Kazuya Mishima (Also known as Devil, simply Kazuya) is the villainous protagonist from Tekken who makes his debut in the original Tekken game from 1994. He also appears in Tekken II, Tekken 4, Tekken V, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Tekken 6: Blood Retribution and Tekken 7: Fated Retribution.
He appears in ongoing Namco Bandai Games like Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken Tag Tournament II, Tekken Revolution and Super Smash Bros Ultimate and He is a Cameo Combatant in Tekken 3. He is set to returns in Tekken 8: 2023 and so Far Enough, He appears in Final Game.
Although originally appearing as the main protagonist of the original Tekken, later the main antagonist of the series, and later antiheroic protagonist of Tekken 7. Kazuya Mishima is one of the major characters in the Tekken series along with his father, brother, step-brother and son.
He was voiced by Masanori Shinohara.
Appearance[]
Kazuya is a Japanese Fighter.
Personalty[]
With a Few Words, Kazuya is generally presented as a Proud, Yet Bitter, Vindictive, Stubborn, Smug, Cynical, Manipulative, and Cold-Blooded Man. He always meets Himself as the Hero and the One who has Every Right to takes Everything He wants from Others. In Tekken 6, Kazuya refers Himself as "The World's Chosen Hero". According to Many Characters, including Both His Father and Son, Kazuya has Delusions of Grandeur.
With a few words, Kazuya is generally presented as a proud, yet bitter, vindictive, stubborn, smug, cynical, manipulative, and cold-blooded man. He always sees himself as the hero and the one who has every right to take everything he wants from others. In Tekken 6, Kazuya refers himself as "the world's chosen hero". According to many other characters, including both his father and son, Kazuya has delusions of grandeur.
In the original entry to the franchise, Kazuya was considered to be the primary protagonist, and for all intents and purposes, there was no reason to believe differently. According to differing sources (such as Tekken: The Motion Picture and a brief scene in Ling Xiaoyu's Tekken 5 ending), Kazuya was actually quite frail, reticent, vulnerable, and timid as a boy and was the victim of years of abuse at the hands of Heihachi and suffered various losses and provocations by his father: he lost the only persons who loved him, his mother Kazumi and his grandfather Jinpachi, both killed by Heihachi; despite his father's wealth, Kazuya was not allowed any joy nor spoiled or allowed to make friends; he was thrown down by a ravine for being too weak and an "insolent brat" who tried to kill Heihachi for his mother's death; then after he returned home from his fall he found Lee Chaolan because his father wanted them to fight for the heritage.
Indeed, Kazuya originally entered the first King of Iron Fist Tournament in order to face off against his father, who was played up to be a ruthless, corrupt, corporate, duplicitous, unscrupulous, calculating, and collaborative tyrant. Kazuya's clothing of choice, simple white pants and red gloves and footpads, even helped to draw parallels to another "mysterious loner" hero, Street Fighter's Ryu. So, most people (both within the game and in real life) simply wrote Kazuya off as the cliché fighting game hero.
There was only a few clues as to Kazuya's true intents and nature:
- His secret PS One palette swap, which turned out to be Devil.
- His biography within the manual, stating that his overall goal after killing Heihachi and getting his revenge is to 'pull a worldwide coup d'etat'. As players rarely bother to read the manuals for games, this is an oft-missed detail.
Tekken 2 saw Kazuya's true nature revealed in full. After killing his father (or so he thought), instead of bringing justice and honor to the Mishima Zaibatsu and righting the wrongs of his father, Kazuya repeated the fraudulent practices of his father and turned it into an even much more villainous, manipulative, ruthless, and evil organization. While Heihachi was merely unsympathetic (though he had some standards), Kazuya was absolutely without conscience or any moral compassion at all. He hired assassins to eliminate innocent people out of pure spite (such as the father of Eddy Gordo), he attempted to extort money from several businesses and many organizations, and he even went so far as to smuggle endangered animal species and conducted genetic experiments on them (e.g., Alex and Roger).
However, Kazuya still had some sense of goodness within his heart, which gained more and more strength after he first met Jun Kazama, resulting in Angel, who constantly battled his evil side, though this would turn out to be his downfall. Heihachi managed to take advantage of his son's confusion caused by this internal war and defeated him in the second King of Iron Fist Tournament. Kazuya was then thrown into a volcano and killed, while the Devil in his body escaped and eventually made contact with Kazuya's son, Jin who succeeded his father as the series' new protagonist.
Of course, G Corporation eventually located Kazuya's remains and at this point, they regenerated his body and made a deal with him to remain hidden within G Corporation's labs and be tested on. Kazuya had learned from his mistakes; the next time he faced Heihachi, he wanted to be in full control of his Devil powers. Of course, this plan did not go as Kazuya intended; Heihachi ruined it by invading G Corporation and stealing their research.
Since his original appearance, Kazuya's personality has gone through many transformations: From anti-hero to antagonist, from antagonist to villainous protagonist. Whatever was left of his good side appears to be totally suppressed by his Devil persona. Kazuya no longer fights against his darker side, and the two seem to have come to mutual terms, as Kazuya can call upon Devil whenever he likes now (such as in his Tekken 5 introduction).
However, in Tekken 7, Kazuya displays more sentimentality, as he once again reproaches Heihachi for murdering Kazumi. Oddly enough, despite Kazuya having always wanted Heihachi dead and having hatred for his father for years, he seemed somber and pitiful when he threw him off a volcano, implying that having now known his mother's true nature, Kazuya's hatred for his father had decreased considerably. He also no longer hunts for Jin to obtain his Devil Gene, seemingly not seeing any point in hurting his son anymore. However, at the end of 7 still goes for conquest and still causing the war to continue since he still desires powers and control over everything. However, it is implied that Kazuya's victory over Heihachi as well his discovery over Kazumi's plans to kill both him and his father put him to be in a state of depression as he started to think he had been betrayed either way.
In addition to details over his lessened hatred for his father, it was also implied he began to see that he was just as much of a victim of the Mishima feud as he was, yet was probably more saddened that since Heihachi's betrayal was the only reason to fight and that it led to him to achieving the power he craved because of it, it is implied that he lost his sense of purpose and that there is no one left he felt worthy to challenge him, leaving him unsatisfied with his victory.
During his final fight with Jin when Kazuya nearly knocked him down, he quoted his father's teachings by saying "A fight is about who's left standing. Nothing else!" in a somber and depressed tone, implying that years of seeking revenge against Heihachi and his lack of satisfaction of finally killing him have exhausted what little drive he had left. Despite Kazuya's respect for his son's determination, he stubbornly dismisses Jin's counter about where both their hatreds have led to and that a fight is about survival, not who is left standing, much to Kazuya's bitter denial.
In the Tekken 8 reveal trailer, he called Jin's words that they shouldn't exist to be pathetic and has no problem to trying to fight him. He remains as a cold-blooded world-conqueror and reveals that even without the Devil Gene, Kazuya still would try to conquer the world. However, other in-game materials also reveal that he is capable of respect and love, and the one whom he still loved and respected even as he falls into villainy is none other than Jun Kazama.
- If they meet in a player match, Kazuya expresses genuine shock that Jun is still alive, instead of dismissing her. If he wins a round with a Rage Art, against normal opponents, Kazuya will kick his opposition and taunt them. However, he is programmed to not do such a thing against Jun alone.
- His victory pose against her always defaults to transforming into Devil Kazuya instead of lifting her on the neck, telling him that he doesn't need redemption. This likely imply that even Kazuya knows that he is an evil man where redemption is not worth the redeemer's time, and tells Jun to 'leave his sight' instead of telling her to 'get lost'.
- In the ending of his Character Stories, when asked about his 'Leading Lady', Kazuya describes that he lives in a life of conflict and that's when he met Jun. Then he admits that he does not have time for the weak, but Jun is strong so his time with her is completely worth it. Additionally, in his luxurious office, he keeps a photo of Jun in a fancy frame.
It is implied that Jun's presence may hold Kazuya from further evil acts, but since Jun is nowhere in sight and the world announce her dead when Kazuya returns to life (in Tekken 4), there's nothing else holding him back from indulging his darker desires. The end of Tekken 8, however, sees Jun returning so she may once again resume her goal in saving him and reeling his dark side.
In the Tekken Tag Tournament continuity (mostly considered non-canon), however, Kazuya acts more callous against Jun (as the last title was made before Tekken 8). In the ending of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, where Jun is the final boss as Unknown, Kazuya proceeds to absorb her while laughing maniacally without any tinges of respect. This can imply that Kazuya sees Jun and Unknown as different entities: The Jun that he respects is someone mysterious and can drop his guard. Unknown, even as she used the guise of Jun, does not induce that feeling, so for him, she is an imposter unworthy of his respect.
The retail version of Tekken 8's story mode, however, while it depicts Kazuya at perhaps the most ruthless he has ever been with him threatening to destroy several countries, it also simultaneously gives him the most humanity that he has had since probably Tekken 2, and this is shown in his treatment of his son, Jin Kazama. During the intro battle in which Kazuya and Jin fought in New York in the first chapter, Kazuya is never directly confrontational towards Jin, instead calmly asking him what it is Jin wants from him after Jin ambushed him, both destroying his helicopter and killing his pilot. After activating his Devil powers, overpowering him and shooting his laser beam at him he never goes on to check whether Jin died, rather moving on to his speech for the world and eventually fleeing the scene. Neither did he further his assault after realizing he gained the upper hand and easily defeated Jin, while with someone else like Heihachi he most definitely would have continued once he realized he gained an advantage, and was not shocked when he discovered Jin was alive during the tournament, showing that he only intended to incapacitate him, despite Jin having already mentioned to him several times during the fight that his intentions were to kill him after having already ambushed him.
He also became disappointed and called Jin pathetic when he realized Jin was consumed by his Devil rather than Jin taking control of it, something Kazuya had personally done himself. Later when Jin left for Yakushima when the group supporting Jin stood in the coliseum, Kazuya did not once comment on where Jin had gone during his fight with the others. When he was talking to Nina after she gave her suggestions about luring out Jin, Yggdrasil and the UN he specifically said he was personally going to finish Jin himself and to only leave Jin to him, and later says he is going to put Jin out of his misery, as if this is a form of mercy for Jin as Kazuya feels Jin is confused about his goals and ambitions in life, and that killing Jin will help rid him of his problems. Along with the non-canonical bad ending, these are the only moments in the story mode where Kazuya shows intent in killing Jin.
After their fight in space and getting the Devil Gene purified, Kazuya and Jin returned to Earth and fought in their human forms. Instead of again lunging at Jin or seeming confrontational after they stood up, he calmly states that "Anyone who stands before me must die", and that it does not matter who they are as long as they are against Kazuya. The fight eventually led to again a moment where Kazuya gains the upper hand and had Jin against a wall while viciously beating him. He then started another speech about his goals about power before realizing Jin had stopped showing resistance. He showed a moment of hesitation and reluctance there towards Jin before he decided to strike again and knocked Jin down. He then started to walk away before Jin stood back up, and his next dialogue towards Jin about "You just don't know when to quit" confirms that Kazuya did not want Jin to die from the attack, rather preferring he would stay down and that was enough of a defeat for him, and that Kazuya would be able to leave without killing him. When Jin again showed resistance, Kazuya complimented him in his own way, about how "his refusal to quit is almost admirable".
It seems in all the opportunities Kazuya had to kill Jin during the story mode (apart from the Despair ending), he in the end could not bring himself to deal the final blow and finish him off, even in the New York fight where Jin constantly reminded Kazuya that Jin was going to kill him, and where Jin's intent was to kill Kazuya during the entire story mode apart from the last fight, something Kazuya would have not even known himself as he would not have been aware of Jin's personal development. It seems he instead rather viewed it as a battle of ideals and philosophies between them, in which Kazuya's ideals about "Might is right" was something he valued and was everything he fought for to convince Jin it was the right way to live, and his final notable dialogue "BREAK, DAMN YOU!" again affirmed that he did not want to kill Jin himself, rather break him down and convince him that his ideals were wrong and Kazuya's were right in the end.
Jin also appears to be the only one that Kazuya personally interacts with that he does not want to or try to kill, while he killed or attempted to kill several others with cold and focused intent. This includes the likes of Claudio, Reina, Zafina, Lars and even several innocent civilians in New York (he was in fact so shocked Lars survived one of his lasers that he suffered a PTSD attack of Heihachi, who previously had also survived one of his True Devil attacks, and who also shocked Kazuya to a similar extent). Due to this Kazuya seems to display some type of fondness for Jin, one that he would preferably not want to admit to himself, nor showcase in front of others. This subtle development and humanity in the story mode towards Jin gives room for an upcoming redemption arc in later entries in the franchise.
Kazuya's hobby is surprisingly not an evil one. In the first game, it is stated that his hobby is 'collecting sneakers'. The darker undertone of this is that this is one of his ways to spite Heihachi, whose hobby is 'collecting geta sandals'. At first, it is mostly accepted that this is probably one of the ploys by the developers to fool the players into thinking that Kazuya was just a standard, normal fighting game protagonist before it is revealed that he is a true villain in Tekken 2. However, in his Character Episode in Tekken 8, it is revealed that even after he has plunged into a life of villainy, Kazuya still takes his time to indulge in his non-evil hobby, amassing a large collection of sneakers stored in a massive room.
Synopsis[]
Original Timeline[]
Tekken I: 1994 - Tekken 7[]
...
Current Timeline[]
Tekken 8[]
He is presumed killed by Jin Kazama.
Appearance in other media[]
1998 Film[]
Main Articles: Kazuya Mishima (1998 Film).
Film Series[]
Main Articles: Kazuya Mishima (Film Series).
Blood Vengeance[]
Main Articles: Kazuya Mishima (Blood Vengeance).
Bloodline (Netflix Series)[]
He is presumed killed by Heihachi Mishima.
Trivia[]
- Kazuya's appearances, mannerisms, and name were derived from japanese author, Yukio Mishima.
- The popularity of Kazuya's Electric Wind God Fist within the Tekken community spawned the "I'm Not Gonna Sugarcoat It" meme, which has since been adopted and parodied by other fighting game communities.
- Blurting out the Phrase "Kazuya Mishima wins", or just "Kazuya Mishima", has becomes a Running Gag within the Super Smash Bros, Ultimate Communities. It is often spoken in the Style of Tekken 7's Announcer, who replaces the Standard Announcer when Kazuya wins a Free-for-All Match. This is Largely in Part to Kazuya's Unparalleled Strengths as a Fighter in the Game, and has also been used to bridges Language Barriers between Japanese and North American Players.
- Harada describes Kazuya that if Heihachi Mishima is the Embodiment of Human's Evil as the Darker Side of Humans as in Evil in it's Purest Form.
- Kazuya hosts the 2nd and 8th Tournaments making the 2nd Most Recurring Host after His Father, Heihachi.
- Masanori Shinohara's Possible Final Role in Tekken 8 announces His Future what happens to Namco if His Character as Kazuya survives from His Injuries or was sent in Another World without Jin Kazama.
- In Kazuya's Ending, He takes down His Son, Jin to makes it in the Present Timeline as His Future Self.