Asuka Kazama's Wasted Potential (?)
Sometimes I wish Bamco just named her Asuka Mitsubishi or Asuka Honda, whatever really, except Asuka KAZAMA. Some of her fans are really clinging to her surname, hoping she would be relevant to the main storyline at one point.
I kinda understand them, really, especially the long-time fans. Bamco really cooked on her debut, even though it's obvious that she is only meant to be Jun's replacement gameplay-wise.
And it's easy to mislead the players if you put one of the most important names in the story to a newcomer.
Bamco gave them a reason to expect. But they also have been actively putting out signs that Asuka will not be relevant, they've been doing it from the start.
Her T5 ending is an untasteful gag, and she had a side plot with Feng on her debut (not in the main story). Characters like Lars, who have been written to be relevant were put immediately in the story).
In Tekken 6, she would've been a great fit as a Lars sidekick because she has a reason to seek out Jin. But that never happened and they decided to put Alisa instead.
In Tekken 8, Bamco really, really emphasized that she is a member of a subsidiary branch (though they didn't have to do that). There is no Mishima subsidiary or something.
I used to also think she had wasted potential, but the more I dig into her lore and motivations, where she is right now makes sense to how she is as a character.
She is a regular high schooler who just wants to have a normal life but keeps getting bad luck because of the actions of other people (Feng, Jin, and yes, Lili too, we can't just ignore her misdoings).
Where Bamco fumbled is the lack of meaningful changes to her rivalry with Lili before T8. They leaned too much into comedy that it became tiring, but the rivalry itself is not bad.
Honestly, I am posting this because I am just frustrated with how some of Asuka's fans really HATE Lili because she "made Asuka irrelevant" when it's obvious she is a side character from the start.
It's frustrating because I love them both, even though they are not relevant to the story. I appreciate them as they are as characters right now instead of what fans think they should have been.
I love how they affect each other (Lili learning to be a normal kid, and Asuka learning to let others take care of her for once and not just her taking care of others, actually kinda similar arc to Jin's).
Lili is also dealt with bad cards here, people are now just focusing on her rivalry with Asuka when she is, and always has been, all about being the perfect Heiress to her father.
Fortunately, Bamco is finally going back to their original motivations (and not just the comedic rivalry). And it's seen in their endings: Asuka can live her pre-Feng life, and Lili being the daughter who strives to make her family name great.
These may be canon or not, but I think it's a way Bamco shows that these two are not fighting ALL THE TIME and that there is NO REAL ANIMOSITY between them.
(Also, I love Shaheen's ending because it made these points clearer).
And now that I got these thoughts out of my mind, I can sleep. It's just tiring seeing unjustified hate for the characters you like all the time. But I guess that's just how fandoms work.
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