In one of the many, many, many fourth-wall breaking interludes in No More Heroes 3, series star Travis Touchdown guests on a TV show to discuss his deep love and appreciation for the work of Takashi Miike, Japanese cinema's most prolific, varied and plain wildest of directors. It's another self-indulgent pop culture reference in a series that's awash with them, but there's something different here – the sense that series creator Goichi Suda aligns himself somewhat with Miike.
It's something underlined when Travis goes into an extended rant about how a director like Miike – a man whose most notorious film has its opening title spelled out in a splash of semen – went on to create the idol series Girl x Heroines in order to strengthen his production crew. It's something Suda himself did with Travis Strikes Again, the stripped back spin-off he used to educate his young team before they set to work on a No More Heroes game proper.
I detested that particular game for leaning into the excesses of the series while lacking so much of its style, and yet here I am absolutely adoring No More Heroes 3. So what's changed? Well, it helps that this is a proper No More Heroes game, returning to the over-the-shoulder action that sees Travis scythe through small mobs and tackle screen-filling bosses. It's even more of a No More Heroes game than 2010's sequel, with the open world sections that were excised for No More Heroes 2 restored, and with some style too.
