#Thank you once again for tuning into my rambles!!! 🥹

[novatheastropirate]

Welcome to the fun sequel to my last post on Angel in Blood Feud- featuring our special guest star, Kazuya!! A lot of his expressions and actions are just as interesting to look at!

Kazuya's a character that we all know and love- he's been a major face for the entire franchise since its beginning, and he's one of the characters that we know the best! Barring Tekken 3, he's been in every single game- and as we watch him lean further and further into the Devil Gene, we watch his beliefs solidify to an almost unshakeable degree. This shows more as he ages, and in the emphasis placed on his outfits- shifting from more of a "dojo-ready training" look to elegant, almost king-like suits.

Kazuya's expressions throughout the games reflect this, and we know him very well. He's battle hardened, and he's been that way for a very long time. He scowls, he frowns, he glares- and that's only if he's deemed something important enough to glare at. Most other things are meaningless- he is a man on a mission, and he'll stop at nothing to achieve what he aims for.

The only two times we see him smile, (at the very beginning, and at what could be the very end of his character arc), it's for something that he's done that solidifies his own strength. (Tekken even used his latest smirk as a callback to the original, in the very first teaser we got!)

So when we learn in the first issue that Kazuya's main goal in finding Jin is killing him- we're not surprised. It's what he's been after even in canon, and we know there's no paternal affection. (At least not any that he wants to display.)

But in their first interaction, Kazuya's interactions with Jin are a little different. While we don't know much about what Kazuya truly thinks of Jin (besides snippets of him either wanting to extract his portion of power back, or taunting Jin for giving into Devil Jin), this Kazuya openly accepts and acknowledges Jin as his son- even if it's his way of trying to taunt Jin's devil form out, and looking forward to the "fight" that side of Jin will give him.

As we move through the comic, we learn that Jin is looking for something called "Artefact 333"- something that we later find out is Angel. And we've also learned that Kazuya is having visions.

Visions that are getting increasingly frequent- and visions strong enough to give him nosebleeds. Kazuya believes these visions are from a spiraling Jin who's losing control of his own power- and in the brief glimpse we're given, this one in particular contains a Devil Jin mid-lunge, a silhouetted winged figure (that we can infer is Angel herself), a cackling Heihachi, and an unnamed woman holding something that looks like a scientific instrument.

The next time we see Kazuya, after his initial confrontation with Jin, it's when he learns that Jin is in search of Artefact 333. And despite not yet knowing what the artifact truly is, Kazuya decides to root around in Zaibatsu files for it on his own.

We know that Jin and his team make it there first- and we discover that Artefact 333 is Angel: previously captured by Jin, and now subject to Heihachi's desire for power.

But for Kazuya, this revelation comes in a bit of a different manner.

"...I thought she was lost!"

Kazuya gets what we can only assume to be his final vision- and his words manage to give us just enough information to fill us in while leaving gaps to make us wonder.

The image of Angel fighting Devil Kazuya fits perfectly within her ending in Tekken Tag Tournament 2- and he knows enough about her to recognize her purpose for being there, and when she disappeared. It's enough to make the reader wonder what he'd thought- had he thought himself too irredeemable for her to help? Had he thought she'd fully abandoned him, or been snuffed out by the rising corruption in the world?

(Another interesting quote is from Anna- it implies that she also knows about Angel in the comic's timeline. Whether that's from seeing Angel herself, or being told about her by Kazuya later, Kazuya doesn't seem to worry about Anna knowing.)

Kazuya's next actions say more than his words. He'd come for Jin, and Jin alone- he had no other reason to be there. But after learning that Angel's inside, and that she'd been calling for help...

His entire focus shifts. He eliminates Paul after asking him where Angel's being held...

Bolts away from the outside battle- and away from a now-temporarily-dead Anna..

...And arrives just in time to save Jin, and enter the battle against the ascended fighters that Angel has resurrected. He even refers to Jin as a Mishima- something Jin might not accept, but a strangely uniting phrase for him to say. This means accepting Jin fully as his own blood.

Somewhere after learning that Angel was here, Kazuya's motives changed entirely. He had no reason to stay after learning what was going on. He could have easily left, and allowed Heihachi to eliminate Jin for him. He could have waited for the two of them to tire themselves out, and end them both without a moment's hesitation.

But he didn't.

Angel sees that too.

Out of the three Mishima men here, two have imprisoned her against her will- and no matter what Kazuya and Angel's association was in the past, he joins the fight solely to get things under control. She looks almost surprised to see him- another expression that isn't the norm for her. She could be relieved to see him, and to know that he wants nothing from her. It could be a reminder of a time that was a bit more hopeful.

Things continue, and the battle heightens. Once the resurrected fighters are all defeated, and Jin embraces his Devil form, what does Kazuya do?

He watches.

Out of all the remaining parties, it's Kazuya that stands closest to where Angel is. He doesn't fight, or enter his own devil form- which he can summon upon will, as opposed to Jin.

Even when Devil Jin frees Angel, and the two begin their battle in the sky, he doesn't join. He doesn't take advantage of Jin's shift in attention, nor does he chase them. His work is done.

And when the battle is over, and both Jin and Angel are nowhere to be found- he leaves. There is no battle with Heihachi. There is no waiting for Jin.

He gets back in his car- stares out the window in contemplation- and exits our view of him within the Blood Feud comic. This is the last time we see him.

Like with Jin in canon, Kazuya never explicitly says his thoughts on Angel, or how he feels about her. One would think with his quest to obtain power that he'd hate everything she stood for- or even that he'd be resentful towards her for trying to free him from the very gene that gave him his demonic powers.

But the major shift in his actions say something else entirely, without him having to say a word. He cared enough about her to competely disregard killing Jin, something he'd more than likely been planning for ages, and fight for the purpose of calming things down enough to free her. Her power does not, and cannot, belong to Heihachi.

It's enough to make some readers wonder just how evil Kazuya Mishima really is.

#Mamma mia!!! It happened again!! #I'm so surprised Tumblr let me add all these pictures!!! I thought it would get mad at me for sure! #We did it though!!! Woohoo!!! :D #I don't think their relationship is romantic in any way #but writing about how Kaz dropped his entire plan to help free her #possibly because he knew her power was never meant to be stolen or adultered #makes me feel a variety of emotions that don't have words yet!!! 🥺 #Thank you once again for tuning into my rambles!!! 🥹 #kazuya mishima #angelposting #tekken angel #nova bubbles! #tekken blood feud