A great video that perfectly encapsulates why KOF will never die. You even see this commitment of breaking conventional norms in the franchise's VILLAINS. This is especially impressive since usually in character design, your villains enforce conventional norms of their respective genre of your heroes are all about breaking said norms but with KOF, they also break the norms of traditional villain fashion as well. Rugal looks very masculine with his square build and tuxedo, but then you also see that he wears long hair which men traditionally don't do and also that his tux is a bright screaming red. Once he talks off the tux, you see a bit of metrosexuality with his fishnet shirt. Then there's Krizalid who starts off wearing a purple fur coat that reaches his mouth, to wearing this purple spandex bodysuit but not one moment do you stop taking them seriously because of it.
The Kyo team design was also inspired by Getter Robot, with a fierce fiery brat main guy, a grounded bigg judoka and a astute and capable complement to the team. They symbolize as well the three parts of men: the heart/soul, the body and the mind.
This was such an interesting take on each protag! I love how you analyzed Shun'ei. I didn’t get depression from his design, but I got social anxiety and introversion as his concept. Some Autistic fans pointed out that they relate to Shun bc he uses headphones to cancel noise and covers his arms in bandages and some neurodivergent people do that to help cope with too much auditory stimulation. My favorite protag is Kyo for all the reasons you describe it, I love his cocky and rebellious actitude and his hard rock biker style.
I don't relate to him (I'm autistic) but I can underaand why others do. Funnily enough I'm one of the headphone wearing autists. I think the "depression" bit about his character design is because he comes from a Chinese concept. Socially rejected teens dress up with too many things (often times mismatching) in an attempt to say "you can't ignore me anymore".
This ended up going in a slightly different direction than I expected but I appreciated the spirit of it. I don't think there's enough analysis of fighting game aesthetics out there. For me it's especially interesting how it's always been a genre taking influence from movies and other fiction and trying to package those fantasies in to a playable form BUT how it's most memorable for the parts of that synthesis that come across as unique. Like how blanka is more iconic and memorable than fei long
Kyo kinda reminds me of Yusuke Urameshi but starting 96 Kyo started developing his own Kusanagi style bringing more similarities to dedicated martial artists
Well its about time someone from the platform recognize shun's fasion design. Most people just simply hates him simply because of his design alone. Shu is always being compared to those other protags that has a simplier and more generic designs as they are more easy to read. Btw since this vid is about protag fasion and not much about their personality and motives, ash had a reason why he did what he did, and it is not as bad and as selfish unlike what other people points out why they hate him.
I'm actually so grateful this showed up on my recommended because KOF, especially KOF DESIGN? Top tier. It's not super realistic, but not super over-the-top. Like the right combination of Tekken's sharp aesthetic and Street Fighter's variety.
They have always been more realistic and a true “street” style and a stylistically fashion sense than other fighting games, even in the era when Tekken was polygonal in the 90s.
Despite being a bit all over the place, I loved this vid. KOF is my favorite fighting series. Those designs always connected with me. Mostly Kyo and K'.
The fact that this guy has 324 subscribers, is telling of the video’s quality since it has over 13.9K views. I’m subscribing, I know you’re not monetized yet but “buena suerte!”🔥
You know for all the crap that Shun'ei gets, I think he deserves an "In Defense of Shun'ei" video. I think you might be JUST the guy to do it. Shun's style REALY doesn't "vibe" with me, but I GET it. Seems to me that it represents chaos, what with the asymmetry and clashing colors. It's further outlined by the INNER turmoil he feels as you pointed out with his win pose that he tries not to show with that deep breath and the hands giving away how he truly feels. I think that Shun is a GREAT character and is very fun to play. The biggest issue most fans seem to have with him is his fit! Problem with chaos is that it's, by nature, ugly. I'm sure he'll get a redesign in the future. I just hope that it still finds a way to convey that inner chaos he feels, while being easier to look at! Sugar Punch Design had a rant about Shun'ei, and if you ARE gonna make a vid about Shun, it's definitely worth watching. But that's all ENTIRELY up to you if you even want to do it in the first place. I don't want you to feel like I'm demanding anything! Just giving some input on what I'd like to see!
Amazing video! I have a little comment on Meitenkun - the japanese word for pillow means "where the soul rests" and there's a belief that you should be careful about sharing it with others. Also, while I do like Shun-ei's design, I think his alt costume with the typical uniform and headphones is just as valid at representing his character (student like kyo, constrained like K', monotone like ash even though he stopped existing - and maybe fearful like rock)
I have a pinned comment on this video while not all I think the best link is www.vogue.com/article/street-style-harajuku-tokyo but sadly they are paywalling it.
I don't know how it was where you lived, here where I was part of the KoF fanbase in a huge part of the hatred of Ash was indeed because he was too feminine. He was seen as the extreme continuation of the bishounen design that veered to far into the "hes gay" look. And he defeated the most popular character Iori while looking gay.
@@EricWalkerswildride Yeah for sure, but Iori is still masculine looking and does cool edgy looking shit and has cool purple looking flames to bypass that. Same as Benimaru.
Shun ei design might be a reference to a style but i still feel is just not good enough, most of the new designs in snk are not that good in my opinion, preecha is just a girl glasses with joe's powers, there was like a ninja boxing dude, i cant even rememeber his name. And oh god billy kane lost his bandana and looks so plain.
I guess that is part of why I dont like Shunei design. I cant relate to it. Never a big fan of the whole harajuku style. Kyo is simple school delinquent. K' with the whole leather/biker aestethic is very much 90s. I can relate to both. I hate Ash the most, unrelated to his design lmao.
If I would need to alter my taste to such a degree to digest the concepts of the KOF protags then it kind of misses the point, you may dismiss steamy roided men as cliches but they have LARGER THAN LIFE aesthetics that appeal to a wider variety of people with less processing or mental gymnasts required. I will alwats prefer the modest Terry and Ryo designs over the Bishonens, Regular Joe dressed in primary colors, and a Karate Guy that is more relaxed than the traditional white gi.
JoJo and KOF has one of the most progressive fashion designs in media.
A great video that perfectly encapsulates why KOF will never die. You even see this commitment of breaking conventional norms in the franchise's VILLAINS. This is especially impressive since usually in character design, your villains enforce conventional norms of their respective genre of your heroes are all about breaking said norms but with KOF, they also break the norms of traditional villain fashion as well. Rugal looks very masculine with his square build and tuxedo, but then you also see that he wears long hair which men traditionally don't do and also that his tux is a bright screaming red. Once he talks off the tux, you see a bit of metrosexuality with his fishnet shirt. Then there's Krizalid who starts off wearing a purple fur coat that reaches his mouth, to wearing this purple spandex bodysuit but not one moment do you stop taking them seriously because of it.
The Kyo team design was also inspired by Getter Robot, with a fierce fiery brat main guy, a grounded bigg judoka and a astute and capable complement to the team. They symbolize as well the three parts of men: the heart/soul, the body and the mind.
King of fighters always had the drip! I’m glad this video recognizes it
This was such an interesting take on each protag! I love how you analyzed Shun'ei. I didn’t get depression from his design, but I got social anxiety and introversion as his concept. Some Autistic fans pointed out that they relate to Shun bc he uses headphones to cancel noise and covers his arms in bandages and some neurodivergent people do that to help cope with too much auditory stimulation. My favorite protag is Kyo for all the reasons you describe it, I love his cocky and rebellious actitude and his hard rock biker style.
I don't relate to him (I'm autistic) but I can underaand why others do. Funnily enough I'm one of the headphone wearing autists.
I think the "depression" bit about his character design is because he comes from a Chinese concept. Socially rejected teens dress up with too many things (often times mismatching) in an attempt to say "you can't ignore me anymore".
9:03 He did eat that shit. Left no crumbs. Coated the entire plate in his saliva.
This ended up going in a slightly different direction than I expected but I appreciated the spirit of it. I don't think there's enough analysis of fighting game aesthetics out there. For me it's especially interesting how it's always been a genre taking influence from movies and other fiction and trying to package those fantasies in to a playable form BUT how it's most memorable for the parts of that synthesis that come across as unique. Like how blanka is more iconic and memorable than fei long
Eh... nah, Banchou was not at all popularized by Araki. If anything he came really late to it.
Yeah, Banchou been around and popular for A WHILE
And also Yankii and Bosozoku
@@gakeeeen Isn't banchou like from the 60's in Japan?
@@AlexSander-jr9etYeah from like 60s-early 80s
Anytime someone says that Araki popularaized banchou, an angel fucking dies
Your analise of Shun'ei was great
Shun'ei was the first KOF protagonist to not be intimidating.
Kyo kinda reminds me of Yusuke Urameshi but starting 96 Kyo started developing his own Kusanagi style bringing more similarities to dedicated martial artists
The K- glazing was justified tbh 😂
Well its about time someone from the platform recognize shun's fasion design. Most people just simply hates him simply because of his design alone. Shu is always being compared to those other protags that has a simplier and more generic designs as they are more easy to read.
Btw since this vid is about protag fasion and not much about their personality and motives, ash had a reason why he did what he did, and it is not as bad and as selfish unlike what other people points out why they hate him.
I'm actually so grateful this showed up on my recommended because KOF, especially KOF DESIGN?
Top tier. It's not super realistic, but not super over-the-top. Like the right combination of Tekken's sharp aesthetic and Street Fighter's variety.
They have always been more realistic and a true “street” style and a stylistically fashion sense than other fighting games, even in the era when Tekken was polygonal in the 90s.
@maforo85 Amem to that. They capitalized on their style rather than adjust to overwrite the aesthetic according to the advancing technologies.
Despite being a bit all over the place, I loved this vid. KOF is my favorite fighting series. Those designs always connected with me. Mostly Kyo and K'.
The fact that this guy has 324 subscribers, is telling of the video’s quality since it has over 13.9K views. I’m subscribing, I know you’re not monetized yet but “buena suerte!”🔥
If you only showed me the first minute of this video I would never in 2000 years guess what it is about.
You know for all the crap that Shun'ei gets, I think he deserves an "In Defense of Shun'ei" video. I think you might be JUST the guy to do it. Shun's style REALY doesn't "vibe" with me, but I GET it. Seems to me that it represents chaos, what with the asymmetry and clashing colors. It's further outlined by the INNER turmoil he feels as you pointed out with his win pose that he tries not to show with that deep breath and the hands giving away how he truly feels.
I think that Shun is a GREAT character and is very fun to play. The biggest issue most fans seem to have with him is his fit! Problem with chaos is that it's, by nature, ugly. I'm sure he'll get a redesign in the future. I just hope that it still finds a way to convey that inner chaos he feels, while being easier to look at! Sugar Punch Design had a rant about Shun'ei, and if you ARE gonna make a vid about Shun, it's definitely worth watching.
But that's all ENTIRELY up to you if you even want to do it in the first place. I don't want you to feel like I'm demanding anything! Just giving some input on what I'd like to see!
You forgot iori, please do a video on his design
Iori is a rival, this video was about the protagonist! maybe he can be in the rival's video
She felt that chill that makes the hairs on the back of your neck when he walked into the room.
Awesome material. As a life long KOF Fanatic it brings me huge pleasure. You are a great storyteller and completely on point. Will be waiting for more
Maybe you was a little bit rumbly here but damn if you didn't make me to appreciate Shun'ei! Really great job, man, huge props!
Amazing video! I have a little comment on Meitenkun - the japanese word for pillow means "where the soul rests" and there's a belief that you should be careful about sharing it with others.
Also, while I do like Shun-ei's design, I think his alt costume with the typical uniform and headphones is just as valid at representing his character (student like kyo, constrained like K', monotone like ash even though he stopped existing - and maybe fearful like rock)
The amount of metaphor and paradox are astonishingly high.
*K DASH DA GOAT!!!!!*
Wow, great video dude! Good job.
I love this ! I am always looking into this kind of design details and I love that you're sharing your findings
This was incredible…!
Do you have any resources/articles on fashion/japanese fashion?
I have a pinned comment on this video while not all I think the best link is www.vogue.com/article/street-style-harajuku-tokyo but sadly they are paywalling it.
what's the game at 7:03? looks fun
kenka banchou 4, it's on the psp
Benimaru was so cool that Polnareff, a french dude, copied his whole fit and became a crusader in a battle against an immortal vampire
Good lord this kind of essay is what i live for.
Aspring designer here, Pls do more fashion related video game stuff
Props on the tobal music
masterful work, please do a rivals (Iori, Kula, Isla) video
11:47 i need to know the name of this game
Yatagarasu enter the eastward -> store.steampowered.com/app/2630350/Yatagarasu_Enter_the_Eastward/
]
You sir have a new sub. Great work.
Hell yeah great video
Que vídeo incrível, mano! Parabéns!
6:21 what games it this?
Nevermind, It Crows Burning Edge
I tried watching until the end but my brutish brain could not keep up with this refined video
Next time I put some subway sufers for us 🥺
Ash? Most hated? My most beloved
whats the song at 13:52?
was gonna comment the same.
W Video, Love your analysis on Shun'ei's design
They remind me of 80s hair salon magazines when I would go with my grandma to get her hair dyed red 😂
Dude, are those stages mods or you can unlock them in KOF15?
NICE VIDEO, by the way! Love this franchise. 🙂
ye they are all mods for the training mode of the game
YES, A FASHION ANALYSIS OF KOF!!!!
Nice analysis ❤😊
Amazing video 🤩
Great video!
The reason I don't like Shun Ei is because he's literally those chunnibyou characters we see in anime and manga like Kaido from Saiki K
With the way you described it, it makes it feel as if you didn't watch the video
I've been practicing kung-fu for over 30 years and have never worn a gi; and I ner will.
Great video.
Great video
Awesome vid
You point about Kyo lost a lot of weight when you remember that Terry is in the same game and existed for longer.
This video rocks
I don't know how it was where you lived, here where I was part of the KoF fanbase in a huge part of the hatred of Ash was indeed because he was too feminine. He was seen as the extreme continuation of the bishounen design that veered to far into the "hes gay" look. And he defeated the most popular character Iori while looking gay.
We thought Iori looked gay too, young blood.
@@EricWalkerswildride Yeah for sure, but Iori is still masculine looking and does cool edgy looking shit and has cool purple looking flames to bypass that. Same as Benimaru.
Ash is a femboy and people were not ready for it. Now femboys are popular. 😂 (also Iori is very bisexual presenting )
This, just makes it so fucking hard to really write the king of fighters 😩
It's useful anyways
Nah it’s Crypto, I see that mofo EVERYWHERE
RDRDRD RAHHHHHHHHH
Fertility "diet-ty" and "Miata-moto musashi"😂😂😂😂 is he trolling?
based video
I bet you're brazilian
5 minutes in and no idea what you're on about.
Shun ei design might be a reference to a style but i still feel is just not good enough, most of the new designs in snk are not that good in my opinion, preecha is just a girl glasses with joe's powers, there was like a ninja boxing dude, i cant even rememeber his name.
And oh god billy kane lost his bandana and looks so plain.
I guess that is part of why I dont like Shunei design. I cant relate to it. Never a big fan of the whole harajuku style. Kyo is simple school delinquent. K' with the whole leather/biker aestethic is very much 90s. I can relate to both.
I hate Ash the most, unrelated to his design lmao.
Kyo should have been the face of SNK. If only they gave him more spotlight
No he shouldn’t. Terry earned that spot.
They give him more than enough undeserved spotlight, still cant make it.
If I would need to alter my taste to such a degree to digest the concepts of the KOF protags then it kind of misses the point, you may dismiss steamy roided men as cliches but they have LARGER THAN LIFE aesthetics that appeal to a wider variety of people with less processing or mental gymnasts required.
I will alwats prefer the modest Terry and Ryo designs over the Bishonens, Regular Joe dressed in primary colors, and a Karate Guy that is more relaxed than the traditional white gi.
"But check this out..." 📸
Not even mad brah 🫡
Fantastic video