Tekken 8 producer explains how Asuka’s sense of humor is part of Osaka culture 

Tekken series veteran Katsuhiro Harada posted on X recently to address a misunderstanding about Asuka’s personality in Tekken 8. In his detailed explanation, the Tekken 8 producer points out how her quick comedic comeback to Hwoarang’s mistake in a scene from the game is characteristic of people from the Kansai region of Japan, specifically Osaka. 

The scene in question occurs when Lili brings Asuka to the Coliseum of Fate to watch Lili compete in the King of the Iron Fist Tournament. Asuka is already displeased with being dragged to Rome when Hwoarang appears. He struggles to remember who Asuka is, asking if she is Jin Kazama’s sister. Asuka is in fact Jin’s cousin but instead of directly correcting Hwoarang, she almost sarcastically goes along with it, politely thanking Hwoarang for looking after her brother before sharply indicating his mistake.  

A poster on X said that they thought this “were you like… Jin’s sister or something?” line from Hwoarang indicated that the writers hate Asuka. In his response, Harada points out that this is not the case at all, and that Hwoarang’s mistake gave the writers a chance to show off how much of an Osaka girl Asuka is. 

The producer touches on it in the above comment, but Hwoarang and Asuka almost act like a Manzai double act. The Manzai style of comedy is strongly associated with the Osaka region and is often performed in Kansai dialect. Each comedian in the pair plays a role- one is the Boke (funny man) and the other is the Tsukkomi (straight man). Most acts revolve around the Boke forgetting something or saying something silly (basically setting themselves up to get “roasted”) and the Tsukkomi butting in to correct their error (i.e. delivering the punch line). In this scene from Tekken 8, Hwoarang is like the Boke, and Asuka with her sharp comeback is like the Tsukkomi. This scene could also be interpreted as a Tekken universe in-joke as the family relationships between the Kazamas and the Mishimas in the series are very complicated and hard to follow. On the whole, Tekken characters seem to understand each other quite well, especially seeing as they all speak different languages when having a conversation. 

Tekken 8 is available for the PC (Steam), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.