#EffTheWin - Tekken 7 introduces Pinay Fighter "Josie Rizal"

"A Filipina character in Tekken deserves a lot of thumbs up, although the choice of her name will stick out like a sore thumb"

First things first, I am a self-confessed videogame fanatic and one genre that never fails to pique my interest is the fighting game genre. From the 2D fighting game that started it all - Street Fighter II - to the 3D slugfest that was the Tekken franchise, I can humbly say that I have played them all (spent a lot of time, energy, electricity, and even token/quarters on them).

Now speaking of Tekken, the game will soon be unveiling its seventh installment (Tekken 7) and in the fighting game genre, when there is a new installment of the game, one thing is constant - New Characters.

Of the newly-introduced characters, there is one that is really making waves as of late with the Filipino community, especially the gamers - Introducing Filipina fighter, Josie Rizal.

Okay, now who does not want a videogame character representing your country in a popular game franchise? Raise your hand...No takers, obviously!

For the record, Tekken 7 director and producer Katsuhiro Harada confirmed that this Josie Rizal is a character that originates from the Philippines and specializes in “Eskrima” and “kickboxing”.

Her default outfit consists of a yellow top, a miniskirt, and a red rabbit-like hair accessory, Josie is designed by Mari Shimazaki who also designs a lot of characters on Namco/Bandai games.

The First Filipina Fighting Game Character? Not really!

Talim here is the first Pinay Fighting Game Character, just so you know.

Let us first set things straight, a lot of joints has been reporting that Josie is the first Pinay fighting game character. I hate to burst their bubble though: Josie Rizal is not the first Filipino character in a fighting game. That would be Talim from the “Soul Calibur” series also published by Bandai Namco. She was first introduced in 2002 and still is in the roster of characters of the Soul Calibur series. Talim's name is obviously derived from the Filipino word of the same name which means "Sharp."

Josie is cute right, but has a lot of Badass stuff to her belt under that cuteness

I do not know why Bandai Namco opted on making the first Filipino character in the Tekken franchise a female, but I am in no position to complain. In all fairness though, they designed her to be worthy of praise from gamers like me. Aside from the fact that her skin tone is obviously the "proud" Brown that we Filipinos are known for, I liked the fact that her martial art of preference is "Eskrima" with kickboxing too. I mean, "Eskrima" is considered as the National Martial Art of the Philippines, so the makers nailed that aspect. A Pinay fighter adept at Eskrima? That is Badass.

In regards to the costume, well you can see that Josie Rizal is flying the Philippine colors there - Red, Yellow, and Blue. No doubt, Josie is an eye candy. Now, I know a lot of non-gamers will obviously react to the costume - Mid-riff top and Super Mini-Skirt - but in my opinion, I think it is still a practical and conducive costume for fighting. It allows free movement. I mean, it could have been worse.

From the first promotional video that I see, I gotta say that Josie is one very well researched and designed character that is a welcome addition to the Tekken Franchise.

Now, that name though...

I filed this post under "Eff The Win" obviously because it is quite impressive that we get a Filipina representative in a game of Tekken's magnitude. However, if there is one thing that made me go "Wut The Eff" about this new character...it is the choice of name.

When I first saw the news about this new character, I was really like "Alright!", but then when I saw the name, I was like...

"Seryoso? Josie Rizal? Typo ba ito? Noli me Tang*$%#!'

Translation: "Seriously? Josie Rizal? Is this a typo? - the next phrase is censored due to Cursing"

Okay, others may be okay with the name and others may be not. As far as my opinion goes, somehow it does not sit well with me that the new character was given a name that has a close resemblance to our national hero. Nope, I do not take it as an insult (as one disqualified governor say it was..heck his last film was an insult to "Da King" so he does not have a say to this), but I felt that it was a bit of a wrong choice. Jose Rizal is an omnipresent being in the Philippines: there are streets, avenues, and schools named after him as he is our national hero. We all know that Jose Rizal fought for our freedom in a peaceful rather than a violent way and giving a fighting game character a namesake after him will contradict that, don't you think?

Well, it is just me though. I think the makers of the game have their reason to name Josie Rizal after our national hero and I do respect those, although I think they could have done better by naming her with a more Filipina-sounding name other than Josie right? Then, stick the Rizal surname and it will be much less controversy-attracting. (Mayumi Rizal could have been a safe and sound choice...)

Final Round...err I mean, Words

Despite that little name blunder, Josie Rizal will be a welcome addition to the Tekken Franchise not only because she is a Pinay, but she brings to the table a martial art that is truly Pinoy (the combination of Eskrima with a bit of Yawyan/Kickboxing) and a lot of us Filipinos can relate to. If Talim introduced the Pinoy weapon-based style of Eskrima to the gaming world via Soul Calibur, then Josie Rizal will be the poster girl of mano-a-mano Eskrima in the fighting game scene. It is really an honour that Bandai Namco considered one of our martial arts to be included in the game and add to that that they even made a Filipina character to wield that art? That is just icing to the cake. Pinoy fighting game fanatics should really look forward to Tekken 7, especially Josie Rizal, I will.

Josie Rizal will open up a can of ass-whooping in Tekken 7

All in all, A Filipina character in Tekken deserves a lot of thumbs up, although the choice of her name will stick out like a sore thumb..a little bit.

Until next time,

Fight!.....I mean..


Ciao!