I have always loved how Henry Cooldown is basically a parody of the videogame arch rival trope. But at the same time Suda 51 acknowledges and shows why that trope is so badass and why people love a good rivalry in videogames.
Shadow, Vergil, Jetstream Sam, Jeanne and more, yeah video game rivalries are awesome! Rival characters are very cool, their connection to the main character is cool and their boss fights are amazing.
I always saw Henry as an embodiment of the idea of Travis' past, or rather, the parts of Travis' past we the audience will never know, and that Travis himself either does not remember, or doesn't want to remember. Kill the Past and all of that. In NMH1, he appears at the end to bring into question how much Travis even knows about what he's doing, and what his place in everything is. Showing how out of his depth Travis can really be. In NMH3, Travis' characterization shows often he's tired of it all, that he wants a place where the past won't catch up to him. Henry's appearance was like a denial of that for him. And the end, where it is shown that Henry is apparently still doing his shit all the way years into the future. Is sort of something that shows it all for what it is. The past won't die, even if killed. No matter how often Travis tries to hide and run, he chose this life of an assassin, and he'll never be allowed to leave, he can't die nor can he find a happy place isolated from the rest of the world. (I feel Flower, Sun and Rain's description of Paradise is another definition to keep in mind when talking about it in the context of NMH, a place isolated from the rest of the world, where the past won't catch up to you and you can just forget about time. Specially with TSA in mind where Travis was holed up in a trailer for months without contacting anyone else.)
Solid vid. I think it's also worth noting that, as Travis acts more and more like a hero (he goes from acting solely out of lust and revenge in NMH1 to actually saving the world in NMH3), Henry acts more like a villain. They sorta swapped roles over time.
Having Henry be the parody of the "uh oh there's actually one more major problem in your way" at the end of NMH1 was a fun tidbit of writing for Suda and Grasshopper to tack on at the end. Although I'm not a fan of his NMH3 physical redesign, I do love how the flip genuinely gives him more character and relatability as the flip to our main man Travis. I do wish however we got more insight on him like Travis' adventures and interactions with the bosses. Definitely think that's where NMH2 could've came in better as a genuine brotherly rivalry; something that showcased Henry still has sharp teeth and standards while maintaining the idea that Travis is HIS job to doom over and over.
I truly love Henry in NMHIII. He finally feels complete. He seems like a warped reflection of Travis. Both of them trapped in this endless dance of death, seemingly unable to leave by death or otherwise. Something will always pull them back into the garden of madness.
Henry’s redesign had me desperate for more silver case in NMH3. I think you did a really great job with this video breaking down a character who is more trope than personality and the context that makes him work
My problem with Henry's Va in NMH3 is that, for starters, he's already way too different from the previous two games, and while the new voice is cool, he might as well be an entirely different character since he sounds nothing like Henry in both the actual voice and accent, which was part of his appeal as well IMO.
In NMH. There is a scene when Travis fights Holly Summers. She tells him "death is the only truth" and in the 2nd game Alice Twighlight tells him "that's why we aLL want to fight you..." Cuz theyre all like him. Trapped In life. Who they are, death is the only way out. So what Travis can only be a killer? No. He's a Goddamn SUPERHERO...
I like the idea that in the 4th game Henry is so different because in my mind, it carries on him being a foil to Travis. Where as Travis after 2 had a huge arch of him maturing and becoming a better person, putting away a lot of the childish aspects of himself and just generally being less of a douche bag, Henry went down an arch of becoming bitter and hateful and jaded. They both got older, but in different ways. Travis got older in the way an angry and troublemaking snotty kid becomes a well adjust well meaning adult guy, where as Henry grew older in the same way someone is naive and reacts to reality being so much darker than they were ready for in the worst way by becoming a bitter and hateful old man glaring at everyone, at least symbolism wise if not being what literally happened to them
I GET IT NOW "vengeance, begets vengeance" it's an endless loop too. Damn please continue making these videos, NMH is my favorite series but I didn't saw a lot of things that you got right
I like the idea of Henry being the Snake of Temptation. Travis can almost justify killing anyone, but Henry, he just wants dead. No real desire to like him in the first place.
For me, Henry's look and voice in NMH3 are my favourites. He looks and sounds his best (imo) and I feel he also looks and sounds most like Travis' brother from a design perspective. Always love when you release a video, they're well made and insightful, I enjoy them!
With the statements you had about Henry and Sylvia. They both were a couple at some point. So Idk what to say but I am smelling some Harman and Kun Lan vibes from this.
But thinking about it, it seems possible that Herny in no more heroes 1 and 3 is the entrance and exit to the whole colorful world. He is the beginning and the end of No more heroes and the wackier stuff from GrassHopper. To me it also seems like with No More heroes being owned by Marvelous, maybe both Sylvia and Henry are essentially Marvelous and GrassHopper who created and contorted the world of No More Heroes around Travis who was created by Suda himself and with the idea of Henry being an avatar from Suda. And them being split also could make sense to a degree considering that No More Heroes is Marvelous' IP which I previously associated with Sylvia. But I dont think all what I said is true but speculations, though I welcome to debunk these because my mind often does change with further revalations that make me reconsider and it's often fun that way ngl.
Also. Thought of a possibility that maybe Henry is a variant of Kamui. Kamui was often presented as the devil of silvercase when in fact he was an idea with endless gray area of potential for anything, good or evil it doesnt matter. And anyone can be Kamui, so its not just one but a series or units of Kamuis :> So maybe with how Kamui evolved as a concept, Henry could be another spin on the Kamui series as I call it who is entirely dedicated on torturing Travis. That too might seem like a possibility considering how hard he envokes Silver Case.
Just to give good for thought; the bit with Sylvia representing God, I instead thought what if she symbolizes Eve? My reason for this is because when you mentioned that in NMH1 Sylvia told Travis to look for the Garden of Insanity (Insanity sounds cooler than Madness to me) while in NMH3 she welcomed him, which would mean she is there too. It still doesn't entirely make sense because then Travis is Adam, and as you mentioned near the end of NMH3, Sylvia has powers now. You could try and say that Henry (Lucifer) tempted Travis (Adam), by pursuing this paradise that would spell their death and temper Sylvia (Eve), by having sex with him but even that's a stretch.
One detail that people don't tend to point out about Henry's whole aesthetic around him is how the full package of him and the whole rivalry trope is far more interesting to see on how and why, the blue oni/cooler rival is more badass than us, the red oni players First: Henry represents an English Knight, in a historically accurate manner, A Samurai wouldn't even compare in battle tactics, armour or weaponry like the English Knights had. 2° Henry's face and hair is pretty much a reference to the late and icon post punk star: Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division(ie, one of Suda's all time favorite bands), The Post Punk Era in Britain being founded by Joy Division was the epitome and burial of the anarchist punk of The Sex Pistols, Post Punk is a natural evolution of Punk, where the bass is more important, the sound is more ominous, atmospheric and eerie and the themes in the lyrics are far more intimate and personal, but, even Post Punk bands with a high political view, would come up with far better and more well articulated, thought and well defined view: exemples being The Clash(London Calling/Sandinista), Suicide and Gang Of Four. Travis was designed not only to be an otaku/modern day samurai/tiger, but also a punk style visual(this more than clear on his design in NMH2), so it's very fun how Suda planned Henry that way on making him dressing and looking like an icon of a music genre/movement that was the direct sucessor of the chaotic British Punk of The Sex Pistols. 3° Henry's design to a more cult like figure with a spike hair is not quite a way of saying: "now, I'm just as a punk like Tracis", no, it's not even a reference to Robert Smith, that alongside Ian Curtis and Siouxsie, are pretty much THE FACES, of gothic rock/post punk, Henry is more like to be based now on Nick Cave, specially during his darkest days in the 80s with addiction and how religion saved him on his most ominous and macabre days as a junkie at the near end of the 80s, that impact of Religion slowly taking control and being the entire or recurring theme on Cave's Lyrics was started on his post punk magnum opus: Tender Prey(1988). Also, Nick Cave has a 1992 album called: Henry's Dream and the track that opens the album: Papa Won't Leave You, Henry, has these lyrics: I went out walking the other day The wind hung wet around my neck My head it rung with screams and groans From the night I spent amongst her bones I past beside the mission house Where that mad old buzzard, the reverend, Shrieked and flapped about life after you’re dead Well, I thought about my friend, Michel How they rolled him in linoleum And shot him in the neck A bloody halo, like a think-bubble Circling his head And I bellowed at the firmament Looks like the rains are here to stay And the rain pissed down upon me And washed me all away Saying Papa won’t leave you, Henry Papa won’t leave you, Boy Papa won’t leave you, Henry Papa won’t leave you, Boy Well, the road is long And the road is hard And many fall by the side But Papa won’t leave you, Henry So there ain’t no need to cry And I went on down the road He went on down the road And I went on down the road He went on down the road Well, the moon it looked exhausted Like something you should pity Spent an age-spotted Above the sizzling wires of the city Well, it reminded me of her face Her bleached and hungry eyes Her hair was like a curtain Falling open with the laughter And closing with the lies But the ghost of her still lingers on Though she’s passed through me And is gone The slum dogs, they are barking And the rain children on the streets And the tears that we will weep today Will all be washed away By the tears that we will weep again tomorrow Papa won’t leave you, Henry Papa won’t leave you, Boy Papa won’t leave you, Henry Papa won’t leave you, Boy For the road is long And the road is hard And many fall by the side But Papa won’t leave you, Henry So there ain’t no need to cry And I went on down the road He went on down the road And I went on down the road He went on down the road And I came upon a little house A little house upon a hill And I entered through, the curtain hissed Into the house with its blood-red bowels Where wet-lipped women with greasy fists Crawled the ceilings and the walls They filled me full of drink And led me round the rooms Naked and cold and grinning Until everything went black And I came down spinning I awoke so drunk and full of rage That I could hardly speak A fag in a whale-bone corset Draping his dick across my cheek And its into the shame And its into the guilt And its into the fucking fray And the walls ran red around me A warm arterial spray Saying Papa won’t leave you, Henry Papa won’t leave you, Boy Papa won’t leave you, Henry Papa won’t leave you, Boy Well, the night is dark And the night is deep And its jaws are open wide But Papa won’t leave you, Henry So there ain’t no need to cry And I went on down the road He went on down the road And I went on down the road He went on down the road It’s the rainy season where I’m living Death comes leaping out of every doorway Wasting you for your money, for your clothes And for your nothing Entire towns being washed away Favelas exploding on inflammable spillways Lynch-mobs, death squads, babies being born without brains The mad heat and the relentless rains And if you stick your arm into that hole It comes out sheared off to the bone And with her kisses bubbling on my lips I swiped the rain and nearly missed And I went on down the road He went on down the road Singing Papa won’t leave you, Henry Papa won’t leave you, Boy Papa won’t leave you, Henry Papa won’t leave you, Boy Well, the road is long And the road is hard And many fall by the side But Papa won’t leave you, Henry So there ain’t no need to cry And I went on down the road He went on down the road And I went on down the road He went on down the road Bent beneath my heavy load Under his heavy load Yeah, I went on down the road Yeah, he went on down the road Woah, woah Woah, woah Woah, woah Woah, woah And I went on down that road. The lyrics reflect a poor chid in a constant Downard Spiral of suffering and being used, not only Jeane's whole life was like that, Henry Cooldown was that too, a brainwashed dude for most of his life that was doomed to only remember the cries and fear of his younger brother to a point this become such an annoyance, to such screams and cries to stop, Travis has to die on his view. Henry just has a full package on why i think he is a far better rival than Vergil Ian Curtis+Blade Runner Coat+Mace Windu's color lightsaber and the trope of cross sword lightsabers+We Are Finally Cowboys is just a fucking sick name for a boss theme
My friend is a massive Henry fan girl even declaring the best rival in gaming. She HATED Henry in NMH3 and I’m just here wondering if she even got the point of Henry to begin with Like she will argue that Henry is on the same level as Vergil in this regard
Perhaps I should have addressed people that only love him at an aesthetic level (suave dude with Irish accent and cool beam blade), those I understand not liking NMH3 Henry, who is more deranged, in-your-face, and . . . not Irish. I'm not saying they're in the right to hate Henry, but it's understandable why they feel that way.
I don't think Sylvia is "God" per-se, she's more of Sophia figure from Christian Gnostic Theological systems (There's a looot of early Christian Schools with their own Apocryphal gospels which mostly deemed noncanonical by the winning proto-Orthodoxy of eventual Christian and Byzantine Orthodoxy) The Sophia figure is considered to be last of countless emanations (known as Aeons) of Original True God which fallen into the state and either, birth Christ by her own spiritual androgyny (since Aeons despite always have syzygy pairs are androgynous and capable for creations) or have Christ sent from different sections of Monad's Aeons in Pleroma (basically Realms above heavens and hells) to solve the problems caused by Demiurge (basically diabolical or at least ignorant worldshaper which forms The universe out of the previously existing material of darkness/void, also known as Tehom in Jewish Tanakh/OT), depending on the Gnostic schools and sects, Demiurge figure can be considered to be evil or simply ignorant but well-intentioned, the Sethian school deemed Demiurge will be obliterated at the end of Time from his evilness via one of his rebelling son which repented to Sophia, meanwhile the Valentinians view Demiurge will see the errors of his ignorance and be put into indefinite purgatory to judge over the non-Christian heathens (known as Hylics/materialists) and ordinary Jews + Christians (known as Psychics, the ordinary non-elect or non-initiated ones), this is need to note that the early Christianity was so diverse that they often subvert the existing Greco-Roman, Kemetic Egyptian, Near Eastern, and Indian deities into Archons (basically the subordinate sons of Demiurge which they have their own portions over the "heavens of chaos", each of them have their own legions of archdemons, demons, rebellious angels akin to the Books of Enoch from separate Dead Sea Scroll of somewhat earlier hereterodox Jewish communities separating their own groups from Rabbinical Jewish ordinances in Jerusalem years prior to the destruction of Second Temple (possibly inspired the Jewish Philo for some of proto-Gnostic ideas and concepts) which discovered at the close year as the Gnostic gospels of 'Nag Hammadi Library' but I digress) Okay back to NMH comparison, if Sylvia being comparable to fallen/descending Sophia figure to guide Travis, Henry could be the demiurge alongside other contestant of assassins and alien beings with their own dominions and shares of carnage and slaughter comparable to The Archons and their own legions of demonic entities, Travis since it's etymologically means Cross/Crossing from cognate French term, might be tied to either Valentinian Gnostic concept of living Cross as safeguarding Aeon which able to switch realms between The Pleroma, to the inferior heavenly realms of Demiurge, hells and Earth, in Valentinian view of The Paradise of the 8th Heaven and above beyond the 7 heavenly spheres of the more ignorant Demiurge, those who entered Bridal Chamber of redeemed Sophia (basically the other superior half of Sophia) will never be return to the cycles of The World (heavens, hells, earths) and be divested of both the body (hyle/elements) and soul (psyche/self identities), which coincidentally also quite similar to East Asian Buddhism views of entering the the final Parinirvana and Pure Lands (especially the latter with Pure Land paradises being prevalent idea in East Asian Mahayana & some Vajrayana schools of Buddhism), the Christ figures in Gnostic Christianity can be plural as there are hints of figures like Seth and Melchizedek to be ascended earlier than Jesus and basically taken away by God, the concept of Sophia in Christian Gnostic isn't pulled out of nowhere either as there are blatant reference of "Wisdom building her house in celestial transitory realms with hewn from 7 pillars" in The Book of Proverbs of Tanakh/Old Testament, the 7 pillars might be the references to eventual Sethian concepts of 7 archons having each of their own "heavens of chaos" to entrapped humanity, similar to how those humans and even aliens whose fallen into the lives of Assassins are entrenched by the cycles of sickening death games in constant perpetuity, oddly enough the alien godking figure which immediately killed at the end of NMH3 "spoof" credits looks similar to typical depiction of Archons, albeit less Eldritch kind of Theriomorphic since they supposed to be moulded out of Tehom/Abyss ala the Eldritch aliens' bosses of Bloodborne, The Biblical Adam in Sethian and Valentinian Theology also always intended to eat the fruit of Knowledge and attain Gnosis so humanity can be inheritors of Earth, even in spite the Archons are planning to the Deluge, giving the tools of wars, metallurgy, cosmetics, astrology, mathematics and other boring foundation to build the complexes of civilisations, Gnosis/Knowledge as Salvation is emphasises in majority of Christian Gnostic systems, so it's always about fuelling the determinations of Free Will of Humanity over the fatalism of Demiurge/Yaldabaoth and its Archons (oh Archons are also androgynous, although they create out of copulations instead of creation ex-nihilo/ex-luminous (creation from nihil or more precisely Light, since Aeons can't even come close to Monad The Original God or they're absorbed back into his essence and ceasing like how Gnostic Elects does after ascended to Realm of Sophia in the 8th Heaven and Pleroma above), a lot of the times happening with carnages and without consent, if you know what I mean) (both Bloodborne and Lies of P have a looot of unintentional and intentional Gnostic aspects to them, Persona and SMT have direct mentions but they're not committed to end their series as they keep deciding to milk it in perpetuity, making them forming their own infernal hell of Archonic Ouroboros of their own hubris if they can't make up their mind to move on and finishing Catherine into Trilogy or making brand new IP or something like that, Suda51 making the identity, memories and motifs of Henry being anachronistic with each games fits very well with the shapeshifting nature of Sethian Demiurge too as it can disguise it's nature as demons, angels and other beings entrapped in Gnostic Cosmology of the inferior Kenoma of Phenomenon and Worldly Hysterema) Sorry for the long comment, just trying to share my personal outlook on these
@@maxicornejo9675If you played any of the kill the past era games, you'd know that it's some deep shit. There's a myriad of religious metaphors and jungian philosophical topics
I could listen to Ghenry talk about nmh for hours…it’s nice that he feels comfortable to share his crazy-ass theories involving Travis being stuck in friggin hell with Henry as a “Devil with a suit and tie”. It’s why I love No More Heroes and other things like it. So much is up to your interpretation. It almost allows for replayability on a cosmic scale. Sure the game is the same, but the amount you look into the subtext is based on how you are feeling at the time. Allows me to get something different from Suda’s games everytime! No matter what your interpretation of events can be true, and I think Suda strives for this. I bet he has a way events happen in his head, but he seems to enjoy letting fans find their own meaning.
It's been a while since I played the games, but has Sylvia and Henry ever been in the same place at the same time? Looking back at NMH3, after the Henry fight we see Sylvia come from an apartment to talk to Travis before returning to her apartment, then Henry appears in the same apartment. Would be eerie if they are the same entity that is keeping Travis in this cycle of madness >.>
As I said in my original NMH2 analysis, yeah it is vague, considering that doesn't really describe what he wrote, whether it was character motivation, actions taken in cutscenes, etc. He has criticized NMH2's story and its narrative content (going so far as calling it thin) multiple times during interviews. Whether he's criticizing his own contributions or elements provided by the director of the game or whomever, nobody knows.
@@Ghenry Being a scriptwriter is a well-defined role. If Suda wrote the script, it would imply that he was involved in penning everything story related, specifically what the Design Team/English translators used for the cinematics/dialogue, even if he didn’t oversee the storyboarding, hence me disputing the proposed vagueness of his role. His criticism in the Grasshopper Artbook seemed to be lobbied at the way No More Heroes 2’s story was created by him and his team. To paraphrase, unlike with No More Heroes 1, creating an overall narrative scenario didn’t take initial precedence. Instead, creating the new characters did, resulting in a thin narrative. I reckon that due to him working on numerous other titles or publisher meddling, he couldn't course correct/revise the script, but that's speculation. The main takeaway here is that he owns up to his involvement in the story, unless he was propping up his role in order to protect his team from criticism or for marketing purposes.
It took me ages to realize, but in NMH3 Henry is effectively even *more* of a foil to Travis than ever. Travis has gotten a fuckton of technological toys since their first battle even including Glastonbury in NMH2, and now Henry has a fuckton of supernatural powers. Travis is a hotheaded dork and while old Henry's cool demeanor was a good foil to him, NMH3 Henry manages to feel ice cold even while he's screaming his lungs out. Travis tends to make friends so easily he trips over them along his travels even when he doesn't want to, like Badman and Shinobu and even I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Bishop. Henry cut himself off from all of them to form a cult of knights that were subservient to him. Travis seems crazy- and kinda is- but mostly behaves in a way that makes it feel oddly casual and even relatable at times. Henry *instantly* seems completely off his fucking rocker and only escalates from there. Even their designs mirror each other better. Travis wears clothes that are mostly casual besides his gloves, and even with his shades you can nearly always see his eyes. Henry still dresses formally, but with his teashades you can't see his eyes at all, and while Travis's hair is a bit wild it's still well groomed while Henry has turned into a fucking porcupine. And Travis's design has skewed more towards western art recently despite his love of Japanese films and anime, while Henry looks more anime than ever right down to dressing his boy band with matching Bleach Hollow masks and yet he has an MCU obsession. Travis seemingly can't die because he's the protag, and neither can Henry because he's the protag's antithesis. Before, it was implied that Henry was Travis's opposite but functionally he was just a boss character turned ally. Now he functionally *is* Travis's opposite.
I can't buy into the idea that Travis is in hell. Hell is brought up several times over the course of the series. It's where Travis assumes he's sending the opponents he kills, and where Travis himself will wind up the day somebody else manages to best him. That's why he needs to be the rank 1 assassin. It's why he tends to disappear once he's proven that. Travis Touchdown is motivated by safety and comfort. At the start of one he's an antisocial shut-in who uses his hobbies to escape reality. Just his luck he finds a job where that kind of antisocial behavior is encouraged. You can't seriously expect somebody to get emotionally vulnerable with you in the middle of a fight to the death. Any sympathy has to be saved until you're wiping their blood off of your sword. And while Travis at protecting himself this way, his brother is of course one step ahead of him. If there's one word to describe Henry across the entire series it'd be "unflappable." The man will not express a strong emotion if his life isn't on the line. It's probably why Sylvia leaves him; at least Travis isn't afraid to look dumb in front of her. But Henry, who is emotionally repressed outside of battle, begins to wish for nothing besides the clash of beam katanas and spilling of blood. Henry is an agent of what we could call Hell. But he's trapped further in it than Travis by far. From 1 to 3, we see Travis willingly interact with the world around him more. He hears people out, he stops suggesting that it'd be easier to kill everybody in his way. Murder was the motive that kicks off 1. By 3, Travis is saving the planet and the plumbing mostly because it's the right thing to do. He's crawled out of that tomb that is the otaku misanthrope life, and Henry wants him back in it. That's why Travis keeps calling Henry's getup "cosplay."
I love this type of analysis, I really feel that we souldn't take anything of the sudaverse that seriously, also, what's the sing that plays at 25:28? is it from tsa?
If the world of NMH is supposed to be Hell, does that mean there's at least going to be at least 4 more games (3 if you count TSA)? That way there will be 7 games to represent the 7 layers of hell.
23:55 I always thought that, the fact that the brother of the japanese media consumer it's a western consumer as well just feels... Fiting for him Since your first video about NMH1, you said that Travis reflects the Samurai and Henry the Medieval Knight, the fact that they both share that influence in their own paths feels like something that should happened a long ago... However, THOR 1 IS A GOOD MOVIE ITS NOT MID 😡😡😡😡
It's clear that Travis & Henry are meant to be rivals. But considering that Travis is meant to be a kind of subversive protagonist, then that means that Henry is meant to be played straight. I think this is the key point you should keep in mind looking at these two.
Niiiiice, I didn't saw why he "just want to be number one", I thought it was just "I wanna be the winner" but it's actually a [kill the past] kind of reason. Good point 👍
Being honest, I just personally hope we get NMH4 someday, and Henry gets to be the main adversary. Defenitely really looking forward to whatever comes next.
the ideas you express in this video are really interesting, and explain a lot. how does travis look so good when he's 41 years old in spite of his lifestyle? why does he never see any real consequences for his actions? (i always thought it was a bit strange how, despite the mass murder that takes place, the police are never a concern in any of these games.) why does he still live in the same motel, year after year? why is the open world so utterly hollow, even in nmh3? because this is his hell. he's trapped here for eternity and can never do anything different. for a long time basically every edgy fan theory about any piece of media was that everyone was secretly dead, and i'm not sure that's literally true, but otherwise it actually makes perfect sense here. it feels like travis fills the same role as garcian, sylvia as harman, and henry as kun lan. travis is just a proxy, and the real battle is between sylvia and henry (not that it matters, or is ever mentioned again, nor do the characters interact directly, but sylvia and henry apparently had a relationship years before nmh1 even took place). if the intro to TSA is anything to go by, then despite his revelations at the end of killer7, the smiths are still performing assassination missions -- just like travis. there's a parallel to be drawn between this and suda making so many no more heroes sequels (suda is garcian, the games are sylvia, and we the players are kun lan?), but also not really. i feel like i gotta play the whole series again just to be able to see the narrative from this angle.
I like this concept I got from the video of hell being more or less a second life but inconsistent and fantastical, and of course brutal/unforgiving. I want a game that acknowledges this idea a little more and run with it. Don't shove down our throats but hint at it more
I like the theory of Henry being the devil, but I don't see Sylvia as God. If anything, the insinuation that she led Travis to hell would imply that she's another demon, or a figure like Jezebel. Then one might be able to draw the conclusion that she, like Henry, works to keep Travis from giving up so that he can stay on his path of hollow suffering.
Its such BS even when nonsense sexual allegations are a career canceler even when proven false. I followed the smear campaign against Quinton from these delusional anti-male nut jobs. Same with the Rick & Morty nonsense dunking the show with how mentally insane people are becoming these days in the west. At least Suda was clever enough to see this as an opening to really set a personality even more fitting to the silver case identity Henry was made for in the beginning. Suda seems to struggle with opening up certain gates across the universe probably because he expects every entrance to be of a high caliber.
Well I think that could be true Henry being the devil and all but only like on a symbolic level since no more heroes isn’t a contained story it’s connected to all of sudas games so while this is could be hell for Travis on some level in my opinion I don’t think it’s his personal hell or that he is actually dead but that’s just my opinion
Great vid. One thing I thought of with the Silvia is God theory Silvia is also the devil Silvia is the angel of light form meant to be a temptation for Travis Henry is the brutal reality and punishment of hell We never see Silvia and Henry interact Also they were married. The religious practice of 2 becoming 1 What do y’all think?
@@Ghenry I liked the concept that you brought up where Travis was influenced by japanese media while henry was influenced by american media. Travis and the other characters just felt off for me for some reason, the game's plot in general felt like Rick and Morty post season 3, it just didn't resonate with me like 1 or 2 did. Your video was great and it is clear you put a lot of thought and care behind it, I'm just salty about NMH3 in general.
Reminds me of Adam Taurus from RWBY. Introduced in the Black Trailer but only showed up proper in Volume 3. Before we knew very little about him other than being Blake's mentor and ruthless pragmatic leader who was willing to kill for the White Fang (civil rights turned terr0rist organisation for the Faunus). He was never really characterised much; just mentioned here 'n' there. In V3 onwards, they revealed that him and Blake (1 of the 4 main characters) were dating and that it was apparently fairly abusive (so we're told). A cool dangerous antagonist, who's world view had a point was boiled down to abusive-Ex. He became much less interesting and it culminated in his death in V6. A fight lacking any real emotion, weight, depth or character. The White Fang was mismanaged and dropped by V5 and many consider it the worst part of RWBY (that is saying something). It's like they just wanted to get rid of him. True, Adam was never characterised and so turning him into a crazy ex-BF was not out of character but the vacuum of character they left us to imagine with in the first 3 years was more impressive than what they did with him. I imagine that is what Henry Cooldown fans are thinking towards Henry's character getting changed around to something much more simplisitc and lame.
New Ghenry video! ╰(*°▽°*)╯ I originally wasn't sold as Henry serving the role as The Antagonist™ to Travis, but his characterization in NMH3 made me appreciate him more. I love your analysis of him as the devil in Travis' personal hell, I think it really pulls his appearances throughout the series together.
He called him a little brother in NMH2 as well, in a mocking sense since both of he and Travis refer to how they were born at the same time, arguing 'who popped out first'
I think if his voice didn't change and/or if it was blatantly addressed I wouldn't be so pissed about the change as a whole, it's like he's just some dude with the same coat on that happens to have childhood memories including one with Jeane in it. It's not on the same expansive scale as when they had that mutant hybrid in 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' that they called Deadpool despite him being A COMPLETE BASTARDIZATION OF THE CHARACTER but it's a similar case to me.
I will say that with Henry I didn't like the direction for the character at all, I am one of those idiots that just wanted Dante and Vergil V2 but I'm not really that beat up about it because I assume NMH3 is for sure the end, so not like I have more stuff to look forward to
My greatest problem with Henry in NMH3 is he feels like a completly different person. Imo, Henry should have been a completly new character. The fact he is called Henry feels more like fanservice.
Cool video but I still think Henry in 3 was a bit lame. This comment also incorporates some points from the NMH III video so if some parts of this weren't stated in this video and its unclear sorry about that but I wanted to share my opinion on your thoughts in this video and that video. It's an interesting concept but the game does very little with it in my opinion. There feels like there's so much more and so many questions as to why this is happening and I want to see more of this new version of Henry but in the end like a lot other things in the game very little is done with it. Even if the themes and interpretations are interesting to me what's more important is a satisfying story and intentionally having so much ambiguity and a cliffhanging ending that resolves very little for the sake of these themes is kind of lame. Also have to disagree about Henry in 2. I thought the way he was integrated was fine. Sure he could have been better but the moment where we get to play as him and his interactions with Travis were some of my favorite moments in that game. I don't think he was a great character but he had a fun personality and seeing that all just get wiped away to just get replaced with something they don't really go anywhere with was pretty disappointing. If they had explored his character more and actually resolved the story I would have been fine with it. I'm glad most other people seemed to enjoy it though.
I've got very ambivalent feelings about trying to shoehorn things like this into a Christian framework, especially when the words line up so neatly with a Buddhist interpretation. I don't know for sure what Henry is supposed to mean. NMH critiques Travis (and the player) for being too attached to childish consumer junk and trashy ideas like "payback" but doesn't really provide an alternative role model until you meet Henry. But the catch is that Henry is just a superficially more "cool" version of Travis without anime posters, and he has a nice coat. I mean, okay.
Dabbling with Christian framework in a way that feels more aligned with buddhism feels perfectly suitable to someone who's as much of a Westaboo as Suda. 🤷
@@GhenryI'm ambivalent about it because you can interpret it how you want, and it doesn't really matter if either me or Suda like it. I've said why I feel like Henry isn't a satisfying character to me, but the biblical stuff fixes nothing for me. Symbolically, does he tempt the player or Travis to go down the wrong path in life? No, not really, Travis is already a lost cause and the player is, by association, a lost cause for playing his game.
I feel like you lost me when you started talking smack about the MCU movies.. I kind of want to say that you discredited yourself but it's not to say that you didn't have anything interesting to say about NMH and its characters and installments.
Aww, it's like you think you're contributing to something. So adorable. Keep going, little buddy! I'm sure you'll get there eventually. We're all rooting for you!
These games never had "Deep meaning", it always had the basic story lines and character tropes ever. Seeing how people seek for any meaning behind the empty characters and their story arcs is super fun, while in reality each game is its own piece of pop media capsule, nothing more.
@@Ghenrynah, I only think about "haters" and make 20+ minutes videos about how they are dumb and I am not, bc of some thing written on the hoodie in the game
Ehhhhh feels NMH should've taken more jabs and gone harder on Travis for being ass man nerding out long after the point he should've out grown the stuff. Other than that, great video.
Virtually all the scenes I presented with its original audio were significant to what I'm discussing at that moment. Don't blame me because you have trouble paying attention.
![[Music] No More Heroes - We Are Finally Cowboys](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9DAJ2k7U5_w/mqdefault.jpg)
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
I have always loved how Henry Cooldown is basically a parody of the videogame arch rival trope. But at the same time Suda 51 acknowledges and shows why that trope is so badass and why people love a good rivalry in videogames.
Shadow, Vergil, Jetstream Sam, Jeanne and more, yeah video game rivalries are awesome! Rival characters are very cool, their connection to the main character is cool and their boss fights are amazing.
@@ShadowDante7ooh don't forget Bass
Still think is perfect Travis being a Miike fan and Henry a MCU fan
I always saw Henry as an embodiment of the idea of Travis' past, or rather, the parts of Travis' past we the audience will never know, and that Travis himself either does not remember, or doesn't want to remember. Kill the Past and all of that.
In NMH1, he appears at the end to bring into question how much Travis even knows about what he's doing, and what his place in everything is. Showing how out of his depth Travis can really be.
In NMH3, Travis' characterization shows often he's tired of it all, that he wants a place where the past won't catch up to him. Henry's appearance was like a denial of that for him. And the end, where it is shown that Henry is apparently still doing his shit all the way years into the future. Is sort of something that shows it all for what it is. The past won't die, even if killed. No matter how often Travis tries to hide and run, he chose this life of an assassin, and he'll never be allowed to leave, he can't die nor can he find a happy place isolated from the rest of the world. (I feel Flower, Sun and Rain's description of Paradise is another definition to keep in mind when talking about it in the context of NMH, a place isolated from the rest of the world, where the past won't catch up to you and you can just forget about time. Specially with TSA in mind where Travis was holed up in a trailer for months without contacting anyone else.)
Where does NMH2 fit into this
Solid vid. I think it's also worth noting that, as Travis acts more and more like a hero (he goes from acting solely out of lust and revenge in NMH1 to actually saving the world in NMH3), Henry acts more like a villain. They sorta swapped roles over time.
Having Henry be the parody of the "uh oh there's actually one more major problem in your way" at the end of NMH1 was a fun tidbit of writing for Suda and Grasshopper to tack on at the end. Although I'm not a fan of his NMH3 physical redesign, I do love how the flip genuinely gives him more character and relatability as the flip to our main man Travis. I do wish however we got more insight on him like Travis' adventures and interactions with the bosses. Definitely think that's where NMH2 could've came in better as a genuine brotherly rivalry; something that showcased Henry still has sharp teeth and standards while maintaining the idea that Travis is HIS job to doom over and over.
I truly love Henry in NMHIII. He finally feels complete. He seems like a warped reflection of Travis. Both of them trapped in this endless dance of death, seemingly unable to leave by death or otherwise. Something will always pull them back into the garden of madness.
I will always find the idea that Henry's entire character changed because he saw Thor hilarious.
Same
Why does Henry have a better cross guard than any Star Wars character xD I forgot he had a cross guard at all and got damn it’s a nice sword
Tbf that thing would probably stab you in the elbow
Henry’s redesign had me desperate for more silver case in NMH3. I think you did a really great job with this video breaking down a character who is more trope than personality and the context that makes him work
My problem with Henry's Va in NMH3 is that, for starters, he's already way too different from the previous two games, and while the new voice is cool, he might as well be an entirely different character since he sounds nothing like Henry in both the actual voice and accent, which was part of his appeal as well IMO.
That’s FUCKED up! That’s the most poignant essay I’ve ever heard!
hol' up
In NMH. There is a scene when Travis fights Holly Summers. She tells him "death is the only truth" and in the 2nd game Alice Twighlight tells him "that's why we aLL want to fight you..." Cuz theyre all like him. Trapped In life. Who they are, death is the only way out. So what Travis can only be a killer? No.
He's a Goddamn SUPERHERO...
You actually got RT by grasshopper manufacturer themselves. Nice.
Ghenry pulling out a "Every Story is Jesus in Purgatory" outside of april fools was one of the video directions of all time.
I like the idea that in the 4th game Henry is so different because in my mind, it carries on him being a foil to Travis. Where as Travis after 2 had a huge arch of him maturing and becoming a better person, putting away a lot of the childish aspects of himself and just generally being less of a douche bag, Henry went down an arch of becoming bitter and hateful and jaded.
They both got older, but in different ways. Travis got older in the way an angry and troublemaking snotty kid becomes a well adjust well meaning adult guy, where as Henry grew older in the same way someone is naive and reacts to reality being so much darker than they were ready for in the worst way by becoming a bitter and hateful old man glaring at everyone, at least symbolism wise if not being what literally happened to them
I GET IT NOW
"vengeance, begets vengeance" it's an endless loop too.
Damn please continue making these videos, NMH is my favorite series but I didn't saw a lot of things that you got right
I like the idea of Henry being the Snake of Temptation. Travis can almost justify killing anyone, but Henry, he just wants dead. No real desire to like him in the first place.
For me, Henry's look and voice in NMH3 are my favourites. He looks and sounds his best (imo) and I feel he also looks and sounds most like Travis' brother from a design perspective.
Always love when you release a video, they're well made and insightful, I enjoy them!
With the statements you had about Henry and Sylvia.
They both were a couple at some point.
So Idk what to say but I am smelling some Harman and Kun Lan vibes from this.
But thinking about it, it seems possible that Herny in no more heroes 1 and 3 is the entrance and exit to the whole colorful world. He is the beginning and the end of No more heroes and the wackier stuff from GrassHopper.
To me it also seems like with No More heroes being owned by Marvelous, maybe both Sylvia and Henry are essentially Marvelous and GrassHopper who created and contorted the world of No More Heroes around Travis who was created by Suda himself and with the idea of Henry being an avatar from Suda. And them being split also could make sense to a degree considering that No More Heroes is Marvelous' IP which I previously associated with Sylvia.
But I dont think all what I said is true but speculations, though I welcome to debunk these because my mind often does change with further revalations that make me reconsider and it's often fun that way ngl.
Also. Thought of a possibility that maybe Henry is a variant of Kamui.
Kamui was often presented as the devil of silvercase when in fact he was an idea with endless gray area of potential for anything, good or evil it doesnt matter.
And anyone can be Kamui, so its not just one but a series or units of Kamuis :>
So maybe with how Kamui evolved as a concept, Henry could be another spin on the Kamui series as I call it who is entirely dedicated on torturing Travis. That too might seem like a possibility considering how hard he envokes Silver Case.
And thinking further, then maybe Sylvia is also a variant of Ayame in a sense.
I mean it could be possible but idk.
Just to give good for thought; the bit with Sylvia representing God, I instead thought what if she symbolizes Eve? My reason for this is because when you mentioned that in NMH1 Sylvia told Travis to look for the Garden of Insanity (Insanity sounds cooler than Madness to me) while in NMH3 she welcomed him, which would mean she is there too.
It still doesn't entirely make sense because then Travis is Adam, and as you mentioned near the end of NMH3, Sylvia has powers now. You could try and say that Henry (Lucifer) tempted Travis (Adam), by pursuing this paradise that would spell their death and temper Sylvia (Eve), by having sex with him but even that's a stretch.
HE'S LITERALLY ME
One detail that people don't tend to point out about Henry's whole aesthetic around him is how the full package of him and the whole rivalry trope is far more interesting to see on how and why, the blue oni/cooler rival is more badass than us, the red oni players
First: Henry represents an English Knight, in a historically accurate manner, A Samurai wouldn't even compare in battle tactics, armour or weaponry like the English Knights had.
2° Henry's face and hair is pretty much a reference to the late and icon post punk star: Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division(ie, one of Suda's all time favorite bands), The Post Punk Era in Britain being founded by Joy Division was the epitome and burial of the anarchist punk of The Sex Pistols, Post Punk is a natural evolution of Punk, where the bass is more important, the sound is more ominous, atmospheric and eerie and the themes in the lyrics are far more intimate and personal, but, even Post Punk bands with a high political view, would come up with far better and more well articulated, thought and well defined view: exemples being The Clash(London Calling/Sandinista), Suicide and Gang Of Four.
Travis was designed not only to be an otaku/modern day samurai/tiger, but also a punk style visual(this more than clear on his design in NMH2), so it's very fun how Suda planned Henry that way on making him dressing and looking like an icon of a music genre/movement that was the direct sucessor of the chaotic British Punk of The Sex Pistols.
3° Henry's design to a more cult like figure with a spike hair is not quite a way of saying: "now, I'm just as a punk like Tracis", no, it's not even a reference to Robert Smith, that alongside Ian Curtis and Siouxsie, are pretty much THE FACES, of gothic rock/post punk, Henry is more like to be based now on Nick Cave, specially during his darkest days in the 80s with addiction and how religion saved him on his most ominous and macabre days as a junkie at the near end of the 80s, that impact of Religion slowly taking control and being the entire or recurring theme on Cave's Lyrics was started on his post punk magnum opus: Tender Prey(1988).
Also, Nick Cave has a 1992 album called: Henry's Dream and the track that opens the album: Papa Won't Leave You, Henry, has these lyrics:
I went out walking the other day
The wind hung wet around my neck
My head it rung with screams and groans
From the night I spent amongst her bones
I past beside the mission house
Where that mad old buzzard, the reverend,
Shrieked and flapped about life after you’re dead
Well, I thought about my friend, Michel
How they rolled him in linoleum
And shot him in the neck
A bloody halo, like a think-bubble
Circling his head
And I bellowed at the firmament
Looks like the rains are here to stay
And the rain pissed down upon me
And washed me all away
Saying
Papa won’t leave you, Henry
Papa won’t leave you, Boy
Papa won’t leave you, Henry
Papa won’t leave you, Boy
Well, the road is long
And the road is hard
And many fall by the side
But Papa won’t leave you, Henry
So there ain’t no need to cry
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
Well, the moon it looked exhausted
Like something you should pity
Spent an age-spotted
Above the sizzling wires of the city
Well, it reminded me of her face
Her bleached and hungry eyes
Her hair was like a curtain
Falling open with the laughter
And closing with the lies
But the ghost of her still lingers on
Though she’s passed through me
And is gone
The slum dogs, they are barking
And the rain children on the streets
And the tears that we will weep today
Will all be washed away
By the tears that we will weep again tomorrow
Papa won’t leave you, Henry
Papa won’t leave you, Boy
Papa won’t leave you, Henry
Papa won’t leave you, Boy
For the road is long
And the road is hard
And many fall by the side
But Papa won’t leave you, Henry
So there ain’t no need to cry
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I came upon a little house
A little house upon a hill
And I entered through, the curtain hissed
Into the house with its blood-red bowels
Where wet-lipped women with greasy fists
Crawled the ceilings and the walls
They filled me full of drink
And led me round the rooms
Naked and cold and grinning
Until everything went black
And I came down spinning
I awoke so drunk and full of rage
That I could hardly speak
A fag in a whale-bone corset
Draping his dick across my cheek
And its into the shame
And its into the guilt
And its into the fucking fray
And the walls ran red around me
A warm arterial spray
Saying
Papa won’t leave you, Henry
Papa won’t leave you, Boy
Papa won’t leave you, Henry
Papa won’t leave you, Boy
Well, the night is dark
And the night is deep
And its jaws are open wide
But Papa won’t leave you, Henry
So there ain’t no need to cry
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
It’s the rainy season where I’m living
Death comes leaping out of every doorway
Wasting you for your money, for your clothes
And for your nothing
Entire towns being washed away
Favelas exploding on inflammable spillways
Lynch-mobs, death squads, babies being born without brains
The mad heat and the relentless rains
And if you stick your arm into that hole
It comes out sheared off to the bone
And with her kisses bubbling on my lips
I swiped the rain and nearly missed
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
Singing
Papa won’t leave you, Henry
Papa won’t leave you, Boy
Papa won’t leave you, Henry
Papa won’t leave you, Boy
Well, the road is long
And the road is hard
And many fall by the side
But Papa won’t leave you, Henry
So there ain’t no need to cry
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
Bent beneath my heavy load
Under his heavy load
Yeah, I went on down the road
Yeah, he went on down the road
Woah, woah
Woah, woah
Woah, woah
Woah, woah
And I went on down that road.
The lyrics reflect a poor chid in a constant Downard Spiral of suffering and being used, not only Jeane's whole life was like that, Henry Cooldown was that too, a brainwashed dude for most of his life that was doomed to only remember the cries and fear of his younger brother to a point this become such an annoyance, to such screams and cries to stop, Travis has to die on his view.
Henry just has a full package on why i think he is a far better rival than Vergil
Ian Curtis+Blade Runner Coat+Mace Windu's color lightsaber and the trope of cross sword lightsabers+We Are Finally Cowboys is just a fucking sick name for a boss theme
Nice catch, that's a really cool aspect!
NMHIII Henry is the only time he actually looks like Travis. Which makes sense, since he is meant to be his Twin Brother
Suda51 highkey is the david lynch of video games
More like the Quentin Tarantino of videogames.
@@saulothebebop2581 silver case, flower sun and rain, killer7, and half of no more heroes 3 says otherwise
NMH3 Henry is my favorite design of his
nice. easily my favorite video of yours.
15:46
Bruh, Mesino bellini = Benito Mussolini
It took me a while to catch,lmao
Least thats what the name to me probably hits close to
My friend is a massive Henry fan girl even declaring the best rival in gaming. She HATED Henry in NMH3 and I’m just here wondering if she even got the point of Henry to begin with
Like she will argue that Henry is on the same level as Vergil in this regard
Perhaps I should have addressed people that only love him at an aesthetic level (suave dude with Irish accent and cool beam blade), those I understand not liking NMH3 Henry, who is more deranged, in-your-face, and . . . not Irish. I'm not saying they're in the right to hate Henry, but it's understandable why they feel that way.
@@Ghenry Agreed on every point, this video better articulates my disagreements with her better then I ever could and I’ve tried trust me
I don't think Sylvia is "God" per-se, she's more of Sophia figure from Christian Gnostic Theological systems (There's a looot of early Christian Schools with their own Apocryphal gospels which mostly deemed noncanonical by the winning proto-Orthodoxy of eventual Christian and Byzantine Orthodoxy)
The Sophia figure is considered to be last of countless emanations (known as Aeons) of Original True God which fallen into the state and either, birth Christ by her own spiritual androgyny (since Aeons despite always have syzygy pairs are androgynous and capable for creations) or have Christ sent from different sections of Monad's Aeons in Pleroma (basically Realms above heavens and hells) to solve the problems caused by Demiurge (basically diabolical or at least ignorant worldshaper which forms The universe out of the previously existing material of darkness/void, also known as Tehom in Jewish Tanakh/OT), depending on the Gnostic schools and sects, Demiurge figure can be considered to be evil or simply ignorant but well-intentioned, the Sethian school deemed Demiurge will be obliterated at the end of Time from his evilness via one of his rebelling son which repented to Sophia, meanwhile the Valentinians view Demiurge will see the errors of his ignorance and be put into indefinite purgatory to judge over the non-Christian heathens (known as Hylics/materialists) and ordinary Jews + Christians (known as Psychics, the ordinary non-elect or non-initiated ones), this is need to note that the early Christianity was so diverse that they often subvert the existing Greco-Roman, Kemetic Egyptian, Near Eastern, and Indian deities into Archons (basically the subordinate sons of Demiurge which they have their own portions over the "heavens of chaos", each of them have their own legions of archdemons, demons, rebellious angels akin to the Books of Enoch from separate Dead Sea Scroll of somewhat earlier hereterodox Jewish communities separating their own groups from Rabbinical Jewish ordinances in Jerusalem years prior to the destruction of Second Temple (possibly inspired the Jewish Philo for some of proto-Gnostic ideas and concepts) which discovered at the close year as the Gnostic gospels of 'Nag Hammadi Library' but I digress)
Okay back to NMH comparison, if Sylvia being comparable to fallen/descending Sophia figure to guide Travis, Henry could be the demiurge alongside other contestant of assassins and alien beings with their own dominions and shares of carnage and slaughter comparable to The Archons and their own legions of demonic entities, Travis since it's etymologically means Cross/Crossing from cognate French term, might be tied to either Valentinian Gnostic concept of living Cross as safeguarding Aeon which able to switch realms between The Pleroma, to the inferior heavenly realms of Demiurge, hells and Earth, in Valentinian view of The Paradise of the 8th Heaven and above beyond the 7 heavenly spheres of the more ignorant Demiurge, those who entered Bridal Chamber of redeemed Sophia (basically the other superior half of Sophia) will never be return to the cycles of The World (heavens, hells, earths) and be divested of both the body (hyle/elements) and soul (psyche/self identities), which coincidentally also quite similar to East Asian Buddhism views of entering the the final Parinirvana and Pure Lands (especially the latter with Pure Land paradises being prevalent idea in East Asian Mahayana & some Vajrayana schools of Buddhism), the Christ figures in Gnostic Christianity can be plural as there are hints of figures like Seth and Melchizedek to be ascended earlier than Jesus and basically taken away by God, the concept of Sophia in Christian Gnostic isn't pulled out of nowhere either as there are blatant reference of "Wisdom building her house in celestial transitory realms with hewn from 7 pillars" in The Book of Proverbs of Tanakh/Old Testament, the 7 pillars might be the references to eventual Sethian concepts of 7 archons having each of their own "heavens of chaos" to entrapped humanity, similar to how those humans and even aliens whose fallen into the lives of Assassins are entrenched by the cycles of sickening death games in constant perpetuity, oddly enough the alien godking figure which immediately killed at the end of NMH3 "spoof" credits looks similar to typical depiction of Archons, albeit less Eldritch kind of Theriomorphic since they supposed to be moulded out of Tehom/Abyss ala the Eldritch aliens' bosses of Bloodborne, The Biblical Adam in Sethian and Valentinian Theology also always intended to eat the fruit of Knowledge and attain Gnosis so humanity can be inheritors of Earth, even in spite the Archons are planning to the Deluge, giving the tools of wars, metallurgy, cosmetics, astrology, mathematics and other boring foundation to build the complexes of civilisations, Gnosis/Knowledge as Salvation is emphasises in majority of Christian Gnostic systems, so it's always about fuelling the determinations of Free Will of Humanity over the fatalism of Demiurge/Yaldabaoth and its Archons (oh Archons are also androgynous, although they create out of copulations instead of creation ex-nihilo/ex-luminous (creation from nihil or more precisely Light, since Aeons can't even come close to Monad The Original God or they're absorbed back into his essence and ceasing like how Gnostic Elects does after ascended to Realm of Sophia in the 8th Heaven and Pleroma above), a lot of the times happening with carnages and without consent, if you know what I mean)
(both Bloodborne and Lies of P have a looot of unintentional and intentional Gnostic aspects to them, Persona and SMT have direct mentions but they're not committed to end their series as they keep deciding to milk it in perpetuity, making them forming their own infernal hell of Archonic Ouroboros of their own hubris if they can't make up their mind to move on and finishing Catherine into Trilogy or making brand new IP or something like that, Suda51 making the identity, memories and motifs of Henry being anachronistic with each games fits very well with the shapeshifting nature of Sethian Demiurge too as it can disguise it's nature as demons, angels and other beings entrapped in Gnostic Cosmology of the inferior Kenoma of Phenomenon and Worldly Hysterema)
Sorry for the long comment, just trying to share my personal outlook on these
it's not that deep lol.
Jesus Christ on a bike, that's one long speech.
@@maxicornejo9675why does the depth end here?
@@maxicornejo9675 To you lol.
@@maxicornejo9675If you played any of the kill the past era games, you'd know that it's some deep shit. There's a myriad of religious metaphors and jungian philosophical topics
I could listen to Ghenry talk about nmh for hours…it’s nice that he feels comfortable to share his crazy-ass theories involving Travis being stuck in friggin hell with Henry as a “Devil with a suit and tie”. It’s why I love No More Heroes and other things like it. So much is up to your interpretation. It almost allows for replayability on a cosmic scale. Sure the game is the same, but the amount you look into the subtext is based on how you are feeling at the time. Allows me to get something different from Suda’s games everytime! No matter what your interpretation of events can be true, and I think Suda strives for this. I bet he has a way events happen in his head, but he seems to enjoy letting fans find their own meaning.
It's been a while since I played the games, but has Sylvia and Henry ever been in the same place at the same time? Looking back at NMH3, after the Henry fight we see Sylvia come from an apartment to talk to Travis before returning to her apartment, then Henry appears in the same apartment. Would be eerie if they are the same entity that is keeping Travis in this cycle of madness >.>
What Marvel movies does to a mofo
Today started out horrible and then two of my favorite channels upload good god
does the other one happen to wear high heels...?
@@danhectic5629 I wasnt referring to him but good guess
Definitely see Henry making a cameo back in a new game from grasshopper
Gonna need that Dante and Vergil video
22:28 necessary dig at TSA haters. Someone had to do it😂
The ceasefire on that ship at the end was great to see
🍉
Suda 51 has stated in interviews that he wrote the script for No More Heroes 2, so his role as "scenario writer" isn't so vague.
As I said in my original NMH2 analysis, yeah it is vague, considering that doesn't really describe what he wrote, whether it was character motivation, actions taken in cutscenes, etc.
He has criticized NMH2's story and its narrative content (going so far as calling it thin) multiple times during interviews. Whether he's criticizing his own contributions or elements provided by the director of the game or whomever, nobody knows.
@@Ghenry Being a scriptwriter is a well-defined role. If Suda wrote the script, it would imply that he was involved in penning everything story related, specifically what the Design Team/English translators used for the cinematics/dialogue, even if he didn’t oversee the storyboarding, hence me disputing the proposed vagueness of his role.
His criticism in the Grasshopper Artbook seemed to be lobbied at the way No More Heroes 2’s story was created by him and his team. To paraphrase, unlike with No More Heroes 1, creating an overall narrative scenario didn’t take initial precedence. Instead, creating the new characters did, resulting in a thin narrative. I reckon that due to him working on numerous other titles or publisher meddling, he couldn't course correct/revise the script, but that's speculation.
The main takeaway here is that he owns up to his involvement in the story, unless he was propping up his role in order to protect his team from criticism or for marketing purposes.
It took me ages to realize, but in NMH3 Henry is effectively even *more* of a foil to Travis than ever. Travis has gotten a fuckton of technological toys since their first battle even including Glastonbury in NMH2, and now Henry has a fuckton of supernatural powers. Travis is a hotheaded dork and while old Henry's cool demeanor was a good foil to him, NMH3 Henry manages to feel ice cold even while he's screaming his lungs out. Travis tends to make friends so easily he trips over them along his travels even when he doesn't want to, like Badman and Shinobu and even I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Bishop. Henry cut himself off from all of them to form a cult of knights that were subservient to him. Travis seems crazy- and kinda is- but mostly behaves in a way that makes it feel oddly casual and even relatable at times. Henry *instantly* seems completely off his fucking rocker and only escalates from there. Even their designs mirror each other better. Travis wears clothes that are mostly casual besides his gloves, and even with his shades you can nearly always see his eyes. Henry still dresses formally, but with his teashades you can't see his eyes at all, and while Travis's hair is a bit wild it's still well groomed while Henry has turned into a fucking porcupine. And Travis's design has skewed more towards western art recently despite his love of Japanese films and anime, while Henry looks more anime than ever right down to dressing his boy band with matching Bleach Hollow masks and yet he has an MCU obsession. Travis seemingly can't die because he's the protag, and neither can Henry because he's the protag's antithesis. Before, it was implied that Henry was Travis's opposite but functionally he was just a boss character turned ally. Now he functionally *is* Travis's opposite.
I can't buy into the idea that Travis is in hell. Hell is brought up several times over the course of the series. It's where Travis assumes he's sending the opponents he kills, and where Travis himself will wind up the day somebody else manages to best him. That's why he needs to be the rank 1 assassin. It's why he tends to disappear once he's proven that.
Travis Touchdown is motivated by safety and comfort. At the start of one he's an antisocial shut-in who uses his hobbies to escape reality. Just his luck he finds a job where that kind of antisocial behavior is encouraged. You can't seriously expect somebody to get emotionally vulnerable with you in the middle of a fight to the death. Any sympathy has to be saved until you're wiping their blood off of your sword. And while Travis at protecting himself this way, his brother is of course one step ahead of him.
If there's one word to describe Henry across the entire series it'd be "unflappable." The man will not express a strong emotion if his life isn't on the line. It's probably why Sylvia leaves him; at least Travis isn't afraid to look dumb in front of her. But Henry, who is emotionally repressed outside of battle, begins to wish for nothing besides the clash of beam katanas and spilling of blood.
Henry is an agent of what we could call Hell. But he's trapped further in it than Travis by far. From 1 to 3, we see Travis willingly interact with the world around him more. He hears people out, he stops suggesting that it'd be easier to kill everybody in his way. Murder was the motive that kicks off 1. By 3, Travis is saving the planet and the plumbing mostly because it's the right thing to do. He's crawled out of that tomb that is the otaku misanthrope life, and Henry wants him back in it. That's why Travis keeps calling Henry's getup "cosplay."
You take things too literally.
I love this type of analysis, I really feel that we souldn't take anything of the sudaverse that seriously, also, what's the sing that plays at 25:28? is it from tsa?
If the world of NMH is supposed to be Hell, does that mean there's at least going to be at least 4 more games (3 if you count TSA)? That way there will be 7 games to represent the 7 layers of hell.
23:55 I always thought that, the fact that the brother of the japanese media consumer it's a western consumer as well just feels... Fiting for him
Since your first video about NMH1, you said that Travis reflects the Samurai and Henry the Medieval Knight, the fact that they both share that influence in their own paths feels like something that should happened a long ago...
However, THOR 1 IS A GOOD MOVIE ITS NOT MID 😡😡😡😡
75% of Thor's movies are mid
Sorry bro
It's clear that Travis & Henry are meant to be rivals. But considering that Travis is meant to be a kind of subversive protagonist, then that means that Henry is meant to be played straight. I think this is the key point you should keep in mind looking at these two.
Niiiiice, I didn't saw why he "just want to be number one", I thought it was just "I wanna be the winner" but it's actually a [kill the past] kind of reason. Good point 👍
Being honest, I just personally hope we get NMH4 someday, and Henry gets to be the main adversary. Defenitely really looking forward to whatever comes next.
the ideas you express in this video are really interesting, and explain a lot. how does travis look so good when he's 41 years old in spite of his lifestyle? why does he never see any real consequences for his actions? (i always thought it was a bit strange how, despite the mass murder that takes place, the police are never a concern in any of these games.) why does he still live in the same motel, year after year? why is the open world so utterly hollow, even in nmh3? because this is his hell. he's trapped here for eternity and can never do anything different. for a long time basically every edgy fan theory about any piece of media was that everyone was secretly dead, and i'm not sure that's literally true, but otherwise it actually makes perfect sense here.
it feels like travis fills the same role as garcian, sylvia as harman, and henry as kun lan. travis is just a proxy, and the real battle is between sylvia and henry (not that it matters, or is ever mentioned again, nor do the characters interact directly, but sylvia and henry apparently had a relationship years before nmh1 even took place). if the intro to TSA is anything to go by, then despite his revelations at the end of killer7, the smiths are still performing assassination missions -- just like travis. there's a parallel to be drawn between this and suda making so many no more heroes sequels (suda is garcian, the games are sylvia, and we the players are kun lan?), but also not really. i feel like i gotta play the whole series again just to be able to see the narrative from this angle.
I miss him fr!
I like this concept I got from the video of hell being more or less a second life but inconsistent and fantastical, and of course brutal/unforgiving. I want a game that acknowledges this idea a little more and run with it. Don't shove down our throats but hint at it more
There could be a chance that Sylvia is his guardian demon cause let's be honest here not everyone has a angle looking out for them
I like the theory of Henry being the devil, but I don't see Sylvia as God. If anything, the insinuation that she led Travis to hell would imply that she's another demon, or a figure like Jezebel. Then one might be able to draw the conclusion that she, like Henry, works to keep Travis from giving up so that he can stay on his path of hollow suffering.
Still waiting the video about your deep connection with F-Zero GX/AX, tho
I promise I'm still doing that.
Its such BS even when nonsense sexual allegations are a career canceler even when proven false. I followed the smear campaign against Quinton from these delusional anti-male nut jobs. Same with the Rick & Morty nonsense dunking the show with how mentally insane people are becoming these days in the west.
At least Suda was clever enough to see this as an opening to really set a personality even more fitting to the silver case identity Henry was made for in the beginning. Suda seems to struggle with opening up certain gates across the universe probably because he expects every entrance to be of a high caliber.
Well I think that could be true Henry being the devil and all but only like on a symbolic level since no more heroes isn’t a contained story it’s connected to all of sudas games so while this is could be hell for Travis on some level in my opinion I don’t think it’s his personal hell or that he is actually dead but that’s just my opinion
All you need to know is he decided to become a bad guy again because he saw Thor
Can I have part 4 pls?
Honestly my real only issue is his voice change in NMH 3. Other then that he's just fine.
Great vid. One thing I thought of with the Silvia is God theory
Silvia is also the devil
Silvia is the angel of light form meant to be a temptation for Travis
Henry is the brutal reality and punishment of hell
We never see Silvia and Henry interact
Also they were married. The religious practice of 2 becoming 1
What do y’all think?
If no more heroes 2 "misinterpreted" Travis or Henry, the third one basically threw shit on the wall for both of their characters
It did not. Which I explain in the video. But go on.
@@Ghenry I liked the concept that you brought up where Travis was influenced by japanese media while henry was influenced by american media. Travis and the other characters just felt off for me for some reason, the game's plot in general felt like Rick and Morty post season 3, it just didn't resonate with me like 1 or 2 did. Your video was great and it is clear you put a lot of thought and care behind it, I'm just salty about NMH3 in general.
yo, why is nmh 2 so cool?
but yknow what? nmh2 had an IMMACULATE ending. sorry friend, but i'm gonna have to disagree with you there.
Apology rejected.
i can t wait to buy and play all the no more hero games also the nmh mechs are cool i love mechs
Reminds me of Adam Taurus from RWBY. Introduced in the Black Trailer but only showed up proper in Volume 3. Before we knew very little about him other than being Blake's mentor and ruthless pragmatic leader who was willing to kill for the White Fang (civil rights turned terr0rist organisation for the Faunus). He was never really characterised much; just mentioned here 'n' there. In V3 onwards, they revealed that him and Blake (1 of the 4 main characters) were dating and that it was apparently fairly abusive (so we're told).
A cool dangerous antagonist, who's world view had a point was boiled down to abusive-Ex. He became much less interesting and it culminated in his death in V6. A fight lacking any real emotion, weight, depth or character. The White Fang was mismanaged and dropped by V5 and many consider it the worst part of RWBY (that is saying something). It's like they just wanted to get rid of him.
True, Adam was never characterised and so turning him into a crazy ex-BF was not out of character but the vacuum of character they left us to imagine with in the first 3 years was more impressive than what they did with him.
I imagine that is what Henry Cooldown fans are thinking towards Henry's character getting changed around to something much more simplisitc and lame.
New Ghenry video! ╰(*°▽°*)╯ I originally wasn't sold as Henry serving the role as The Antagonist™ to Travis, but his characterization in NMH3 made me appreciate him more. I love your analysis of him as the devil in Travis' personal hell, I think it really pulls his appearances throughout the series together.
LET'S GOOOO
What's the game in the patron segment?
Man i feel sad what happened to henry in No More Heroes 3
You shouldn't, since his character and appearance was better than ever before :^)
Easily the best part in the game for me. Too bad is really short
They did fucked up herny in no more heroes 3
I understand the disappointment in herny, but Henry was great.
@@Ghenry i think herny from no more heroes 1 and maybe 2 , are greater versions of him than herny from no more heroes 3 will ever be
@@Ghenry that herny from no more heroes 3 is just a bad praod parody
@@Ghenry Without quentin Flynn flynn, herny is nothing
@@Ghenry i think herny from no more heroes 1 is the best
In the first game Henry refers to Travis as his "twin brother" while the third he calls him "little brother".
He called him a little brother in NMH2 as well, in a mocking sense since both of he and Travis refer to how they were born at the same time, arguing 'who popped out first'
@@Ghenry I find that a cool little detail probably breaking Henry's ego overtime due to Travis not giving a crap and diddling Silvia.
I can see where you’re coming from with a lot of this also Thor is pretty good at least until probably the middle part where it’s all forgettable
I think if his voice didn't change and/or if it was blatantly addressed I wouldn't be so pissed about the change as a whole, it's like he's just some dude with the same coat on that happens to have childhood memories including one with Jeane in it. It's not on the same expansive scale as when they had that mutant hybrid in 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' that they called Deadpool despite him being A COMPLETE BASTARDIZATION OF THE CHARACTER but it's a similar case to me.
I would like to see the people behind the Castlevania animated shows do a No More Heroes show.
I will say that with Henry I didn't like the direction for the character at all, I am one of those idiots that just wanted Dante and Vergil V2 but I'm not really that beat up about it because I assume NMH3 is for sure the end, so not like I have more stuff to look forward to
Yeah, I became evil after watching Thor too buddy
My greatest problem with Henry in NMH3 is he feels like a completly different person.
Imo, Henry should have been a completly new character. The fact he is called Henry feels more like fanservice.
I literally described in the video how Henry in 3 is the same character from 1, just cranked to the max. But sure, keep thinking that.
@@Ghenry You can't change my feelings 💔
Cool video but I still think Henry in 3 was a bit lame. This comment also incorporates some points from the NMH III video so if some parts of this weren't stated in this video and its unclear sorry about that but I wanted to share my opinion on your thoughts in this video and that video. It's an interesting concept but the game does very little with it in my opinion. There feels like there's so much more and so many questions as to why this is happening and I want to see more of this new version of Henry but in the end like a lot other things in the game very little is done with it. Even if the themes and interpretations are interesting to me what's more important is a satisfying story and intentionally having so much ambiguity and a cliffhanging ending that resolves very little for the sake of these themes is kind of lame. Also have to disagree about Henry in 2. I thought the way he was integrated was fine. Sure he could have been better but the moment where we get to play as him and his interactions with Travis were some of my favorite moments in that game. I don't think he was a great character but he had a fun personality and seeing that all just get wiped away to just get replaced with something they don't really go anywhere with was pretty disappointing. If they had explored his character more and actually resolved the story I would have been fine with it. I'm glad most other people seemed to enjoy it though.
SIGNALIS CAMEO
I've got very ambivalent feelings about trying to shoehorn things like this into a Christian framework, especially when the words line up so neatly with a Buddhist interpretation. I don't know for sure what Henry is supposed to mean. NMH critiques Travis (and the player) for being too attached to childish consumer junk and trashy ideas like "payback" but doesn't really provide an alternative role model until you meet Henry. But the catch is that Henry is just a superficially more "cool" version of Travis without anime posters, and he has a nice coat. I mean, okay.
Dabbling with Christian framework in a way that feels more aligned with buddhism feels perfectly suitable to someone who's as much of a Westaboo as Suda. 🤷
@@GhenryI'm ambivalent about it because you can interpret it how you want, and it doesn't really matter if either me or Suda like it. I've said why I feel like Henry isn't a satisfying character to me, but the biblical stuff fixes nothing for me. Symbolically, does he tempt the player or Travis to go down the wrong path in life? No, not really, Travis is already a lost cause and the player is, by association, a lost cause for playing his game.
I feel like you lost me when you started talking smack about the MCU movies.. I kind of want to say that you discredited yourself but it's not to say that you didn't have anything interesting to say about NMH and its characters and installments.
21 21
A waste of a video full of bad takes and some unnecessary childish quip about Quinton Flynn. Don't bother, people.
You're about a year late, buddy. Stay mad.
Aww, it's like you think you're contributing to something. So adorable. Keep going, little buddy! I'm sure you'll get there eventually. We're all rooting for you!
These games never had "Deep meaning", it always had the basic story lines and character tropes ever. Seeing how people seek for any meaning behind the empty characters and their story arcs is super fun, while in reality each game is its own piece of pop media capsule, nothing more.
You ever think about your pancreas completely failing on you
@@Ghenrynah, I only think about "haters" and make 20+ minutes videos about how they are dumb and I am not, bc of some thing written on the hoodie in the game
Ehhhhh feels NMH should've taken more jabs and gone harder on Travis for being ass man nerding out long after the point he should've out grown the stuff. Other than that, great video.
Nah The "you are the loser" stuff has always been cringe
Ima need you to focus on your videos, bros. You have a topic, and you just say three sentences show a cutscene the say somthing random.
Virtually all the scenes I presented with its original audio were significant to what I'm discussing at that moment. Don't blame me because you have trouble paying attention.