is a character and the protagonist of Bandai Namco's Tekken series. Introduced in the 1997 game Tekken 3, he has been the central character of the series from that game onwards. Trained by his grandfather Heihachi Mishima, Jin wishes to avenge the apparent death of his mother, Jun Kazama, at the hands of Ogre. However, Heihachi betrays Jin to awaken a genetic abnormality within the latter's body known as the , leading Jin to seek revenge against his grandfather in later installments.
He is also antagonized by his father, Kazuya Mishima, from whom he inherited the devil gene at birth. While dealing with his relatives, Jin loses control of the Devil Gene, which causes his transformation into an alter ego named , first introduced as a non-playable character in Tekken 3 and playable ever since Tekken 5. Outside of video games, Jin has appeared in animated and live-action films adapted from the games and has also appeared as a playable character in several other game franchises.
Initially conceptualized as an innocent man, Jin was developed as the series' new protagonist and a replacement for Kazuya, who he was based on visually. His constant fights with his family members would eventually lead him to become an antiheroic character, as crafted by Bandai Namco's director Katsuhiro Harada ever since his introduction. Nevertheless, Jin was portrayed as the main character in multiple adaptations of the games. He has been voiced consistently by Isshin Chiba since he debuted in Tekken 3 and has had multiple English actors across other appearances.
Critical reception to the character has been positive, with commentary focused on his moves and his role within the wider Tekken story. Since his introduction to Tekken 3, Jin has proven to be quite popular and has often been described as one of the best Tekken characters due to his fighting style and because of the impact he had on the storyline. His dark characterization was also noted while Devil Jin also remained popular for retaining Jin's classic Mishima-Ryu fighting style which he discarded since Tekken 4, before retaining it in Tekken 8.
Creation Development
Jin Kazama was created by Namco artist Yoshinari Mizushima after he graduated from college, with the character's design being a great surprise to the Tekken staff. Jin was introduced in Tekken 3 using the concept of a "misfortunate character" which was part of his dark character arc across the series. The staff also wanted to present him as a determined character. Despite their similarities, Jin was a more caring character in contrast to his mean spirited father, Kazuya. This was the result of their different upbringings. However, both end up becoming more alike as characters because of their dark stories like their shared antagonism for Heihachi Mishima. This would further corrupt Jin but in a different way than his father. Rather than destroying the world like his relatives, Jin instead wishes to end the Mishima bloodline, and himself in the process. Jin and Kazuya share powered up devil forms. They are a common element in fantasy which stands out because of them being genetically related in Tekken. The parallel between Jin and Kazuya's devils was compared to the protagonists from the Star Wars films, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, respectively.
Tekken series' director Katsuhiro Harada has said that Jin is his favorite character in the series along with Heihachi. He says the Tekken story is written from Jin's perspective because he is the main character. Jin's concept was that of an innocent young kid corrupted by the evils of society, who would become one of the series' greatest villains as crafted by Harada over the span of ten years. He only serve as villain role in Tekken 6, Harada motivated players to use the Scenario Campaign to explore Jin's darker character arc as well as his possible relationship with newcomer Lars Alexandersson. Devil Jin completes the character's arc that Harada crafted in terms of his corruption which is now represented in his genes. Harada recalls receiving letter from fans who were angry for turning Jin into a villain in Tekken 6.
In response to claims that the Tekken story is complicated, Harada denied this. He saw it as a "simple" struggle between members from the Mishima family. By 2017, fans still saw Jin as a hero. Harada replied that the character is still responsible for creating wars so the plot continues to have a sense of black and white morality. Harada compared his family with the Tekken characters who are constantly fighting each other: Heihachi, Jin and Kazuya. As a parent, he now has a "deeper respect for my family and parents in particular." A common interpretation of Jin's mother Jun Kazama's fate is that she was killed before the events of Tekken 3. This is explored in a story from Jin's point of view and is a belief that most gamers shared. However, Jin and the gamers were actually incorrect—Jun is missing. As a result, Harada explained that as far as the rivalry between Jin and Kazuya is concerned, Jun would be present at their eventual confrontation.
Before the revelation of Jin's inclusion in Tekken 7, there were many gamers who asked Harada if he survived his battle against Azazel in Tekken 6. Harada refrained from answering questions about Jin's status, but said Tekken 7 would be a proper sequel to the series with or without Jin. However, both Jin and his Devil persona were leaked in 2015 by fans. For Tekken 7, Jin was made into a hidden sub-boss in the game's arcade mode. Harada explained that the requirements to unlock him were very difficult. Harada added a hint that players who use Kazuya Mishima might have a better chance of fighting Jin while the Devil persona is a hidden boss.
Tekken 8 was revealed with a fight between Jin and his father Kazuya, which has been building up for several years. While Jin already faced his relatives in previous games from the franchise, in the latest one, he is shown in a major conflict with his Devil Gene as it keeps absorbing his humanity to the point he becomes Devil Jin in the middle of the fight. However, Harada remarked that the final scene of the trailer involving broken chains act as symbolism to Jin breaking free from the conflicts he has been connected for several games. After several installments and spin-offs involving Jin's appearances, Harada apologized to the character for the harsh treatment he gave him.
Design
Jin's visual appearance was modeled after his father Kazuya Mishima who was missing in Tekken 3. Jin was given a similar appearance including spiky black hair, red gloves and similar black and red pants (keikogi) to the point it confused returning players. In early concepts, Jin was depicted with more clothing covering his left arm. The idea of his design was for it to be simple yet highly recognizable. Originally, Jin was named with a visual appearance being more reminiscent to his father, most notably in his gloves. His design was made less muscular than his predecessors.
Although in his first appearance, he was shown wearing nothing to cover his torso, in following games, Jin was given a jacket along with a hood in Tekken 4 which Harada found to be highly popular with the fanbase. Meanwhile, the new white pants and gi from Tekken 4 was used in future games starting with Tekken Advance. As a result, Harada views the constant comments about this as positive feedback despite his initial confusion over the fanbase's reaction. Tekken 5 features a special costume for Jin designed by guest artist Mutsumi Inomata: it is a panda-themed costume with an unzipped jacket that reaches just above his midriff with a blue flame motif and matching white pants. In Tekken 6, replacing the jumpsuit, Jin wears a long black coat similar to the one that he wore in his ending in Tekken 5. Jin's alternative outfit in Tekken 6 was designed by Clamp, a group of four Japanese manga artists. For Tekken 7, his regular design was made by Yūsuke Kozaki, while Ando Makoto did a special chibi illustration of the character. while Takuji Kawano did his Tekken 8 outfit which fellow artist Hiroaki Hashimoto found cool.
Jin's alter ego, Devil Jin, possesses a tattoo that covers his entire torso. Harada claimed he grew to like this part of the design. Devil Jin is often shown wearing chains in his body though that instead is symbolic. Like his father's devil persona, Jin's also shown to possess wings though Harada claims they are actually related with his mother's heritage rather than the Mishima's. For the film Blood Vengeance, Jin manages to control his Devil powers, resulting in him achieving a new Devil transformation. This form was designed by Takayuki Takeya, who is famous designing characters from Devilman and Kamen Rider. Director Yōichi Mōri conceived, saying he wanted to change the impression of the Devil in the game. The New Devil Jin was given a "sinister yet beautiful" design the audience give a different impression from the game in order to attract more people.
Actors and related media Isshin Chiba has been Jin's voice actor in all his Japanese game appearances. Chiba claimed he initially did not understand the character when first recording his lines in his debut. The actor grew attached to Jin over the years he voiced him and thus disliked how Jin changed from a kindhearted man to a corrupt person in the later games as well as his transformation into a devil. Jon Foo felt honored to play Jin's character in the live-action film based on the series. He says he is a fan of the Tekken games. Still, he found it difficult to play Jin as he spent three months on a diet in order to do the fighting moves for the live-action film. In the making of the film, Foo accidentally wounded Cung Le. The film's director, Dwight Little, found that this type of accident is common in fighting films.
For the film Tekken: Blood Vengeance (2011), writer Dai Satō added both Jin and Kazuya as a pair of men to provide "visual eye-candy" in the same way as the Williams sisters did. While Jin and Ling Xiaoyu appear to have developed a close relationship, Satō did not want to explore a romantic one in the film. Instead, the writer wanted to use these pairs to be played together in the spin-off game Tekken Tag Tournament 2, which relies on the use of teams composed of two fighters. Chiba was replaced by Patrick Seitz in the English release of the film, being credited as "Darren Daniels". Though Satō believes Jin is intrigued by Xiaoyu, he wanted his characterization to be dark especially with how brooding is Jin in an early scene where he laughs at the idea of his fight with Kazuya being the subject of the world's destruction which ambiguously connects Xiaoyu's story. Satō acknowledged that several members of the audience complained that Jin had little screen time but he is glad with it.
In the original version of the anime film Tekken: The Motion Picture (1998), Jin has been voiced by Minami Takayama, while Jacob Franchek has voiced him in the film's English dub. Jin has been voiced by Brad Swaile in the game Street Fighter X Tekken.