If I were to overthink Okamiden, I would suspect its premise is a subtle commentary on the game's own development. The world of Nippon as it appears in the DS game is filled with the small children of the people and gods found in Clover Studio's 2006 PS2 game Okami. It's tempting to say that this is the developers' subversive way of comparing themselves to children at play in the world Clover created. But it's more likely Capcom realized a cute puppy would sell games.

It is a really cute puppy.