The Director Of Tekken Is Reaching Out For Input From The Native American Community Regarding The Portrayals Of Michelle And Julia

Katsuhiro Harada, the director of Tekken, has reached out to Native American enthusiasts of the franchise for their input on the portrayal of characters Michelle and Julia, inquiring about their perspectives on the characters' designs and seeking guidance on developing a new Native American character for the game series.

Michelle, who has Chinese and Native American ancestry, debuted in the original Tekken. She was a recurring character until Tekken 3 introduced her adoptive daughter, Julia, who became the series' mainstay. Both characters periodically appeared in Tekken spin-offs as well.

The issue of Indigenous representation in video games often involves Michelle and Julia's depictions. Last week, Harada acknowledged the significance of these characters in the ongoing conversation by turning to a social media platform (formerly Twitter). He shared the backstory of their designs and requested feedback from Native American fans of Tekken.

The Tekken series began as an arcade game before transitioning to PlayStation consoles. In a post on the platform, Harada explained that arcade and fighting games had to quickly establish a character's personality and appeal due to inherent time restrictions. He noted that the technological limitations of the 90s influenced character design, but it was still crucial to showcase distinctiveness.

For their designs, Namco drew from the iconic war bonnets traditionally worn by Plains Indians and incorporated feather decorations to connect Michelle and Julia to their Native American roots symbolically.

Following the release of Tekken 6 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Harada recalled feedback from a Native American individual who criticized Julia's feathered headband for reinforcing stereotypes. This critique troubled him, as Harada reflected on how avoiding stereotypes could enhance character representation. Still, he recognized that fully developing characters within the time-constrained fighting game format might be challenging.

Harada has invited Native American fans to share their insights, mentioning he has several concepts for new Native American characters that he has yet to introduce, partly because of the feedback he's received so far. While there's no confirmation of Michelle or Julia's appearance in Tekken 8, there's the possibility that Julia could be included later as downloadable content (DLC), similar to her inclusion in Tekken 7.

Tekken 8 is set for release on January 26th, with a current demo available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The demo features the first chapter of the story mode titled "The Dark Awakens," along with a local versus mode available for players to try.