Katsuhiro Harada, former director of the Tekken series, opened up about a hilarious misunderstanding he had with his international fans after revealing Leroy Smith for Tekken 7.<\/p>\n
Leroy Smith is genuinely one of the coolest characters to ever join the Tekken universe. The Wing Chun practitioner was an instant hit when he was first revealed in Tekken 7, even inspiring cosplays from celebrities like T-Pain.<\/p>\n
In fact, the \u2018Grandmaster of Drip\u2019 was so well-received that Black American fans started \u2018inviting Harada to the cookout,\u2019 leaving the Japanese game director extremely confused.<\/p>\n
Harada opened up about the humorous exchange in response to a fan on X, who shared a clip from 1985 cult classic The Last Dragon, arguing that Tekken must\u2019ve been inspired by the martial arts movie and Black culture.<\/p>\n
In his reply, Harada revealed that after Leroy was announced in 2019, he received a message from the American fan community: \u201cCan we invite you to the cookout for making an awesome character like this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, as someone from my generation in Japan, I was actually considered relatively good at reading and writing English. By then I\u2019d already been to North America over 50 times, had maintained the English I learned for university entrance exams, and had been communicating with people on Twitter in English long before translation apps became useful, let alone AI translation,\u201d he prefaced.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut honestly\u2026 When I saw that sentence, I had absolutely no idea what it meant. In fact, my very first reaction was: \u2018Oh no\u2026 I\u2019m finished.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nTekken 8 Characters<\/h3>\n