What a shame

I had a strong feeling that was exactly the case, given the unbelievably regimented lifestyle.

Nah, I'm pretty sure i remember seeing a yakuza sumo in some anime or manga before. If im not mistaken it was Rurouni Kenshin (also known as Samurai X) So, unless my memory is playing tricks on me, its definitely not impossible

​@@agrippa2012 I wonder though if the negative reaction is less enough for a minor antagonist for the manga writers to okay it, versus a full-blown playable character in a major fighting game franchise like SF or Tekken. Perhaps SNK could afford it, given the precedent with #1 Hinako's unorthodoxy (it's got the 'vtubers repeating Lamar in GTA5' defense of being too innocent/cute/funny to be truly offensive) and #2 the most "evil" criminals being mean dudes like Geese and Rugal, who are cruel and ruthless but still kind of just playing the role of cartoonish Big Bads of their respective criminal empires.

And if you want to go completely off the rails with the Gaijin angle, you can base them instead off of Kototenta Toshikatsu aka John Tenta, an actual white guy who was discovered in Canada and recruited by a retired yokozuna

Let's have two of them in one series. A small sumo girl who wants to be big and a shy big sumo girl. Their styles could be different based on their size and the comedy and character growth writes itself.

I don't think the bullied girl idea would work, I better example would be a female character becoming plus size as a result of the process sumo wrestlers undergo to achieve their physique.

Sumo Wrestlers aren't exactly fat. They literally are like Kingpin. Muscle. Just that they aren't building for toned Muscles.

@@whodatboi2567 so bob from tekken

@@whodatboi2567 I'd say there genuine merit in either argument

Corner combos, wall bounces and OTG. So, just Hinako in 2002UM. She even grabs by the belt to carry the opponent to the corner. Problem with her "character" is that in KOF, if you aren't related of the main story, you get no story or development. They tried to do something with the Psycho Soldiers but kinda forgot about it 15 years ago and never went anywhere to the point they're not even featured in XV even though they're just as OG as the Ikari and Kim with the Korea Team.

@@scivoid Yeah I suppose that is fair. I watch people play fighting games more than I play them myself, so pardon my lack of knowledge, I was just talking off the cuff.

@@scivoid Its a shame capcom has done so little for Honda as a character because his gameplay pace and animations really do a good job of sprinkling a slight fantasy onto sumo movement. Hes always low to the ground just waiting for you to fumble and only moves at an inhuman speed for his mass after he already has you trapped in a grab or combo. In general though sumo characters do need more action in the corner to compliment this fear inducing gameplay pace.

@@scivoid you absolutely can. Several characters straight up revolve around either the wall or through looping knock downs. DVJ (All tekken games) Lee Chaolan Marduk King Zangief ST E Honda St T hawk (he literally has this as a loop) SFV Mika And just about any char that could do a vortex in Sf4 (ibuki, E ryu, akuma etc)

With KOF, it’s the Kyo Clones’s, Shoto Kyo again except the added advantage of bullshit wall carrying ability (and back-and-forward loops) Honaka (hell), Ralf XIII (let’s be honest, you’re not doing shit if you’re not in a corner), XIII Takuma as he has the ability to side switch is foes You can make a sumo character revolve around a main mechanics of wall combos so easily, that these mid-top-the best character’s main strength is that they have great neutral and wall carrying ability… and they’re light weight shotos/rushdown

Also John Tenta, later Earthquake in the wwf. Had a 21-0-7 record

@@bbbbKeJodddd And then there was Akebono, another Hawaiian born Sumo star. He was the first ever non-Japanese born Sumo wrestler to achieve Yokozuna.

@@bbbbKeJodddd Whoa I didn't know Earthquake was a sumo!

@@aramondehasashi3324 his last match as earthquake was a worked sumo match. Like the only time wwf acknowledged his past professional career

yeah, a family friend of mine met him and they have a signature with his handprint.

That's such a weird change of character. Like, why?

@@chubbubdreamer6904 blame Harada. He gave the same treatment to Eddy Gordo in Tekken 7 getting clowned by Lucky Chloe when he has an unresolved vendetta against Kazuya for killing his father

@@bhlakbatosai I mean, blame most of the story. It acts as if 99% of the cast doesn't exist. If this was just a joke arcade ending, and it was addressed in the story mode as a side story (Like Blazblue), then it would be fine. Hell, Eddy needed his turn in the loony bin anyways.

After he was with Kaz he went to run a sumo stable himself but afterwards he wasn't in to it. I mean he was always into Michelle so him finding Julia was gonna make him have a love interest. Though in T6 he was about his restaurant Chanko Paradise.

Actually he was a bodyguard for Heihachi not so much Kaz. He worked with Heihachi during T1

Seems alot of the characters after Tekken 5 began going downhill

Gotta say, a story being described as "He fell in love, proposed to her, which she politely rejected and he politely accepted" is shockingly nice to hear.

I mean tbf sumo seems kinda like judo without a gi

@@ashtar3876 thinking about it as judo for big guys is the best way to think about it imo

@@ashtar3876 Well judo came from Koryu Jujutsu which took from early forms of Sumo

I don't know if I would call Antonov close to Shun'ei but he gets quite a bit of development.

SNK has the ability to write good stories, the drama CD, the endless amounts of mangas, _the drama CD of Last Blade,_ *the endless amounts of mangas,* the Orochi Saga and NEST Chronicles and _EEEENDLESS_ amounts of OVAs proves that But they now kinda just hyper focus on a storyline now, not alot of branching paths or other character’s story being expanded, Hinako doesn’t have much characterization because _she has nearly no characterizations_

That's not really true. Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting characters don't get much because they already have their own franchises, but most original characters in KoF, main characters or not, do get something. Even teams like Psycho Soldier and Ikari, which come from other SNK games, have or at least used to have some unique storylines, because they had original characters like Bao, Heidern, Leona and Whip in their teams. Hanako is a original character. I'd say her problem is that she was made to fill up a spot in the Women's Team, a team whose storylines are nothing but a joke most of the time.

@@NikiYKN More or less, the only characters that had development that aren't part of hero teams are Heidern, Leona, Kensou and Bao. Ralf and Clark always are the heavy army dudes, Athena is always the "pure idol" that fights. And that DROPPED almost entirely after SNK went bankrupcy for the first time. The last thing we saw a non-main character get involved in a story actively was K' helping the ST stopping Mukai, and Heidern but him is just a outside pretending to help where in the end does nothing. I would like to see the main franchise progression on KOF, as they did with the addition of MoTW characters and AoF Gaiden too. Sometimes it looks that FF characters aren't allow to be anything more than their FF2 countepart and AoF with AoF2. And even create temporal rivalries as if it were a wrestling match, like they did in XV with Krohnen and K', their teams had the best non-main story and the best endings, and they didn't need to involve Verse or whatever the XV bosses were.

@@NikiYKN Fatal fury hasn't had a game for 23 years, and art of fighting hasn't for 26. They do have count.

There's technically Yokozuna, too, but I don't know if that's much better...

I can think of only one American Football fighting game character, that being Johnny Maximum from World Heroes. I think it could be an interesting idea if developped further imo.

@@coolmancool Check out Brian Battler in KoF. He's at his best in '98 UMFE where he just spins in circles like helicopter blades and twirls all over the place in oddly slow psycho crushers lmao

@@coolmancool I think KOF has an American sports team, but they're constantly treated as the butt of the joke, sooo maybe not the best example.

​@@HighLifeProds17 There was also the time when Big Show fought Akebono in a Sumo match at Wrestlemania... and it is considered to be one of the worst Wrestlemania segments/'matches' ever.

but its not likeXV stories are amazing so I cant see better to be honest.

E Honda is so unpopular that it took him close to 4 years to get into SFV, despite being one of the 8 original characters. I’m surprised they put him in at all tbh

@@NeoBoneGirl I was really hoping that Honda's inclusion was a precursor to including Hakan. Hakan would've been so good for SFV

@@HellecticMojo Season 4 was supposed to be the last season, so E Honda wouldn’t have really been a “precursor” to anything if you consider Season 5 shouldn’t even exist

Or that kinda character played somewhat straight in that she's 22 and built like Noi from Dorohedro.

Hinako could be the next Love Hashira! XD

sumo has alot of grappling moves and is all about explosive force. sumo bouts are short. very short. you blow your load almost instantly. a good sumo character would be a charge based grappler.

@@SolManDude That's basically SF2 honda, with his negative edge oicho throw allowing him to input command throws while also holding down+back and never leaving an opening to get hit. Sumos pretty universally all have great corner carry, as well, which is fitting for a sport where the objective is to push your opponent out of the ring. I don't think the problem is embodying the style, I think it's purely that nobody has actually made it look "good". Part of the trouble is that Sumo is a sub-type of the "Big guy" character, and the sumo is almost never the biggest guy on the cast... so the only place that they stand out is that they're fat guys in fancy underwear.

Well, fighting games managed to make Aikido somewhat cool

They should give a sumo character "gum gum jet pistol" style slaps to liven things up a little. Or just let the guilty gear team make a sumo character they're bound to make something special.

I love Killer Instinct and earthbending so I want this idea to happen

Having a character that use the very "ring" itself to attack would put a spin to but Sumo in fighting games and fighting games as a whole.

If Nickelodeon ever made an Avatar fighting game and Toph was playable in it..... Ahh, the possibilities.

@@Chaos-Zakai64 She is playable in a fighting game. And yes the earth constructs do lend themselves to some shenanigans.

After watching I was about to comment the same thing but you beat me to it. Sumo may be a combat sport with a ring, like boxing or the like, but the whole sport revolves around it in that the match is determined by it whereas with others it is just treated as an arena to fight in. It is an environmental sport in that way and since fighting games aren't only about ringouts and being able to move freely, to have sumo implemented you HAVE to being the ring into it. So summoning walls or the like is a great idea, also give it a sense of impact and visual flair. But maybe not just a way for the visuals to make sense, but gameplay too. What if the wall summoned has health? It can limit the fighting area forcing keep away projectile spam characters up close for a period of time. Or as you combo your enemy against the wall it cracks more and more so you have yo time your finishers to combos right otherwise you drop the combo and become vulnerable, but if you smash the wall at its last hit of health with a combo finisher it does extra damage.

You also forgot to mention honda finding out there are people around the world that dislikes and even condemns his style, and him trying to change their mind about his unique style

So, he was disqualified because he took a plane because it broke the laws of nature, but not because he was able to superman fly across the ring head first? Priorities!

@@DamienBlade I was trying to say 'because he could fly without using a plane'. IE his superman headbutt and butt slam. He just doesn't take an airplane like an ordinary sumo, and worst of all he's teaching other people to do it! Even now in metro city if you look into the sky sometimes you can see a guy flying around with sumo headbutt!

are you sure about the number 1

@@diablorojo3887 Yeah no kicking allowed except if you count the foot sweeps. You can google the examples I mentioned if you're curious what it looks like.

@@diablorojo3887 I follow and practice sumo myself and your suspicion is correct. The rule is only written as "no kicking above the belt". They don't want any ambiguity in regards to what counts as a footsweep and what counts as a kick, so technically kicks below the belt are allowed. You'll never see a muay thai style kick in sumo not because it's illegal, but because it's not useful and doing it in such a small ring is just asking for trouble.

@@Bulju I know, is simply a more polite way to say that the original post is not correct, anyway "no kick on sumo" is a common mistake .

@@diablorojo3887 You know what you guys opened my eyes you're absolutely right there's no rule especially banning kicks. The more you know. I'm gonna edit my comment to say I was wrong. I initially googled it after hearing it in the video and the first link I found had no kicking in the prohibited list. But I now realize that I was reading the rules for sumo in the US so in other words the rules for amateur sumo. Throughout the years I must have watched thousands of sumo bouts and I've never seen what I would have categorized as a kick so I just assumed it was a prohibited move, and there are also no kimarite that would specifically include a kick other than the foot sweeps so it just fit my assumption.

Well that could be as easy as he’s not a competitor but just a yakuza who’s a huge sumo fan, even sets up his own ring and have a conflict around him kidnapping rakishi to pit himself against, playing it straight with him being merciless and leaving them broken and bloodied or having this powerful crime boss go excited fanboy, eager for an autograph and a “friendly” match, set up a rivalry with a fighter who absolutely demolished his fan favorite

You cannot have any artificial cosmetics, the closest it gets is being able to shave your head if you go bald. As a little fun fact is that in the sf2 days they held a tournament at the kokugikan(national sumo stadium) and banned e.honda for the face paint you described.

While that is true fighting games don't have to be limited to what is efficient in reality. Just look at Leo from guilty gear, who has a stance that makes him turn his back to his opponent. This doesn't make a single bit of sense but it's cool as hell and that's justification enough.

@@randomusername1735 the problem is, once you add a lot of stuff, it's not Sumo anymore. Now it's Judo or whatever else. Best case scenario is you get a guy like Kiozan Takeru from Kengan Ashura. He used what he called "ancient Sumo", which has more punches and kicks in it. But it doesn't look like sumo. I think there's a desire to include sumo because you also include pro wrestling moves. The difference is, a lot of pro wrestling moves would hurt if they were doing them for real. An armbar hurts. A powerbomb hurts. The real solutions to sumo in games is to take it out.

@@seanwilliams7655 I disagree. Judo for example has no strikes, only grappling, less of a ground focus than jiu jitsu, it's as limited as sumo. Still, Goro Daimon, while not the most interesting character on kof, is still as entertaining and extra as anyone on the cast, while being clearly a judoka and having tools needed to work in his game Sumo can do the same Also, about it being actually hurtful, have you been pushed with 2 hands by someone the double of your side? I'll tell you, it will break your ribs

@@zoromax10 Judo doesn't have the cultural significance of Sumo. At least not to my knowledge. Of course they can technically add some stuff to Sumo, but would you get push back about that? I don't know how things work culturally around Sumo, but considering that most fighting games are made by Japanese companies, it might not be a risk they want to take.

@@seanwilliams7655 yeah, but that's not what was being argued, is it? That is the reason we don't see sumo in fighting games, not because they "wouldn't fit", "wouldn't be versatile enough" or "not violent or flashy enough"

I got this feeling too. Sumo characters are all about sumo and nothing else, because that is pretty much how real sumo fighters are. Like he pointed, sumo is not a fight style, it is a LIFE style.

Um not all of them are they have different personalities depending on the characters

Need SugarBT to read this comment for real especially that I really like him being the subversion of a sumo wrestler..

If Kengan were to get a 2d or 3D fighter, I'd like to see Kiozan as a character who starts off with just barebones sumo, then after he loses a round switches to ancient sumo. Maybe give him a command grab where he grabs his opponents hair and causes them to be stunned to reference him vs Seki.

I was gonna say, Kengan Ashura is one of the few times I've seen a Sumo Wrestler shown for how COOL they can actually be when done right.

The entire manga of Hinomaru Zumou is another good example. The whole thing is entirely about Sumo as a sport, and follows a relatively short wrestler through his career. It doesn't go to superhuman levels or anything, but it's stylised in a very compelling way.

"You don't love sumo do you?"

Thor from kenichi

And the fact that they managed to portray the fighting style as cool should be at the very least commendable

That series is what made me realize how cool sumo wrestling is. I’ve never gotten to see a match in real life, but I’d love to see one at least once.

@@axelwust9376 Sumo was always pretty cool, it's just that a lot of the times; that factor has been outshined by ridicule especially outside of japan.

The problem with tradition as their sole goal is also that a huge chunk of the cast tends to have some form of tradition as a part of their character. Like it's a part of any character that uses a long and storied martial art.

@@PIKMINROCK1 yeah thats true

I think sumo branching out to other styles is a good idea. But there's also this one type where sumo characters dosen't evolve modern sumo, but instead revert to ancient sumo. Why do you ask? Because ancient sumo was basically like MMA, almost no rules. Kicks, punches, bone breaking, holds etc. was basically allowed. In fact, the first sumo match was won with a kick to the rib And this was featured in two martial art series, which is Baki and kengan Ashura. And they have a very interesting take on this as they were able to emphasize the mixture of both ancient and modern sumo techniques without one outshining the other. It was basically like a big fat guy doing sumo one moment then suddenly MMA the next.

Got any favorite rikishi currently?

@@azu1394 Wakatakakage is really cool!

@@chibinya he is really getting a burst of popularity, that usually happens to the shorter guys when they do well, like enho

Nice!

You'd think fighting game devs would have made a yokai sumo character by now. Seeing as sumo has ties to Shinto & Japanese myth. Cool idea either way.

Yeah, it's an easy pick for a fighting style used by a Kappa character.

I could easily see an Oni in this role. And it takes some of the best aspects of the Yakuza/criminal Sumo, the Gaijin Sumo, and the odd body type Sumo and fuses them together. Oni are *often* depicted as wild and violent, and also some lead groups of human bandits. So the notion of both representing an outlaw group as well as engaging with a group of humans is there. But, at the same time, while they are part of Japanese culture and folklore, they are also foreign to Japanese values and social structure. They don't act the way Japan expects and demands people in its society to behave; much like Gaijin. But they are still _of_ Japan. And lastly, such a character wouldn't be _just_ "big Sumo man". Sure, he'd still be *big* so it isn't a subversion of "Sumo, but petite" but he wouldn't be "Sumo shaped". And such a character also has built-in personal arc, challenges, goals, and conflict. Oni represent the violence of nature; the potential for natural phenomena to do harm. Rain nourishes crops and prevents drought, but storms can be destructive. Volcanoes leave destruction in their path, but deposit rich nutrients to make fertile soil. Wild animals provide food for people, but can also be dangerous and deadly. And even human nature; passion and honor can yield to anger and spite. Such a character, vicious and wild by nature but seeking to emulate an honorable, disciplined tradition of Japanese culture, represents a balance point between extremes, representing both the helpful and harmful aspects of nature. He has to overcome extreme prejudice as well as his own wild tendency in order to be accepted. As an Oni, he values strength and sees Sumo as a path to a unique kind of strength that he had never known before; the strength of humans that his kind otherwise thought of as weak, but in Sumo he sees them demonstrate that there is more than just one path to Strength. And, lastly, the challenge of whether or not he'd really be able to learn all this merely by observation and self-teaching; because his style would be rough, unrefined, and forever colored by his Oni nature. It even addresses the superhuman aspect mentioned in the video; who better to take Sumo to a superhuman limit than an inhuman being naturally bigger and more powerful than any human could ever be? Sumoni wouldn't just throw you out of the ring, he'd throw you out of the prefecture. Sumo chest slaps are typically used to break your opponent's defense and disrupt their balance; Sumoni's slaps flat-out break their ribs and disrupt their *everything.* Every Sumo move could be turned to 11 in the hands of an Oni.

@@omargoodman2999 I kind went different directions. Frankenstein monster as Sumo wrestler.

And that is mostly wwe moves anyway.

I'd be down for a bosuzoku sumo that uses his pompadour to push people out of the ring.

The foreigner Sumo wrestler is probably anachronistic by now given how dominant Mongolians are in the sport. There's probably more potential in the reverse, a nationalistic Sumo Wrestler trying to recover the sport for Japan who comes to see the error of his ways.

@@AngraMainyu24 true, like 6 out of the last seven yokozuna have been Mongolian, and there were two Americans who also achieved the rank.

there's also Tochinoshin from Georgia, and the retired Oosunaarashi from Egypt

@@ushou_5586 there have been several successful European rikishi.

Has there ever been an African American sumo wrestler? The darker skin color would allow him to "pop" visually against the others. An African American sumo character in a fighting game would look distinct from the very few other sumo fighting game characters out there. NOTE - If any of what I said here sounded racist I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention.

big flashy throws with fire effects would be fun.

You just described Kiozan from the manga Kengan Ashura, probably one of the coolest sumo fighters in fiction and even then he is not really that cool

At that point just add the Blob

@@SuperKidSonic Bob is lame ngl. Sure there's something to be said about big guy flipping around but I think the dude is just a boring big guy.

@@Thomazbr He means the Marvel character, the Blob, not Bob from Tekken.

@@DarkMaker75 Oh you're absolutely right my bad. I guess I was just in a fighting game mood at the time.

I won't really call Bokh a "Sumo variant". It has its own origins. I get what you're saying but saying that's Bokh a sumo variant's kinda disrespectful.

@@Red-in4fx Forgive me, let's call it an analogous sport like, say, Pankration is. I just called it a variant because it sometimes gets called "Mongolian Sumo", though that's probably a bit chauvinistic in the same way that calling kung fu "Chinese boxing" is. Anyway, I apologize for the disrespect, it was not my intention.

Kiozan was a beast. And also would make very cool. A sumoka, disillusioned with his/her/their style, and goten to ask "why don't we/I just punch or kick". Bang, sumo character who has crisis of "faith". Otherwise, in skandinavia, there ia similar wrestling style to Bokh and Sumo. Glima, where you would grap opponents belt loops (the belt has extra pieces that fasten the belt around thighs) instead of vest like in bokh. I think unlike sumo, in glima, it's deemed unhonorable to look your opponent into their eyes. I would love to try bokh, but I live far away from mongolia.

@@mortimerwake2974 From what I learned in Mongolia, Bokh is possibly older than Sumo. And China has an interesting similar wrestling sport. Kengan's sumo is underrated, not much is even mentioned and I wish it was better described just like Baki Dou II's ancient sumo.

@@unseencrowyomare4143 Yo Glima is badass! A standing wrestling style, I wish I could go for a try. I don't think Kiozan was disillusioned, he was good with Ancient Sumo I wish he stayed with it.

*Blessed Rance music

come on...it's Baki. They will wank the japanese martial arts to extreme , to a point that is not even funny anymore.

@@phantasosxgames8488 Sumo wrestlers got beaten easily and the current fight has Sukune getting bitten to shit by Jack, even if Sukune wins he ain't winning easily

There are many famous foreign sumo wrestlers. In fact there are more famous foreign sumo wrestlers than Japanese ones nowadays

@@tortoisesoup16 this is incorrect, sumo stables are only allowed one foreigner

Tochinoshin is not currently and never was a yokozuna, he was the rank under, ozeki, for a period of time and has now fallen ever lower ranked

We need a SNV fighting game, bro.

I am so down for that, I’d love to see how you’d design her aesthetically

I've been updating her design here and there. Latest design update I had for her is long black hair with highlights, a pasty face with piercings and mascera, and baggy dark clothes with a band logo. Kind of a doomer-type goth. I've been trying to think of how else I can make her design less plain, but not over-the-top

Yeah that's the thing about her, she's only been playable in a couple games, one of which is a non canon dream match iirc. And the thing about kof in general is anyone who isn't directly a character involved with whatever saga main plot is happening or comes from another SNK franchise with their character development already done for them, doesn't get much as far as ive seen. They just are who they are, and hopefully they're fun as is. And I think Hinako is, hell even among these examples in the video id say she's probably the most flashy moveset wise if in part due to the dissonance from her appearance and the actual techniques adding lots of charm

itd be interesting to see him ridiculed for abandoning the fundamentals of sumo. I was just watching Kengan Asura on netflix and they literally have this as a character arc for someone and it already is way more engaging to me.

Honda keeps relegated to " OH NO, MUH BATH HOUSE" story... sadly...

That’s an interesting angle, but I think the story writers haven’t gone for it because Honda’s deviations from sumo style probably aren’t canon. Like, Honda has a high kick for gameplay purposes, but he’s probably not actually kicking people in the head in the actual story. Then and again, the game designers did avoid giving the boxing character kick moves at all, so maybe Honda’s high kicks are canonical after all.

​@@notthephonz My thoughts as well. I was brainstorming this yesterday at work and honestly it'd make more sense if honda used a hand slap instead of a kick as they already show in game he can hit pretty damn hard with his palms.

As someone who doesn't follow tekken that much, did he get a new VA for 7? Cause if he did that would definitely help on the comedic side of things

Wolfman/Rikishiman won against Cubeman, but if you meant more story-relevant characters, he got a win just a couple years ago (the manga has been getting new volumes since 2011). I do agree that the doesn't get to do much and almost always loses, though.

I mean gajin criminal sumo guy is basically Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin. Also Capcom squandered additional sumo guy potential by not bringing out Sodom. He's the only other guy in SF/FF universe that likes sumo because he's a hard-core weeb.

Why do you hate capoeira?

​@@sledgehammersssssquad3624 Okay, so: Capoeira has its uses for when it comes to developing balance, flexibility, the likes. Personally, I think even "Bad" martial arts can be repurposed or used if not solely for the attributes they build. However, I am a pragmatist. I don't do martial arts for sport. I do them because if I wind up in a fight, I need to know I can put the other person down. I highly favor arts like Kali, Krav Maga, Sombo, etc. That said, I do have a blackbelt not only in Kali, but also JKD; Bruce Lee's art. JKD isn't perfect, but it teaches a LOT of good ideas that can be transferred to other arts. Things like parrying and striking at the same time, moving when you hit and regardless of hitting, functioning by your "center line", proper punching mechanics. Bruce took a little from everything. He "demystified" martial arts and brought the air of common sense to them; literally chucking out any ideas he thought were stupid and keeping what worked. ... So Capoeira... It was made in a time where Brazilians weren't allowed to officially conduct martial arts training so they had to do it in secrecy and mask it as a dance. Once that rulership ended, they could have discarded that aspect entirely and streamlined it in a practical way. They did not. They kept all that extra flare and showboating built into it. The art and its admirers like jerking off certain aspects such as how it "Has the strongest kick" even though the kick is ridiculous and is never something you would land in a real fight. If you want to kick brutally hard while maintaining form and not isolating yourself, just do Muay Thai or Lethwei. Capoeira is literally a martial art that emphasizes style more than common sense, and there is no room for that in a real fight. Real fights, even sport fights, are messy, unpredictable and ballistic. In a sport fight you'll be lucky to be one of the many who just gets their ass knocked out in the middle of your breakdancing, but an actual street fight? No. On the street, you run the very real threat of the other guy either: A. Having a weapon, or B. Having friends. This wouldn't be a problem if not for how a lot of Capoeira fans professing it to be a "Self Defense" art, and that in particular boils my fucking piss. If you want a long form answer to why that is, I recommend watching Super Eyepatch Wolf's video on the "Bizarre World of Fake Martial Arts", but the short form answer is that I actually have trained people in self defense and LOATHE anyone who deliberately teaches people shit that would get them killed if encouraged to do it in a real fight. That's where the stick in my ass comes from. And this isn't isolated. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is one of the best grappling arts out there and I have similar issues with it; not because it's Brazilian or because it is super sports heavy, but because people will routinely think of it as the "Go to" martial art when you would NEVER want to go grappling an asphalt in a real fight when you don't know if the other guy has a knife, because if he does, you're fucking dead. I judge a lot of martial arts this way. It's a balance between what's "Cool" and what's "Practical", and the scales always tip too far in one direction the moment someone focused on looking "Cool" claims their art is "Great for self defense".

Real life grappling is boring to watch for most people, that's why. It's a fundamental aspect of any good fighting ability, but it has nothing going for it visually.

Fat man abs can happen. Look up Tochinsohin, he is a good example (although they're obv not as defined as Honda's)

Would depend on genetics, specifically how large your abs could potentially get. With a layer of fat over them, the division between them will be diffused/not sharp, and harder to see in certain lighting conditions. It's not particularly common irl. I assume they chose this design to try to counter the odd notion a lot of people seem to have that sumo wrestlers are all fat, no muscle. That kind of sentiment is especially prevalent here in the US. You do *not* get to look like a sumo wrestler without a thick muscular foundation. His appearance could also just be an artistic liberty, not sure, would have to ask the designers what their intention was. You'll see this kind of thing every so often on powerlifters, too.

6:05 I was suspecting that Then I remembered Grappler Baki but the guy was apparently just smug

You know ganryu from tekken had a female sumo apprentice i believe, she didnt make it into the games though