{"id":50672,"date":"2025-08-04T18:09:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T09:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=50672"},"modified":"2025-08-04T18:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T09:09:07","slug":"tekken-8-producer-defends-teams-efforts-to-faithfully-portray-miary-zos-ethnicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/tekken-8-producer-defends-teams-efforts-to-faithfully-portray-miary-zos-ethnicity\/","title":{"rendered":"Tekken 8 producer defends team&#8217;s efforts to faithfully portray Miary Zo&#8217;s ethnicity\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Following <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TommyKairaTK\/status\/1952156274545852419\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">discussions on X<\/a> about whether <strong>Tekken 8<\/strong> newcomer Miary Zo looks Malagasy or not, producer <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/tekken-8-producer-katsuhiro-harada-shuts-down-criticism-of-anna-williamss-redesign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Katsuhiro Harada<\/a> talked about the amount of effort the Tekken Project Team put into making sure the character\u2019s nationality and ethnicity were well represented. This includes the character\u2019s appearance, fighting style, and voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Well, we didn\u2019t just visit and stay there \u2014 we actually studied the local roots and history on-site, traveled from big cities to rural towns (not just the World Heritage sites), co-designed characters with the gaming community in Madagascar, had those designs reviewed and refined\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DnyIy0Omis\">https:\/\/t.co\/DnyIy0Omis<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Harada_TEKKEN\/status\/1952193972354613714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 4, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>During their trip to Madagascar, the Tekken Project Team studied the country\u2019s history, visited famous and rural sites, and most importantly, co-designed and reviewed characters with the local gaming community. While this implies that more than one Malagasy character will be coming to Tekken 8, Harada is likely referring to Miary Zo and the NPCs that populate the upcoming Baobab Horizon stage.\u00a0In response to users&#8217; claims that &#8220;nobody from Madagascar looks like Miary Zo,&#8221; Harada commented, &#8220;I understand there are things that people who haven\u2019t been there simply wouldn\u2019t know&#8221; and &#8220;I trust that people realize there\u2019s a world beyond what you can learn from personal experience or just searching online.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"TEKKEN 8 \u2014 Armor King Gameplay Trailer\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RBjhCpvBtyk?start=265&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Miary Zo speaks Malagasy at the end of the <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/armor-king-returns-to-tekken-8-as-third-season-2-character\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Armor King<\/a> Gameplay Trailer. She can also be seen wearing a pair of boxing gloves, which could hint that she practices Moraingy &#8211; a bare-fisted martial art originating from Madagascar.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It\u2019s related to her background and such, but that information will be revealed in the future. It\u2019s properly connected to the past TEKKEN series. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/32syXwF7xs\">https:\/\/t.co\/32syXwF7xs<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Harada_TEKKEN\/status\/1952198060962123981?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 4, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Harada also addresses a fan query regarding Miary\u2019s red eyes, mentioning that they are related to the character\u2019s background and Tekken lore as a whole. Many fans speculate that <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AsukaTheSparrow\/status\/1952199728185401586\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Miary\u2019s eyes<\/a>, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/IETArcade\/status\/1952198748408590631\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">her heavy bracelets and anklets<\/a>, prove that she is connected to Ogre, an ancient being of immense power left by extraterrestrials on the planet Earth. While the original Ogre was defeated by Jin Kazama at the end of Tekken 3, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Harada_TEKKEN\/status\/1933737578819445021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a previous statement by Harada<\/a> suggests that there are several Ogres located in different parts of the world.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tekken fans will have to wait to learn more about Miary Zo, as she and her Baobab Horizon stage are set for a Winter 2025 release. Expect more information on Miary to drop as winter nears.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tekken 8 is available for PC (Steam), PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In response to users on X debating whether new Tekken 8 fighter Miary Zo looks like her ethnicity, series producer Harada has assured fans that the design is based on thorough research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":50675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-50672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tekken 8 producer defends team&#039;s efforts to faithfully portray Miary Zo&#039;s ethnicity\u00a0 - 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