Forbidden SIREN Naoko Mihama – Naoko’s Bathroom on Promo Site

Long Gone Official Promotional Site of Forbidden Siren

Forbidden SIREN, a Japanese PlayStation 2 horror game that celebrated its 20th-anniversary last year, has been one of the most terrifying games of all time since its release in 2003 and still has a large and devoted fan base around the world.

If you have reached this article, you are probably a fan of “Forbidden SIREN” or have played this game in the past.

But, did you know that there used to be an official promotional website for SIREN targeting audiences outside of Japan?

It was accessible from the European version of the official SIREN website, but that site has gone quite some time ago. There used to be a mirror site that had backups of it until a few years ago, but it has also gone and is not accessible anymore.

If you have never seen the site, I believe you will enjoy this article.

The Content of the Promotional Site

This promotional site was interactive, and when you clicked on an item, some sort of event would occur. (Kind of like point-and-click computer games in the early 2000s.)

The site featured four characters, Kyoya, Akira, Harumi, and Naoko, and when you clicked on an item in each character’s room, an event would occur, and you could learn about their backgrounds and side stories.

I was a hardcore SIREN fan back then (and still am now), and I absolutely loved this website as much as playing the game. I remember visiting the site almost every day.

Surprisingly, however, not many SIREN fans seem to know about this promotional site, so I would like to introduce it here on this blog.

This is the first page. The four names are written on a small wooden board called “ema” (votive tablet) – from the right, Naoko Mihama, Harumi Yomoda, Akira Shimura, and Kyoya Suda. There is a bowl of incense sticks above each ema. When the incenses are lit, you can click on the character’s ema and go to their room.

Let’s go to Naoko’s room first, which happens to be my absolute favorite.

Naoko’s Bathroom

This is Naoko’s bathroom. The red is a color that represents the game, but a bathroom with red tiles? It is quite unsettling, isn’t it? The color is too vivid; it doesn’t seem relaxing at all…

If you are a SIREN fan, you must be familiar with those red crosses. They are the items you can click on. Let’s look at them one by one.

Brown Envelope

Clicking the envelope triggers this movie. Naoko is a model/idol and visits Hanyuda village for coverage as a reporter for a psychic TV program and gets involved in the story, and this seems to be material for that program.

One translation is missing in the subtitles. After “I know it is a legend but still…”, she said, “After hearing the story, I had a nightmare,” followed by, “I just hope it doesn’t give me grey hairs!”

(Speaking of a psychic TV program and photos, I miss those good old days when we still enjoyed ghost photographs. You only noticed strange things in the developed photos. Ever since smartphones with high-performance cameras became the norm, these ghost photographs all have disappeared. “Technology” and “horror” really don’t go well together in my opinion, don’t you think?)

Her voice sounds kind of different from the voice in the actual game…? I may be wrong, but the voice actor for this might be a different person than the actor who played Naoko in the game.

Magazine

It’s a magazine with Naoko on the cover. The magazine is called “Psy,” and it seems to be based on the popular monthly women’s fashion magazine “Ray” in real life. Even the design of the title is almost the same.

The magazine is interactive and you can flip through the pages.

It seemes to be a makeup tutorial for a mermaid-style look, but “Why mermaid?”, I thought.

Then I remembered that originally, the game “SIREN” was based on the Japanese legend of Yao Bikuni, who became immortal after eating the flesh of a mermaid. (In the game, Hisako Yao is the one who was cursed with immortality after consuming the flesh of Datatsushi a thousand years ago.)

The fact that they tie even these small details into the story is what makes this game so amazing!

This is the last page you can turn to.

And as you look through the items, the color of the bathwater gradually turns dark red-black.

Cell Phone

It sounds like the man is a manager or staff member from the agency Naoko belongs to. I couldn’t make out the audio at the time, and even when I tried again this time, at maximum volume, I still couldn’t quite understand what he was saying, haha.

(Ah, the flip phone, brings back some nostalgic memories. Phones with a camera feature started appearing around the mid-2000s, and at that time, they were so cutting-edge, even though the image resolution was terrible.)

Mirror

Naoko talks about herself in a normal tone of voice, while the expressionless face of Naoko with blood flowing from her eyes appears in the mirror… Quite eerie, isn’t it?

(Note: The reason Shibito’s eyes bleed is that when they become Shibito, their bodies are filled with red water instead of blood. As the blood is no longer needed for them to live, it constantly flows from their eyes.)

Also, the subtitle translation is missing from 0:28 to 0:38. She is saying, “Hmm, I guess it’s about making sure you won’t be embarrassed to be in front of people. Hmm, I suppose it’s about doing things properly.”

After seeing all the items, a new white cross appears on the window, and clicking it triggers a 10-second in-game video featuring Naoko.

When it ends, it returns to the first page.

Observing the First Page

I really like the eerie atmosphere of this first page, reminiscent of SIREN!

The incense lights up quietly, accompanied by gently swaying smoke, creating a haunting ambiance with a mysterious tranquility that is very appealing.

As it’s so dark that I really can’t see what’s in there, I tried maxing out the exposure on the image.

 

The wooden objects symmetrically placed behind are Mana Crosses.

Final Thoughts

While writing this article, I recalled the time when I was deeply immersed in this game. Revisiting that promotional website, which I accessed every single day at that time, more than twenty years later, I find its art still remarkable. (The actual promotional website has long been closed, so what I saw was a mirrored backup site though.)

Oh, how I wish I could see the original site again. I’d love to read the small texts in the magazines on high-quality images!

In this article, I wrote about Naoko Mihama from the promotional site. As an adult now, it was fascinating to observe even the smallest details that I hadn’t paid attention to back then. And my perspective on the character Naoko has changed slightly.

At the time, Naoko seemed like a mature woman to me—strong-willed and somewhat intimidating, like a stern older woman. Now, having long surpassed her age, I can’t help but feel sorry for her. A young woman like her getting involved in such unfortunate situations is nothing but a tragedy.

The characters in SIREN are truly captivating. They possess such a level of realism that it feels like they could exist somewhere in the real world. I believe you know what I mean if you are a SIREN fun:)

Well then, in the next article, I’d like to write about the other three characters featured on the promotional site: Harumi, Akira, and Kyoya.

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it.