Ah, so 'breathing through your skin' 2.0.
Just so we're clear, Taro has admitted out loud several times that he likes seeing women in sexy outfits. To the point that most game critics (begrudgingly) respect him for being honest and straightforward. Unlike Kojima.
Yeah we all remember the comments; most obvious of which I sometimes thing the media cherry picked to have the biggest field day with. Otherwise it might've actually been substantiated as something that could’ve had more substance (subsistence?).
What else was said -
Speaking about Quiet's design just days after her full reveal in September 2013, Kojima tweeted that he asked lead designer Yoji Shinkawa for a "more erotic" character; in fact, his original idea of her was her being naked. In response to the reaction to this statement, he clarified: "Maybe the phrase 'erotic' wasn't really [the correct word for] what I was trying to say. What I'm really trying to do is create unique characters. One of those is, of course, Quiet. She's a really unique character, I wanted to add that sexiness to her. It wasn't really supposed to be erotic, but sexy." He also said, "You're going to notice [when you play,] but there's limited dialogue with [characters], and for that reason we really want to show the characteristic from each character. Sexy could be for guys, weapons, vehicles, it's really that characteristic." Shinkawa added, "From my perspective, it's not just the characters, but often I look at a weapon or a vehicle and think 'That's really sexy.' It's not just the characters, but the mechs and weapons [as well]."
Kojima stated Quiet's design was to appeal to cosplayers and to sell figures; he also made further tweets to demonstrate details of the character to early cosplayers. Kojima said about her clothing, "Once you see how she fits into the story, you will understand why she looks the way she does. Without any of this background I can certainly understand why there are concerns. I will say there's a reason she looks the way she does and wears those clothes. And it's all a part of the game, learning those reasons one by one." As noted by Kojima himself, Quiet is the only heroic female character of
Metal Gear Solid V, contrasting with the usual three of four in most of his earlier works; he described her as powerful yet vulnerable. He also later compared Quiet to Matilda Lutz's protagonist character from the 2017 rape and revenge action-thriller film
Revenge.
Perhaps most importantly-
Joosten herself was surprised with the controversy (see below), but said, "When I got to see her design, I was shocked too. But everybody didn't get to hear her story yet so I can understand people are angry about it or saying she is showing too much. But I am not bothered by it."
FTR, the mission A Quiet Exit was one of the most impactful and emotional moments in the series IMO. Nothing else before it really had me so close to tearing up. The brilliance of it was that it’s basically left up to the player to decide when to stop looking for her, and get back on the chopper. I know it took me a long while.
I’ve said it before but I think a lot of the intent with these kinds of things is too often sort of lost in cultural translation and then derided for clicks, which is unfortunate.
