Cyber Abe?

Cyberpunk 2077 was already going to be one of the highest-profile video game releases of 2020, what with its iconic source material, celebrated development team, and optimization for the newly released generation of home consoles. Still, extra hype is never a bad thing in the entertainment world, and the game got an additional buzz boost when Keanu Reeves joined the project to portray and voice key character Johnny Silverhand (and even appeared, with his voice dubbed into Japanese, in the game’s Japanese TV commercials).

But while Keanu’s presence is impossible to miss, gamers in Japan believe they’ve spotted yet another real-world celebrity in Cyberpunk.

https://twitter.com/aiueo_LV999999/status/1340452881162358785

The anchorwoman in that in-game news report doesn’t seem to be based on any actual broadcaster, but some Japanese Cyberpunk players think the man at the podium looks awfully familiar, and that if you trimmed his hair a bit on the sides he’d be revealed to be…

…Shinzo Abe, the prime minister of Japan from 2012 until last September.

▼ “Like, they got Abe-chan in Cyberpunk 2077.”

https://twitter.com/pp_psg/status/1339786927751360512

▼ “Cyberpunk Shinzo Abe.”

https://twitter.com/MESUDANSHI/status/1339768869230006278

The character appears to be an unnamed executive from fictional Chinese weapons maker Kang Tao. As such, he’s not an overt homage to Abe in the same way that Oshima, a deep-thinking software designer you meet in a bar, is an obvious stand-in for video game director Hideo Kojima, of Metal Gear and Death Stranding fame.

▼ Hammering home the reference, “Oshima” is an alternate reading of the kanji Kojima’s name is written with (小島).

So it looks like Cyberpunk Abe is either a coincidence or the result of one of the game’s designers using a photo of the politician as a jumping-off point for the character art. Still, we can’t help wanting to see Abe try his hand at some Cyberpunk cosplay now, considering how well his last stint dressing up as a video game character went.

Source: Twitter/@pp_psg via Jin
Top image: YouTube/Cyberpunk 2077
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