“The boss is kind of mysterious. She's maternal, but she's also like the father figure.”
Kojima explained how he conceived The Boss (Metal Gear Solid 3, 2003) and why he gave the role to Kikuko Inoue: in his mind he was a bit audacious with the character and wanted to challenge the actress and bring out a different side of Kikuko. He described the character as kind of mysterious, maternal but also like a father figure; of middle age yet hard to place, with moments of youthful outburst — that was what he asked of Kikuko. Kojima said this was an unusual assignment for the two-dimensional world of anime, where roles are typically cute girls, mothers or children, and that The Boss is none of those. They shot and re-shot the performance many times and struggled to find The Boss’s voice and average tone, with Kikuko asking for further takes; Kojima said the careful work mattered because The Boss claims to be Snake’s mentor and then appears to betray him, but by the end the situation is revealed to be different, something the player cannot discover until finishing the game, so he appreciated that she accepted the role.
“And actually, in my mind, for this character, I was a bit audacious. I wanted to challenge you and bring out a different side of Kikuko. […] In the two-dimensional world of anime, typically you only have roles for cute girls or moms or a child. But the boss is none of those. […] We shot it and re-shot it so many times, didn't we? […] We struggled to find the boss's voice, like, where her average tone would be. […] But when you get to the end, you'll see that's not the case, but these things you can't find out until you play to the very end.”