Nowadays, Hideo Kojima seems to make many friends, from filmmakers to actors to other game industry icons, but one friend, in particular, stands out, because they are the one who “saved” Kojima. A friend from back whenMetal Gear Solidwas first released, who was there with him throughout the series, and who might have even taken over in Kojima’s stead if cancer hadn’t taken him too soon in 2009. Satoshi Itoh, known by his pen nameProject Itoh, was a science fiction author born in Tokyo in 1974 who had written fan fiction ofKojima’s projects likeMetal Gear SolidandSnatcher. Itoh went on to write three novels: 2007’sGenocidal Organ, 2008’sHarmony, and the beginning ofThe Empire of Corpses, later completed and published posthumously by co-author Toh Enjoe in 2012.
In late 2014, the Fuji TV anime block Noitamina announced a project to adapt Project Itoh’s works into three animated feature films, not just by a single studio, but by three. Shukou Murase (Ergo Proxy,Gundam Hathaway) was set to directGenocidal Organat Manglobe. Michael Arias (Tekkonkinkreet) would co-directHarmonyat Studio 4°C alongside Takashi Nakamura. Finally, Ryoutarou Makihara would directThe Empire of Corpsesat WIT Studio. This trilogy stands as the greatest testament to Itoh’s nameand yet remains a fairly underratedcollection of science-fiction films despite the reputations of the creators involved. The intent of looking at these films is to chart a map through the career of Itoh, the strength of his stories, and his impact on one of the games industry’s most notable icons.
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Genocidal Organ & Understanding Kojima
Originally inspired by Kojima’s work,Genocidal Organwas a contest submission for 2006’s Komatsu Sakyo Award, and though it didn’t win, it impressed enough to be published in 2007. It is a bleak portrayal of a post 9/11 world wherein after a nuclear bomb eradicated Sarajevo, major nations became surveillance states and the war on terror intensified to Orwellian levels.
Clavis Shepherd,an assassin for the U.S. government, has to hunt John Paul, an MIT graduate who is suspected of inciting genocide in every country he visits. The story follows this global manhunt while Clavis descends deeper into hell, questioning his orders, his righteousness, and his sanity in a future where soldiers' emotions are meddled with by nanomachines.
TheMetal Gearinfluence is evident and only one year after Genocidal Organ’s publication, Kojima would approach such themes in his own way inMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. From the moment they met in 1998, Kojima felt an understanding between them and afterGenocidal Organ, he picked him to write the novelization ofMGS4. In the afterword, Kojima had this to say about Itoh, particularly about what he had to say afterMetal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty…
“I would become depressed when I saw what people wrote in comments and reviews… that the message at the end was too strong; and that the story was too abstruse for a gamer audience… On his personal website, [Itoh] wrote an article saying ‘I’m the only one happy with this kind of game!’ Someone understood the riddles and messages I put into my games. I felt that simple fact saved me.”
-Hideo Kojima, Afterword, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
It’s a shame that the film had such a troubled production, having to switch studios after Manglobe’s infamous bankruptcy and closure, something that is unfortunately evident in the final product. The visuals can be inconsistent, and its storyomits moments that - while disturbing- were integral, especially for the protagonist.
Harmony, Health, and Hell
Itoh was diagnosed with cancer in 2001, taking him in and out of the hospital. His novel,Harmony, transposes his dread of the hospital and his desire to leave by creating a medical dystopia. The story takes place in the future after a nuclear war, where medical advances have cured cancer and everything else. However, humanity goes beyond and tries to cure mental health through censorship and becoming a society of wellness.
Harmonywas an award-winning novel that asked questions about what it meant to be truly alive and how pain was a part of being human; that to live without it is to not live at all. The film’s occasional CGI andextensive philosophizing might not connect with everyone, but it is a thoughtful and often frightening story that sticks with you. As a trigger warning, it should be mentioned that the story heavily features suicide.
When one understands Itoh’s struggle with cancer, this vision of such a clean and pristine “hell” makes so much more sense. To Itoh, though his battle with cancer was necessary to survive, it made it difficult to live. In a truly admirable move, Kojima broke Konami’s rules and showed him footage fromMGS2, and Itoh promised he would live to see it released.
The Empire of Corpses & Legacy
Itoh kept that promise, but when he was hospitalized again in 2009 and Kojima shared with himhis plans forMetal Gear Solid Peace Walker, Itoh couldn’t keep it a second time. He passed on July 13, 2025, hence whyPeace Walkeris dedicated to their memory. This also left his final story,The Empire of Corpses, unfinished, until Toh Enjoe completed it. It’s suspected that only 30 pages were written by the time of his death.
It is for that reason thatEmpireis difficult to assess as one ofhisstories. What’s worse is that, unlike the first two, Empire has never been released in English. Regardless, the story concept - an alternate 19th century when the dead walk among the living is as breathtaking as all his other stories. With WIT Studio bringing it to life in animation, it might be the most breathtaking of the three.
To sum up the film, it is a literary love letter, combining characters of classic fiction and historical figures for a globe-trotting adventure. John Watson - before meeting Sherlock Holmes - goes on a quest to find Victor Frankenstein’s research, so he can bring his friend back from the dead. It sounds like either the best story or the stupidest. It’s also perhaps the most divisive of the stories for its far happier ending that can lean into the fantastical rather than grounded in science.
However, like all of these films, which have their share of flaws big and small, it remains a rich science fiction story worth diving into.Empireshares many ofHarmony’s ideas on the soul andGenocidal Organ’s ponderings about war, but these ideas are expressed in ways unlike anything in his past work. It’s an engrossing picture, but one nevertheless wonders how Itoh might have concluded it himself.
Today, Hideo Kojima is a celebrity in the industry. Many of his stories are celebrated for the very reasons they were criticized in the pastbefore people had years to sit with themand understand them. But Satoshi Itoh didn’t need years, and what helped Kojima push on wasn’t just his own faith in his ideas, but the support of a kindred soul who understood what he was trying to say.
It’s truly a shame that these films did not catch on more than they did.Project Itohtruly was an exceptional mind; the only mind that might have been able to continueMetal Gear Solidin Kojima’s stead. Hopefully, with time and the proper words paid in service, Project Itoh will be rightfully remembered as the spectacular author he was, and the man that saved Hideo Kojima.
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