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Kawano
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“I just think it would be nice if I, the individual, could beat Tokido-san, the individual.”
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// Chapter 1
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Kemonomichi 2, Umehara vs. Tokido. Kawano was watching in the middle of a college lecture. For a twenty-something university student whose path ahead was yet unwritten, the event seemed a world away.
Kawano is said to be at the forefront of a new generation of pro gamers in Street Fighter V. Brought up in Kyushu, as a child he was a serious soccer player. With high expectations from his parents and others around him, he “worked like mad” at soccer, only to quit in his third year of junior high. It’s not that he stopped liking the sport; rather, he was fed up with the school and surrounding environment of his team.
“They complained so much about my eyebrow shaving. It was against school rules to begin with, but they’d get so furious about it, it didn’t make any sense. They were pretty picky about hair, too—they didn’t allow asymmetrical styles. Like you couldn’t have your bangs falling in front of your eyes. Maybe they have that rule everywhere? You weren’t allowed to buy food on your way home either.”
Strict rules for a boy that age. He wasn’t the type to quickly adapt. His biggest hang-up was the cleaning routine during his soccer team’s morning practice.
“Sometimes I have dreams from back then, when I played soccer. My mind goes back to that time, you know? I think, ‘Okay, guess I’ll put in the work,’ but then I think, ‘No wait, I’ll have to do all that cleaning in the morning, it’s just too much.’”
It’s not that he didn’t like cleaning in the morning. It was that he was forced to do it even when it seemed unnecessary, no excuses. No one ever gave him a convincing reason or explanation of what it was for. It was difficult for him to endure that ambiguity when the popular sentiment seemed to be, “that’s just the way it is.”
Kawano’s longing for a convincing reason to keep going with soccer was cut short when the first-string team lineup was formed entirely of the kids who showed up for morning cleaning.
“I started skipping practices after that. Then I became kind of lethargic.” From that point, a gaping hole formed in Kawano’s teenage life.
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// Chapter 2
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After giving up soccer, there was nothing to devote himself to in its place. Kawano led an ongoing existence of doing “pretty much nothing.” Although he graduated from his high school and went on to university in Kyoto, time seemed to just pass him by.
“I’d get on the first train back to my housing in the morning, totally drunk, and think, ‘Is this how I’m going to live?’ I was anxious about it. I didn’t want to go on that way. I felt pretty empty inside.”
He learned the ways of youthful recreation from a less-than-savory upperclassman, and spent his nights drinking until morning. Life went on like that.
“I started playing Street Fighter V ranked matches in my first year of university. Actually, I bought the game in my third year of high school, but I quit right away because exams were kicking off.”
He had been a fan of video games since elementary school. He says he enjoyed the kinds of games everyone played, the Pokémons, the Dragon Quests. As for fighting games, Street Fighter IV was his first. “My parents both worked, so I spent a lot of time at friends’ houses. That’s where I played SFIV for the first time.”
He spent his time in college goofing off, not applying himself his studies. Street Fighter V ranked matches were something to fill the gaps. Although he says it was partly a retreat from his self-defeating life, he also felt strongly that if he was going to bother, he wanted to win.
The harder he tried, the more his rank ascended. The fact that his efforts bore visible fruit must have appealed to him. It awakened an interest in playing competitively, and he even began traveling to Osaka once a month for competitive meet-ups. Little by little, he honed his skills.
A turning point came at age twenty. After winning a tournament held by Yoshimoto Gaming, he was invited to EVO 2019, a global tournament held in Las Vegas. His performance at EVO was poor, but the experience was a new opportunity to network with pro players he’d never had the chance to play against before. After heading home, pro gamer Gachikun invited him to an online session. This, too, was thanks to their interaction at EVO 2019.
“I’d already made it to Grand Master in ranked, so I didn’t have much of a goal anymore. That’s when Gachi-san invited me to play. I guess he was expecting to face Kolin in a big upcoming tournament.”
Kolin is the character Kawano plays. When pro gamer Gachikun asked him to be his training partner for an upcoming tournament, Kawano tried his best to keep up. “Sure enough, it was a lot of fun. I lost a lot, but then the next day I initiated. I thought about what I should have done differently, made some corrections, and asked him (to play). Gachi-san turned me down, saying ‘No, not today’ (laughs).”
He didn’t know if he’d fulfilled his role as sparring partner. “I was really bad back then,” he says, but he gave everything he had. It was his first time encountering character-specific training, and he says it was a growing experience.
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// Chapter 3
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Thereafter, Kawano would continue building a track record through events such as Street Fighter League: Pro-JP, and finally he would decide to move to Tokyo. He made the decision on the first morning train, before dawn had broke. He was still drunk for another night of drinking, thinking, “Is this how I’m going to live?” Then he made up his mind.
“This was another one of my morning train revelations. I knew I had to do this… one of my older college friends said it, too. ‘You should be pursuing gaming, no question.’” Though this friend may have been “less than savory,” he was still caring. Maybe he saw something in all of Kawano’s hard work.
“I’m the type of guy who doesn’t waste time once he’s made a decision. I contacted my parents, who were really against it, but I pushed through. I think getting to go to EVO was a big part of it as well; winning had earned me an invitation to America. My ranking there was garbage, but it was a source of inspiration.” If he didn’t act now, he’d regret it. Guided by that thought, he pushed through.
Kawano was living “lethargically” after giving up soccer. His frustration didn't motivate him to dedicate himself to his studies, but rather to fighting games. Fundamentally, he says he’s the type of person who likes to sink his teeth in.
“The way it comes through clearly in the numbers. There’s a part of me that likes really digging into something, as long as there are actual visible results. It feels like it’ll pay off further down the line. I mean maybe I’ll be able to make money off it someday. I guess it’s all to get out of having to work (laughs).”
Kawano values the balance between reality and ideal. For him, “getting out of having to work” isn’t to be taken literally; he means he wants to live a life where he’s not “beholden to those above” him.
There’s a constant stream of tournaments offering prize money, and achieving good results at them leads to exposure and the acquisition of sponsors. It’s fair to say that for Kawano, who longed for visible results, the transition of fighting games to an esport, where performance is directly linked to reputation, was a perfect fit. The misaligned cogs of his life finally clicked into place.
His success after moving to Tokyo is no secret to any fighting game fan. In 2020, he achieved results worthy of a mid-level pro gamer, and in 2021 he took two major titles: EVO 2021 Online and the 3rd Topanga Championship. In Street Fighter League: Pro-JP 2021, he served as the ace of his team, the “Good 8 Squad.” He was instrumental in the team's first place finish, earning them a ticket to the Grand Finals in 2022. Kawano is one of the year’s most successful players, and it’s undoubtedly because of these achievements that Umehara honored his request to compete in Kemonomichi 4.
“At its core, I think it’s about rebellion. It’s definitely about rebellion. Whenever someone tells me something’s impossible, it makes me want to try and prove that it is possible. When I said I was moving to Tokyo, too…all the fighting game players around me were like, ‘You’re not gonna be able to beat anyone. How could you beat all those old guys who’ve been playing forever?’ But I knew I had to see for myself.”
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// Chapter 4
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Kawano could already be called one of the scene’s top players. The character he plays, Kolin, has been a steady partner to him all along. What led to him choosing her was that she happened to join the roster as a new character just as he was starting to play the game. Rather than try to play catch-up with a character players had already played heavily, he thought a brand-new character with no one’s fingerprints on her would give him better chances of winning.
“That was my naïve thought process. So I went with Kolin. I don’t think she was that good a character back then. She didn’t have her second V-Trigger yet.”
He says it was “pure luck” that she was improved through rebalances later on. Nevertheless, he intended to keep using her unless it became apparent that to do so within the reality of the pro scene was reckless.
“I’ve probably always thought changing characters over and over was a bad habit. It’s not a very good habit to have. So I wanted to make it work with one character, as much as possible. I do think people who can use a variety of characters are impressive, but I never thought those people seemed that good. I guess it’s like a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none thing.”
It seems mindset is tied to his experience in his teens. “I've quit a lot of things, so I guess that's why I feel this way. I don't know. I quit soccer, I was uncommitted to my test prep…I kind of got to feeling like it’s not great to be wishy-washy.”
“The first thing I think about is who chases after whom in a given matchup. It starts that basic.” Kawano’s fighting style focuses on counters. In order to counter, you can't just wait for your opponent to make a move, it's important to put pressure on them to bait them. Many of Kawano’s fights end in a Time Over or seconds before one. The reason for this is that he calculates his route to victory by counting backwards from the game’s "99 seconds per round" system. Many of his fights come down to a small discrepancy. Perhaps that is why he is more conscious of mistakes than others.
“I try to make absolutely sure I don’t make mistakes. I think even matches that look perfect have four or five mistakes. I try to eliminate those mistakes as much as possible. There are a lot of players who don't realize their mistakes in the first place. Even if you win a lot and the details of your matches are good, you're definitely making mistakes. I think taking notice of these mistakes is the most important thing.”
No matter how good a match might look, mistakes will be made. That’s why he says he looks for things to reflect on “the moment a round ends.” Even mid-match, he hones his awareness so as not to overlook his errors. But even if you notice a mistake, it’s meaningless unless you can immediately reflect upon in your play. Immediate response is especially important for pros. Once the match is over, it’s too late.
“The more times you experience a given case, the more you will be able to do it in tense situations. Can I consciously repeat that situation in practice? If it’s an opponent I’m sure I can beat in terms of skill, I’ll practice with that situation in mind.”
Supposing the perfect player had 100 points, how many points does Kawano have as of now? “Any number would be just a guess,” Kawano refutes, before adding, “…sixty-eight.” He’s essentially two-thirds of the way there. What, specifically, still needs work?
“Anti-airs, hit confirms, command technique, and I need to get a little better at reading the opponent’s psychology.”
Work on the obvious. No surprises here. Arguably he’s already built these things up to a formidable level, even compared to other pros, but he says he’s after that extra “0.5 points,” some small edge that only he knows about. He believes these little gains make all the difference among pros. It’s this uncompromising sensitivity that support’s Kawano’s meticulous fighting style. “I’m a perfectionist about weird things. I think I can be very particular.”
After moving to Tokyo, Kawano switched to a leverless controller right away. This is another glimpse of his perfectionism. The leverless is a new type of controller where everything is done with buttons. While it allows for precise movements, it has the drawback of being difficult to master. It is not surprising that many professional players have been cautious about adopting it, as it would inevitably affect their tournament results until they’ve mastered it. Kawano has taken advantage of this situation and succeeded in pioneering the use of leverless controllers, a decision made with an eye toward the future. Hard work in exchange for mastery. It is his perfectionism that supports Kawano’s strong reactions and consistency. Don’t count on him ever compromising as he works toward the hundred-point version of himself.
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// Chapter 5
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“I lose to him at the most important times. Extremely important moments, like Top 8’s and Top 4’s. I always seem to lose.”
As Kawano sees it, his odds against Tokido are “1 in 9, both in training and in tournaments.” For him, some of these losses must be occurring at “important times.”
“I beat him 3-0 for the first time at a recent qualifier. Then I went and lost at the main event, at league finals.” The event he’s referring to is the the 3rd Topanga Championship, held last May through July. In the league qualifier, Kawano defeated Tokido, only for Tokido to wind up victorious in the league finals. (Kawano won 1st place overall, with Tokido in 2nd.)
What’s Kawano’s assessment of Tokido’s strength? “He’s quick to find a path to victory. He finds really good ways to win.” He’ll exceed expectations at just the right moment and leave the opposition saying, “Oh, that’s your angle?” This from Kawano, someone who excels at making judgment calls mid-match. It speaks volumes of Tokido’s ferocity.
“When the opposing character falls back, walks forward, crouches, stands—Tokido probably absorbs more information from those things. Lately I’ve realized I need to get better at that sort of reading.”
When he was a college student, Kawano watched "Umehara vs. Tokido" from the back row of a lecture. Kawano doesn’t see himself as a continuation of that event’s legacy at all. He says he was struck, though, by how Tokido looked when defeated.
“I thought he looked cool. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but it’s not common to see a grown man cry over a video game. That’s how emotionally invested he was, though.”
Kawano liked something about what he saw as he watched the event alone. For Kawano, who’s separated in age by almost a generation, Tokido must have looked quite the “grown man” indeed. With the two set to face off, it’s only natural for some to see this battle as a baton pass between generations. But Kawano says he isn’t a fan of that expression.
“I just think it would be nice if I, the individual, could beat Tokido-san, the individual. I don't care at all about carrying the future of the gaming world. I really couldn’t care less.”
One man against another. That’s all Kawano makes of it. “I’m working harder and more determined than I’ve ever been about anything. I can’t wait to see what I’m able to bring.”
The determination to devote himself completely. It’s also about confronting the unfinished business of his teen years. “I’m sure I could’ve gotten somewhere with soccer if I’d done the work. I never had the drive to work hard enough to make it my livelihood. If I wanted to turn over a new leaf and start now, I know I could.”
He ponders what might have been, but it’s not quite the same thing as regret. Kawano now has an object that can fuel his passion. It is because of this passion that his enthusiasm for fighting games is unwavering. Everyone's time is different. Now is the time to burn that fuel. Kawano’s time is about to begin.
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