For Kozachenko (tentative)

Buddy was created to be a mirror that judges Leon, and JD was created to be loved by Leon……

Another intentional aspect, evident from the producers' interview, is Leon's affection for JD.

Buddy is a character created to judge Leon, Conversely, JD is a character created to evoke feelings of affection in Leon.

Initially, Leon was hostile and critical of Buddy. Buddy, in turn, didn't give a second thought to foreigners who interfered in the war in this region.

Leon, through JD's defense (originally Irina's role), decides to listen to JD's requests in particular.

This scene was necessary because Leon in Damnation is portrayed as someone who abandons anyone he doesn't like.

Among all the different versions of Leon, JD is the one who manages to win the affection of the notoriously picky Leon and becomes an important person to him. This is because the script later includes a scene where Leon shoots JD.

In the initial script, Buddy shoots his fiancée, and Leon shoots JD. Leon's feelings for JD were portrayed as a mirror image of the tragedy in which Buddy shoots his fiancée, Irina.

While not quite the same level of despair as shooting his fiancée, Leon's feelings for JD are equally strong. (That's why he was chosen to be the one Leon shot.)

[Have shot someone important to in that way.]……

The Leons outside of Damnation feel affection and sympathy for others much more easily. However, the Leon of Damnation won't consider someone as an object of affection unless they have the same level of likeability as JD. At least, he seems to be emotionally closed off and doesn't feel anything more than superficial affection. But JD found a place in Leon's heart within just a few hours of meeting him. (That feeling was comparable to Buddy's feelings for his fiancée. This must be love.)

I also felt Leon's attachment to JD was stronger than his attachment to Buddy.

Until I read the statement in the film's pamphlet that "Buddy is part of Leon's judgment, Buddy was created as a mirror for Leon," I thought Leon was obsessed with Buddy because he saw him through JD's eyes. I thought he wanted to save Buddy because JD, whom he had feelings for, asked him to.

Buddy represents Leon's fateful judgment, while JD is a character created to inflict a blow on Leon and to evoke feelings of affection in him. (Since Leon later shoots Buddy as well, he likely has feelings for him by then.)(In other words, since the creators of *Damnation* wanted to put Leon to the test, the person he has to shoot is someone he holds dear.) The creators seem to think JD is the only character Leon would instantly develop feelings for, outside of flirting woman.

Every viewer who sees this movie will in love with JD.

He was cheerful, kind, loyal, and cares more for his best friend than himself. He was the light of Damnation. Even if it was a light that couldn't reach Buddy, who was at the bottom of hell.

Leon was watching JD with the same feelings as us, the audience...

原文

Buddy is a mirror image of Leon, but we must not forget that he was also created as an element of judgment in Leon's journey to hell.

Buddy is not a projection of Leon, but rather a mirror image of Judgment Day.

Leon's criticism of Buddy comes back to Leon himself, and Buddy's refusal to accept Leon's persuasion is a test of Leon's way of life.

Buddy is a man who has lived a completely different war life than Leon, and his way of dealing with BOWs directly opposes Leon's beliefs.

Buddy played the role of the judge in hell. The highlight was probably his line in the church: "You won't let go of your weapon, you won't stop fighting. (You won't do it yourself, and you can't) yet you force it on others?"

It seemed to be a question that struck at Leon's self-deception, and Leon couldn't answer at the time. In the end, Leon's answer was, "Since we chose guns, we are not allowed to find peace. We must continue to live."

It's understandable that Leon has no choice but to drown his sorrows in alcohol at the end.

He himself declared that he had no choice but to keep fighting without finding peace, so he has a responsibility to continue doing so.

What's clear here is that, at least in Damnation, the creators don't portray Leon and Buddy as pitiful victims of tragedy, nor do they set them up that way. (I thought they both had aspects of victims, but the creators didn't see it that way, because victims don't inherently have a responsibility to endure.)

Damnation was portrayed from a much colder perspective.

They are intentionally depicted as strong men who have endured their past and are responsible for their actions. There's no sense of pitiful victimhood or self-pity in this background. (Although there is a backstory that allows Leon to empathize with Buddy and the others.)

Also, their tragic backstories were significantly toned down compared to the initial draft.

Therefore, these two strong men are not allowed to die, even in hell. Both will live their lives from now on with the responsibility of being "The warrior who sees off."

I thought Leon in Damnation seemed much tougher compared to Leon in other media. I'm glad that my intuition was in line with the creators' intentions in the script.(Damnation's Leon can be considered the true successor to the fearless Leon from the original IV. - Creator)

Furthermore, Buddy's strength, unique to Damnation, goes without saying. He didn't become cynical; he accepted his responsibility and recovered.

The more I delve, the more it matches my impression, which is wonderful! ✨

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As a fan of Buddy, I've considered the tragic and victimized aspects of his character, but that's just my interpretation. In the world of Damnation, both Buddy and Leon are much stronger.

The title "Damnation" might also refer to the responsibility of watching over someone's death, and perhaps even the divine punishment inflicted upon Leon and Buddy.

In Japanese, "Damnation" is written as "punishment from heaven," implying that what heaven considers a sin and what it punishes is "beyond human comprehension."

Both men bear responsibility for choosing guns and fighting, and if the consequence is living in their own hell, then perhaps their subsequent lives are divine punishment. (This is a speculative interpretation; it's not stated anywhere, but it's a guess based on the atmosphere.)

Buddy fulfills his responsibility by continuing to live strongly after watching over Ataman and JD, and Leon also fulfills his responsibility by becoming the one who watches over others.

Personally, Buddy was smiling at the end.

And since he's cut ties with the BOWs and is living a life with his students, one could argue that losing the function of his lower body inadvertently freed him from "Damnation" (divine punishment, or hell).

I hope that's the case.

He will become Ataman, and one day he will take young people like his former self as his disciples, guiding them to a future (not hell).

Just as Ataman tried to let Buddy live on in the future.

You don’t speak my dialect But our images reflect Drawn together by the flame We are just the same Embrace the wind and fall into Another time and space If we belong to each other, we belong ──Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime──NENA & KIM WILDE

Japanese

Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create se non etterne, e io etterno duro. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate. ───Divina Commedia / Dante Alighieri

Kamiya: Up until a certain point, there was a character named Irina, Buddy's fiancée, and it was Buddy who shot her. Then, along the way, Leon shoots JD, whom he had come to trust and thought was a good guy, and Buddy shoots his own fiancée with his own hands.

Suga: They're both people who have shot someone important to them, and now they're pointing guns at each other. The situation Leon is placed in is mentally and physically harsh, and that's the same in the final version of the script; in that sense, it's a journey through hell.

…………。

My thoughts: Don't they have any feelings? Joking aside, it really is a hellish story…

From here on are my thoughts.

Important Information [This time, the theme is Leon's journey through hell]

The story of him (Leon) entering hell and coming out.

Damnation is suggested to be the story of Leon entering hell physically and mentally and coming out. (It's well-known that DMC is a spin-off from Resident Evil, but this time, like a reverse import, the theme is Leon going to 'hell'.)

The important part for me is the fact that, for the creators, the buddies are [already in hell].

Leon experiences various battles, and in Damnation, he visits the hell imagined by the creators and spends some time there.

However, because Leon is a stranger, he can leave hell.

The civil war zone (especially the side facing extinction due to airstrikes, where Buddy and his friends live) was set up as the "hell" Leon descends upon. (In other media after Damnation, Leon seems to be re-established as being in "hell (mentally?)," but this wasn't the case in Damnation. "Hell" refers to the region and country where Buddy and his friends live, not Leon's life.)

For the creators, Leon isn't in hell.

For Buddy and his friends, their homeland is (as envisioned by the creators) hell. They—Ataman, JD, Buddy, Irina whom Buddy loved, and his students—have lived their entire lives in a place (hell) from which they are not allowed to leave or escape. For Leon, it was only a temporary visit; Buddy and his friends have lived their entire lives, from birth to death, in the "harsh civil war zone that (the creators) describe as hell." They cannot leave.

Then, Buddy (Alexander Kozachenko) is plunged into another personal hell (paralysis of the lower body).

However, even with his disabled body, he remains in this new hell, regaining his belief in nurturing the future (his students). This is also the wish of the deceased Ataman, JD, and perhaps Irina. It's not explicitly stated, but it's surely Leon's wish as well.

Here, the creators reveal that they dislike the idea of ​​ending with death, considering it irresponsible in a sense. They believe that surviving and becoming a caretaker is the responsibility.（However, the scripts outside of Damnation may not share the same beliefs.）

For creators who believe that "it's not over with death, but about taking responsibility," Buddy's life in a wheelchair is the responsibility he must bear.

And Leon, having chosen the gun (shooting JD and Buddy with it), bears the responsibility of continuing to fight against bioterrorism and feelings of despair.

As an aside, the Damnation creators' stance of "disliking death as a solution" allowed not only Buddy and Leon, but also their enemy Svetlana, to survive until the very end.

Considering JD and Ataman's attitudes, if the Leon in Damnation were as kind as the Leon in other media, Buddy probably wouldn't have taken him seriously.

Considering that Buddy's existence is for Leon's judgment, it's likely the same for Leon (if Buddy were kind and obedient, Leon wouldn't have felt threatened and would have simply passed him by).

JD and Ataman's kindness and hope didn't reach Buddy's heart.

Unlike the parable of the sun and the north wind, it was Belikova's cruel words that shook Buddy's heart.

And when Buddy was in despair after losing everything, Leon uttered the equally cruel words: "Even if you lose everything, even if you suffer disabilities, keep living."

If Damnation is Leon's journey to hell, then Leon's persuasion is the same as saying, "You are not allowed to find peace. Stay in the same hell as me."

The reason Leon says such harsh things is probably because Buddy is a mirror image of him. It's also a line unique to Leon from Damnation. It's hard to imagine other versions of Leon saying it.

Given this setting, Leon's words to Buddy at the end may have allowed him to carry with him the hell that existed in Buddy's world.

Furthermore, if we deduce that each of Leon's previous battles was a journey through hell (although this is not officially stated), should we see Buddy's life—a life spent fighting battles he could never win, born in hell—as a common thread with Leon's life?

[This has gotten quite long, so I'll publish the next part in a separate article..]→3/3 maybe 6/30

Japanese

──Hell is empty and all the devils are here.──William Shakespeare's play, *The Tempest*

I obtained a non-commercial press sheet intended for staff and related parties. ☺️💕

It is divided into three parts. Currently reading 1/3 of it.

I liked that it was B4 size, but once again, it contained behind-the-scenes interviews not found in the setting materials or pamphlets.

(Angry 💢. I believe all information about Damnation, even small details, should be included in the expensive, limited-edition setting materials. Especially the producer interviews in the pamphlet, the secrets behind the creation of Buddy, and the creator interviews in this press sheet…😡)

This section contains the setting, story, and character introductions. This information is also found in other materials.

Around this point, it mentions the location of the Eastern European model, location scouting, and the fact that Leon didn't get dirty last time as an observer, so they wanted him to get dirty this time. It also states that they made it a fictional country to avoid a political message.

This was also hinted at in the pamphlets and setting materials.

Next, about JD. The creators have stated that JD (in contrast to Buddy and Leon) doesn't have a real name.

Furthermore, Suga: "As you can see in the game, there's actually a master-servant relationship among the Lickers. Extending that line of thought, it wouldn't be strange at all for there to be someone who specializes in Lickers."

From here on, we'll include the original text, as it touches on the core of Damnation (the creators' intentions).

[Excerpt from the main text] Important parts of the original text

──────────────────────

Suga: The director really wanted to corrupt and torment Leon (laughs), so the concept was clear.

So we decided to make Leon the protagonist and tell the story of him going into hell and coming out. The concept never wavered along the way, and the ending was pretty much decided from the beginning, so I don't remember having any trouble with the plot itself from beginning to end. However, the inside was drastically different, and we struggled with how to present it more cinematically (laughs).

V, THEME ~Living with the Burden of Responsibility~~~ "Leon himself confronts the history of his own battles" (Suga)

Suga: Even in the voice-over direction, they tried to eliminate any anime-like elements as much as possible, right?

Kamiya: The American sound director understood that, and (omitted) they weren't too conscious of it being CG; basically, they were working as if they were making a feature film.

Suga: I feel the same way about that.

Kamiya: In this film, both Leon and his buddy are living with a certain responsibility, but basically, I don't like the idea that the protagonist dies for everyone, or that everything is forgiven after death. Rather than dying in self-sacrifice, they should live and take responsibility, and they also have the responsibility to properly see the people in front of them through to the end. We talked about that from the beginning.

Suga: That's right. Whether Leon can point a gun at someone he respects. At first, I only saw them as enemies, but I couldn't help but empathize with the situations JD and Buddy were fighting in. On top of that, Leon himself is forced to confront the history of battles from Resident Evil 2.

Kamiya: Up until a certain point, there was a character named Irina, Buddy's fiancée, and it was Buddy who shot her. Then, along the way, Leon shoots JD, whom he had come to trust and thought was a good guy, and Buddy shoots his own fiancée with his own hands.

Suga: They're both people who have shot someone important to them, and now they're pointing guns at each other. The situation Leon is placed in is mentally and physically harsh, and that's the same in the final version of the script; in that sense, it's a journey through hell.

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[This has become quite long, so the analysis will be published in a separate article.]→2/3 Probably June 20th

Japanese

I don't agree with the idea that Buddy (Sasha) had an aggressive personality from his childhood and as a new teacher.

Buddy was born into the poorest family and didn't receive support from his parents, so he grew up with the support of Ataman. (From the official Damnation novel) In a sense, Ataman is the older man Buddy respects and is closest to. Ataman(Ivan Judanovich) is the leader of the rebel forces.

From a young age, he needed to prove that he was a person worthy of investment.

If Buddy had been even slightly aggressive, he would have studied a job other than teaching. However, when Ataman saw this particularly intelligent boy helping young JD, he decided that he shouldn't become a warrior.

He felt that Buddy deserved to be a teacher who protects and guides young children, so even after Buddy became a guerrilla, he advised him to "keep living." (From the Damnation main story)

Ataman was a very sensible teacher to his children, in the sense that he did not raise Buddy in a way that was convenient for him and respected his child's character.

In fact, he did not let his student be injected with the ampoule that would have turned him into a monster, and instead chose to sacrifice himself, as he was getting old and did not have much time left, to protect his student.

It's almost a complete transformation from an honest, peaceful young teacher to a calm, aggressive guerrilla. Considering that JD remained unchanged, we can imagine the deep pain Buddy must have felt at losing his fiancée and his students. He experienced such despair that only death could redeem him.

In the Damnation novels, Leon felt like he was being kicked in the butt by his fallen comrades. He believed that this was what motivated him to keep living and fighting.

Buddy, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. His devotion lay in sacrificing himself for the sake of the students who had died.

Devotion to the dead was at the core of Buddy's guerrilla character. Buddy later returns to teaching, but his dedicated nature remains unchanged.

Now, with both the spirit of a kind teacher and a tough guerrilla, he will protect and guide his students, respecting the students' autonomy, just as Ataman did.

Image source / https://www.anisearch.com/character/35966,ivan-judanovich special thanks!

Japanese

Week 2 - @rerarepairmonth Thank you for this wonderful project

If the setting is royalty, then perhaps Buddy (Alexander), discovered at a young age due to his intelligence, was adopted by a high-ranking nobleman with a claim to the throne, but was actually the son of a poor nobleman (or a commoner of illegitimate lineage).

This high-ranking nobleman only had a daughter, Irina, so a husband was needed.

Alexander and Irina were betrothed when they were children.

But they fell in love the moment they met.

Irina was initially a little wary, but Alexander was kind, intelligent, and had a gentle face. She quickly fell in love with him. The same was true for Alexander.

Alexander grew rapidly, demonstrating remarkable competence, and the two dreamed of their wedding day.

Until the coup d'état during the succession to the throne occurred, and the nobles who supported the current king's eldest son were stripped of their positions and executed…

Irina's family belonged to the faction that lost their positions. Irina and her family were like the other nobles… And so, the young Alexander, having left his position, vows to live solely for revenge against the current queen who usurped the throne.

He possesses the wisdom and companions he gained during his impoverished days. Now, he has acquired the knowledge of the nobility and the skills to fight.

He will lead the rebel army.

But for now, Irina and Alexander are unaware of the tragic future that awaits them.

@rerarepairmonth Thank you for this wonderful project ! Week 4 - Empty Bellies/Snack Breaks,

Vendetta Leon came to see Buddy, but he got called away before he could have breakfast 😢 Buddy made him a sandwich. Vendetta Leon was touched.

Week 2 - @rerarepairmonth Thank you for this wonderful project / Sorry if the English is weird because it's Google translation.

【Leon tries to tease Buddy.】

Synopsis: Leon reveals his true identity, but Buddy doesn't believe him. He's worried about Leon's mental state.

It's been a year since I started visiting Buddy's house in between I'm busy schedules.

After dinner, Buddy said,

"Leon, there's something I'd like to ask you again."

"…What do you want to ask?"

"There's a lot of stuff. First of all…I'd like to know, if possible, who you are, where you're from, and what your job is. I thought you were a CIA mercenary, is that wrong?"

--That conversation took place.

I had a vague idea that Buddy thought of me as a low-level CIA operative, an American mercenary.

He knows more about the inner workings of the CIA than I thought. The CIA "keeps" mercenaries at high salaries, tailored to their specialties, and his former partner, Krauser, was exactly that kind of specialized mercenary, working exclusively for the US government.

Because he thought of me as CIA, Buddy never asked me too much about my daily work.

It was refreshing. It was my first time hanging out with someone who didn't know I was "that" Leon S. Kennedy, and my first time being treated purely out of kindness.

(In front of Buddy)

I was nobody, just a busybody.

My fan fiction in Japanese.

レオサシャ【Someday】 | ❤️