Gaming Icon Hideo Kojima on Deathmatch Wrestling Doc: “I Was Moved to Tears”

Legendary game creator Hideo Kojima recently took a break from crafting surreal worlds and mind-bending narratives to watch something a little more grounded, but no less intense: the 2021 documentary “KYO-EN” KASAI JUN, centered on Japanese deathmatch icon Jun Kasai.

In a post on social media, Kojima didn’t just praise the film. He reflected deeply on what professional wrestling has meant to him since childhood. Here's what he had to say in full:

“I watched the documentary film ‘KYO-EN’ KASAI JUN. I was moved to tears. I was overwhelmed by the way he lives his life, the way he faces his work, and the way he faces his family. I was also impressed by the way the film was made. When I was a child, I used to watch wrestling on TV with my father. I wanted to see Tiger Mask, whom I had seen in anime, wrestle. Watching my father's favorite Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba while waiting for Tiger Mask. I stopped watching it when I grew up. I watched it again when the nWo became a movement. I also saw it live. When the UWF was formed, I started watching again. Watching matches while wondering if it was a shoot or a work. I watched PRIDE and UFC and started watching wrestling again. Even now, I sometimes watch it. I was reminded of the joy and madness that I used to see in my childhood. A great work.”

Kojima is known for blurring the line between fiction and reality in his games, so it’s no surprise that a documentary exploring the physical and emotional extremes of deathmatch wrestling would strike a chord with him.

Who Is Hideo Kojima?

If you know video games, you know Kojima. He’s the visionary behind the Metal Gear Solid series and Death Stranding, two titles that helped redefine what storytelling could look like in gaming. Kojima is more than a director, he’s a world-builder, a writer, a producer, and a lifelong fan of cinema and pop culture. His work often explores the gray areas between war and peace, identity and illusion, and, much like pro wrestling, what’s real and what’s performance.

Jun Kasai: Japan’s King of Chaos

The subject of the documentary, Jun Kasai, is one of the most revered deathmatch wrestlers in the history of Japanese wrestling. Known as the “Crazy Monkey,” Kasai made his name in promotions like FREEDOMS, BJW, and CZW, specializing in glass, barbed wire, fluorescent tubes, and sheer brutality.

What makes Kasai stand out beyond the violence is his charisma and heart, the guy bleeds buckets in front of small, rabid crowds and still manages to make it all feel poetic. “KYO-EN” documents that reality, not just through the blood and scars, but through the toll it’s taken on his body and his personal life.

A Personal Reflection

Kojima’s tweet adds more than just praise, it’s a rare glimpse into his connection to wrestling. From watching Tiger Mask and Antonio Inoki with his father as a child, to rediscovering wrestling during the nWo boom, to being drawn back in during the UWF and PRIDE eras, Kojima traces his own emotional timeline alongside wrestling's evolution.

Watching “KYO-EN” clearly didn’t just remind him of Jun Kasai’s story, it reconnected him to a deeper nostalgia. And coming from someone like Kojima, who knows a thing or two about pain, perseverance, and spectacle, that kind of praise carries weight.

If you’ve never seen the film, or you’re only loosely familiar with Jun Kasai’s work, consider this a compelling endorsement, from a man whose entire career has been about telling complicated, emotional, and often violent stories. And from one master of chaos to another, it’s about as high a compliment as you can get.