Picture this: for the longest time, your country has been at war with itself, with a man in charge who sided with demonic forces hellbent on enslaving humanity and killing it gratuitously, pretty much For the Evulz. Finally, the evil overlord is slain by a powerful warrior, a new leader takes charge and it seems that, at long last, peace has been restored and the country is now properly unified, ready to receive outsiders who are coming to its shores... But then this new leader suddenly snaps and reinstates the demons into power YET AGAIN, most of his subordinates are ALSO in cahoots with the evil entities, and he's not only wanting to enslave humanity, he wishes to bring about The End of the World as We Know It all in an attempt to become a god-like being. This is the setting for "Dawn of Dreams", a game that begins its narrative by outright telling you Japan has become a living Hell under Hideyoshi's control;
The worst part is that no one in any position of political power is fighting for humanity. Hideyoshi's vassals are infected by the Genma Insects, his generals are all monsters, and even his chief retainers are possessed by the Genma's chain of command, down to his freaking concubine being a witch in disguise. Not even the Western traders are safe, if Luis Frois' alliance with Mitsunari and Demonic Possession by Rosencrantz is any indication;
Not to mention the natural disasters that just spontaneously started after Hideyoshi assumed control. Volcanoes erupted, earthquakes shook the land and fires broke out in forests and temples alike, all to signal the re-emergence of the Genma and to once again remind Japan the war was far from over.
The so-called "Cherry Trees" being gathered by Hideyoshi, more accurately called the Genma Trees. Horrific abominations, these things are teased quite early in the plot as being more than just Sakura blossoms, after Soki inspects a cargo and we hear screaming coming from it.
These trees are the results of Genma experimentation, naturally. Every single one of these trees Was Once a Man, people consumed and corrupted by the Genma Insects the trees themselves produce, given to humans to improve their skills in combat as they fight for both Hideyoshi and his clan. The bugs corrupt the person from the inside out and, after turning them into mindless fighting machines bent on killing and bloodlust, eventually warp their bodies into a horrific mutation that only vaguely looks like a tree. When we finally see these trees uncovered, they have arms and faces twisting and writhing, the trunks sway in a sickly manner, and they have huge BOILS on random spots;
The effects of the Genma Insects on a human body are just as unsettling. Just look at Ohatsu, who was forced to ingest these things to stay under Hideyoshi's sway, arriving at Mt. Hiei a while later only to fall to the ground and start convulsing as they ravage her insides. When Soki is forced to awaken his true power to save her, he comes back to his old friend brandishing her rifle at him, CLEARLY against her will, all while convulsing and moaning in agony;
The fact that these "trees" are just extra batteries for the Omen Star is even more disturbing. Hideyoshi doesn't see his own people or his army as humans, but as tools he can just torture as he pleases, as long as it favors his plans.
The Genma Triumvirate, leaders of the Genma's operations even above Hideyoshi's knowledge, tempting him and lying to him so he'll stay obediently under their command until the bitter end. All three members are different types of Big Creepy-Crawlies for the entomophobes in the audience, and their influence over Japan through Hideyoshi is truly something to be feared, especially since they can inhabit human bodies and hide in plain sight, and said human bodies are all people directly involved with Hideyoshi's administration:
Perhaps the worst, most tragic case of their influence is Luis Frois, a Jesuit priest and leader of the Christian movement in Japan, possessed by the Triumvirate's scientist Rosencrantz and turned into a Sinister MinisterMad Scientist who manipulates and schemes the deaths of all Western travelers who came with him, even killing all of his own students sans Roberto, who managed to escape. It's the most tragic because Luis himself is far from evil, but the possession has essentially trapped him in his own body to the point where he can only free himself from Rosencrantz by dying with it. And even that's not quite enough to kill the scientist, who comes back later in his true form as a giant Genma fly that Roberto needs to put down for good;
Mitsunari Ishida, on the other hand, is not only possessed due to evil influence, he WILLED the Triumvirate's leader Claudius into his body by himself, meaning it's at least partially More than Mind Control on his case. Claudius, the "Chancellor", is also such an evil creature that this giant flying centipede has to be put down twice after he ALSO comes Back from the Dead for one last fight with Tenkai;
Ophelia, the Priestess, is the only member to not be possessing anyone, instead using her shapeshifting magic to make herself resemble Yodo, Ohatsu's sister and Hideyoshi's concubine. This doesn't exempt her from being so utterly creepy, even despite her deceptively more humanoid form compared to her fellow Triumvirate members. She's a Sadist, plain and simple, taunting Ohatsu through her sister's form and pushing Munenori into corrupting himself further for the sake of his revenge against Jubei.
Luis Frois's hospital in Osaka, the "San España". Devoid of patients, the place is a short level but with a tense atmosphere. It becomes even eerier when you go down to the basement levels and discover that the "operating room" is just another of Luis' horrific experimentation chambers, with Roberto being found strapped to a gurney with GIANT SAWBLADES looming over him, ready to cut him open. Even worse, there are no patients or doctors anywhere, only Genma mages and zombies in Western clothing.
The former village in Kyushu: Heavy rain, ravens and nothing but lots of awful-looking zombies all around, feeding on corpses strewn carelessly on the ground. The Genma brutalized an entire village full of innocent people and transformed them into monsters, just to set up a trap for the heroes when they arrive.
