Trailer examination

It's true - a Silent Hill game from ryukishi07! Here's what we know so far...

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
jdnation
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 4171
Joined: 04 Mar 2007

Trailer examination

Post by jdnation »

What environment we can glean is from the few shots in the CG trailer. These could be thematic, so we can't say for certain that they are all established levels.

What is clearly rural Japanese countryside, made more obvious by the opening shots of farmland and paddies. Covered in Fog.
Image
Note: The scarecrow is wearing a girls school uniform and is holding what looks like a sickle as a weapon. Are the scarecrows enemies?


Image

Flowers seem to grow on some fleshy gooey substance. We also notice the pole weapon on the ground beside it. Was someone beaten to death there? What would be a typical buddha statue also is missing its face, towards the end of the trailer, a girl will also be missing her face.
Image

Thought: Do the statues serve as save points?

First look at more town-like environments.

Foggy town environment
Image

A Daytime otherworld environment transition of the exact same area. Note: The sign and buildings on right, postbox, as well as placement of telephone poles.
Image

Does the world transition via flowery overgrowth, kind of like an alternative transition of firey peeling-away Silent Hill seen in the film and Homecoming?

More outdoor environments:
Image
Image

Girl is walking dazed, dragging the pole/weapon. Girl may either be main character, or perhaps a possessed enemy type?

Typical children's ichimatsu doll.
Image
"Ichimatsu doll has been loved by kids as play doll from Edo period. Only in west part of Japan, people called this type of doll as ICHIMATSU DOLL. In Edo (Tokyo), a doll generally meant Ichimatsu doll. Ichimatsu Sanogawa is a model of Ichimatsu doll who was a popular Kabuki actor in Edo period. People call checkered pattern Ichimatsu pattern. This is because he loved checked-pattern costume.
People made costumes for Ichimatsu doll and enjoyed changing their own doll’s clothes. The body part of Ichimatsu doll is made from a piece of timber or clay."
https://www.dollsmuseum.jp/shop/product ... ichimatsu/

Note: Both the doll and female characters have short hair. Shot of girl standing on road looking at statue directly follows in the next cut after we see the doll. Significant?

Just as we see daytime environment, and plant-stuff growing, the plant vines also cover the doll, indicating possession.
Image

Girl is seen walking injured, barefoot through a narrow outdoor staircase, vines reach out to take possession of her. Are the girls controlled dolls?
Image

Arms and feet visibly rot when vines come into possession of skin.
Image
Image

These may lead to the holes we see in the arms and skin later. Hollowness of appendages also make them seem porcelain and doll-like.
[MOD EDIT: deleted this pic to avoid triggering trypophobia. Please link to such images instead with a clear content warning!]


Girl floats on a mini flower island towards a Torii Gate. First feel of a Dark world area.
Image
"A torii is a traditional Japanese gate, which marks the boundary between the sacred and mundane."
https://www.japan-architecture.org/torii-gate/

Vines are still connected to her and more flowers begin to grow. Perhaps a call back to the fleshy corpse covered in flowers by the statue with the fallen weapon? Sitting posture might also be reminiscient of the headless statue.
Image
Image

Is there an in-game element where if you die, your last resting place is an area covered with flowers and traces of flesh? Collect your souls and move on? :P

Flowers grow out of holes like a chia pet.

[MOD EDIT: deleted this pic to avoid triggering trypophobia. Please link to such images instead with a clear content warning!]


More flowers grow, and in distance girl resembles statue surrounded by flowers more.
Image
Flowers are spider-lilies, popular recently due to anime Lycoris Recoil, also said to be poisonous.
https://animecorner.me/lycoris-recoil-a ... pisode-11/

Girl's flowers as a hairstyle are somewhat Geisha-ish.
Image

A tear rolls down her left eye, just before her face falls off. There is a cross section of flesh, but no skull.

Overall, the colors red and pink are very prominent. We have an idea of the foggy world, a vine-covered day-time otherworld, and a dark blue hued dark world. What seems to be lots of funeral imagery, from a boat-like procession to the otherside, and flora growing from the leftover corpses being eaten away. Light may be a source that causes plants to grow.

Schoolgirls may be the new 'nurses' as an enemy and may be in various states of attire, and melee weapons from pipes to sickles. Some may be hidden amongst flower overgrowths or scarecrows.
User avatar
Droo
Moderator
Posts: 13359
Joined: 21 Jul 2003
Gender: Male
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Re: Trailer examination

Post by Droo »

I can already tell this game is going to be an absolute nightmare for anyone with major trypophobia.

I have only a very mild reaction usually to such imagery but those flower things growing out of the holes in the bodies makes me feel positively itchy to look at.

Original post has been edited to remove the image for those who would find it triggering.
"Oh yeah, I've been here before
I can see it with eyes closed
Shadows that look like blood
Dead as far as the mind goes
Fear that comes from my head
Lives in the mirror"
jdnation
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 4171
Joined: 04 Mar 2007

Re: Trailer examination

Post by jdnation »

More good analysis info in this video.
https://youtu.be/w0DmzF9wC_k

- Red spider-lily flowers are not native to Japan, were imported from elsewhere in Asia. Mainly planted in rice paddies, temples and graves. The poisonous nature was thought to help keep animals away from freshly buried graves. An old legend says the red color of the flower is from absorbing the blood from the buried body.

- The red lilies were then imported to the US through Japan after it was forced to open up for trade in the 1800s.

- Go by other names of Hell-Flower, corpse-flower, Higan (refers to the after life on the opposite far shore of the Sanzu river which souls cross over)

- In Buddhism there are other flowers, such as the white manjushaka flower, from the LOotus Sutra, which rains down from heaven, and can remove karma. Possible association with White Claudia?

- The Lotus Sutra has references in Silent Hill 3.
https://silenthill.fandom.com/wiki/User ... ent_Hill_3

- School uniform is for very young girls. Possibly allusion to the age of young Alessa.

- Buddhist statue is a jizo, a deity for guiding young children to the afterlife.
"The primary role of Jizo is to protect children. Jizo also protects the souls of unborn babies and children who have died before their parents. In Japanese beliefs, the souls of children who died before their parents passed away, cannot cross the river to the afterlife. The Jizo appears to protect these children from devils and hide them in his clothing from the evil spirits. Jizo then looks after them as a guardian on behalf of their parents."
https://blog.japanwondertravel.com/what ... 22197#toc2

- Possible ties to the period following from WWII, post-Hiroshima/Nagasaki Japan, when people noticed that plant-life continued to thrive amidst the atomic devastation, whereas the survivors had to deal with peeling and falling skin off their bodies in thick pieces. The rivers of Hiroshima were filled with bodies.

- Red flower blooms in same period of year as the month when Japan surrendered to the US, following the atomic bombings in August.

----

Red Spider-Lilies were thought to be imported alongside rice cultivation.
https://www.petalrepublic.com/red-spider-lily-meaning/

"The red spider’s lily’s common names refer to the flower’s appearance and tendency to bloom after exceptionally hard rains.

Its scientific names come from two ancient words. Lycoris is ancient Greek for “twilight.” Radiata is Latin for “to beam” or “to shine.” In taxonomy, however, the word radiata also usually describes symmetrical radiating points in biological forms."

Red Spider Lily (Lycoris radiata) – Red spider lilies are strongly associated with death, last goodbyes, and sad memories. They are thought of as the flowers of the heavens.
Pink Spider Lily (Lycoris squamigera) – Pink spider lilies symbolize love, passion, and feminine beauty.
Orange Spider Lily (Lycoris sanguinea) – An orange spider lily symbolizes confidence, pride, honor, conviction, and wealth. An orange lily can also be associated with success, fun, and enthusiasm.
Yellow Spider Lily (Lycoris aurea) – A yellow spider lily symbolizes richness and wealth. It can also symbolize gratitude, cheerfulness, friendship, courage, and wisdom.
Blue Spider Lily (Lycoris sprengeri) – Blue spider lilies symbolize calm energy and truth. They also represent positivity, inspiration, trustworthiness, reliability, stability, accuracy, and freedom.
White Spider Lily (Lycoris albiflora) – White spider lilies symbolize freshness, new beginnings, and positive nature.
Hanakotoba is the Japanese language of flowers. Similar to the Victorian flower language (floriography), hanakotoba assigns meanings to different species and/or colors of flowers so that they can be used as an alternative form of communication.

In this tradition, a red spider lily (higanabana or manjushage) means abandonment, never to meet again, or lost memory.
In Buddhism, it is a common practice to mark the arrival of autumn and offer a tribute by placing bouquets of red spider lilies at their ancestors’ graves.

The Lotus Sutra describes red spider lilies as flowers that grow in hell. As a result, certain Chinese and Japanese Buddhist traditions believe that these flowers help lead spirits through the afterlife and into reincarnation.

Red Spider Lilies in Japanese Christianity
Legend also says that red spider lilies bloomed in the places where Japanese Christian martyrs were killed during medieval times.

Red Spider Lilies in Japanese Legend
More legends say when a person crosses paths with someone whom they will never meet again, that red spider lilies bloom along the path. In addition to their association with death and the afterlife, these legends are also partly responsible for the flower’s association with final goodbyes.

Red Spider Lilies and Bad Luck
Although red spider lilies were planted at gravesites as an offering and a symbol of protection, they are so strongly associated with death that they are considered to be bad luck. For this reason, many people will not bring red spider lilies into their homes.
User avatar
Herr Shaun
Gravedigger
Posts: 495
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Gender: Male
Location: Canada

Re: Trailer examination

Post by Herr Shaun »

Droo wrote: 23 Oct 2022 I can already tell this game is going to be an absolute nightmare for anyone with major trypophobia.

I have only a very mild reaction usually to such imagery but those flower things growing out of the holes in the bodies makes me feel positively itchy to look at.

Original post has been edited to remove the image for those who would find it triggering.
Thank you - that part of trailer was hard to watch.
You've got your good things, and I've got mine.
User avatar
Chris Sunderland
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 5588
Joined: 24 Oct 2003
Location: Room 311, making a noise complaint
Contact:

Re: Trailer examination

Post by Chris Sunderland »

jdnation, a very tiny small correction but the end of the middle ages is usually considered around the fall of Constantinople and the end of the (Eastern) Roman Empire aka Byzantium in 1452. Westerners didn't arrive in Japan untill around a century later which could be considered "Age of exploration". I know it's minor but my armchair historian brain forced me to mention.
[img]http://i35.tinypic.com/2iqehhj.jpg[/img]
jdnation
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 4171
Joined: 04 Mar 2007

Re: Trailer examination

Post by jdnation »

Thanks! That's good to know!

I really am intrigued at whether or not there will be a lot of Japanese history threaded within the game as subtext. The idea of flesh and flowers seem to be intertwined. The surroundings and location do seem more reminiscent of a period piece. Could very well be pre-WWII...

We know that officially the game is set in the 1960's.
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=26901

The mailbox itself is vintage in design.

Image

"The history of Japan's mail box began in 1871. Originally coming from the United Kingdom, currently there are 181,895 of them all over the country. Commonly, the color is red, same as the UK post box. Nowadays, the typical shape is the boring square type"
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/the-japane ... 100200158/

Modern style:
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/478085316664076356/

The 1870's were the Meiji Era, a time of industrialization, and a lot of collaboration with Western countries.
The Industrial Revolution in Japan occurred during the Meiji era. The industrial revolution began about 1870 as Meiji era leaders decided to catch up with the West. The government built railroads, improved roads, and inaugurated a land reform program to prepare the country for further development. It inaugurated a new Western-based education system for all young people, sent thousands of students to the United States and Europe, and hired more than 3,000 Westerners to teach modern science, mathematics, technology, and foreign languages in Japan (O-yatoi gaikokujin).

In 1871, a group of Japanese politicians known as the Iwakura Mission toured Europe and the US to learn western ways. The result was a deliberate state led industrialization policy to enable Japan to quickly catch up. The Bank of Japan, founded in 1877, used taxes to fund model steel and textile factories.

...

There were at least two reasons for the speed of Japan's modernization: the employment of more than 3,000 foreign experts (called o-yatoi gaikokujin or 'hired foreigners') in a variety of specialist fields such as teaching English, science, engineering, the army and navy, among others; and the dispatch of many Japanese students overseas to Europe and America, based on the fifth and last article of the Charter Oath of 1868: 'Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of Imperial rule.' This process of modernization was closely monitored and heavily subsidized by the Meiji government, enhancing the power of the great zaibatsu firms such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_era ... evelopment.

The trailer features what looks like an industrailized location that the girl is walking through, and she is obviously a student in a uniform.

I wonder if it is possible that she is one of those students sent overseas to America... possibly even traveled to Silent Hill... But maybe the character is older while in America, and she is traversing the Otherworld in a younger form? However, I think that's unlikely, as her uniform is for a very young girl, and most likely any students sent abroad would be college age. Also considering the era, it would've most likely been men and not women that were sent.
Whereas a large proportion of the students selected for overseas study came from samurai families, they were not necessarily the proper choice and had come to be even considered as cases of misuse of government scholarships. Thus, in December 1873, the government decided to recall all students studying abroad. However, several students from Tokyo Kaisei Gakko - predecessor of the University of Tokyo - were selected in March, 1875, and in July nine were sent to the United States and one each to France and Germany.

...

The students selected were promising young men between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two who were to specialize primarily in law, chemistry and engineering. Apart from this program, in July, 1875, three young students including Izawa Shuji (1851-1917) were sent by the Department of Education to the United States to pursue studies in teacher training; and in1879 three graduates of the Law, Literature and Science Faculties of the University of Tokyo were sent to England and one to France. That same year three graduates of the Medical Faculty went to Germany.
https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/hakusho/h ... 317259.htm

This style of school uniform seems to match, but it is closer to the later Taisho era, which is the 1900's...

Image

Meiji school uniforms were Hakama styled.

Image

"Unfortunately, because of World War Two broke out in 1939, there were no enough materials and food produced in Japan, lots of school girls lost their opportunities to continued study at school. They had to started working in the farm or went to work in the workshop. For the convenience, the sailor skirt was changed into pants which has a name called Monpe. This was also a interesting combination base on the historical effects in the development of Japanese school uniform. After World War Two ended, the sailor skirt reappeared in the society as the formal school uniform for girls."

https://medium.com/@katier.jiang/develo ... bf9c7856af

So based on the uniform itself, the earliest date would be the 1900's. And the themes of farms and industry suggest this is around WWII.

House architecture does seem to match the Taisho period.
Image

But what is throwing me off are the barriers on the road, which are more modern meant to protect pedestrians from cars.
Image

Guardrails seem to have originated in 1933.
"Steel guardrail was originally developed by Armco (The American Rolling Mill Company) in 1933 as highway guardrail but is often used in the factories and warehouses of the industrial sector, despite not being intended for this application."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_rai ... pplication.

So it matches up with that era, but was Japan that well developed by then? It is possible that the scenes with the girl walking with the pipe are closer to modern times after more development. Which makes sense by 1960.

Image

We could be shifting between imagery of two different periods, perhaps the otherworld is not a traditional one, but one that transforms the scenery into something resembling the past. Though not so unusual, if we consider the previous games and how locales change and notes are left etc. James, for example, was seeing a completely different Lakeview Hotel from an earlier time compared to the one that actually exists and is burnt down.

Image

So my thinking is that the more historical-looking locations are perceptions of the character traversing the Otherworld. But imposed on more modern 1960's locales, so there is a potential mix of old and modern locations.

Anyway, of interest in 1960's Japan...
1960 was a year of prolonged and intense political struggles in Japan. The massive and often quite violent Miike Coal Mine Strike at the Miike Coal Mine in Kyushu lasted nearly the entire year, and the massive nationwide Anpo Protests against renewal of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty carried over from 1959 and climaxed in June, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and the cancellation of a planned visit to Japan by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The "June 15 Incident" – As part of the Anpo Protests, radical student activists from Zengakuren attempt to storm the National Diet compound, precipitating a battle with police in which female Tokyo University student Michiko Kanba is killed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_in_Japan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miike_Struggle

The coal mine part is interesting considering the SH movie...
On November 9, 1963, the worst mining disaster in Japan's postwar era occurred at Miike when coal dust ignited and exploded 500 feet below the surface, collapsing tunnels and spreading deadly carbon monoxide throughout the mine.[10] As a result, 458 miners were killed and 555 were injured.
Maybe the dead female student is relevant history, though she was a University student.

The 1960's were a post-war period, there was dissatisfaction with the U.S. and lots of labor conflict.

Agricultural conditions in Japan during the 60's were also seeing some tumult with reforms to control of farm property by landlords whom farmers rented the land from, and also of note, during the 1800's there were peasant uprisings due to the conditions of poverty. Geopolitical issues with the U.S. were also a factor.
The prevailing system of land tenure in Japan both before and after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 was one of
feudal land o¥vnership based on rent in kind. As the money economy expanded during the Tokugawa Period
(1603-1867) and the feudal lords (through the large landowners) intensified their exactions from the small
dependent tenant-farmers, many farm families were driven into extreme poverty and peasant revolts continued to
intenslfy during the Tokugawa and early MeiJi, peaklng in 1873. The cumulative effect of repeated peasant
uprisings led to the downfall of the Tokugawa regime.
Food has been, and continues to be, used as a political weapon. U.S. "food aid" for
example, has been used to prop up ~ilitary dictatorships and further U.S. strategic interests;
to "reward" those states willing to nnplement "austerity" measures (which often translate to
diminished social services and lower wages) recommended by the World Bank or International
Monetary Fund; to improve the image of the United States worldwide through "humanitarian" acts of giving; or to punish those states not willing to give in to U.S. pressures to conform
to the dictates of U.S. foreign policy/business concerns by either denying emergency food
relief or by imposing an economic embargo, which often includes an embargo on food.

...

Between 1954 and 1964, Japan received U.S.$445 million in PL 480 "food aid" shipments;
its imports of U.S. agricultural commodities through conventional trading channels during this
same period amounted to $10.8 billion (Ohno 1988: 18). Japan was on its way to becoming the
number one importer of U.S. agricultural goods and number one among advanced capitalist
countries as being most dependent on food imports, with its self-sufficiency ratio in grains
(including rice and feed grains) dropping to 29% by 1991 (MAFF:1993).

...

With trade restrictions in agricultural goods considerably eased, the resultant upsurge in
agricultural exports to Japan contributed directly to the decline of Japan's production of
wheat, barley, soybeans, and rapeseed. By 1971, 85% of the wheat consumed in Japan and
93% of the soybeans were imported from the United States. Between 1965 and 1971, the
United States accounted for at least 70% of Japan's agricultural imports and Japan had
become not only the biggest importer of U.S. agricultural goods but the biggest foreign market
ever for U.S. farm produce.'

...

Moore notes that "Japanese farming households have created a part-time farming'
survival strategy and have become a vital link in the expansion of industrial capitalism" ( 1990:
13). This strategy entailed having other family members (most often wife and/or parent(, s))
work the farm during the weekdays while the husband worked full-time off the farm.
Two terms came into common usage by the early 1960s denoting the division of labor on
the majority of family farms in postwar Japan:3αn chαn nδ9アδan(13h擁醒α醜 nδ副δ
(“week-end faming,’,referring to the prevalence of seeing the husband working in his fields
only on weekends),The first term refers to the three family members who actually worked the
farm on a regular basis;the mother,grandmother,and grandfather(from the chiklren’s
perspective).
    Between l950and l960,Japanese farm families provide(1the industrial sector,concen-
trated in the major metropolitan areas,with a steady stream of low-wage laboL Twenty to
thirty thousand young men annually left farming for work in the cities,while the percentage
of ful1-time farmers fell from50%to34.8%during the same period of time(Bix1974)。Also,
many of the remaining farmers resorted to migrating to urban areas during the o『一season in
order to make ends meet.Labor recmiters,often afnliated with organized crime syndicates in
Japan,traveled to rural areas in search of workers willing to work in factohes or at
construction sites for low wages and non-existent fringe bene丘ts(Nee1974:12-13).This type
ofemployment“opportunity,”as recruited dekasegi,or migrant workers,still exists,although
not as prevalent as it was from the mid-1950s to the late l960s,

...

  Quite understandably,the course of agricultural transformation in postwar Japan has not
always been a consensual process.However,the inability of Japanese farmers in the postwar
period to secure major social change in their benefit may be attributed at least as much to their
contradictory class positions,as property-owners and subjects of exploitation,further compli-
cate(i by their partial status as wage laborers,and to their political beliefs,inculcated through
the dominant culture’s institutions.In part,this may explain why farmers have so rea(lily
accepted state pollcies that would lead to rural community degeneration and away from viably
engaging in farming on a full-time basis。Thus,the successful manipulation of the farm vote
through pork-barrel politics and rural development schemes during most ofthe postwar period
by the Liberal Democratic Party(LDP)politicians can only partially account for the relative
complacency until recently of Japan’s rural residents,
    I have shown the important role that the United States govemmen亡and US.corporate
interests have played in helping to engineer the postwar agricultural〔1ebacle in Japan,The
Japanese govemment and Japanese monopoly capital were the other major playe凪that
worked hand-in-hand with their U.S.counterparts to set up the military alliance needed to
justify Japanese remilitarization and the maintenance ofU,S,military bases in Japanl;negotiate
mutua1隻y-beneficial trade relations that would contribute immeasurably to economic growth量n
both countriesl and further their progress in establishing a Japan-U。S.“co-prosperity sphere”
in the Westem Pacinc.That Japanese farming families were ultimately sacri6ced to achieve
these objectives is clear、
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm ... _id=636209
https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/herme ... 100290.pdf
Burning Man
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 2476
Joined: 15 Jul 2003

Re: Trailer examination

Post by Burning Man »

Did anyone else get Midsommar vibes? This is probably the most comparable shot: https://youtu.be/uC_y4CC2VRM?t=685
This is part of longer scene where the character looks sad and miserable at first, but gradually starts cracking a smile.
© 2003-2022 Burning Man.
The contents of this post may only be used within the boundaries of www.silenthillforum.com.
Any usage outside of the aforementioned forum is strictly prohibited.
User avatar
Chris Sunderland
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 5588
Joined: 24 Oct 2003
Location: Room 311, making a noise complaint
Contact:

Re: Trailer examination

Post by Chris Sunderland »

I'm not gonna quote your post jdnation because that's a lot of historical sluthen'. I will say I love the Meiji Era and Japan's quick turnaround from what we then would consider in our western near category obsessed minds a " medieval state" to a world industrial superpower in a span of a few decades is astonishing. That type of "progress" doesn't come without a price and any exploration of it, Silent Hill or otherwise, is welcome. It's funny, and I won't speak to much on the history of post war Japan because I don't know too much, but it's really the second time in a couple hundred years Japan as a society adapted to extreme changes and thrived. Have no idea if the game will delve into this at all, but interesting none the less.
[img]http://i35.tinypic.com/2iqehhj.jpg[/img]
Post Reply