Japanese Mythology Expert REACTS to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Hi Gamologist and welcome and welcome back to another exciting episode of Experts React. Back at it is Michael Crandol, who specializes in Japanese horror films, and the mythology of Japan.
Today he is going to react and share his knowledge with us on the game Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice. What is his opinion about The Seven-Branched Sword?
Does he believe in Japanese Ghosts ? and many more questions to be answered on this episode of Expert React.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by From Software and published by Activision. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in March 2019, and for Stadia in October 2020. The game follows a shinobi known as Wolf, who attempts to take revenge on a samurai clan that imprisoned him and kidnapped his lord. The gameplay is focused on stealth, exploration, and combat, with a particular emphasis on boss battles. It takes place in a fictionalized Japan during the Sengoku period and makes strong references to Buddhist mythology and philosophy.
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Japanese Mythology Expert REACTS to Sekiro

[@nathandaniels4823]

Did someone eventually tell him the game is a Japanese game made by Japanese devs? I’m sure there’s a lot of Samurai film nods in Sekiro (possibly less directly Kurosawa than he’s thinking, especially since it’s not a western title), but there is so much in Sekiro that’s more directly from Japanese folklore.

[@singami465]

My man just said Sekiro is made by a "western developer". I understand that he's not a gamer, but Gameology could provide at least a little bit of context for him. Also, his analysys felt very surface-level. I read a bit about Sekiro lore and he doesn't seem to recognize anything past basic, pop-culture mythology.

[@loneshinobi2682]

I blame Gameology. They aren’t giving him content to react to that really aligns with his field of study. I suggested Nioh 1 and Nioh 2 which are HEAVY on the mythology side especially concerning yokai and such

[@bassax7045]

@@loneshinobi2682 like a dragon Ishin would be ideal for this guy to show his knowledge

[@TheAtlasReview]

@@loneshinobi2682 Yeah, he really wasn't given much to work with even if he had been familiar enough with the game's lore to pick it apart. The part with the shamisen warrior was the closest thing to his specialty on ghosts, and he literally says of the clip that we don't get a good look because the player died trying to get close to it. Really poor video.

[@DJWeapon8]

That's been an ongoing issue with Gameology. The 1st video of the game they show off to the expert/s always lacks a ton of context and useful information for the expert to set their basis onto. Like the "idealized Japanese architecture" actually being set in a divine location that has become run down due to corruption. The "ghosts" not actually being ghosts, but humans that have been mutated and corrupted by immortality. Hence the much older equipment. The samurai monster warriors being the same kind of mutated and corrupted human, but are all women. And then there's the fact that FROM SOFTWARE games have really barebones stories, plots, and character development, and go out of their way to hide the actual lore and worldbuilding in their item descriptions. So the context in these clips become practically nonexistent.

[@Solt-sd3km]

Yep, the best part of the video was with the corrupted monk where he had something to say about it, but he was just off the mark a little bit because he had no context of the games lore with how it's about immortality. She was based on Yao Bikuni, who ate a fish with a human face caught by her father and gained immortality, she then had to watch her father grow old and die so she wandered and became a Buddhist priestess. After having to watch everybody she had ever known grow old and die, she eventually died despite her immortality because she had lost the will to live. We know that because some ingame text says her name is priestess yao. Had he known a bit more context with the game being about immortality and the boss fight being a women he might have caught onto that. I'm also disappointed we didn't see anything about the giant snake. Would have also loved to see more of the more obviously yokai-like mini-bosses like o'rin of the water or the great carp, maybe also long arm centipedes.

[@exaq]

gamology should honestly just do a part 2 and give michael more information about the devs and the games lore (like many other comments have suggested)

[@radojerkovic3059]

For being an expert, this really doesn't seem to go far beyond surface levrl knowledge. He waves most things off as just being a kurosawa thing instead of providing any real extra info and he doesn't go that far into detail.

[@zacharytaylor5360]

His comment on shinobi doing the dirty work of samurai isn’t wrong but fails to tell the audience that ninja/shinobi were typically samurai themselves

[@Sir.Alonne]

I'd blame the video format. He can only give us surface level knowledge because all he's got to go on is surface level gameplay footage. If he did a longform lore analysis I'm sure he'd have much more interesting stuff to comment on but that's not really what this channel does.

[@radojerkovic3059]

@@Sir.Alonne I've seen other history/myth experts on gamology provide much more interesting observations. I don't think it's the format at fault when like half the dude's expert opinions were just saying Kurosawa and leaving it at that.

[@Sir.Alonne]

@@radojerkovic3059 Aye, fair enough.

[@Trollkiller]

​@@Sir.Alonnereally it'd just be a lot more detailed if they also had someone explaining the story and lore of the game world to the history expert. Great example during the beginning temple part someone who's played the game could elaborate on the fact you just rode a giant made of rope into the divine realm and the enemies are actually okami who invaded generations ago and were defeated.

[@reveredrogue9725]

Kinda sad that you didn't show the final deathblow Wolf gives to Isshin as it pretty much follows the style of Seppuku as after the samurai had cut their abdomen, an assistant with their katana ready from behind would decapitate them in a single strike.

[@loneshinobi2682]

Missed opportunity as well not showing him the headless mini bosses

[@kirank287]

Yep.

[@nakagawayuuki7452]

Common Gamology Intern Behaviour

[@beartrap3400]

This is how this channel has always been. These videos are good ideas but they put like half the effort into making it and skimp out on very important parts.

[@Ray_Shabaz]

Before I learned what Seppuku was while playing this game, I thought Sekiro just slashed Isshin deeply in his back

[@TheAtlasReview]

Don't want to belittle this guy, but everything he commented on was either aesthetic or surface level. I wish he was familiar enough with the game to comment on the dwarfs, immortality-worms, carp, buddha-carvings, asura, headless warriors and nobles, which all have a basis in Japanese mythology. Granted souls games don't make any of that stuff easy to learn about, but the game is seeped in lore that an expert could dive into.

[@Brian-tn4cd]

Immortality worms are definitely more inspired from manga than anything majorly folkloric, kinda specifically "Blade of the Immortal" and its more than a reach because a character in Sekiro is a direct homage, and Miyazaki has been known to reference manga heavily before. Edit there are precedents say from Chinese medicine and ritual that eating insects could prolong your life

[@TheAtlasReview]

@@Brian-tn4cd From the lore discussions I have seen, the centipedes are Mukade, and they represent the corrupted, poisoned form of immortality that has accumulated in the fetid waters far from the divine realm. They are, as I understand them, an enemy of dragons and so the use of them to gain immortality shows how far the monks have fallen from the divine dragon.

[@basicname1555]

that isnt really his fault as much as it is just gameolgy not giving enough info so its possible he just didnt think anything about it. If they told him it was a Japanese game that actually has alot more mytholgy related stuff he could have talked about it. But stuff like the immo worms you cant no anything about those without lore which is the same for most of these

[@slendydie1267]

FromSoft tend to have horrid storytelling so im not surprised if most people that have played Sekiro dont know this either.

[@katana6058]

@@slendydie1267 ur just dumb

[@Kurt20051YT]

I've been studying samurai and feudal japanese history for about 4 years and he has many facts correct but there's a few things that are incorrect here- 2:23- Ninjas weren't peasant soldiers, the ashigaru (peasant footsoldiers) were. Ninjas also weren't assassins, although they could perform assassinations, they were more like spies. 2:33- Bushido was never historically what it is today, there wasn't anything considered too "dishonorable" for a samurai. For example, betrayal was highly common for the samurai, loyalty could change like the weather. If a daimyo ordered a samurai to kill someone, the samurai would do it. Backstabbing was not considered dishonorable. Some ninjas were actually samurai. Being a samurai was primarily a social status in feudal society. Being a ninja was just a job. I recommend watching The Shogunate and Metatron to learn more about samurai history.

[@loneshinobi2682]

Underrated comment. This one needs more attention. I love Metatron and Shogunate, both excellent channels and swell guys who really know their stuff

[@Kurt20051YT]

@@loneshinobi2682 Thx bro, and yeah both are amazing channels. I wish they'd upload more often lol

[@loneshinobi2682]

@@Kurt20051YT agreed lol

[@Chippaization]

Well good thing he said peasant warriors and not peasant soldiers as those are two different things

[@Kurt20051YT]

@@Chippaization From my knowledge, unless you're referring to the warrior class, peasant soldiers and peasant warriors are the same thing. Maybe the difference would be training? As the peasant warrior could be more of a professional warrior that trained for the majority of his life, similar to a samurai, just without the social status and service to a lord/clan. Either way, a ninja was never a peasant soldier or peasant warrior but commonly a samurai who's job was espionage or sabotage. I'm sure peasants could have been employed under a clan lord as a spy but they would likely have little to no training.

[@loneshinobi2682]

Gameology needs to show Michael Nioh 1 and Nioh 2! He would have a field day reacting to those games!!

[@fireaza]

That game is particularly neat, since the idea of a white samurai isn't fiction. It's very loosely-based on William Adams, who was an Englishman who went to Japan and did indeed end up being given the status of samurai.

[@loneshinobi2682]

@@fireaza yep, I’ve put probably an unhealthy amount of hours into both games but Nioh 1 remains my favorite of the two (not saying Nioh 2 is “bad” by any stretch it’s excellent. Always have to clarify that for some folks lol)

[@animeanime7849]

Same he should check out nioh 1 or 2 preferably 2

[@gamelover1779]

I could be COMPLETELY wrong, but i cant help shake the feeling that he doesn’t really know about japanese folklore as much as he claims he does lol. Like there are so many variations and almost endless conent of it, like the marvel, dc or star wars universe. But he doesn’t seem to be that too in-tune to it.

[@edi9892]

Dunno, but I think that he misjudged the armour and architecture as they are after the Sengoku Jidai (as many movies, the game is anachronistic)

[@Alabeem]

Ok so I'm not the only one who caught that.

[@DR_REDACTED]

True😂💀

[@DJWeapon8]

@@edi9892 not necessarily. Ashina forces use older style equipment, while Interior Ministry forces (Tokugawa) use more "modern" equipment. Then there's the Okami Warriors who use much older equipment and have much older architecture because they are centuries old due to their immortality.

[@RachelNicholsChair]

It honestly felt like he was trying to dumb it down. Going onto the internet. Trying to explain shit you know a frick ton about without being boring or going on for too long is a tough balance to carry on your own. I appreciate when they have multiple guests on so they are able to bounce ideas and thoughts off of one another. Or he's bullshiting haha.

[@ThePeteriarchy]

Interesting thing I learned about the optional Headless fights, the grab move that they have where they teleport behind Wolf and reach up his butt and pull something out of it seems to be a reference to the "shirikodama", apparently a hardened ball inside people's anuses that contain their soul, and is particularly coveted by kappa, who like to pull it out violently. Great story to scare kids into not going out late at night. Utterly disgusting grab move, does a lot of damage, and I absolutely died to it a few times during my first run, but it's kinda hilarious that it actually had something to do with yokai folklore lol

[@loneshinobi2682]

The kappa in the nioh games will actually do this to William/Hide as well lol

[@beartrap3400]

This comment right here was more educational than this entire video. I had no idea about the shirikodama. I don't even blame expert here, I blame gameology for (in their usual fashion) doing the bare-minimum when it comes to creating content.

[@ThePeteriarchy]

@@beartrap3400 Yeah, seems to be an ongoing theme with this channel lately... In this case, I'm mostly disappointed that they didn't show him more of the Senpou Temple area. He might've been able to catch the disturbingly large amount of jizo statues there that represent all the children that the monks did their immortality experiments on, which is the whole theme of the game: people getting corrupted by abandoning the pursuit of spiritual immortality in Buddhism in favor of physical immortality. And a lot of it is shown in this game via the environments. Literally just walking around that area without doing any flashy moves could've led to a whole discussion based on the guest's expertise.

[@Akakikukaku]

It's kinda ironic that the viewers knows more from playing the game and mostly vaati videos than the expert, just on this one particular video Kinda sad though, miscommunication much?

[@Chippaization]

I mean vaati is just rereading the Wikipedia page and 4chan/reddit posts

[@Warptrail]

I feel for him. Definitely knows his stuff but, as others have stated, From Software games need a bit of background to get the full breadth. The centipede, for instance, is a recurring thing in Sekiro and, if i am remembering my own studies well enough, were one of several icons devoted to the idea of immortality through transcendence. Usually in a negative connotation. Poison devouring poison until eventually it becomes the cure. Or a curse. For sure FromSoft took liberties, but there is a lot there to parse.

[@DJWeapon8]

That's a major problem when showing footage of FROM SOFTWARE games to people for reactions. Their games have extremely obscure lore and worldbuilding, and have barebones stories and plots. Unless the reactor is playing through at their own pace and reading every single item description, or has the wiki up and reading them there, there's not much they can get out of it.

[@adamatsuzhao2277]

The "sword saint" title (Kensei in japanese ) is a special title given to the best swordman of japan. One of the most known was Sasaki Kojiro who was defeated by Miyamoto Musashi. They can be only one Kensei at once

[@DR_REDACTED]

Was gonna comment that. Nice expert they got right?😂

[@Mangaka_Library]

Titles are rightfully earned by the actions of that person... Kensei was given to Miyamoto Musashi because he won over 61 undefeated duels.. One including with Sosaki Kujiro, A samurai who was Deaf... Fools only give themselves the titles by thinking themselves the best... Titles are Rightfully earned by being given it by the people...

[@slenderman6925]

@@Mangaka_Library As far as i know, Sasaki Kojiro is only deaf in Vagabond, in real life its debated if he is even real

[@Mangaka_Library]

@slenderman6925 well.. Yeah they did exist at the same time.. But Musashi had only given and written two books, Which were the Book of Five rings and Dokkoido (only he gave Dokkoido to his Best friend before his death) Apperently they only say that Kojiro was with Lord Hosokawa at the time before his Duel with Musashi.. Either because Kojiro was Political and he wanted to fight Musashi to the death.. And was Killed by an Overhead strike of Musashi's Bokken..

[@slenderman6925]

@@Mangaka_Library im not saying they didnt exist at the same time im saying we dont know if kojiro existed at all and if he did, he wasnt deaf

[@NightKing--82]

I heard him say something about French game developers or Western game developers being inspired by Japanese lore does he not kno Sekiro is made by From software a Japanese company lol I mean I feel like that's something someone should have told him when they reached out to him to do this great game tho definitely one of my top 5 favorites.

[@bunny-usagiiVT]

This was my professor :D I followed his film class earlier this year, it was great! I didn't expect to see him on my KZbin feed xD

[@LadyMoonboy]

I was disappointed that the Headless's grab attack wasn't featured in the video given that it's based on japanese mythology.

[@khandakerrahim7010]

not showing a headless fight was a missed opportunity

[@elvinmacospag6989]

Love the reaction, though I feel you could've given Mr. Crandol a bit more context. Hoping you get him to react to Nioh 2, next. Especially with regards to the designs and their take on Hideyoshi Toyotomi.

[@samayoubi3408]

Awesome reaction and loved learning and finding out Japanese mythology stuff

[@herrscherofflamescion4167]

i believe Orochi is an eight-headed snake, not a dragon

[@loneshinobi2682]

Yamata - no - orochi, yes. Actually the final boss in Nioh 1 lol

[@AdamMerlin]

The way he describes what Shinobis do so that Samurais dont have to sully their image is exactly what Sekiro does. Awesome!

[@azraelfaust487]

should have showed him the demon of hatred, the enemies on the rooftops with the spinning blades and feather capes, sekiro finishing off isshin, isshin getting ressurected from genichiro's body etc, so many missed things

[@loneshinobi2682]

Agreed

[@noamias4897]

AND told him it was made by a Japanese studio, not a French or western one

[@loneshinobi2682]

@@noamias4897 for sure. I enjoy a lot of what Gameology puts out but they’ve been dropping the ball recently with some of these experts react clips

[@user-ys8xe1xd2x]

From is a Japanese company, but they use metaphors that even Japanese people don't understand. A famous example is that sekiro's headless ghost is a kappa.Kappa is a Japanese yokai with a plate on its head. A severed neck would be even more similar, wouldn't it?

[@andryuu_2000]

I think you guys should've told them the game is not made by Activision but From Software, which *is* japanese. It's almost as if he was commenting on Spirited away without knowing it was made by a japanese studio.

[@khalifabinhendi6107]

"We don't know too much about the real shinobi." Welp, they were stealth soldiers, tasked with staying out of sight, as though they were never there to begin with. Looks like they are living up to that.

[@cvampaul]

Please do a part 2 with a little bit of background for the expert

[@zombiewarrior225]

My man saw French subtitles and assumed it was a French dev.

[@shaikhroman9764]

Why is it so saturated?!

[@mushimaster1566]

Just want to point out about the shinobi code bit. My personal reading of the use of the shinobi code in this game is a form of control that Owl uses on Sekiro. I believe that Owl, and to and extent Lady Butterfly, claimed that to serve the master (or father I don't remember which was said in the game) is the highest priority for a shinobi. I don't think the game claims that there is a universal shinobi code that anyone is following but it is invented by Owl to teach Sekiro to never betray him, even if it means betraying Kuro.

[@gangly_gamers1279]

Please do something like this for Nioh2 too

[@loneshinobi2682]

Yes ⭐️

[@parkeranthony00]

How do I submit clips for y’all to look at??

[@noamias4897]

I think the “shinobi code” owl speaks of is just rubbish he made up to use Sekiro as his tool

[@Natoo711]

If they can do older games for experts to react, I'd like to see what they think of Genji: Dawn of the Samurai, a fantastic and beautiful game for its time, around Japanese mythology.

[@leurunner4764]

Isshin actually uses mostly non-magical weapons.

[@gamester512]

I'd like to see him react to Nioh & Nioh 2 at some point. Those games delve much more deeply into Japanese folklore and Yokai are at the forefront as one of the primary enemy types. And in the second game, the protagonist themselves is a half-Yokai and thus has supernatural powers of their own.

[@GatekeeperGuardian-wv3cd]

There were a few things I found weird about this beyond the "Made by a Western game developer" comment. In particular, my understanding of shinobi is that they were most definitely not just peasants. If anything they were usually samurai performing stealthy special ops or bandits hired by lords to do jobs too risky to waste valuable samurai on. The popular legends about shinobi from Iga province are supposed to be based on country samurai that were probably viewed as indistinguishable from peasantry but were still distinct from peasants.

[@elliottstride791]

While Sekiro would not be a forgiving start point for a non-gamer this shows a real weakness of the just show clips style to the expert. With this he misses how Sekiro wears it's Buddhist influence on it's sleeve and even elaborates on the Buddhist philosophy that informs Fromsoft's previous titles even though they are set in western inspired fantasy scenarios. He also misses a lot of subtleties such as an item description for the Monks memory that ties her to the folktale of Yao Bikuni which has great tie in to Sekiro's theme of stagnating immortality.

[@daezondario]

Has he done ghost of tsushima yet?

[@danild2002]

so short review, if you have killed corrupted monk there was a description of who she really was, they say her real name is Yao, i thought you would explain her mythology too

[@neelmishra2320]

We need one expert on abhramic mythologies as well.

[@DanteGuerrilla]

He should react to "Okami". Lots to cover in that game.

[@richardsonrichly8456]

Sekiro and berserk are very alike in the accuracy in the sense that if you took all the supernatural stuff It's pretty much an irl historical setting

[@jonhstonk7998]

I mean shinobi was a job not a class: there were commoner shinobi and samurai shinobi like famous Hattori Hanzo, there were even samurai clans who specialized in being shinobi, it was not thought of as dishonorable to perform shinobi tasks at least not during the sengoku era as honor was about getting the job done and serving your lord not about “fighting fair” that notion was conceived later in the relative peace of the Edo period. But then again this man is a specialist in Japanese mythology not Japanese history and while they overlap it’s still is a pretty common and honest mistake to make when it comes to the shinobi.

[@chavo8989]

Bring him back to react to the yokai in Ghost Wire Tokyo

[@ghostronin3278]

you should let him react to Ghost of Tsushima gameplay or the storyline in the game

[@metal_bocchi]

Cool.

[@bigpmp4491]

the monk on the bridge is based of a tale about a broken hearted women or something the mask alone is one of the most famous traditional Japanese folklore he couldn’t even see that not to mention he kept calling the 7 BRANCHED sword the wrong name

[@kontou.]

Its misleading to say that true monk is based off of its mask. The Hannya mask is meant to represent a sad and jealous woman in Noh theatre. While this could leave room for interpretation of the Monk, we arent fed much information on her backstory. Its likely the placement of the mask could also be a stylistic choice, as the Hannya mask is a very popular piece of folklore.

[@YourPalKindred]

PLEASE show this man Nioh!

[@cvampaul]

Headless grab not included?

[@bloodangel19]

The shinobi were like CIA spooks.

[@rizalkhafidin1471]

The snek, the fish

[@lightly_burnt]

You should have him do Nioh 2

[@Heavenly___9]

Gamology, please get this man to review nioh or nioh 2

[@adambulmash6880]

Please for the love of God have this guy react to Okami. It is the quintessential Japanese mythology game.

[@fabristan]

"So forth"

[@jamesmontana1881]

I am first to comment....... oh my god, oh my god. What do I do, what do I do 😲😢🤣🤮😬😭🥰😍🥳😜🤪😇🤬😱😤 Oh & thank you for the content, absolutely awesome 🙏 💙💜💙

[@nicholasnguyen5181]

This game’s pretty interesting… . It’s not bad! 😀

[@u-law8149]

whaat system it's on

[@user-yp6dx8im3i]

He needs to study about Japanese religion, ``Snake belief''. ” You should study “Mountain Faith.”

[@miastrok]

please do ghost of Tsushima next

[@greytakerrev7147]

Do Edgar Allen Poe Lovecraftian mythology expert reacts to Bloodborne.

[@ethanfynn3044]

Please do wo long next

[@whims5301]

Amazing game but that's Chinese

[@loneshinobi2682]

Wo Long wouldn’t be a good fit for Michael. Wo Long is inspired by Chinese mythology and romance of the five kingdoms if I’m not mistaken.

[@ethanfynn3044]

@@loneshinobi2682 oh ok Thanks for telling me

[@ultrajd]

Has this guy done Ghost of Tsushima?

[@zoom8449]

Do nioh1 or 2. He wants yokai and demon cats!

[@andyxia2005]

I have watched a series of video for background story analysis (videos that this one should looks like) for a total time length of 5 hours and half (not a playthrough, each video that I watched is all analysis), so I believe that I am quite familiar with the game background. I can say that the guy is somehow mislead or offtrack with two examples: The corrupt monk is based on a immortal or close to immortal female monk, her name is simply said in the battle memory that you acquired after kill the corrupt monk. And the guy said the fight is based on a warrior with a male monk, so clearly the guy seems to focus on the fighting instead of background story. The second example is that most area have their "local god", the ape for the buddha valley, the snake for the main city and sunken valley ("the sniper valley" if I got the name wrong), the carp for the fountain head palace (the dragon is just an exception who is not local at all). And my third point is: the guy totally didn't talk about "shura" which is a demon or monster like thing who went crazy on killings, I believe shura might be on the top broad that got people confused and wish to find out about it.

[@schmarzel8342]

it is a react. he hasn't played the game and is therefore neither familiar with the story nor any details you mentioned. he can only go off of what he is being shown. if he were to actually play the game, be able to take a good look at everything, take in all the details, even research certain things, he'd be able to pick up on a lot more stuff, just like the people in those lore videos you watched. nonetheless it is a react and he doesn't have much to go off of. you are expecting too much from him, though i can understand being disappointed to not learn anything new here.

[@Neo2266.]

Jeez, there's so much more you could have shown him. Start with the normal human soldiers and just show off the fighting style, then show more mythical enemies, show the Headless kappas, show the snake, show the enemy shinobi equivalents Lone Shadows, have him listen to the soundtrack, Show the weaponry the ministry uses at the end of the game, the Demon of Hatred, come on.

[@AntiBellum]

Am I crazy or does this guy kinda look like David Hayter lol

[@VangLobo32]

He IS the right guy to do a REACT to Ghost of Tsushima.

[@TORREYOFROANOKESTARCITY]

👀

[@CrazeeAdam]

Pretty sure much of Sekiro is based on actual lore...

[@depresespres4214]

As usual, the expert needs more context

[@cademulcahey8928]

it’s a japanese game dev…?

[@ihsaniap6410]

I just got started playing this game....I played so many action games and I think this game can be classified as the hardest ones.....

[@Homeowner7]

RIP to Michael Crandall when he realises the game developers are Japanese 😢

[@istvanfarkas1660]

Now do a Part 2, but with Vaati as a guest!

[@edi9892]

Aren't their armours and the architecture a bit anachronistic? I thought that they are a bit after the Sengoku Jidai. Many movies also feature late armour and hairstyles, that were at times even two eras later...

[@loneshinobi2682]

Sekiro is said to be set specifically DURING sengoku jidai but ofc some creative liberties are always going to be taken since fromsoft wasn’t going for spot on accuracy here

[@OninHasan]

You should've provided him with proper contexts and at least the premise of the Sekiro lore so he can explore more of the Japanese folklore or mythology. Without these, all we can possibly expect is surface level information.

[@r.s.fletcher7066]

I think his soul would be hurt knowing a Japanese company developed this game

[@Slayer_-qs1mk]

If he says he aint got a giant centipede on him, not to be rude tho but... was he there? He should respect Sekiro😡

[@brunopelletier5701]

Does he know sekiro developer are japanese....

[@cheerful_crop_circle]

Are there other games like Sekiro?

[@castform57]

Developers sure did get inspired by japanese media like Kurosawa's material, because fromsoft are definitely not japanese, nope, the directors Hidetaka Miyazaki and Kazuhiro Hamatani don't sound japanese at all, no sir.

[@joshuasanchez9257]

He looks like he did a fat J before this vid

[@jaughnekow]

this is the best souls like game. even better than elden ring

[@biotoxin6280]

Eeeehhhh debatable

[@AlbertusSalvatierra]

It is honestly pretty amazing

[@jonathanjacobs8989]

Elden ring is not even in the same league as Sekiro

[@brutusmagnuson315]

Did this guy do this last minute, or something?

[@Thiccness_Is_Delicious]

Did......did he just really say we didnt know anything about shinobi when in fact we know quite alot.

[@DR_REDACTED]

Again "expert" if that's all you need to know then i guess im one too😂

[@DevineDumbass]

This game isn't made by western developers.. lmao. It's a Japanese game studio

[@Adamantian9]

Western developers? Does he know fromsoftware is a japanese company or no?

[@kingpoxy2289]

He keeps mentioning that the game was made by a western developer which is not right at all

[@anti-parasocial]

This guy is the ultimate weeb, and I'm here for it

[@gnuhgnauqneyugn]

Bruh.. There's a big difference between a weeb and an expert in Japanese history and mythology. It's utterly disrespectful calling him a weeb.

[@radojerkovic3059]

@@gnuhgnauqneyugn Not really showcasing himself as that.much of an expert either, tbh.

[@macisr]

It irks me that when it's a western fantasy everyone clearly knows it, and you just have to speak about its meaning, but when it's eastern fantasy suddenly it's always something they believe in and everyone has to debunk it, like if it wasn't fantasy as well. It's so stupid. It's so dumb. It's as if someone was talking about how evangelism and Catholicism isn't real. I's stupid as hell just thinking that you have to debunk it.

[@Zephyr_Prashant]

I'm tired of gamology bringing in experts but not giving them any context of what they're watching. Its honestly infuriating. There needs to a person to give them context and ask questions to make it more of a conversation than just surface level reaction. Please do better.

[@gimme.shelter]

There's a joke written itself somewhere about japanese mythology experts being white

[@kickbrosmasher5155]

This was very surface level

[@PhsykoOmen]

Didnt showcase much of any mythology in this to really title it as "expert" I'm sure he is knowledgeable in history as I can tell but only surface level mythology. But again, the video didnt do enough for me.

[@ashtonturner2862]

I respect Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and it's players, but Ghost of Tsushima over Sekiro all day.

[@samvaz4082]

Japanese mythology expert is a Caucasian male, this video is a JOKE

[@michaelk4896]

The man is a university professor and what are you again? Just another blind white people hater -- a racist.

[@shiramaro]

@@michaelk4896 he is white lol

[@shikitohno47]

"🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓" the video