Silent Hill designer Masahiro Ito, who worked on the first three games in the series and is involved in the upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2, has debunked the long-standing fan theory that James Sunderland is looking at the player in the opening scene of Silent Hill 2.
Earlier this week, Konami revealed the future of Silent Hill, including a new game in the form of Silent Hill: f, and a remake of Silent Hill 2. Particular discussion has been centered around the remake of Silent Hill 2 and how its new visual fidelity might get rid of some of the eeriness of it all, particularly with the mirror scene at the start of the game.
This debate has also reignited the fan theory that James Sunderland is actually looking directly at the player in the intro, something that popped up on Reddit as a meme some time ago and quickly became an actual fan theory. Many have since shared images that have been brightened so you can see James' eyes, which are usually obscured by shadow, claiming he's looking into the camera.
Although it's a popular fan theory that's been around for some time, not everyone is quite as fond of talking about it, notably including Masahiro Ito. Clearly sick of being asked about the subject, Ito tweeted a high-contrast image of James from the game's intro to prove that he's looking at himself. Alongside the image, Ito said, "So many people have asked me. But it's a headcanon. James doesn't look at the player."
Ito continued in a few separate tweets, showing just how annoyed he was by the topic, "I'm so fed up with this. In the first place, why does he have to see the player who exists in out of the story? He is now there for looking for his wife. Consider the context of the story."
It should probably come as no surprise for Ito to be so brutally honest about the theory annoying him, as he's never been one to hold back on what he's feeling in regards to Silent Hill, once tweeting that he wished he "hadn't designed fxxxkn Pyramid Head". Oh, and he also came up with something called "Fuck Toast", so there's that.