Itchy, Tasty: An Unofficial History of Resident Evil
By Alex Aniel
Unbound Exclusives
About the book
An Itchy, Tasty History of Resident Evil by Alex Aniel chronicles the development of Capcom’s popular Resident Evil series, beginning from before the 1996 release of the original through to the end of 2006.
Aniel spent two years interviewing key members of former Capcom staff, allowing him to tell the inside story of how Capcom’s survival horror game franchise was envisioned as early as the late 1980s, how its unexpected and unprecedented success saved Capcom from financial trouble, how it struggled at the turn of the century and how it was reborn with the 2005 release of Resident Evil 4. It concludes with the large organizational changes that occurred at Capcom in late 2006 that saw the series production shift to a new generation of creators (a topic to be converted in a sequel book).
Aniel narrates the development of each Resident Evil game released between 1996 and 2006, interspersing commentary from the developers themselves. Aniel offers new information that takes into account Capcom’s situation as a company throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, the video game industry as a whole and how being from Japan influenced the viewpoints of the creators.
Well-versed in both English and Japanese, Aniel has spoken directly to many key players from the first decade of the Resident Evil series, including:
- Tokuro Fujiwara, Director of Sweet Home, Executive Producer of Resident Evil (1996)
- Yoshiki Okamoto, Executive Producer of Resident Evil series through 2003
- Noritaka Funamizu, General Producer of Resident Evil series, Producer of Resident Evil: Outbreak
- Shinji Mikami, Director of Resident Evil (1996 and 2002), Resident Evil 4
- Hideki Kamiya, Director of Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cryand OKAMI
- Kazuhiro Aoyama, Director of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
- Hiroki Kato, Director of Resident Evil CODE: Veronica
An extract from the book appeared earlier this year Polygon, you can read it here
So, if you already have conducted all these interviews and compiled this book, is this funding essentially a way to secure pre-orders? How will this funding add to the book's production? And why would you stop the "history" at 2006? That leaves out 14 years of Resident Evil's 24 year history. If this book leaves out 60% of the history of Resident Evil, then it's more of an "intro to history of RE" than a full picture. Essentially, what differentiates this book from Resident Evil Archives 1-2 which act as both oral and visual accounts of the series history?
Hello! The campaign takes care of production-related aspects like manufacturing, editing and copywriting. The book is part of a project that will explore post-2006 in a Vol. 2 book. The book is already around 70,000 words, so it's massive in its own right. Thematically, 2006 marks a logical endpoint of the first era of RE, and the springboard into a new one. The RE Archives books published by Capcom focus on story elements told within the games themselves. This book is more of a developer/creator-oriented story. If you haven't already, give the Polygon excerpt a read: https://www.polygon.com/2019/1/21/18187446/resident-evil-2-history-capcom-hideki-kamiya Thanks!
Hi there, are there two versions of the hardback book? Some descriptions mention 'special edition hardback', while others just say 'hardback'. Kind regards, Kristine
Kristine - there is only one edition, my clumsy copywriting is to blame for this ambiguity. Mathew
What is the difference between the Hardcover book and the Special Edition? Just the signature?
Yes - sorry should have been clearer Mathew
Perhaps I overlooked it but I don't see anywhere when you expect this book to ship. Any idea or rough estimate of when it will be available?
Hi Preston, We can't set a publication date until the book has reached 100%, and we've had the manuscript handed in, so we can't say for sure when the book will be available yet. Sorry not to have a clearer answer at the moment. Unbound Support
Hello! I was wondering if you were still able to upgrade to the RE2 director signed copy by chance? I saw it for a few days and now I can't seem to find it
Hi Meylani, Yes you can indeed still upgrade. There's details on how to do this over in our help centre here: http://help.unbound.com/en/articles/3159595-how-do-i-upgrade-my-level-of-support. I hope this helps. Unbound Support
Can we expect a shipment email for physical copies? I'm in the US and haven't seen anything yet despite others getting theirs. I want to make sure it's on the way.
Hi CJ, You should receive an email upon dispatch. Please email support@unbound.com if your book has not yet been dispatched as they can look into this for you.