimming pool and a chicken coop assigned a separate chapter, on completion of which is protagonistka home and can make conservation.
