“Our generation, raised on manga and western cinema, got used to the sight and idea of guns, but growing up here in Japan, in our actual lives there were no guns or gun violence. Our generation also witnessed the rise of environmental destruction and pollution, and an "end of the world" mentality was planted in our minds.”
In 1999 Kojima said that he and Tsukamoto belong to the same generation, the generation of manga and cinema, and proposed that the film Bullet Ballet deals with the conflict between that generation and the younger video game generation: their generation, raised on manga and western cinema, grew accustomed to the sight and idea of guns even though in real life in Japan there was no gun violence, and they witnessed the rise of environmental destruction and pollution with an "end of the world" mentality planted in their minds; for the gamer generation, by contrast, gun violence and environmental destruction were facts of life established before they were born, so they accept them as perfectly normal and the games they play feature those elements.
“For the gamer generation, on the other hand, things like gun violence and the destruction of the environment were facts of life established before they were born, so they accept them as perfectly normal, and the games they play feature these elements.”