Full Meta Racket

There have been quite a few interesting lore drops on Street Fighter 6 in the past few weeks. We’ve found out that Ken is the primary suspect of a terrorist bombing in a place called Nayshall, and some interesting information has come forth regarding it. The first involves some images in Street Fighter 6’s arcade mode, where it’s shown what has happened to Ken in the duration. He is shown on his knees with his hands behind his head surrounded by police officers.

It’s a striking image and sets up the game’s main story, which promises to be a lot darker than previous games. As has been pointed out by the developers as well as the characters who have been revealed so far, Ken was framed for the bombing, and he’s trying to clear his good name. However, the above image is only a small part of the information revealed. There’s a second picture that has Ken looking out from his unfinished hideaway, drinking a cup of either tea or coffee.

This picture doesn’t really tell us very much about what’s happening in the story at first glance. It appears to be a simple way to show off Metro City in the rain as well as show how completely disheveled Ken is compared to how he once was. However, among the unfinished building, the skyscrapers in the background, and Ken himself, there is one thing that is so subtly out of place you wouldn’t realize it unless someone pointed it out to you:

It’s the cup.

Ken is a man on the run, and while he would have basic needs that must be met in order to stay alive, like eating and drinking, considering he is a recognizable figure within the Street Fighter universe, a wanted homeless man going into a Street Fighter Starbucks equivalent wouldn’t be able to avoid attention. There’s only one way he could conceivably have gotten it: someone else brought it to him.

It’s a little unclear as to who may be helping Ken, but it’s obvious he would have a number of allies including Chun-Li, who states in her win quote to him, “You were framed for what happened in Nayshall, but… I know you want to set things straight.” However, Ken seems to prefer to keep his situation close to the vest, as he tells Chun-Li in his win quote to her, “If an investigation is required, I’ll cooperate. But the last thing I need is your help.”

So, Chun-Li may or may not have bought him the hot beverage he is sipping on, but even if she didn’t, Ken’s circle of associates extends to more than just fighters. In the Game Informer previews of Udon’s upcoming comic that ties in with Street Fighter 6’s main story, we see that Ken is surrounded by trusted associates, one apparently being Menat.

There’s a woman, possibly Eliza, who is with him, but it’s his male colleagues who are the most important to look at it here. The first is a man with a long ponytail and beard. This looks to be JP.

If the man is JP, what this means is that JP was a trusted associate of Ken’s who stabbed him in the back, perhaps going as far as embezzling money from the Masters Foundation for whatever nefarious purposes he had in mind (which could also mean taking Ken’s money and giving it to G if the rumors that JP and G are partners in crime rings true; this also would explain how G was able to purchase his Ring of Galaxy space station considering that his video streaming contracts wouldn’t be anywhere near enough to get one). Basically, JP would have completely ruined his very well-respected and beloved colleague’s life for no other reason besides sheer greed.

But of the three people there, the most important character to look at is the man in the glasses behind Ken, who can be seen more clearly on a different page.

As YouTube animator and Street Fighter fan Emezie pointed out, he looked familiar.

The official SF6 art of Kimberly’s room points to him being correct.

This explains why Kimberly is asking Ken about what happened to her uncle – he worked for Ken, then disappeared. What’s interesting is that Ken may already know what happened and is outright refusing to tell Kimberly, as seen in his win quote to her:

“It’s time to drop the spy kid routine. You don’t want to dig any deeper into this.”

If Ken knows what happened to Kimberly’s uncle, and JP is connected to G, then there’s a reason why Ken doesn’t want Kimberly investigating further: Kimberly’s uncle is yet another candidate for being transformed into a Q. Kimberly, even being a self-proclaimed disciple of Bushinryu, would not be mature enough to handle that kind of scenario. Plus, if she went fighting her dear uncle Q, she’d lose and end up becoming a Q herself… which might be G’s plan anyway.
If, as I stated before, G is seeking to control the Ninjastar, a child prodigy with exuberant energy and mental potential, then transforming her uncle to get to her was the appropriate first step. Considering it may be that G already has some amount of control over her through her headphones, G wants Kimberly to become another puppet for him to control and consume. https://manestreetblog.com/2022/08/08/the-timbre-of-kimberly/

So, what we are seeing here is a complex story involving multiple characters partaking in espionage, deception, and secret-keeping. The story looks to be going full meta, but there’s one final thing in Kimberly’s room that all but proves this. In fact, the director of SF6, Takayuki Nakayama has even stated there’s a lot to go off of in Kimberly’s room.

Alongside the posters of Zeku and Guy is the name of a character that has not been seen in Street Fighter, but is nonetheless very familiar to anyone who has been a long time fan of the series.

The name is Chibashinya.

This is a reference to a real-life person. In Japan, since the proper way to call out a person’s name is surname first, the real life person’s name would be known as Chiba Shinichi. In the Western world, the given name is first, so the person’s name is Shinichi Chiba. Don’t know who he is? You should, since he is one of the most famous martial artists who ever lived.

In the West, he went by another name: Sonny.

Kimberly is shown to be a Sonny Chiba fan. Why not? He only had one of the most influential movies of all time: Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken, a.k.a. Clash! Killer Fist.