Usually, every time Nier creator Yoko Taro makes an look, the auteur retains his face hidden from the general public with an enormous masks based mostly on Emil, the strange-looking Nier character. Nonetheless, whereas attending Anime Expo 2023 to advertise his new anime, followers witnessed a new and honestly pretty horrifying look for Taro. After I requested him what had occurred to his outdated masks, he informed me that he’d misplaced it the night time earlier than the conference.
In keeping with Taro, the Nier creator wasn’t in charge for his lacking masks. You see, a producer from Fuji TV, which Taro describes as one of many “largest and most bold” tv corporations in Japan, misplaced the Emil masks whereas the 2 shared drinks at a Los Angeles bar the night time earlier than Taro was presupposed to host a panel about his upcoming anime, KamiErabi GOD.app.
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Taro claims that when he requested the Fuji producer to obtain him a brand new masks to put on for Anime Expo, the producer mentioned he couldn’t discover any. That’s till they stumbled upon a big leprechaun masks at a dressing up retailer in LA.
“In fact in LA, you already know? Go away it to LA to have this specialist retailer only for masks. And so we went into that retailer and there was the most important masks like actually the most important one they’d was one which was sitting up on the cabinets and had been there for 30 years,” Taro informed Kotaku.
Taro steered that the masks was a going-away current that the shop proprietor’s grandmother had gifted to the enterprise, “or one thing like that.”
“I believed ‘Oh, poor factor, nevertheless it was the very best masks there. It was simply the very best match. And so I satisfied them to let me purchase it,” Taro mentioned.
![A screenshot of a tweet translated from Japanese shows Yoko Taro wearing his new mask.](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,q_60,w_645/58e133598fb6218481bdad7fe401c77b.jpg)
Yoko Taro is satisfied that his creepy new masks is cursed
The masks apparently price him $120, which Taro thought was low-cost contemplating how last-minute his want for it was. Nonetheless, its “tremendous low-cost” price ticket got here with the caveat that there’s a excessive chance that it’s cursed. His working concept is that it’s both possessed by the spirit of the shop proprietor’s grandmother or a cousin who apparently died in 1945.
“It’s gotta be possessed or one thing like that. … It needs to be cursed or possessed. There’s one thing happening with it,” Taro mentioned.
After I steered the masks is perhaps good luck as an alternative of being cursed, given its leprechaun-like look, Taro checked out me in shock, saying “Is that what it’s? A leprechaun masks?” I mentioned it type of has a St. Patrick’s Day vibe, however that didn’t appear to alter his thoughts about it being cursed.
To his credit score, the soullessness of the masks makes it leagues creepier than Emil’s masks, so he is perhaps on to one thing.
In the interim, Taro’s employees is floating the concept it’s in all probability in his finest curiosity to return the masks to the place they obtained it from. Whether or not it’s in concern of it really being cursed or not they didn’t specify.
Kotaku is protecting every thing at Anime Expo 2023, together with large bulletins at panels and unique one-on-one interviews with the trade’s largest creators. Whether or not you’re a seasoned anime fan or a beginner, you’ll be able to sustain with all issues Anime Expo 2023 right here.