Jin is too busy fighting between two sides of himself that aren't actually his whole self and not enough time asking himself who he would like to be outside of being a Mishima or a Kazama.
From what i've seen from the interactions between Kazuya and Jin in Tekken 8. Kazuya seems to be confronting him pretty hard about his self-hatred. He calls it a weak mentality, which I take as his Kazuya way of saying his own self hatred is holding him back. I could see the story going in the direction of Jin needed to accept himself to be able to have the strength even be able to challenge Kazuya. If he keeps rejecting himself or trying to hold back the devil form out of shame, he won't be able to stop Kazuya. Hopefully they go in this direction. It's a great opportunity to allow him to have that internal growth that he needs.
@@TyRiders2 no cos it literally explains y he's evil also his t5 ending made us kinda expect it so yh it's not shocking rlly its kinda cringey if every protag is unrealistically good so it was better that for one game he was kinda evil
"I want Jin to be himself." That's why I don't get the people who are annoyed by Xiaoyu's role in Tekken 8. Xiaoyu is his connection to Jin Kazama the man. She sees who he is past all this Devil BS. And in addition to the in-your-face symbolism of Jin purging both him and Kazuya's devil sides in 8, we see that part coming out of him. He asks her about her dreams, and shows empathy when she self-depricates. I think what Tekken 9 will end up being is letting your trauma define you (Reina) vs coming to terms with who you are in healing (Kazuya and Jin) and it'll be great Sorry for the ramble, this was a great video essay, I'm just glad someone understands what Jin fans ultimately want for the character.
One thing i kinda think makes WW3 even worse is that in in the Tekken universe, according to the lore, under Heihachi’s reign the planet actually reached world peace.
This was a damn good video. Im 100% with you on the Devil gene being allegoric for trauma etc. In T2, Devil was only ever encountered in a dark expanse with infinitely reflecting mirrors as a darker, more ethereal version of Kazuya's theme, Emotionless Passion, played. The only ending that featered Devil was Kazuya's iirc (been ages dont quote me on this) wherein he uses the body of Heihachi to deflect Devil's lasers before defeating him. I always saw the Devil fight as being a metaphoric internal one rather than a literal punchout. Devil was only solidified as an actual entity in Tekken 3+ when the Devil Gene was first conceptualised. And ofc T6/7 madd even more changes to solidify it as such. Im also 100% with you on Jin needing to explore himself beyond his family ties. Despite mostly connecting with T3/4 growing up and "maining" Jin as much as a casual fan could claim to, I've always genuinely disliked his early character arc because he started out as a copy and paste of Kazuya's role in the series, after Kaz was killed off at the end of T2. Kaz was a traumatised young man with a darker side who loathed Heihachi and found solace in Jun, who sensed an evil within him and adopted an "I can fix him" attitude. Jin was a traumatised teen with a darker side who loathed heihachi (and ogre) who took solace in his mother Jun's teachings. Jin could have been replaced with Kazuya in T3 and nothing wouldve changed except he might've not referred to Jun as mum. T4/5 is when Jin got some real characterisation as morally conflicted to the extreme and it was super interesting. I was excited to see him step away from being Kazuya's clone (narratively speaking) and I think it was done really well whilst integrating him into the rivalry as a unique third POV. Then T6 happened where he basically backslid into being Kazuya's evil self rather than being the good intentioned yet internally conflicted young man he had been set up as. It was too on the nose and drastic, feeling out of character. Then T7 happened and he spent most of it 'eepy and without meaningful development because nobody knew wtf to do with him. Without spoilers, I think T8 has set the ball in motion but also misplayed a little as he steps into another persons identity rather than fully gaining his own (and imho does it super egregiously) but it very promisingly opens him up to be his own character in the future. In fact, a few characters seem on the verge of potential change and its super exciting. Again, great video. Always love to see some Tekken Lore pop up.
19:40 I'm proud OF YOU for that edit, that was SICK!! words can't describe how perfect it was you definitely understood the assignment with that transition ❤ I had to play it back it was too good 💯
I just don't want the story to pretend that beating Kazuya solves everything. To me the devil gene is just a manifestation of hate, the mishimas weaponize that hatred with the gene to get their revenge on whoever they decide has slighted them. Kaz was always going to go after Heihachi, the devil gene didn't make him do it. It just fueled his strength to go after him. Everything Kaz did after that was him, not the devil. He never reflected or considered life outside of his climb for power and just kept going. Instead he just kept doubling down on the idea that killing Hehachi and Jin would fix his problems. Jin felt guilty about what he was born into but never reflected that like Kaz, his blood didn't make him do anything. It just gave him the strength to do what he wanted. He wanted payback for his mom and got it, he wanted to beat his family, he got it. Then he wanted to destroy himself, but in that haze of angst he plunged the world into hell. At no point considering or reflecting on how he's literally scarring the world because of his pain. Blaming his bloodline and family, thinking everything would be fine after he killed his only relatives and then himself. Both Kaz and Jin rejected the positive influences in their lives and I want both of them to deal with the consequences of their actions. Don't make Jun a macguffin who wipes everything clean. Don't make Kaz the easy bad guy to pin everything on. Don't make the devil gene the real puppeteer. These guys are fucked up and decided to be their worse self when they had the chance to be better. Heihachi had no gene or mystical bs to justify his villainy. Even in seven, they acknowledge at most he was scared of Kazumi's gene but decided to be a bastard instead of being better to his son. Hell, he was so evil that he was targeted by Kazumi's family in the first place. There's a good ending to the family drama, but it shouldn't be clean and everyone should carry their blame.
That edit at 19:43 was pretty damn slick... Also mad hype to see world's collide with the FD Signifier reference. This is the first video I've seen from you but its an instant subscribe for me
There's always this trope in shounen manga where you confront a malevolent part of yourself in order to tame it and harness its powers (Naruto and the Nine Tails, Ichigo and his Hollow , etc). Based from what I saw from the trailers, he is probably going to do this in Yakushima (We saw Xiaoyu defending the big ass tree there while a horde of Jack 7 tried to assault it; we can infer that Jin was there fighting Devil Jin; he's probably in some sort of trance state and he is confronting him in his subconscious).
Thank you for making and posting this. Excellently presented and visualized. The humor was on point as well! Loved the ideas, especially the concept of duality being Jin's core design. I've made most of these conclusions over the years as well, but that one had eluded me and it does just tie it all together so well. Thank you again. This was a joy to watch and listen.
I love Bloodlines, it was a fun ride for someone that has a lot of nostalgia for classic Tekken. But man, once you pointed out the lighting, all I see are triangles! Triangles everywhere!! 😵💫
This was fascinating, especially the in-depth look at Jin's mental health and contrasting it with nihilism. I didn't care much for his story before (emo anime protag? Yawn) but now I actually feel bad for the guy. Depression is horribly crippling. Looking forward to your next essay 🙌
great video on my favorite emo boy edgelord angsty depressed semi hero. I appreciate all your takes, i feel Jin gets misunderstood by the same things you stated in the conclusion. He never gets to be his own person because he's attached to this duality. Kinda like Sasuke who had become so committed to this idea of who he should be that his character never got to live a human life. Tekken 8 seems to be hinting at the internal conflict story so I'm excited.
Hey, Jin fanboy here. As someone constantly battling mental health issues due to childhood trauma, Jin's story and this video resonated deeply with me (except Im not a war criminal lol. Yet. Wait no-). Thank you so much for covering his character this deeply through the lens of mental health. This was beautifully put and you helped me understand him better. Also the edit with the TT1 unknown music and Jin saying goodbye to his mother in the afterlife gave me straight chills.
This video is exactly what I've been saying about Jin, going through Tekken's story and seeing Jin Kazama's arc has helped me a lot throughout these past few months, since then the guy is easily one of my all time favorite characters in media.
So interestingly, I've been rewatching Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which address the concepts you explore here in similar ways. Xena and Angel, who are responsible for countless deaths, reach a turning point, with Xena meeting Hercules and Angel being cursed with the restoration of his soul and seeking redemption. A very important episode in Buffy is Amends, wherein Angel is haunted by what he believes to be ghosts of his crimes. Eventually, he is convinced by The First (the actual manifestation of evil) to take his life. Buffy intervenes, stating that not only would this be cowardice to avoid his guilt, but it would also rob the world of the potential good that he could do. Her stance is that death is not redemption. Accountability and atonement are the only ways to make up for what has been done. There are plenty of other instances of the blurring of moral makeups in both shows (Willow, Faith, Darla, Spike, Callisto, Eve, a bunch of tertiary characters) and none of them have been straightforward paths of redemption. Through this prism, Kazuya and Jin are far more interesting characters that some give them credit. The idea that both main characters are arguably terrible people is pretty cool and a lot more tangible than clear baby faces and heels (wrestling terminology). What's really exciting to consider is that with this in mind, the story could really go in any direction. I would kinda love Kazuya becoming Tekken's Vegeta, but Idk. We won't have to wait much longer to find out what happens. Anyways, fantastic video. I think you nailed Jin's characterization.
Refreshing to see people understand jin's character. His actions in tekken 6 are understandable if you consider the fact that if azazel would've gained physical form when jin and kazuya both passed away, he'd annihilate the planet without any resistance, since he'd infinitely resurrect. Only a bearer of the devil gene and immense fighting prowess can kill him.
@@fightingmedialounge519 all azazel requires is negative energy. he doesn't need anything else to obtain a physical body. he already awakened as a spirit because of jin's and kazuya's conflict. if both of them were to die off, it wouldn't affect him in that sense. he's not bound to them like an imp.
@@fightingmedialounge519 "Not necessarily considering we have no idea what the world would be like when he awakened." it doesn't matter how the world is. there is nothing that challenges azazel's existence. as seen with lars' method of defeating him, he simply respawns, since his core can only be destroyed by somebody who possesses the devil gene with immense fighting prowess.
@@xJinxKazama that actually would be quite relevant. Maybe when azazel awakens there are no more devil gene users, or maybe there would be. He could awaken to a world completely unprepared for him, or a world that has discovered a diffrent way to deal with him. Jin's actions in tekken 6 aren't meant to be viewed as a necessary evil but instead a gamble he took that didn't get him the results he wanted. Hence why he's revealed to still have the devil gene at the end of six, and seven reveals azazels soul still exist and needed to be absorbed by zafina.
I already did a video on Kazuya actually! It's not scripted or super edited like this one but still has a lot of my opinions in it, so feel free to check that out ^^
As a Karate Jin main since Tekken 4, I appreciate this kind of essay a lot, thank you...hope to find some resolution in Tekken 8 🤞 (and a return to forest bathing)
I’ve watched another review of Jin’s character and they perfectly describe Jin’s state of character is that he is a cool character concept if not one of the best but it’s because there was barely anything done with him that made Jin not well written in stories he’s in most of the time.
Congratulations on the new found success. As a fellow Tekken video creator it’s cool to see all these smaller channels (Me included) starting to do really well in the wake of Tekken 8.
18:20 I'm pretty sure what you're seeing is suppose to represent jins inner spiritual realm(a concept in eastern religions that finds it way into several anime) rather than the afterlife.
This essay was great!!! Thats what l always loved about jin hes inner strugle and duality since tekken 8 is focusing on my boy they could do a lot with him l am really curious to see how he will be interacting with his mom
Damn this a welcomed suprise in my recommended section. Really nice breakdown and presentation! Got me thinking about my main a lot more the game itself, hope to see more videos of you around. It is very facinating to me the dept the characters Bandai has with Tekken that they haven't exploited, so many stories that could be amazing given a bit more time to breath and shine, like the William sisters or King/Marduk storyline about revenge. Also very glad to hear from someone else that the Miguel's ending in T7 is actually pretty good! And could even be cannon with the timeline. Anyways, great video and hope to see your reaction to the trailer afterwards!
For saying this isn't an essay, it's quite a great essay for video game series like Tekken 😂 your amazing! Auto subscribed! As to where I fall on the xiaoyu vs Miguel spectrum, I lean more towards the xiaoyu side of the equation but, only because I do think Jin is not a monster who revels in destruction and hatred and cares about people he is close to (and want to be close to him.) Xiaoyu herself still believes him to be worth it. Which to be fair is a lot more than can be said for characters like Sasuke for example who actually crossed a line by trying to kill those people directly close to them for their own benefit. Which is where I think redemption for those characters ends believably and where the characters chasing them become little more than suckers. Tekken 6 just went extremely overboard in the conflict in his character to the point where it was really unnecessary considering harada always wanted him to come back to this point where at the core he just wants to do what's best for other people. Hence Alisa saying he's the hope of all mankind in the Tekken 8 trailer and Lars and him becoming bros and stuff. If I was writing Tekken, like the Tekken 6 bloodline rebellion opening shows, Jin would still largely be taking the fight to kazuya, and kazuya would be the one trying to lure out azazel not to rid the world of him but to try and absorb it's power for himself. And thus being the one causing destruction through g corp, Whereas Jin would with the zaibatsu be trying to stop him and would have to be the one in Tekken 6 to end up taking out azazel. It would be consistent with kazuyas slide into true evil and still be consistent with how the current story wants to portray the two sides and Tekken 7 also would not have to largely change anything besides Miguel being yet another victim of kazuyas plans. It feels like that's the path Tekken 6 would have gone if harada wasn't so eager at the time to have a shocking twist and knew how the story would be seen at large many years later
I used to hate Tekken 6's story with a passion. It is my favorite game in the series, but Jin's arc in that game made me so angry, since it made no sense to me. After watching the video, I got to like T6 story a bit more. It still pains me to see what they did to Jin, since it is known for a fact that at the time, Jin was supposed to be a villain (according to Harada himself), but the dev team made him "revert" this decision with the ending of 6, 7 and 8, but this analysis is the direction they should take to end his arc. And it probably is what they intend to do now. We can see in his gameplay and moves that he is incorporating his Kazama and Mishima moves again in his repertoir, not in the way he did in 3 or the way Devil Jin does, but in his own way, becoming his own person. He uses Kazama, Mishima and his Karate, incorporating what is best for him. We even see him use the Kazama Reversal stance in the latest trailer with Brian Cox. This is also better than the answer "The Devil made me do it". More people need to see this. Excellent video!
This is a great video! So many of these videos say they're an essay or analysis but end up just being a long, boring retrospective / biography. This was a measured, opinionated and entertaining video. Thank you!
Not going to lie, this is the best Jin repeated video I have seen. As someone who, in lack of the better words, was in the Miguel side of the argument. I hated Jin because of his characterization in T6 so I kind of stuck with that hatred for that character for years but after kind of doing some soul searching (and pretty much thinking about Tekken Bloodlines and the Namco X Capcom/Project X Zone series of games and how they handled Jin’s character), I wanted to look back at Jin’s story and see if maybe I was hyperbolic about my thoughts on this fictional character or if my hatred is justified. I will admit that it did lead me to appreciate the character a bit more with his beginnings and how he became more lost the more the series progressed, but my main problem was the execution with T6’s story because I do think having that being the breaking point of his character arc can work but I feel like they went too far when it comes to the WWIII part, which I feel like is the main reason why I and others hated the characters for years and looking back, it does feel like blatant character assassination to go to that extreme when it doesn’t have to be this way since I feel like they can do this story without turning his character into a war criminal though this did motivate me to do a Tekken 6 rewrite one day since I do believe that this concept of Jin’s arc has a lot of potential. I was thinking about doing a Jin video essay myself for a while now but when I was watching this, I did have this thought of “what if my points are too similar to yours?” but we’ll see. You did a wonderful job.
This video is SOOOOOO Great and basically encapsulated everything I thought about Jin. Even though I'm also not a fan of his WW3 arc in Tekken 6 I also generally understand why they went into that direction. Jin's development always centered around the duality of his "good" and "evil" side so him doing something definitely awful is a good choice for his arc. it's just that Tekken 6 is really bad at executing that plot point.
Well I can appreciate the effort put into the video and understand the desire to see more nuance in the handling of our favourite characters but with T6 randomly turning Jin into a mass murder only to present him as "Hope of humanity" in T8... Yeah that ship sailed long ago. I think Maximilian put it best Tekken has essentially become the fighting game equivalent of Fast and Furious, Jin's hero-villain-back to hero again arc is very reminiscent of those films, best to just embrace the schlock and enjoy whatever crazy ride Harada and crew have planned for T8.
I do understand the angle Jin takes on the Devil Gene. I relate to it and have an intense loathing for something genetically passed down. Something that's caused me TONS of suffering. I absolutely feel that neither me or my father should create any more of us at all costs. Jin wants to rid the world of people like him, Kazuya, and Heihachi. The mere presence of the devil gene is a danger to the world, so Jin will do it, at ALL COSTS.
@ayanohisako the Lars taking an electric and the Jin sun bathing joke literally forced me to subscribe to you. It had nothing to do with Jin secretly being your favorite character. Lmao 🤣 don’t worry he’s my boy too 🔥💯
Ooo so this is my first video from your channel. Hearing you say you're from Pakistan made me wonder what the game is like for you growing. Mind you im typing this about 5 minutes in.
This was your first video like this? Its incredible, vary interesting perspective most tekken story analysis is just crying about the weird direction it went,ts nice to see someone ataclly has something else to say besides story use to be good but now bad....good shit
9:52 Which only makes this entire plot point even more demented, when you realize: Tekken 7 really had the gall, to claim that Heihachi is the "misunderstood hero". The same man, who even induced this trauma in the first place. You cannot say anymore, "You tried to do the right thing", because you repeated that same "mistake", a second time. This is not even funny anymore, this is just sick.
I don't think that's the case at all, and I said as much in my video. He's a result of his trauma, he is a victim. That doesn't excuse the shitty things he does now, but that also doesn't make him pure evil.
Why would you tell us to skip to 3:11 to resume the analysis. I know we don’t know you, but that doesn’t mean everybody doesn’t care about you. I’m not skipping it. To show my love, support and consideration. You’re an awesome person never forget that.
So I just had a thought. Isn't there a chance that Miguel might have pissed off enough of the wrong people on his revenge quest against Jin that they might be out for his blood, too? Bro might night not get his chance if someone else gets their hands on him first. Or he comes to understand why Jin did all this in the first place and goes after Zafina because he thinks she'll start another World War under Azazel's influence. ...Okay, Miguel starting another revenge quest against Zafina sounds kind of horrifying, even if he let Jin go in his ending.
x.com/AyanoOscarr/status/1744315377780199511?s=20
Absolutely floored by the support and feedback so far. Much love all ❤❤
This video was awesome 😊😊
3,700 ppl really loves Jin as a character and can’t wait for him to get back to his old ways.
@@vicvic889 🤣🤣
fun fact, F. D. Signifier use to be my college professor aaaaannnd he's a big Tekken fan. So this mention of him was perfect
After playing 8, I feel like my biggest issue with the story is a strange, Miguel-shaped hole in it.
After playing the Tekken 8 story
I think the game addressed some of your points
Jin is too busy fighting between two sides of himself that aren't actually his whole self and not enough time asking himself who he would like to be outside of being a Mishima or a Kazama.
From what i've seen from the interactions between Kazuya and Jin in Tekken 8. Kazuya seems to be confronting him pretty hard about his self-hatred. He calls it a weak mentality, which I take as his Kazuya way of saying his own self hatred is holding him back. I could see the story going in the direction of Jin needed to accept himself to be able to have the strength even be able to challenge Kazuya. If he keeps rejecting himself or trying to hold back the devil form out of shame, he won't be able to stop Kazuya. Hopefully they go in this direction. It's a great opportunity to allow him to have that internal growth that he needs.
Well damn you guessed right.
Tekken 6 was pure character assassination
Nope
@@justevolveYup😊
@@TyRiders2 no cos it literally explains y he's evil also his t5 ending made us kinda expect it so yh it's not shocking rlly its kinda cringey if every protag is unrealistically good so it was better that for one game he was kinda evil
@@justevolve nothing is more unrealistic than causing world war just to fight a creature, that wouldn't exist if u didn't cause the world war
It’s an attempt to make him morally grey in the most blunt and jarring way possible. “He’s too nice, have him cause WW3.”
"I want Jin to be himself."
That's why I don't get the people who are annoyed by Xiaoyu's role in Tekken 8. Xiaoyu is his connection to Jin Kazama the man. She sees who he is past all this Devil BS. And in addition to the in-your-face symbolism of Jin purging both him and Kazuya's devil sides in 8, we see that part coming out of him. He asks her about her dreams, and shows empathy when she self-depricates. I think what Tekken 9 will end up being is letting your trauma define you (Reina) vs coming to terms with who you are in healing (Kazuya and Jin) and it'll be great
Sorry for the ramble, this was a great video essay, I'm just glad someone understands what Jin fans ultimately want for the character.
One thing i kinda think makes WW3 even worse is that in in the Tekken universe, according to the lore, under Heihachi’s reign the planet actually reached world peace.
This was a damn good video. Im 100% with you on the Devil gene being allegoric for trauma etc. In T2, Devil was only ever encountered in a dark expanse with infinitely reflecting mirrors as a darker, more ethereal version of Kazuya's theme, Emotionless Passion, played.
The only ending that featered Devil was Kazuya's iirc (been ages dont quote me on this) wherein he uses the body of Heihachi to deflect Devil's lasers before defeating him. I always saw the Devil fight as being a metaphoric internal one rather than a literal punchout.
Devil was only solidified as an actual entity in Tekken 3+ when the Devil Gene was first conceptualised. And ofc T6/7 madd even more changes to solidify it as such.
Im also 100% with you on Jin needing to explore himself beyond his family ties. Despite mostly connecting with T3/4 growing up and "maining" Jin as much as a casual fan could claim to, I've always genuinely disliked his early character arc because he started out as a copy and paste of Kazuya's role in the series, after Kaz was killed off at the end of T2.
Kaz was a traumatised young man with a darker side who loathed Heihachi and found solace in Jun, who sensed an evil within him and adopted an "I can fix him" attitude. Jin was a traumatised teen with a darker side who loathed heihachi (and ogre) who took solace in his mother Jun's teachings. Jin could have been replaced with Kazuya in T3 and nothing wouldve changed except he might've not referred to Jun as mum.
T4/5 is when Jin got some real characterisation as morally conflicted to the extreme and it was super interesting. I was excited to see him step away from being Kazuya's clone (narratively speaking) and I think it was done really well whilst integrating him into the rivalry as a unique third POV.
Then T6 happened where he basically backslid into being Kazuya's evil self rather than being the good intentioned yet internally conflicted young man he had been set up as. It was too on the nose and drastic, feeling out of character.
Then T7 happened and he spent most of it 'eepy and without meaningful development because nobody knew wtf to do with him.
Without spoilers, I think T8 has set the ball in motion but also misplayed a little as he steps into another persons identity rather than fully gaining his own (and imho does it super egregiously) but it very promisingly opens him up to be his own character in the future. In fact, a few characters seem on the verge of potential change and its super exciting.
Again, great video. Always love to see some Tekken Lore pop up.
Jin is extremely flawed and that's what makes him so interesting imo. Loved your thoughts! Amazing vid!
That makes him human,even martial arts half demons are flawed 😂
19:40 I'm proud OF YOU for that edit, that was SICK!! words can't describe how perfect it was you definitely understood the assignment with that transition ❤ I had to play it back it was too good 💯
As a Jin fan that Tekken 6 twist still hurts lol Hopefully Tekken 8 fully redeems him
This didn’t entertain me. This enlightened me by way of my favorite video game. Thank you.
Edit: The intro was also pure genius.
I just don't want the story to pretend that beating Kazuya solves everything.
To me the devil gene is just a manifestation of hate, the mishimas weaponize that hatred with the gene to get their revenge on whoever they decide has slighted them.
Kaz was always going to go after Heihachi, the devil gene didn't make him do it. It just fueled his strength to go after him. Everything Kaz did after that was him, not the devil. He never reflected or considered life outside of his climb for power and just kept going. Instead he just kept doubling down on the idea that killing Hehachi and Jin would fix his problems.
Jin felt guilty about what he was born into but never reflected that like Kaz, his blood didn't make him do anything. It just gave him the strength to do what he wanted. He wanted payback for his mom and got it, he wanted to beat his family, he got it. Then he wanted to destroy himself, but in that haze of angst he plunged the world into hell. At no point considering or reflecting on how he's literally scarring the world because of his pain. Blaming his bloodline and family, thinking everything would be fine after he killed his only relatives and then himself. Both Kaz and Jin rejected the positive influences in their lives and I want both of them to deal with the consequences of their actions.
Don't make Jun a macguffin who wipes everything clean. Don't make Kaz the easy bad guy to pin everything on. Don't make the devil gene the real puppeteer. These guys are fucked up and decided to be their worse self when they had the chance to be better. Heihachi had no gene or mystical bs to justify his villainy. Even in seven, they acknowledge at most he was scared of Kazumi's gene but decided to be a bastard instead of being better to his son. Hell, he was so evil that he was targeted by Kazumi's family in the first place.
There's a good ending to the family drama, but it shouldn't be clean and everyone should carry their blame.
This video made some very relatable points about myself and its good to know that their are others struggling with that issue
You're not alone, my dude. Never too late to seek help and support ❤
Jin Kazama is by far my favorite character ever created in fiction and I am grateful for this essay! Much Love 💖
That edit at 19:43 was pretty damn slick...
Also mad hype to see world's collide with the FD Signifier reference. This is the first video I've seen from you but its an instant subscribe for me
This was such a great deep dive perspective of Jin's character with some great humorous edits
There's always this trope in shounen manga where you confront a malevolent part of yourself in order to tame it and harness its powers (Naruto and the Nine Tails, Ichigo and his Hollow , etc). Based from what I saw from the trailers, he is probably going to do this in Yakushima (We saw Xiaoyu defending the big ass tree there while a horde of Jack 7 tried to assault it; we can infer that Jin was there fighting Devil Jin; he's probably in some sort of trance state and he is confronting him in his subconscious).
Thank you for making and posting this. Excellently presented and visualized. The humor was on point as well! Loved the ideas, especially the concept of duality being Jin's core design. I've made most of these conclusions over the years as well, but that one had eluded me and it does just tie it all together so well. Thank you again. This was a joy to watch and listen.
I love Bloodlines, it was a fun ride for someone that has a lot of nostalgia for classic Tekken. But man, once you pointed out the lighting, all I see are triangles! Triangles everywhere!! 😵💫
This was fascinating, especially the in-depth look at Jin's mental health and contrasting it with nihilism. I didn't care much for his story before (emo anime protag? Yawn) but now I actually feel bad for the guy. Depression is horribly crippling. Looking forward to your next essay 🙌
I'm glad the youtube algorithm gave me this gem
I hope you do an essay for other characters, too :)
great video on my favorite emo boy edgelord angsty depressed semi hero. I appreciate all your takes, i feel Jin gets misunderstood by the same things you stated in the conclusion. He never gets to be his own person because he's attached to this duality. Kinda like Sasuke who had become so committed to this idea of who he should be that his character never got to live a human life. Tekken 8 seems to be hinting at the internal conflict story so I'm excited.
As someone who'll watch video essays on pretty much anything, I'm glad to finally see a deep dive on tekken characters/story. Great work!
You are an exceptional communicator and writer. So much of this essay put words to how I see Jin in ways I couldn’t. I’m phenomenal work.
A great character breakdown & an FD signifier reference!? Instant subscribe. Great video!
Hey, Jin fanboy here. As someone constantly battling mental health issues due to childhood trauma, Jin's story and this video resonated deeply with me (except Im not a war criminal lol. Yet. Wait no-). Thank you so much for covering his character this deeply through the lens of mental health. This was beautifully put and you helped me understand him better.
Also the edit with the TT1 unknown music and Jin saying goodbye to his mother in the afterlife gave me straight chills.
19:30
DAMN YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF THAT.
THAT WAS BETTER TO WATCH THAN THE WHOLEASS SHOW.
This video is exactly what I've been saying about Jin, going through Tekken's story and seeing Jin Kazama's arc has helped me a lot throughout these past few months, since then the guy is easily one of my all time favorite characters in media.
This was a great watch. Its nice to listen to an analysis rather than being thirsty for a change lol
Also, if you've never heard Chop Suey by System of a Down, you really need to. It's definitely on Jin's playlist, lol.
ILYSM for yhis Ayaners😆😆😆the beginning is gold
So interestingly, I've been rewatching Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which address the concepts you explore here in similar ways. Xena and Angel, who are responsible for countless deaths, reach a turning point, with Xena meeting Hercules and Angel being cursed with the restoration of his soul and seeking redemption. A very important episode in Buffy is Amends, wherein Angel is haunted by what he believes to be ghosts of his crimes. Eventually, he is convinced by The First (the actual manifestation of evil) to take his life. Buffy intervenes, stating that not only would this be cowardice to avoid his guilt, but it would also rob the world of the potential good that he could do. Her stance is that death is not redemption. Accountability and atonement are the only ways to make up for what has been done.
There are plenty of other instances of the blurring of moral makeups in both shows (Willow, Faith, Darla, Spike, Callisto, Eve, a bunch of tertiary characters) and none of them have been straightforward paths of redemption. Through this prism, Kazuya and Jin are far more interesting characters that some give them credit. The idea that both main characters are arguably terrible people is pretty cool and a lot more tangible than clear baby faces and heels (wrestling terminology). What's really exciting to consider is that with this in mind, the story could really go in any direction. I would kinda love Kazuya becoming Tekken's Vegeta, but Idk. We won't have to wait much longer to find out what happens. Anyways, fantastic video. I think you nailed Jin's characterization.
Refreshing to see people understand jin's character. His actions in tekken 6 are understandable if you consider the fact that if azazel would've gained physical form when jin and kazuya both passed away, he'd annihilate the planet without any resistance, since he'd infinitely resurrect. Only a bearer of the devil gene and immense fighting prowess can kill him.
Not necessarily considering we have no idea what the world would be like when he awakened.
@@fightingmedialounge519 all azazel requires is negative energy. he doesn't need anything else to obtain a physical body. he already awakened as a spirit because of jin's and kazuya's conflict. if both of them were to die off, it wouldn't affect him in that sense. he's not bound to them like an imp.
@@xJinxKazama that has very little to do with my comment.
@@fightingmedialounge519 "Not necessarily considering we have no idea what the world would be like when he awakened." it doesn't matter how the world is. there is nothing that challenges azazel's existence. as seen with lars' method of defeating him, he simply respawns, since his core can only be destroyed by somebody who possesses the devil gene with immense fighting prowess.
@@xJinxKazama that actually would be quite relevant. Maybe when azazel awakens there are no more devil gene users, or maybe there would be. He could awaken to a world completely unprepared for him, or a world that has discovered a diffrent way to deal with him. Jin's actions in tekken 6 aren't meant to be viewed as a necessary evil but instead a gamble he took that didn't get him the results he wanted. Hence why he's revealed to still have the devil gene at the end of six, and seven reveals azazels soul still exist and needed to be absorbed by zafina.
damn this essay is so good, pls do one of kazuya cuz boi i think that these characters have so much in them
I already did a video on Kazuya actually! It's not scripted or super edited like this one but still has a lot of my opinions in it, so feel free to check that out ^^
That intro was so good I want to see you succeed. Subscribed! 😮💨
As a Karate Jin main since Tekken 4, I appreciate this kind of essay a lot, thank you...hope to find some resolution in Tekken 8 🤞 (and a return to forest bathing)
Great video, gives something for me to point to when I say Jin's my favourite FG character, rather than just acting like T6 didn't happen
I love how heihachi the bad guy achieved world peace the but the good guy jin started ww3
I’ve watched another review of Jin’s character and they perfectly describe Jin’s state of character is that he is a cool character concept if not one of the best but it’s because there was barely anything done with him that made Jin not well written in stories he’s in most of the time.
This is well done. Congrats 👏
Congratulations on the new found success. As a fellow Tekken video creator it’s cool to see all these smaller channels (Me included) starting to do really well in the wake of Tekken 8.
Great video essay. Also love the reference to FD
18:20 I'm pretty sure what you're seeing is suppose to represent jins inner spiritual realm(a concept in eastern religions that finds it way into several anime) rather than the afterlife.
Really loved the breakdown of the character, had alot of same thoughts too! :D Thank you for sharing it amazingly ^-^
9:01 I THOUGHT THE SAME THING UNTIL YOU SAID IT😂😂😂
This essay was great!!! Thats what l always loved about jin hes inner strugle and duality since tekken 8 is focusing on my boy they could do a lot with him l am really curious to see how he will be interacting with his mom
Look. Just because you commit War Crimes doesn’t mean you can’t be instantly absolved from your sins with mother’s love.
Really well edited, informative and funny video. Huge W
I'm just starting the video but that intro is amazing! Both hilarious and using a song I'd never dreamed of getting some love!
A very nice kind of essay
Damn this a welcomed suprise in my recommended section. Really nice breakdown and presentation! Got me thinking about my main a lot more the game itself, hope to see more videos of you around. It is very facinating to me the dept the characters Bandai has with Tekken that they haven't exploited, so many stories that could be amazing given a bit more time to breath and shine, like the William sisters or King/Marduk storyline about revenge.
Also very glad to hear from someone else that the Miguel's ending in T7 is actually pretty good! And could even be cannon with the timeline. Anyways, great video and hope to see your reaction to the trailer afterwards!
Thank you for making this I hope to see more vids in the future
For saying this isn't an essay, it's quite a great essay for video game series like Tekken 😂 your amazing! Auto subscribed!
As to where I fall on the xiaoyu vs Miguel spectrum, I lean more towards the xiaoyu side of the equation but, only because I do think Jin is not a monster who revels in destruction and hatred and cares about people he is close to (and want to be close to him.) Xiaoyu herself still believes him to be worth it.
Which to be fair is a lot more than can be said for characters like Sasuke for example who actually crossed a line by trying to kill those people directly close to them for their own benefit. Which is where I think redemption for those characters ends believably and where the characters chasing them become little more than suckers.
Tekken 6 just went extremely overboard in the conflict in his character to the point where it was really unnecessary considering harada always wanted him to come back to this point where at the core he just wants to do what's best for other people. Hence Alisa saying he's the hope of all mankind in the Tekken 8 trailer and Lars and him becoming bros and stuff.
If I was writing Tekken, like the Tekken 6 bloodline rebellion opening shows, Jin would still largely be taking the fight to kazuya, and kazuya would be the one trying to lure out azazel not to rid the world of him but to try and absorb it's power for himself. And thus being the one causing destruction through g corp, Whereas Jin would with the zaibatsu be trying to stop him and would have to be the one in Tekken 6 to end up taking out azazel.
It would be consistent with kazuyas slide into true evil and still be consistent with how the current story wants to portray the two sides and Tekken 7 also would not have to largely change anything besides Miguel being yet another victim of kazuyas plans. It feels like that's the path Tekken 6 would have gone if harada wasn't so eager at the time to have a shocking twist and knew how the story would be seen at large many years later
That Arctic monkeys opening was hard
I used to hate Tekken 6's story with a passion. It is my favorite game in the series, but Jin's arc in that game made me so angry, since it made no sense to me. After watching the video, I got to like T6 story a bit more. It still pains me to see what they did to Jin, since it is known for a fact that at the time, Jin was supposed to be a villain (according to Harada himself), but the dev team made him "revert" this decision with the ending of 6, 7 and 8, but this analysis is the direction they should take to end his arc. And it probably is what they intend to do now. We can see in his gameplay and moves that he is incorporating his Kazama and Mishima moves again in his repertoir, not in the way he did in 3 or the way Devil Jin does, but in his own way, becoming his own person. He uses Kazama, Mishima and his Karate, incorporating what is best for him. We even see him use the Kazama Reversal stance in the latest trailer with Brian Cox. This is also better than the answer "The Devil made me do it". More people need to see this. Excellent video!
This is a great video! So many of these videos say they're an essay or analysis but end up just being a long, boring retrospective / biography. This was a measured, opinionated and entertaining video. Thank you!
You articulated this really well! Good job ^__^ it was a nice watch
A Heihachi video would be worth it
gotta appreciate the sun goes down cover intro
i've never seen your content before rn but your voice and speech patterns are nice. easy listening.
Incredible video !
Not going to lie, this is the best Jin repeated video I have seen. As someone who, in lack of the better words, was in the Miguel side of the argument. I hated Jin because of his characterization in T6 so I kind of stuck with that hatred for that character for years but after kind of doing some soul searching (and pretty much thinking about Tekken Bloodlines and the Namco X Capcom/Project X Zone series of games and how they handled Jin’s character), I wanted to look back at Jin’s story and see if maybe I was hyperbolic about my thoughts on this fictional character or if my hatred is justified. I will admit that it did lead me to appreciate the character a bit more with his beginnings and how he became more lost the more the series progressed, but my main problem was the execution with T6’s story because I do think having that being the breaking point of his character arc can work but I feel like they went too far when it comes to the WWIII part, which I feel like is the main reason why I and others hated the characters for years and looking back, it does feel like blatant character assassination to go to that extreme when it doesn’t have to be this way since I feel like they can do this story without turning his character into a war criminal though this did motivate me to do a Tekken 6 rewrite one day since I do believe that this concept of Jin’s arc has a lot of potential. I was thinking about doing a Jin video essay myself for a while now but when I was watching this, I did have this thought of “what if my points are too similar to yours?” but we’ll see. You did a wonderful job.
I like you, this was a really great video. You are funny and you have great editing skills
مَا شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ
!Fantastic editing
I love how the first thing Jin does when he goes devil mode is run away.
This video is SOOOOOO Great and basically encapsulated everything I thought about Jin. Even though I'm also not a fan of his WW3 arc in Tekken 6 I also generally understand why they went into that direction.
Jin's development always centered around the duality of his "good" and "evil" side so him doing something definitely awful is a good choice for his arc. it's just that Tekken 6 is really bad at executing that plot point.
Well I can appreciate the effort put into the video and understand the desire to see more nuance in the handling of our favourite characters but with T6 randomly turning Jin into a mass murder only to present him as "Hope of humanity" in T8... Yeah that ship sailed long ago.
I think Maximilian put it best Tekken has essentially become the fighting game equivalent of Fast and Furious, Jin's hero-villain-back to hero again arc is very reminiscent of those films, best to just embrace the schlock and enjoy whatever crazy ride Harada and crew have planned for T8.
I do understand the angle Jin takes on the Devil Gene. I relate to it and have an intense loathing for something genetically passed down. Something that's caused me TONS of suffering. I absolutely feel that neither me or my father should create any more of us at all costs. Jin wants to rid the world of people like him, Kazuya, and Heihachi. The mere presence of the devil gene is a danger to the world, so Jin will do it, at ALL COSTS.
Suprised by When The Sun Goes Down cover
Here’s Lars taking an electric shit lol 😂
@ayanohisako the Lars taking an electric and the Jin sun bathing joke literally forced me to subscribe to you. It had nothing to do with Jin secretly being your favorite character. Lmao 🤣 don’t worry he’s my boy too 🔥💯
About 15mins in, and this video is really well made. Great job 👍🏿
Wonderful Video!💯 Banger😎 thank you!
He views himself as a bad guy who destroys even worse guys
Love your vid i hope you end up making more when you can
Editinf master class
really loved this video, you absolutely killed it
Subscribed for the intro alone
Ooo so this is my first video from your channel. Hearing you say you're from Pakistan made me wonder what the game is like for you growing. Mind you im typing this about 5 minutes in.
Yo that Leeroy slander came out of nowhere 😂
Great work!
Great vid
Masterpiece 🌠
Loved it...
For once my RUclips recommendations bring me something i enjoy. Good video!
I liked those funny lil edits, you should be proud!
banger
Wah ayano behna didn't know this side of you. And wo kaichou wa maid sama reference. Childhood memories..
Great video
Well Jin is my first fave MC, next is Dante
This was your first video like this? Its incredible, vary interesting perspective most tekken story analysis is just crying about the weird direction it went,ts nice to see someone ataclly has something else to say besides story use to be good but now bad....good shit
Great video!
good video
Tekken my favorite game, arctic monkeys my favorite band. Well done 👏🏼
love da vid; still holding out to my theory that Asuka is with Jun rn in general
9:52 Which only makes this entire plot point even more demented, when you realize: Tekken 7 really had the gall, to claim that Heihachi is the "misunderstood hero". The same man, who even induced this trauma in the first place. You cannot say anymore, "You tried to do the right thing", because you repeated that same "mistake", a second time. This is not even funny anymore, this is just sick.
Excellent video. Just well done.
"Humans arent allowed to be just black and white" - Kazuya who is always potrayed as pure black-
I don't think that's the case at all, and I said as much in my video. He's a result of his trauma, he is a victim. That doesn't excuse the shitty things he does now, but that also doesn't make him pure evil.
Arctic Monkeys x Jin Kazama song for opening? that's cool af 😭🔥🔥🤝🏻
Why would you tell us to skip to 3:11 to resume the analysis. I know we don’t know you, but that doesn’t mean everybody doesn’t care about you. I’m not skipping it. To show my love, support and consideration. You’re an awesome person never forget that.
So I just had a thought.
Isn't there a chance that Miguel might have pissed off enough of the wrong people on his revenge quest against Jin that they might be out for his blood, too?
Bro might night not get his chance if someone else gets their hands on him first.
Or he comes to understand why Jin did all this in the first place and goes after Zafina because he thinks she'll start another World War under Azazel's influence.
...Okay, Miguel starting another revenge quest against Zafina sounds kind of horrifying, even if he let Jin go in his ending.