Your "foul beast" looks like an ordinary sleepy bear to me, pops.
Issun
Sleepy is a large bear who appears in Ōkami. It has little effect on the story, but is well known for its habit of sleeping on top of round objects. Sleepy is best known, quite obviously, for sleeping. It is evidently a strong sleeper, as an attack from Susano (even when aided by Amaterasu's Power Slash) fails to rouse it. Even when it is occasionally jarred from its rest, it quickly falls back into slumber. It is also known for its habit of balancing on round or semi-round objects, and even has a minigame relating to its balancing.
Sleepy is a large rotund bear which stands on its hind legs. Its fur is brown with light patches, and it wears a large leaf on its head. It sways about while balancing in its sleep, and it has a large bubble of mucus which it blows in and out from its nose.
History[]
Ōkami[]
Sleepy is first encountered in Hana Valley, where it can be found in Susano's secret hiding area. It is balancing on the crystal orb used in the ritual to make the Guardian Sapling bloom, and it is removed by Amaterasu's Power Slash (though Susano believes it was him who did the removal).
Sleepy is later encountered in Agata Forest, near the entrance, where it is found balancing in its sleep on an acorn. It is a part of a minor minigame, where Amaterasu may roll objects to it for it to balance on. It balances, in order, on a large walnut, a green plant head resembling a large cabbage, and a beehive, with each being more difficult to guide than the previous object. When the first two objects are presented to it, it will leap onto them and fall back into sleep, granting Amaterasu Praise; when it is given the beehive, however, it becomes greatly excited and rouses from sleep, jumping joyously on its new sphere. He is so excited that he hardly sleeps again.
A bear resembling Sleepy can be encountered in Kusa Village's inn, next to the front desk. Issun refers to it a statue, saying it looks more realistic than the actual thing, but it acts startled in a similar way to Sleepy when it is tackled.
Trivia[]
- According to the Ōkami Official Complete Works, Sleepy is based on Totoro. This is evident in his girth and the forest setting he appears in.
- Sleepy is the only bear classification in the game which are highly anthropomorphic, but cannot be fed.
- From Sleepy's habit of standing on spheres, sleeping, Issun deducted that the bear has a love for spheres.[1]
- In the Ōkami Official Complete Works, one of Sleepy's concept arts depicts him standing on what seems like a pink berry, which was not included in the final game.