Johnny Sasaki

Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki is a recurring joke character, cameoing in Metal Gear Solid, Sons Of Liberty and appearing more prominently in Guns Of The Patriots. Johnny's grandfather (also named Johnny) has a brief appearance in Snake Eater.

History
During Operation: Snake Eater, Johnny's father/grandfather, also named Johnny, was an American born Russian GRU soldier who guarded Naked Snake's cell after he was captured by Volgin. Unlike his eventual grandson, Johnny suffered from constipation, not diarrhea. Johnny Sr. showed Snake his hospitality by giving him some food and a fork, and after Snake threw it back to him it struck a conversation about his firstborn son who is also named Johnny, and that eventually, his son's son would probably be named Johnny, too. He explains that all of the firstborn sons in the Sasaki family are traditionally named Johnny. He also managed to grab Snake's cigar-shaped gas spray gun while Snake was tortured and handed it back to him, having no idea what it actually was. Snake was able to escape his cell without Johnny Sr. noticing, which would be a trend that would also pass on to the rest of the Sasakis and Snakes. Given Johnny Sr's orders to keep Snake in the cell and in good condition, it is unknown if he survived the destruction of Groznyj Grad.

During the Shadow Moses Incident, Johnny was one of the GENOME Soldiers that took part in Liquid Snake's uprising. Unlike the other GENOME soldiers, however, he did not have any enhanced abilities, as he avoided all mandatory injections. He was the guard assigned to watch Donald Anderson's cell when Solid Snake first infiltrated the facility. When he heard Anderson die of a heart attack, he opened Meryl Silverburgh's cell by mistake and was knocked out and stripped by her, using his outfit as a disguise afterwards. Later, he guarded Solid Snake's cell in the medical room after Snake was captured by Sniper Wolf. Johnny was famously fooled by Solid Snake lying down in a puddle of ketchup, posing it as his own blood, and was subsequently knocked out once again.

Somehow, Johnny managed to avoid being sent to Pease AFB (which is where the other surviving Genome soldiers were sent) during the aftermath of the Shadow Moses Incident and joined the Gurlukovich Mercenaries. During the Big Shell Incident, he was spotted in a bathroom stall, complaining about his commanding officer, Olga, who reminded him of Meryl. He also commented that at that point, "things really started to hit the skids" and "up 'til then [he] was steady cruisin' with the elites." Later, he ran into Emma Emmerich while she was crossing the Strut L Oil Fence. Although he was assigned to watch out for intruders, he let Emma get away due to his experience with Meryl on Shadow Moses. Both of these conversations were heard by Raiden using the Directional Microphone. It is unknown how Johnny escaped the Big Shell after Arsenal Gear's takeoff.

Eventually, in 2014, Johnny joined Meryl's Rat Patrol, with his teammates calling him by the nickname Akiba. He had a brief run-in with Old Snake, whom he didn't recognize. Johnny stated that he was a "ten-year vet," which adds up with his time since the Shadow Moses incident. At this point, Snake overpowered and disarmed him, remarking, "How the hell did you survive ten years!?" which suggests that while he was among elite soldiers, he wasn't a very competent combatant, which may also explain why he failed to remember to switch off the safety on his XM8. While Snake and Meryl convene on their mission data, Johnny accidentally attracted a large battalion of FROGS by the gleam of his binoculars. The Rat Patrol and Snake did battle with the FROGS, and Johnny, in typical Sasaki fashion, lost control of his bowels during the battle and ended up... releasing in his pants. He was then knocked unconscious by a stun grenade thrown by one of the FROGS, leaving him with his less-than-pleasant smelling behind in the air, much to the chagrin of his teammates. Snake patted him to wake him up, and they eventually defeated the FROGS. After Liquid Ocelot shuts off the SOP system present in all active soldiers (PMCs and Rat Patrol alike), Johnny is the only soldier on the battlefield not affected. After Snake collapsed in the middle of the warzone, Johnny was able to locate him and drag him to safety.

Snake reconvened with the Rat Patrol in Eastern Europe on his mission to locate Big Mama. Johnny, elated to see who he now considered an "old buddy," yelled "Snake! Snake!" across the PMC crowded train station. Later, the Rat Patrol got involved again, this time attempting to stop Liquid from escaping with the stolen body of "Big Boss." Liquid shut off the SOP system once again, causing the entire U.S. military to fall to shambles, before opening fire on all of the surrounding boats, shooting both Ed and Jonathan, and knocking Meryl into the water. Johnny was able to rescue Meryl from the water, and for the first time, he removed his balaclava and sunglasses to perform CPR on the woman he revered. After waking up from her near death experience, Meryl was surprised that it was Johnny that had saved her, but relieved, as she shared a passionate kiss with him.

After a mission briefing on the U.S.S. Missouri, Johnny, along with Meryl and Snake, were launched by catapults onto Liquid's massive warship, Outer Haven. Johnny missed his mark and fell into the ocean. He somehow managed to reboard the ship and appeared with a massive anti-tank sniper rifle, saving Meryl and Snake from a troop of FROGS. Johnny was then attacked by Screaming Mantis and knocked unconscious, but Mantis was unable to control him using her Psycho Mantis doll. Snake defeated Screaming Mantis and left Johnny and Meryl to hold off the relentless waves of FROGS. It is here that Johnny reveals why he was not affected by the shutdown of the SOP system and why Screaming Mantis was not able to control him. He had skipped out on all mandatory injections of nanomachines because of his fear of needles.

During their massive fire fight with the FROGS, Johnny reveals to Meryl that he joined the unit to get close to her, because he had been in love with her since the day that he laid eyes on her on Shadow Moses. Eventually he proposes to Meryl, however she declines and then in turn proposes to him, which he gladly accepts. After the mission has succeeded, Johnny and Meryl get married in Hawaii, with fellow Rat Patrol members Ed and Jonathan serving as the priest and best man, respectively.

Trivia

 * Johnny was named after Hideki Sasaki, the character model designer of the Metal Gear Solid series. Hideki, according to interviews with the development team, had a habit of purposely disorganizing his desk to make himself look busy.
 * In Guns of the Patriots, Johnny's nickname "Akiba" refers to the Akihabara district of Tokyo filled with stores selling electronics, manga, anime merchandise, and other products designed to appeal to the otaku subculture. "Akiba" is Japanese slang similar in meaning to "otaku".
 * In the original game plan for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Johnny's full name was given as Johnny Sasaki Slater. He was originally planned to be a Patriots spy. In fact, Richard Ames' death scene was originally written for Johnny however the directors choose to keep him as the surviving, idiotic, comic relief.
 * Johnny's father/grandfather appears as a recruit character in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus. His mask has the letter "J" written on it.
 * In the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid, Johnny is shown in just his boxers after being knocked out by Meryl and having his uniform stolen. In the English version, he is completely naked with a blur over his private parts.