Kazuya Mishima

Kazuya Mishima (三島 一八) is a fictional character in the Tekken fighting game series. Although originally appearing as the main protagonist, he is now one of the series' leading villains.

In the Tekken series
According to Namco's official backstory, Kazuya Mishima is the son of Heihachi Mishima, the long-time Chief Executive Officer of the Mishima Zaibatsu (a powerful worldwide conglomerate), and grandson of Jinpachi Mishima. He has a foster brother, Lee Chaolan, who was adopted by Heihachi Mishima, and also a half-brother, Lars Alexandersson, Heihachi's illegitimate son. Most importantly, he is the father of Jin Kazama, through a relationship with Jun Kazama.

When Kazuya was five years old, he was thrown off a cliff by his father, who claimed that his son was weak. If Kazuya was to be his father's successor to the Mishima Zaibatsu throne, he was to not only survive the fall, but climb back up the rocky cliff as well. Kazuya nearly died from the ordeal, but his survival was assured through a deal with the Devil, who promised him enough power to take his revenge on his father.

In the years prior to the events of the original Tekken, Kazuya entered martial arts tournaments all over the world, becoming an undefeated champion (only Paul Phoenix ever managed a draw with him). When the first King of Iron Fist Tournament was announced, 26-year-old Kazuya took the opportunity for vengeance. It is during the tournament that the original game takes place.

Though all Tekken games feature multiple endings, the main plot of the first Tekken assumes that Kazuya's is a "correct" ending. According to this ending, he overcomes all opponents and battles Heihachi in the final round. Apathetic towards the tournament's proposed one billion dollar prize and fueled by his hatred for his father, Kazuya wins and drops Heihachi's unconscious body from the same cliff he had been thrown from as a child.

Tekken 2 then picks up two years afterward. In this story, Kazuya (now 28) has usurped the Mishima Zaibatsu and under his leadership, engaged in many illegal activities such as assassination, extortion, drug dealing and the smuggling of endangered species. Kazuya then decided to announce a second King of Iron Fist Tournament. Heihachi, having survived both his battle with Kazuya and the subsequent fall, enters the tournament, having trained and meditated in the hills after his defeat. This time, Tekken 2 assumes that Heihachi's ending is correct, and thus the official story states that he reclaims the Mishima Zaibatsu by defeating his son. Afterwards, Heihachi throws Kazuya into the mouth of an erupting volcano, killing him supposedly.

The story for Tekken 3 begins by stating that, before his defeat at the hands of Heihachi, Kazuya became intimate with Jun Kazama, who conceived their son, Jin Kazama. Kazuya does not appear as a playable character in Tekken 3, but he appears in Eddy Gordo's ending in a photo, and Eddy realizes that he is the man behind the murder of his father. He also appears alongside Jun Kazama in the game's alternate intro. Kazuya also appears in the non-canonical game, Tekken Tag Tournament. Though he is featured prominently within promotional art and packaging for the game, it bears no weight on the series' official story.

Kazuya returns as a main character in Tekken 4. His prologue in the game states that he was revived by G Corporation, a rival genetics company of the Mishima Zaibatsu, a few days after his supposed death. Kazuya (age 49) allows the company to perform various experiments on him in order to learn the true nature of the Devil Gene within his body (although he does not know that they are only using him and plan to kill him afterwards), but an attack on the research facility by the Tekken Force twenty-one years later (sent by Heihachi to retrieve Kazuya's remains for the Devil Gene) impedes further success. Kazuya fights the Tekken Forces off, and vows to get his revenge on Heihachi in the recently announced King of Iron Fist Tournament 4, and at the same time, extract the half of his Devil Gene stored in the body of his son, Jin Kazama. Kazuya makes it to the finals and asks Heihachi: " What have you done to Jin Kazama". Heihachi replies: " I will tell you after the fight." Kazuya was defeated and Heihachi, keeping his word, leads Kazuya to Hon-Maru, a Mishima compound where Jin is being held captive (he was captured by the Tekken Forces on his way to fight Kazuya in the seventh stage). Kazuya, influenced by Devil, knocks Heihachi out of the room with his psychic powers and subconsciously taunts Jin in order to wake him up. However, the plan backfires, and an enraged Jin defeats both Kazuya and Heihachi in battle, but spares their lives after seeing a vision of his mother, after which he takes flight.

Moments after Jin's departure from Hon-Maru, Kazuya and Heihachi are assaulted by a squadron of Jack-4s sent to assassinate them by G Corporation (no longer needing him, they betrayed Kazuya). For a while Kazuya and Heihachi fought off the Jacks together, as father and son. Then, Kazuya throws Heihachi in the direction of the Jacks. He jumps out of Hon-Maru, turns into Devil and leaves. (we don't see him turn into Devil) Letting Heihachi die (although Heihachi survives). Vowing to get revenge on G Corporation for their treachery, Kazuya enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5.

Despite not winning the fifth tournament, Kazuya discovers the division of G Corporation that tried to kill him, and kills them all in revenge, becoming the head of the company and using it as the only powerful opposition to the Mishima Zaibatsu, led by Jin, who has begun world conquest and declared war on several nations. By this time, the world's population sees G Corporation as its only saviour though Kazuya's real purpose is to kill Jin and take over the world himself, and Kazuya uses the company's influence to his advantage: to stop Jin from taking over his plans for world domination, Kazuya places a bounty on Jin's head for whomever could manage to capture him alive and decides to enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 (announced by Jin) to settle the score once and for all with his son.

Kazuya is one of the initial four fighters shown in the debut gameplay trailer for Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Other appearances
In the OVA Tekken: The Motion Picture, which is loosely based on the first and second games in the franchise, Kazuya is the main protagonist. As in the game's story, he is thrown off a cliff at a young age by Heihachi and saved by a deal with the Devil. Following this, he becomes bent on revenge against Heihachi, and enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament in order to confront him. Differentiating the OVA from the game is that Kazuya crosses paths several times with Jun Kazama, who repeatedly tries to implore him not to kill his father, and in the end, after Kazuya defeats Heihachi, some emotional words from Jun finally reach his heart and he manages to expel Devil's influence from within him, reverting him to his kind, compassionate self once again.

In the 2010 live-action film Tekken, Kazuya is the main antagonist and is portrayed by American actor Ian Anthony Dale. In this version he has facial hair and bears none of the video game character's bodily scars, possibly due to the fact that the story calls for Kazuya and Jin to meet early in the film without discovering their blood relation. Kazuya is Heihachi's right-hand man in Tekken Corporation, wishing to take over his father's company. Also, rather than being a hand-to-hand combatant, Kazuya relies on melee weapons such as axes and Eskrima sticks. Furthermore, the Devil Gene subplot is not used in the film. In the middle of the film he grows impatient with Heihachi's compassion for Jin and eventually overthrows and orders him executed (although Heihachi goads the soldier into sparing him) After Jin wins the tournament, Kazuya challenges Jin to a one-on-one duel. Although he initially beats Jin, Jin gets the upper hand and wounds Kazuya critically, but refuses to kill him for the sake of their blood relation, instead letting him live in eternal shame.

He also appears as Devil in the crossover strategy RPG Namco × Capcom along with several other Namco and Capcom personalities.

Kazuya was one of the first characters showcased for the upcoming crossover fighting game, Street Fighter X Tekken, produced by Capcom. In the debut trailer, he is shown defeating Dan Hibiki in order to confront Street Fighter mascot Ryu. During the gameplay unveiling at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, Kazuya is shown as one of the first playable characters, along with Ryu. In the game's cinematic trailer which teases the game's story, it is hinted that he is bent on capturing Ryu as bait to lure out Jin, who also seeks Ryu.

Kazuya appears in the new CGI-animated movie, Tekken: Blood Vengeance, taking place between Tekken 5 and Tekken 6.

Reception
Gaming Target listed Kazuya as the third best Tekken character, citing his history within the game as how he keeps reappearing despite his situations close to death. Alongside his father Heichachi, Kazuya was labelled as one of the most influential characters from the Tekken series by GameAxis Unwired. Both of them were also listed as one of the worst parents in gaming by Kotaku with Kazuya put for his antagonism with his son Jin while also being compared with Heihachi. By the time of Tekken 4, IGN called Kazuya "the closest thing we may have to a protagonist" in the series, citing his evil traits and his purposes to participate in the series' tournamnets. G4TV stated that his history with Heihachi in the series was a reason to avoid writing storylines in fighting games due to how ridiculous it is. His Lightning Screw Uppercut special move was listed by GamesRadar as one of the most satisfying uppercuts in gaming's history. Devil Kazuya was listed by UGO.com fifteenth in the list of "The 25 Awesomest Hidden Characters", citing the difficult requirements needed to unlock him in the first game from the series. On the other hand, Devil Kazuya was noted to be a stereotype of protagonists gaming characters who reveal an evil alter-ego which ruins the character's appealing traits. In a GamesRadar article by Michael Grimm, a fight between Devil Kazuya and Akuma was written as one of the ones players wanted to see in Street Fighter X Tekken because of the two similarities between the two villains as well as the similarities in the development of their designs.