Decided to replay Tekken 7's story mode because I guess I Just Am Real Lost in That Sweet Tekken Sauce right now.
Some fun observations I just wanted to jot down, mostly Kazuya and Kazumi-centric because in this house, we support big bara titty men and their mama's wrongs:
* Baby! Kazuya wears his gi
identically to his dad, with the gi jacket tied at the waist and the arms ripped off. :(
* Kazuya's Tekken 1 default karate outfit (the white pants and all red accessories) clearly seems meant to echo Kazumi's gi?
Jeez I bet Heihachi shat a fucking brick when Kazuya showed up for the Tekken 1. Talk about sending a
message.
* Kazumi's family is from Kyoto! And...not counting her direct descendants, probably extinct. :( The journalist mentions he can't find any of the clan in Kyoto except for an old man who was once a servant and later Kazuya asks Akuma is he's "a Hachijo relic". Makes me sad. Jin and Kazuya never got to connect with the side of their family that could have helped them with the whole demonic possession thing and instead grew up increasingly alone and isolated. :(
* Kazumi's demon form is based on a female ogre but also has some nods to Kazuya and Jin's devil! forms: the bright red eyes, the weird rocky lumps emerging from the skin, the goat (?) horns. Her possession seems closer to Jin's in that she's often unaware of it.
* Kazuya calls his mother
ka-san as a child, but
haha as an adult. Which might be the first time he's ever used humble speech LOL But...Kind of sad that Kazuya e
ven uses haha when talking about her with
his father. Kinda interesting to me that he uses
ka-san when he was a relatively aristocratic kid? In contrast, I think Jin always refers to Jun as
oka-san, even as an adult.
* Related: Kazuya
never calls his father
tou-san here and I think that's consistent through the series? Neither does Jin. Not in this game because Jin himself is BARELY in this game, but I've noticed Kazuya also recognizes Jin as his son but only in the weirdest, most opaque ways possible: "the blood I gave you"; "the other half of myself". Seems very hesitant to see Jin as a person instead of a convenient demon-power-up.
* Although she has no age given, Kazumi's noticeably quite a bit younger than Heihachi in the two flashback illustrations of them. Also, I am dying that in the happy family illustration, they have put plump little literal baby Kazuya in a gi. He's like three months old, guys. Maybe wait til he can walk?
* Kazumi "dotes" on baby Kazuya and calls him her
angel. Heihachi says she coddles him but LBR Heihachi's idea of coddling is probably "she picks up the baby when he's crying."
*No love lost between Kazuya and Heihachi, ever: Kid! Kazuya refers to Heihachi derogatorily,
kisama. Granted, kid Kazuya is also yelling in that moment that Heihachi
murdered his mom, but i think between that, the massive BOOT that Heihachi gives Kid! Kazuya
to his face that slams him across the ground several feet,
and Kazuya's complete lack of surprise at his dad beating the shit out of him,
and Heihachi's complete lack of expression when he tries to kill baby! Kaz... I think it's pretty heavily inferred Heihachi was already abusing or at least resenting Kazuya even before Kazumi died. :(
- Kid! Kaz has the
Worst Year Ever at Age 5: his grandpa is locked up and
starved to death in Hon Maru (which we know he knew about because he knew where Jinpachi was buried in T5), his mother is killed by Heihachi (and he finds out about that as a kid and tries to confront him on it), and he gets tossed off a cliff by his father in an attempt to murder him. Heihachi's actions are just chilling in the Kid! Kaz section, because he says nothing to Kazuya except insults and "maybe your next life will be better." (Which as a side bar to this sidebar I will say makes what he said to the Journalist about wanting to know if Kazuya had Kazumi's genes
a huge crock of shit, because it's very clear in the Kid! Kaz/Hei scene that Heihachi's intention was to murder the kid. Though he let him live afterwards, I think that's more that Kid! Kazuya probably was an enticing weapon for him than any kind of paternal love).
* I really cannot fathom how horrible Kazuya's childhood was after grandpa and mom were gone and he was left alone (?) in the house with a murderer until Lee Chaolan was adopted. But that said, Kazuya's baby note telling Heihachi that he'll tear him to pieces is both a) deeply concerning and should have gotten Kazuya into a psychologist a lot sooner and b) hysterical that HEIHACHI KEPT IT ALL THOSE YEARS. HEIHACHI IS 75 AND DUDE STILL HAD KAZUYA'S FIRST MURDER THREAT.
* Heihachi yelling that he's back in charge so lets do a new Tekken tournament and then two chapters later later being like THE TOURNAMENT IS OFF
TELL THEM I DIED both makes this the second Tekken game without a Tekken tournament in the plot
and is also literally me whenever I throw a party. And since there was no Tekken 7 tournament and Heihachi really is dead, does that mean that no one is running the Zaibatsu now? Did Kaz not directly take over it, just for old time's sake?
* G Corp's Millennium Tower and the Mishima Zaibatsu HQ are visible from one another in Tokyo, which makes me laugh. Kazuya and Jin def spent a lot of time makin' eye lasers across the block from one another in Tekken 6.
* Kazuya sparing his underlings from Akuma shows him to be a much better/more tactical leader than Nina or Heihachi, who both treat their troops
as much more disposable.
* Kazuya is genuinely, deeply saddened for a minute that his mom put out a hit on him. He covers his eyes with his hand and takes a couple deep breaths...before laughing hysterically.
* Akuma is the worst friend ever. Kazumi tells you "hey, murder my husband if I fail to do it! And my son, too, if he turns out more like his dad!" and then Akuma just waits fucking 50 god damn years. Like, legit let Heihachi abuse the shit out of, then murder Kaz - slept on that.Kazuya invades Hokkaido? ZZZZZZZZZ. Legit let Heihachi turn the Zaibatsu into a massive military - SLEPT ON THAT. Let's Jin start WW3 with Kaz once he "got better"? Eh, wasn't in his purview to hurt Jin. Telling them OH I WAS JUST WAITING UNTIL YOU WERE AT YOUR STRONGEST - Heihachi's strongest is at 74 as an balls-old man?! Kazuya hasn't been at his strongest since Tekken 2 since he lost half of his demon power to Jin.
( Cut for final battle spoilers )