I've been in my "Pepe Silva" phase for the last few days. Let's do Design Analysis!(Part 1)
Not sure how I started with a Valko theory and suddenly connects to a Kazuya design analysis so, quick disclaimer:
This analysis has been roaming in my Discord chats and Twitter since the announcement trailer came out and it is only today I can get this organized, now that I got my hands on the character models. Also I was notified about my Twitter threads picked up by Reddit users. Whoever you are, thank you for crediting me.
Now, the analysis I have on my hands are the outfits from Tekken 8 announcement trailer that becomes Preset 3 for Kazuya and Jin respectively. Kinda sad the pre-rendered cutscenes didn't show these bad boys since they hold MORE plot-relevant elements.
Let's start with Kazuya's pants
You definitely saw this as the lore progression to his classic Tekken pants(as seen in Tekken 5 and 6), with gold and purple flame patterns. But there is more to it.
You noticed immediately that there are two animals embedded with flames. This is not only to echo Jin's flame patterns but also gives a nod to his parents' upbringing.
The one on the right leg—conveniently aligned to his dark brown eye—is the Komainu(aka Chinese dancing lions you see in every Chinese New Year events), representing his past with Heihachi. There was a Japanese saying about "throwing a lion cub off a cliff so they climbed back stronger"(cmiiw) which represents Heihachi's treatment—in this context, literally—towards Kazuya.
On the left leg(conveniently aligned to his ominously red eye), is a snake. Kazuya has been wearing snake leather patterns in his formal wear since Tekken 6 onwards. And what if I tell you this was meant to symbolize what he knew about his mom Kazumi?🤔
In some folklores, snakes are shapeshifters, often portrayed to be tricksters if we're talking biblical iteration of it. But I'm not seeing this from Western view. I wanna see this from what the Japanese knew about their own stories, and that's where I landed my answer on the folktale called "Anchin and Kiyo-hime"
For those who didn't know, this one tells a story about a girl, Kiyo-hime, who fell in love with Anchin, a monk on his journey to pilgrima—
Heihachi dressed as the monk in Tekken 8. Now I hate him even more!
WHY DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS DIFFICULT FOR ME?!
Okay, Soni. Calm down. Get back to the story.
There were many versions of whether Anchin loved her back or not while currently lodging at her manor during this journey. The important part is that he wants to avoid seeing Kiyohime at any cost, but instead of saying no, he promised her a marriage after he returned from pilgrimage only to ghost her ass and that pissed her off.
Okay, now here is where things started to get wicked, cuz bro asked a ferryman to cross him through a river and told that ferryman specifically not to let her in that boat.
Does that stop her? Naah, mate.
She swims her ass to get him and that rage was so powerful it turned her into a fire-breathing serpent.
Anchin was like, "Holy sh-Shirakawa!" And went to a temple near that river(that's called Dojo-ji Temple, btw) asked the priests over there to help him find a hiding spot. Unfortunately he's not playing Meccha Chameleon so he proceeds to hide under the temple's bell. The serpent coiled itself around that bell, whack its tail until the bell dropped over him and use Flamethrower until the bell melts with Anchin inside it.
In Tekken terms, Heihachi is Anchin and Kazumi is Kiyo-hime. But instead of getting the monk killed, the monk killed her first.
...along with the rest of her family tree.
Because of course a cautionary tale about empty promises was then subverted into a show of asserting dominance, because of course a woman worth a piece of respect is a woman who never responded against betrayal or by extension—a man's neglect/violence. Hence Kazuya, wearing that serpent to finish the job his mother can't. Accepting both sides of his family inside him, to honor his mother he never met but treats the Devil Gene as a blessing in disguise. And you would think, this supposed to make him the "better person" between Kaz and Jin.
According to the writers, he wasn't. Because look, he still wants power! He wants to take over the world!
Wait for Jin's design analysis in part 2!👀
