Kyosuke Kagami, Will You Marry Me?
There was a time, many moons ago, when Rival Schools was everything I ever wanted. The classic appeal of Street Fighter had been complicated by the new wave of three dimensional weirdness, and a poor beat-'em-up aficionado like me was left troubled by the rise of that malevolent Mishima family on PlayStation. Tekken was something I got a taste for in later life, like whisky, strong cheese and newspapers. Virtua Fighter caught me immediately, but it was never 'cool'; more of a technical exercise, and an opportunity to zone out into the murky world of frame-counting attacks, guard cancelling and the Stun Palm of Doom.
Beat-'em-up culture had become a sweaty polygon mash-up; dialogue as damp as a gym floor crept into the fray with CD formats, and the Ryu in me was left wanting. With the rise of 'Lad' culture here in Blighty (I guess that translates into 'Jock' for those of you in the US), the beat-'em-up genre had been wholesale appropriated by a new generation of games I had, to date, been able to ignore as I trawled my local blockbuster video looking for new releases. The ordinary bloke, the lad, the modern Neanderthal -- they were here, playing the genre I loved, and there was nothing I could do about it. The atmosphere around a Street Fighter 2 arcade cabinet was always playful draped in geek chic. As I played Virtua Fighter I held on for dear life, battered from pillar to post by the blockade of adolescent apes for whom the shiny spectacle contained some hidden spell.
Read on after the jump...
So I dragged myself back up the hill, to my bedroom, reading my games magazines for what felt like a millennia. And then a little bird landed on my window sill, in its delicate chirp it promised me a new kind of beat-'em-up, coming from the land of the rising sun, with characters I dare not dream of, for fear of ruining my day. Could anything breath new life into that barely born grey box, and recapture the fighting spirit of a grizzled gamer like me, without the machismo and seriousness of the existing 3-D titans?
Did I see that little bird wink at me? It flew away, and I was left with another round of Ridge Racer into which I could couch my fears. Those few tracks had become so familiar, an autopsy on my head would no doubt reveal them branded into the surface of my mushy teenage brain. Racing had become so vanilla, I longed from the smash and crack of foot to face.
No sooner had I dared to dream, then the doorbell rang, and Mr Postman had brought me a parcel. Tearing it open with dribbling glee, the brown paper quickly revealed something which would change my life forever. Bengus, Capcom artist par excellence, had come up trumps and before me was the maddening perfection of Rival Schools. Just looking at it made me feel guilty, worried that I jeopardised my long term relationship with Ryu and Ken.
Kyosuke Kagami is a playable character in Rival Schools, but he is so much more than that, he is an icon, a change for the better, grandfather to Dante, the ultimate combat-ready nerd. He is a white duke from the land of the rising sun. From the outset, how he is drawn by master draughtsman Bengus, you just know. There is something so archetypal and familiar about the player team he belongs to, alongside Hinata the schoolgirl and Batsu the rebel. Kyosuke is the queer and closeted hero of Rival Schools, which is itself a fantasy of teenage empowerment. He embodies that familar point in any queer biography, where friends know but don't say anything, those bonds stronger than ever, but still the truth isn't expressed for fear of fracturing the group. His burning intensity reveals the depths of his secretive nature. In the formative light of hand to hand combat, Kyo comes alive, striking with bright white lightning, elegant kicks, and unbreakable poise. CD quality sound, so abused in other lesser games, becomes a means to reveal his deep and tremulous voice. He looks like an angel, but has the war-call of the darkest devil. Hot stuff!
Kyosuke is my gaming hero, and every time I see him resurface in the Capcom Versus SNK series, my heart skips a beat. When I had the disposable income to buy coveted Capcom artbooks, I saw how Kyosuke's sexuality was confirmed in development sketches by Bengus. I am certain he is in love with Batsu, the wall-punching biker buddy who no doubt fails to see his admirer. Kyosuke is an embodiment of tragic teenage affection, frighteningly stylish, subtly geeky, deadly in combat.
SuperSpecialDavey
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 27 October 2007
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: Capcom, Kyosuke Kagami, Rival Schools
Is Kyosuke officially gay? I'd never heard it before. Are the Bengus sketches you mentioned viewable online?
Meh, I'm more of a Shoma man myself.
He totally had a thing for his footballer friend too.
Also, I'm currently waiting for the DC version of Rival Schools 2 I ordered over Amazon. As well as a PS2 version of Rez and a moderatly priced Suikoden 1 (though those have little to do with the topic at hand).
I just adore him, have a whole folder on my pc about him
yep, he's queer. He holds a lead-pencil with a bunny's head at the end of it on the cover of Capcom vs SNK 2.
Project Justice (Rival Schools 2) for the Dreamcast is stunning. Love, love, love it!