Rachael Hutchinson, Elias Ahuja Professor of Japanese and Game Studies in the University of Delaware’s Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, published two book chapters on Japanese videogame analysis, examining Japanese blockbuster games such as Metal Gear Solid and Pokemon through disability aesthetics and colonial frameworks.

Metal Gear Solid

“Ideologies of the Body in Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid Series,” appeared in The Metal Gear Solid Series: Critical Essays and New Perspectives, ed. Steven Kielich and Chris Hall (Bloomsbury, Feb. 20, 2025). The essays contained in this volume consider and reconsider the cultural, historical, political, philosophical and aesthetic impact of the Metal Gear Solid games in analyses spanning the series' canonical entries, adding to the understanding of both well-studied installments and under-examined ones.

The book connects themes that emerge from the games—such as sexuality and queerness, rhetoric and ethics, and subjectivity and embodiment, while also demonstrating how the series opens up broader questions about ecology, race, gender, militarization, pedagogy and game design that demand continued analysis and application. 

For the Love of Monsters

Monsters are a key feature of most games: We fight, kill, and eat them—and sometimes, we become them. However, monsters in games and play are not only entertaining but also a reflection of the monstrosity of our world. In this book,  22 scholars explore how themes such as mental health, colonialism, individualism, disability, gender, sexuality, racism and exclusion are reflected in the monsters we interact with in games, play, and our daily lives both online and offline. 

“For the Love of Monsters: Yōkai and Colonialism in Japanese Games,” appeared in Monstrosity in Games and Play: A Multidisciplinary Examination of the Monstrous in Contemporary Cultures, ed. Mikko Meriläinen et al. (Amsterdam University Press, Jan. 14, 2025)