So I've been replaying K7 and the plot has many complex layers that are hard to decipher, but all the more enjoyable because of it. So I'm piecing together the story from this great billion page document. The aim is cover all the important or hard to understand parts.
This is truncated as much as possible from a (HUGE) FAQ by Shockley_Haynes
on gamefaqs.com huuuge 100% credit to him. Unfortunately that work is a thousand million pages long so I'm just putting the most salient points here so we can try to understand the story better.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/562551/38193
THE SETUP
"The international society,
under the motto of 'Protecting the world from international
terrorism, ideology terrorism, and cyber-terrorism,' stopped
all air transportation and closed every network station in the
short span of two years, to reduce the likelihood of
terrorism. The world had changed.
"In the year 2002, a network of intercontinental expressways,
bridging the Atlantic Ocean, opened, connecting the two major
sides of the world. In the following year of 2003, the
construction of a mass scale distribution system began, and
the man-made landmass large as a city was built over an ocean.
The use and research of nuclear energy was banned, and all
radioactive waste and materials were disposed of at an energy
disposal facility in the Gibsoft Islands, a remote set of
islands off the coast of the Indian Ocean."
THE COSMIC LEVEL (GODS)
H. H. is described as "the God Killer." His rival is Kun Lan,
who is described as wielding "the Hand of God."
H. H. represents Western culture and civilization: Europe and
the Americas. Kun Lan represents Eastern culture and
civilization: the Asian continental nations and Japan. They reflect
upon their competitive relationship as experienced via chess
games; most of the time, H. H. wins.
THE POLITICAL LEVEL (GOVERNMENTS)
Yakumo
is a text which was created by 7 Japanese
founders(politicians) in the past. The Yakumo (text) is said
to have a power to change the world. And, Ulmeida (Cloudman)
got somehow a part of the text and thanks to that, he could
develop his company to one of the biggest corporations in the
world.
The
contents of the Yakumo are implied to be able to propel a
nation toward total domination of the world--or, at least,
primary control.
However, the U. N. Party
is not the United Nations. Travis' speech is most useful in
determining the role and identity of the U. N. Party.
Travis says: "Japan is controlled by the United Nations Party.
If the UN Party goes down, Japan's minority party will take
control. In other words, the Liberal Party would take the
reigns.
Now, let's look a little at the supposed history of the U. N.
Party. Fukushima appears to be the party's leader. After all,
his political clout is the reason he is the Killer7's target
in SUNSET. Fukushima explains that he became frustrated with
Japanese politics, because of its inability to become anything
more than play-acting upon a stage.
Akiba
and Kurahashi seem to recognize Kun Lan easily enough, when he
appears to them and Matsuoka. Most probably, Kun Lan is the
head of the U. N. Party; by extension, it would make sense
that Kun Lan would have recruited Fukushima to create a
governmental structure--the U. N. Party--through which the
Yakumo could be realized in the field of world politics.
Since the early 1980's, Coburn Elementary had been
taken over by the U. N. Party of Japan. There, they raised
children in the cultural image of the Yakumo. They taught that
the President of the United States was always decided upon by
"the Chairman of the Education Ministry.
According to Hulbert's tapes, the children who graduated from
Coburn were prepared for post-graduation careers in government
service. In exchange for their service, Hulbert explains, they
were "promised their life." Those who did not comply with the
expectations of the United Nations Party and the Yakumo were
killed, although it is also highly probably that they were
deported and sold as orphans on the black market--or, they
were killed and their organs were sold on the black market.
Other students were recruited to serve as assassins, in the
interest of defending and supporting the Yakumo.
Japan had become
a husk of a country, politically; it had so little political
clout, its most powerful political party (the U. N. Party)
cannot even appeal to the United States to save it from
imminent destruction. Missiles were fired from an unknown
Asian source at Japan, and, after much suspense, the United
States launched missiles westward across its Californian
border to stop the missiles of unknown origin.
The US sent the missiles because of
Coburn graduates, subordinate to Matsuken, who held positions
in American government.
Military research on captured Heaven
Smiles had enabled the United States military to extract a
viral serum that, when injected into a host, would turn the
individual into a Heaven Smile. Seeking to test their
concoction on a man with high viral resistance, the U. S.
military assaulted cult leader Andrei Ulmeyda and infected him
with their homebrew strain. The virus overpowered Ulmeyda, and
the resulting transformation destroyed all of the military
officers present.
Later that year, Curtis Blackburn--a former officer of the
self-defense department--raided the Immigration Headquarters.
His violence prompted the U. S. government to call (again)
upon the Killer7 group. The Killer7 group tracked Curtis to
ISZK LAND, an amusement park that served as a front for
Curtis' black market kidnapping ring. They confronted Curtis'
adopted protoge, Ayame Blackburn, and followed the escaping
bus (filled with kidnapped young girls) to Blackburn's
residence. After raiding Blackburn's home, killing Ayame, and
discovering Blackburn in a secret chamber beneath his estate's
swimming pool, Dan Smith of the Killer7 group slew Blackburn.
During the raid, it was discovered that Blackburn had traded
selling orphans on the black market for selling orphans'
organs on the black market. The organs were used for the
genetic cobbling of the experimental Heaven Smiles that the
Killer7 group had found during their otherworldly passage
through the Vinculum Gates.
With Blackburn killed,the production of experimental Heaven
Smiles slowed.
The
United States military--deciding against their former policy
of harnessing the Smiles' strength--purportedly developed the
group "the Handsome Men" in conjunction with Trevor
Pearlharbor (a clairvoyant comic book artist) to combat the
Heaven Smiles. However, they abandoned their plan and turned
on Pearlharbor when his clairvoyance departed from their
interests, resulting in the assassination of a Democratic
Party senator by the Handsome Men.
The Handsome Men became regarded as terrorist threats
themselves, and the Killer7 group was dispatched to kill
Trevor Pearlharbor--who was believed to have been the guiding
force of the team of heroes-turned-terrorists. The Killer7
invaded Trevor Pearlharbor's home in the Dominican Lost City.
When they discovered Pearlharbor on his veranda, drawing, Dan
Smith confronted Handsome Black, who was summoned by Trevor to
stop Dan Smith. Handsome Black, however, turned on Trevor who
died confused as to why his clairvoyance had failed. Dan Smith
killed Handsome Black, and the remainder of the Handsome Men
vowed to avenge Handsome Black's death by a formal duel in
Times Square, New York.
When the final confrontation came between Handsome
Pink and Garcian Smith, Handsome Pink transformed into her
alter ego, known only as LOVE. LOVE revealed herself as the
force responsible for the Handsome Men, and gave the Handsome
Men up to their losses at the hands of the Killer7 group.
In winter of that year, the Killer7 was sent to contact and
capture Kenjiro Matsuoka--the recognized leader of Japan's U.
N. Party and the possessor of the Yakumo. Matsuoka received
information that he was targeted by the Killer7, and used his
informant's advice to locate Hiro Sakai. Having located Sakai,
Matsuoka tortured and killed him, making his death seem like a
suicide.
After a long, self-revelatory journey between Washington State
and Pennsylvania, the Killer7 group became pared down to Emir
Parkreiner. Emir overtly joined hands with Kenjiro Matsuken to
work together and eradicate the Heaven Smiles.
Three years later, on Battleship Island, Matsuken had trapped
the final Heaven Smile. Emir arrived to dispose of the curse
for good.
Here, the path splits, and the words of Linda Vermillion (the
assassin who killed Mills) come back to mind: "See the system
with your own eyes, and then decide." Emir chooses whether he
believes in Western democratic ideals (by killing Matsuken and
destroying the remains of the Yakumo)--or if he believes in
the Japanese "imperial rule" revised in the Yakumo (by letting
Matsuken live).
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