Shinobu is my Moe

No More Heroes, created by the enigmatic Suda51, is arguably one of the most entertaining action-adventure/hack-n-slash franchises to ever hit the Wii. The game follows Travis, an aspiring assassin whose dream is to fight his way through the United Assassins Association until he is number one. Admittedly, I was a bit late to the franchise, and a bit late to the Wii in general, as I’ve been busy blowing all my money on Playstation consoles. But eventually I made the leap and fell hard for the art of Travis Touchdown. The rhythmic bashing of A tossed in with a few Bs, swinging the ‘mote and operating the nun-chuck as opponents scream, “My spleeeen!” before exploding into blood, guts, and coinage—oh, honey, it stirred every part of my gaming bloodlust. And each new assassin offered an exciting turn.

Of course, there were low points of both the original and the sequel. Like for real, fuck that motorcycle and all those menial tasks you had to do in order to earn enough money to enter the next fight. Picking up coconuts, pumping gas, and all that? That got a little too real for me. The sequel apparently heard our collective cry and delegated all money tasks to ‘optional,’ reimagining all the tasks as 8-bit mini-games from the late 80s—but the largest criticism I’ve had for this series is maybe a large aspect of what it is most heralded for: its casual misogyny.

Go ahead and groan, yeah I know. Not another high-and-mighty piece about how men are fucking everything up… but look, they are. Travis Touchdown is pretty gross. He’s obsessed with moe, a Japanimation style I can only describe as this incredible elixir of hentai and pedophilia, which almost acts as a life force for him. Every time he receives money, life-energy, or an upgrade, he hisses, “Mooooooooeeeeeeee!” reminding us that he is driven by carnal pleasure—and just to make sure we ALL remember, there’s the recharging of his beam-katana, which requires shaking the Wii-mote as hard as you can, just to show how efficient you are at stroking one out.

Then of course there’s Sylvia, Miss Mastermind, driving force behind the assassin games. Based on an erotic film actress, she prances around with her glowing blonde hair and skimpy clothes, teasing Travis every step of the way. Two games, guys, TWO of sneak boob shots, butt shots, long legs, sexual innuendos whispered into cell phones, and a long and eventual promise that if Travis participates he’ll get to taste her. He’ll get to experience her “downward dog.”

But you know what? I dealt with it. I enjoyed my cognitive dissonance because I’m the “cool” girl. I accepted that No More Heroes was filled with strong women assassins who could kick Travis’ ass, so the hell what they’re all overly sexualized (oh hey, Bad Girl and her gang of male dominatrix slaves) and their storylines keep revolving around rape (Oh, Jeane, the ultimate woman scorned)? Oh, but Carol, you’re thinking, not ALL of them were like that. (Well, not Speed Buster, but she’s OLD, right? Nobody wants to see wrinkles in some teeny-tiny shorts or something. So just make sure her boobs drag on the ground and give her a big hat and a shopping cart to push around because OLD). You think I should be happy that at least they EXIST, right? Remember the days of Street Fighter II? When all we had was Chun Li? Now we’ve got the United Assassins Association and a whole lot of women amongst the fray, kicking ass (and dying at the hand of Travis, but whatever, somebody has to lose, right?)

Well, look, I might have been able to stomach that until No More Heroes 2. So let me set the scene: there I am, chilling with a glass of wine and a bag of gummy bears, ready to take on 50^th ranked assassin, Nathan Copeland, and here he comes decorated in his BLACKNESS, cornrows, hip-hop labels, a boombox, and two Black women with bikinis and Angela Davis afros, slinking against him lovingly. Here comes the cut scene, and I’m burying my head into my happy cognitive dissonance place—until the two women are literally used as props of defense against Travis, literally. The opponent tosses these two Black women at Travis as a diversion, and without thought or remorse he slices them up, forcing me in all my Black womanhood to watch two Angela Davises be chopped apart limb from limb until their afro-heads roll across the floor. That’s supposed to be funny, people tell me. Well, this is Suda51 and he’s extreme. This is how it is.

Nah.

Let me tell you how it is. In a world where my body is politicized, in a world where my features are devalued, in a world where women like me are raped, mutilated, jeered, and made to feel less than—the last thing I need to see is two Black women get mutilated, jeered, and devalued for laughs. I’m trying to enjoy myself with some senseless cartoon murder. So nah.

Nah.

Suda51, as a woman gamer, I’m going to ask you to possibly step out of your comfort zone and give women a chance to breathe and to fully enjoy your shit without having cognitively duck and dodge all the rampant misogyny. Can you just, like, try? Just give it a good ol’ college try. I know it’s hard, doing something you’d hate to be held accountable for, but if we as women gamers have learned to inch around rape culture in video games, then you can figure out how to, oh I don’t know, stop acting like women aren’t humans for a game.

And you’ve got the perfect answer, Suda51.You really do! You have Shinobu, a strangely normal creation in the midst of a whole bunch of nonsensical behavior. Her appearance in No More Heroes was a small delight, for as a Black woman with a Black belt in Tae Kwon Do, to see space given to a young Black girl trained in martial arts was exciting. To see her return in No More Heroes 2 almost redeemed all the other ugliness I had experienced, and to play as her? While the jumping was awkward, mostly because controlling the camera had been removed from gameplay for the sequel (wtf), playing as Shinobu was by far one of the highlights of the game. Then of course, there was the obligatory OH I HAVE A CRUSH ON MY MASTER scene, which I didn’t appreciate, but I’m willing to forgive that!

But only if No More Heroes 3 stars Shinobu. Come on! She disappeared so abruptly during the second game, mostly because Travis refused her love. Where did she go? As Travis’ protégé, is she continuing the trend of fighting her way to the top of organizations overseas? Whereas Travis’ moveset is limited to luchador wrestling and beam-katana-wielding, Shinobu has the ability to absorb these movesets. She not only possesses her distinctive katana style, but as an apprentice, she could very well learn to wield a beam katana and become more apt at wrestling.

She has the motive, whether it to find the true assassin of her father or to win Travis from Sylvia, and out of all the characters, she has displayed the most depth and the most room for growth, and could pass the Bechdel test over and over if given a good cast of supporting characters (maybe just not Sylvia).

Suda51 proved with Shinobu that he has the ability to create a well-rounded female character that fans love. So why not use her? Why not expand her universe? I’ve enjoyed my time as Travis Touchdown, sexism or not, but I’m ready for some more Shinobu in my life. MOE!

Carol Hood holds a MA in Creative and Life Writing from Goldsmiths College, University of London and finished a fellowship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has appeared in Medium, Dame Magazine, Huffington Post, Business Weekly, Gawker, and more. Her novel in progress, THE MISADVENTURES OF TIP & J.B. TURNER, was nominated for the Pat Kavanagh Award for Best Manuscript, her short story, “White Alien,” was short-listed for Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers, and she recently won SAIC’s small grant award for her upcoming graphic novel, AMERICAN WITCH. Follow her: @CarolHenny