No More Heroes
In No More Heroes, Travis Touchdown is fighting to become number one, killing all the other members of the United Association of Assassins that get in his way. This is done at the behest of a mysterious woman named Slyvia Christel. At some point, it’s revealed that the UAA is a sham that Slyvia set up so that Travis could kill Jeane, his half-sister who killed his parents because of abuse faced by their father.
However, Travis’s twin brother shows up by the end and reveals that Slyvia is his wife and has been conning people. The funny thing is the meta-commentary behind it all. At some point, Travis realizes he was fighting simply for the sake of it – being number one means nothing. He’s really just searching for the end, the exit to “Paradise” as they call it. When battling Henry, Travis realizes that there’s really only one exit – death – and only his brother can lead him there.
So how does that explain the fact that Sylvia and a little Jeane are admiring a painting of Travis and his brother in a museum at the end of No More Heroes? It’s possible that this is the “real” world with Travis and Henry being nothing more than a neat little battle that we see everyday in manga and anime. As for No More Heroes 2, well, that’s a story for another day.
