Masanori Shinohara

筱原正典

Kazuya Mishima (Japanese: 三島 一八, Hepburn: Mishima Kazuya) is a character and one of the main antagonists of Bandai Namco's Tekken series. Debuting as the protagonist of the original game, Kazuya has since become one of the series' most prominent villains after serving as the penultimate boss of the series' second installment. The son of wealthy zaibatsu CEO Heihachi Mishima, Kazuya seeks reven...

Kazuya Mishima (Japanese: 三島 一八, Hepburn: Mishima Kazuya) is a character and one of the main antagonists of Bandai Namco's Tekken series. Debuting as the protagonist of the original game, Kazuya has since become one of the series' most prominent villains after serving as the penultimate boss of the series' second installment. The son of wealthy zaibatsu CEO Heihachi Mishima, Kazuya seeks revenge against his father for throwing him off a cliff years earlier. Kazuya becomes corrupted in later games, seeking to obtain more power and eventually coming into conflict with his own son, Jin. Kazuya Mishima possesses the Devil Gene, a demonic mutation, which he inherited from his late mother, Kazumi, which can transform him into a demonic version of himself known as Devil Kazuya (デビル一八, Debiru Kazuya). Devil Kazuya has often appeared as a separate character in older installments prior to becoming part of Kazuya's moveset in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and later games. Kazuya Mishima is also present in related series media and other games. The character was based on writer Yukio Mishima, with whom he shares a last name. A number of staff members have considered him one of the franchise's strongest characters, which has led to debates about reducing the damage of some of his moves or removing them altogether. Kazuya Mishima's devil form was created to bring unrealistic fighters into the series. Several voice actors have portrayed Kazuya Mishima in video games and films related to Tekken. In addition to appearances in spin-offs in the Tekken series, Kazuya also appears as a playable character in Namco × Capcom, Project X Zone 2, Street Fighter X Tekken, The King of Fighters All Star and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Kazuya Mishima has received critical acclaim. A number of websites have listed him as one of the best Tekken characters and one of the best characters in fighting games. Journalists have praised Kazuya's moves and dark characterization, which rivals that of his father. In contrast, reception to Kazuya Mishima's portrayal in films has been mixed, with critics finding him generic. Concept and creation Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada created Kazuya Mishima as a corrupted character with a "pure dark side" as opposed to his father Heihachi Mishima, who Harada identified as having a more "human dark side". The franchise's design team referred to Kazuya and Nina Williams as "the soul [or] the cool part" of the original 1994 game. Kazuya's design and characterization was influenced by a variety of sources. Kazuya's family name was taken from author Yukio Mishima, who was also used a model for the character's physical appearance. Harada has compared Kazuya to a yakuza. When describing Kazuya's personality, Harada cited him, along with Heihachi and Jin Kazama, as the violent characters of Tekken; he described the family as too quarrelsome. Denying claims that Tekken's plot is too convoluted, Harada said that its basic story is a "simple" struggle among members of the Mishima family with other characters dragged into the conflict. Kazuya's characterization has been influenced by his tragic past. Despite his initial formulaic traits often seen in fighting games in the first Tekken game similar to Ryu from Street Fighter, Kazuya started showing signs of being a more of anti-stereotypical in the story; this was due to him becoming the villain from Tekken 2, clashing with his father multiple times who was the originally the boss of the first Tekken game. Harada described Kazuya as focused on power; writing that the character addresses "different types of power", he explained: "that's kind of the story of Tekken and it's shown as the certain reality of people themselves rather than the idea law and order." Namco created Tekken 7's storyline as a conclusion for Kazuya's struggle with Heihachi, though the company wanted the game's overall plot to be easily understood by newcomers. Harada also wanted the game to flesh out the characters' relationship and reveal why they are enemies. As part of the promotion for Tekken 7, he said that either Kazuya or Heihachi would die in their final fight. The game's story mode includes a young Kazuya during the time Heihachi threw his son through a cliff following a fight; Harada said that the version of the character may be playable depending on fan demand. Harada called Kazuya's final fight with Heihachi a "major milestone in the storyline". Surprised by the length of the rivalry between the characters and Tekken's popularity as a franchise, he felt it necessary to end in a fight to the death. Although Kazuya's rivalry with Heihachi ended in Tekken 7, his relationship with his son Jin was left unresolved. Harada said that Jin's mother Jun Kazama would be "an important and essential element in talking about the story of Kazuya and Jin". Kazuya's relationship with Jun has been described as a common love story in regards to the interactions between a corrupted man and a good-natured woman, respectively. While Jun was originally meant to be Kazuya's enemy in Tekken 2, the two end up becoming lovers due to Jun finding the hidden caring side in Kazuya behind his devil persona. Kazuya has appeared in games with Street Fighter characters. Kazuya fights Akuma during the end of Tekken 7's story mode; Harada explained that the outcome of the fight was intentionally ambiguous, saying: "It's still a work in progress." He joked that a scene with either character winning or being killed could negatively affect Namco's relationship with Capcom, particularly Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto. Kazuya teamed up with Nina for the crossover game Street Fighter X Tekken. When creating the illustrations for the characters, artist Kazuma Teshigawara said that he wanted them to complement one another. Nina was selected for the game instead of Anna Williams since her cold personality was similar to Kazuya's. The two characters were featured in the game's first trailer in a fight against Street Fighter characters Ryu and Ken Masters; the trailer was intended to attract the audience with the game's main feature. Completing the game with Kazuya and Nina unlocks an ending scene where Nina is revealed as an agent who escapes from Kazuya's forces. Artist Toshio Ohashi described the ending as the game's most cinematic due to similarities between the characters. Devil persona and voice actors Kazuya's devil persona was created to meet Namco's request for more unrealistic characters in Tekken, such as Kuma, in contrast with the Virtua Fighter fighting series. Devil Kazuya is unlockable as an alternate skin for Kazuya in the first game, though he appears as a separate character for Tekken 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament, including for a turn-based RPG game Namco X Capcom with similar moves to Kazuya. Kazuya's devil form represents a common element in fantasy but it stands out due to its being related to his genes, most notably Jin's own devil. The parallelism between Kazuya and Jin's devils were compared with the protagonists from the Star Wars films, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, respectively. The Devil fights with a laser, Inferno (インフェルノ, Inferuno) (also known as Devil Blaster (デビルブラスター, Debiru Burasutā)), through his staff and a pair of wings were added later in the game's production. He was made more powerful, with his ten-hit combo easily taking down enemies. Realizing how powerful the character had become, Namco decided to balance his moves before the game's release. The devil form is said to be based on Go Nagai's manga Devilman, where main character Akira Fudo develops a similar appearance. Although Kazuya's devil persona had first appeared as a single character, in Tekken 4 he was removed from the cast; according to Harada, Kazuya (unlike Jin) embraced the powers of the devil. In homage to Tekken: Blood Vengeance, Kazuya's devil form from the film was added as an alternate version of the character for Tag Tournament 2. From the first Tekken to Tag Tournament, Kazuya has been voiced by Jōji Nakata. For the film Tekken: Blood Vengeance, writer Dai Satō added Jin and Kazuya as "visual eye-candy" similar to the Williams sisters (Nina and Anna). Satō wanted the pairs to be played together in the spin-off game Tekken Tag Tournament 2, which relies on two-person teams. The story about the cursed Shin Kamiya is meant to give the audience the negative side of the Devil Gene which kills people experimented on and only Kazuya and his son are able to control it. The fight between Kazuya, Jin and Heihachi proved to be the most difficult part to make since it is used three motion captures and the choreography was difficult to adapt. Japanese voice actor Masanori Shinohara enjoyed Kazuya's role in the Tekken CGI film, and hoped his fans would see him in action. Shinohara said that Kazuya is a character the fandom enjoys due to his cruel demeanor. Gameplay Kazuya's fighting style is known as Mishima Style Fighting Karate (三島流喧嘩空手, Mishima-ryū Kenka Karate). Motion actor Ryu Narushima performed many of Kazuya's moves while he was working on Jin. Kazuya's moves include techniques often used by his father and Jin, but some are unique. According to Harada, Kazuya is one of the most difficult characters for a player to control. He saw Kazuya as a fun character due to how powerful he is. As a result, Harada felt that gamers who lose while playing as him feel ashamed. While fans often questioned him, saying that Lars Alexandersson was the strongest character to use in tournaments, Harada denied such claims, believing the Mishimas were far more powerful. GameSpy said that while Kazuya retained his previous moves in Tekken 5, new additions over-powered the character to the point that players disliked using him. In the next game, GameSpy said that he was given launcher moves which (despite making the character stronger) could leave the player vulnerable. Capcom recommended that players master Kazuya's Rising Uppercut (風神拳, Fūjinken; lit. "Wind God Fist") combo, suggesting that it might turn the character into one of the most powerful in Street Fighter X Tekken. Designing Kazuya's moves for this game, Capcom's Yoshinori Ono emailed Harada for ideas. Capcom soon received a Tekken guide and an email from Harada concerning Kazuya's moves. The character's combo had a glitch in this game, which Capcom patched. In the arcade game Tekken 7 Fated Retribution, three of Kazuya's moves were patched to increase the damage they inflict. In making Tekken's transition to the Unreal Engine, the staff was concerned about leaving Kazuya's Electric Wind Godfist because it was considered over-powered in previous games. Famitsu recommended the character to skilled players, saying that some of his techniques have good potential—most notably Spinning Demon (奈落払い, Naraku Barai; lit. "Hell Sweeps"), which makes him Tekken 7's strongest character. Appearances Main Tekken games In Tekken game, Kazuya enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament to seek vengeance against his father Heihachi, who had thrown him off a cliff for unknown reasons. Kazuya defeats Heihachi and drops him from the same cliff he was thrown from as a child. In Tekken 2, Kazuya has taken over the Mishima Zaibatsu, which engages in illegal activities such and starts a second King of Iron Fist Tournament. He is the game's final boss, and his alter-ego Devil is a hidden boss. Devil is said to appear as an overpowered version of Kazuya who became one with him before the events of the first Tekken game. Heihachi reclaims the Mishima Zaibatsu by defeating Kazuya and throws him into the mouth of an erupting volcano. Kazuya returns as the main character in Tekken 4, set 21 years after Tekken 2. Kazuya was revived by G Corporation (a genetics-company rival of the Mishima Zaibatsu), and allowed the company to perform experiments on him to learn the nature of his Devil Gene. He vows revenge on Heihachi in the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 a