Tekken 8 Director Katsuhiro Harada Hits Out Over Racist Roster Claims

Most fighting games have pretty diverse rosters these days, introducing characters from all different walks of life to try and ensure everyone is represented in some capacity. Tekken 8 is looking like it will have yet another inclusive lineup, but series creator Katushiro Harada was recently accused of being racist and not caring about black characters after Eddy Gordo was snubbed from Tekken 8's main roster.
Harada has since responded to this claim on Twitter in the most Harada way imaginable, calling the one who made it a "delusional person" and that their argument "doesn't make sense". Harada began by making the point that Tekken 8's roster includes both Leroy and Raven, two very cool black characters that will "kick your ass", and that the lack of Japanese characters in American media never made him personally feel discriminated against because he's "logical".
This was a couple of days ago, and Harada has been combating rather unfounded claims of racism ever since. On top of cooking these people within an inch of their life, Harada has been talking about the thought processes behind designing some of the Tekken series' most popular black characters, such as Leroy, and generally ignoring people clearly trying to get a rise out of him.
However, Harada's most important comment on this whole debacle comes when responding to a supportive fan, who thanks the creator for treating different cultures with respect, and praises the Tekken series for its diversity. In response, Harada claims that the team behind Tekken doesn't consider the series to be perfect, and is always striving to try and ensure it's loved by a wide variety of people.
Of course we do not consider our own IP to be perfect, we may have made mistakes, but at least we have learned a lot and are trying to make it loved by as many people as possible.
And that's really what matters at the end of the day. Tekken 8 has some great black characters as part of its base roster, with undoubtedly more additions coming in the future, such as Master Raven, Armor King, and the previously mentioned Eddy Gordo. Picking at Tekken 8's diversity feels somewhat strange too, given that only Street Fighter 6 really rivals it when it comes to the representation of different cultures and nationalities.
Thankfully, we'll all be enjoying Tekken 8 when it actually launches later this month, while these individuals claiming racism have been firmly sat down in the naughty corner by Harada. If you need a reminder, Tekken 8 officially launches on Janaury 26 later this month, with an official demo out right now if you want to get some practice in before the big day.
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