Tekken 8 Has Finally Given the FGC the Character They’ve Always Wanted

DLC guest characters in fighting games can be controversial, especially in titles like Tekken 8, whose audience have a very particular idea of who should enter the King of Iron Fist tournament series. Characters from other fighting games, like Geese Howard and Akuma, have been divisive picks, while others like Noctis and Clive from Final Fantasy have their own share of fans and critics. However, the latest guest for Tekken 8 is receiving almost universal praise, marking a collaboration fans have been asking for throughout multiple titles in the franchise.

The guest characters seen in Tekken have covered a variety of media, ever since the inclusion of Street Fighter‘s Akuma in the launch roster of Tekken 7. The most notable of these guests is like Negan, a character from the Walking Dead series of comics and TV. This character was incredibly unexpected, but opened the door for fighting games to take more unorthodox approaches to how guests were included in their respective titles.

Tekken 8 Is Adding Yujiro Hanma As Its Fourth DLC Character For Its Third Season

Set for release in Early 2027, Yujiro Hanma is the fourth and final DLC character for Tekken 8‘s third Season, marking a collaboration with the Baki the Grappler Japanese manga and anime series. Yujiro is the father of the main character Baki from this series, which began serialization in October 1991, having remained a popular series over three decades later. Written and illustrated by mangaka Keisuke Itagaki, Baki the Grappler tells a story entrenched in martial arts, making a crossover with Tekken seem like an obvious choice.

Yujiro is often called the strongest character in the Baki series, and is a fan-favorite within the manga and the several anime adaptations the story has inspired. Also known as “The Ogre,” “The Strongest Creature on Earth,” and “The Oni,” Yujiro is infamous for his brutal fighting style and ability to adapt to nearly any martial art used against him. Some of Yujiro’s accomplishments in the Baki series are, frankly, ridiculous displays of absolute strength that border on the comedic for how over-the-top they are.

The infamously antagonistic role Yujiro plays in Baki the Grappler against his son is not too dissimilar to the complex relationships between Jin Kazama, Kazuya, and Heihachi Mishima seen in the Tekken series. Yujiro is planned to arrive in Tekken 8 after its three other characters, which are all returning faces from the franchise, starting with Kunimitsu in Spring 2026. Although the window for Yujiro is technically Winter 2026, the reveal trailer made sure to clarify that Early 2027 was a more accurate window.

Fans Have Long Wanted A Collaboration With The Baki Series Across Popular Fighting Games

Among Tekken‘s possible crossovers, Baki the Grappler is one that fans were not expecting by any stretch. This is because the Baki series is one the fighting game players have been begging developers to collaborate with for years, to no avail. Before the DLC reveal for Tekken 8, the only crossover with Baki in a fighting game recently was for Street Fighter 6, which only included small cosmetic items. For a long time, desire for a Baki the Grappler fighting game was long thought to be too difficult to make, as the series was relatively obscure outside of Japan.

This was until the release of Baki the Grappler‘s 2018 Netflix anime adaptation on Netflix, which introduced many people to the characters and world Itagaki created. The bombastic series grew suddenly in Western popularity, but long before that, Baki was already a perfect fit for a fighting game. The series already shows a great passion toward martial arts, including a variety of different styles represented by various characters. This reflects Tekken‘s philosophy quite well, as that game series also includes many fighters who display mastery over many different styles, both realistic and fantastical.

Adding arguably the most popular character from the Baki series into Tekken is a slam dunk, as Tekken may be the fighting game series that reflects Baki‘s themes the most. This helps make Yujiro feel like a character that isn’t shoe-horned into the series, but rather a natural addition that calls back to other well-done guest characters in other fighting games. Much like how horror movie characters fit very well into the Mortal Kombat franchise, Yujiro is one of the best fits for Tekken.

These points have been made by fans of Tekken for years, even with Baki the Grappler‘s obscurity often casting doubt upon any potential collaboration. Yet, with the rising attention on Baki only having grown in the last decade, the revered status of its long-running manga, and the expanded window for what guest characters can be in fighting games, Tekken 8 had a golden chance they didn’t waste by including Yujiro Hanma as their guest DLC.

What are your thoughts on Yujiro Hanma as a DLC guest character for Tekken 8? Leave a comment below or join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!

Tekken 8’s Boxing Kangaroo Is Exactly Why I Love This Series