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Keiko Asano (あさの けいこ Asano Keiko?) is a pseudo-character in the Street Fighter series, who has appeared mostly as a joke among the video games’ Japanese players. The character can be considered the Japanese counterpart to the Sheng Long urban legend, albeit in a more tongue-in-cheek tone.
The pun comes from E. Honda’s original win quotes, “T'was easier than morning training!” (朝のけいこより、楽勝でごわす！！ Asa no keiko yori, rakushō de gowasu!!?), which many Japanese players misread as “T'was easier than Keiko Asano!” (あさの けいこより、楽勝 で ごわす！！ Asano Keiko yori, rakushō de gowasu!!?). However, while homages to the players' misinterpration have appeared in manga and the Shadaloo Combat Research Institute website, the character wouldn't debut in a mainline game until Street Fighter 6.
Video Games
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
E. Honda's simplified win quote in Street Fighter II Dash Plus, used in most home console ports.
Keiko Asano has her origin in one of E. Honda’s Japanese Street Fighter II: The World Warrior win quotes, “T'was easier than morning training!” (あさ の、けいこより、らくしょう で ごわす！！ Asa no keiko yori, rakushō de gowasu!!?), where "morning training" (朝稽古 Asageiko?) is a type of common sumo training routine. However, in the initial release of Street Fighter II, the quote was originally completely written in a simplified hiragana reading, instead of the more standard kanji-hiragana mix.
The arcade game's sequels from Street Fighter II Dash onwards (as well as its most accurate ports) removed any possible misreading by fully supporting kanji characters, now written as "朝のけいこより、楽勝でごわす！！" (Asa no keiko yori, rakushō de gowasu!!?). However, most of the game's home console ports, up to and including Super Street Fighter II, retained the easier hiragana reading for capacity reasons, and even further simplified the quotes by deleting some spaces between words. In this case, "asa no keiko" was shortened to "あさの、けいこ" (asano, keiko?) in the Super Famicom port of Street Fighter II, and "あさのけいこ" ( asano keiko?) in every other Super Famicom port, as well as every PC Engine and Mega Drive port.
The ambiguous reading of the phrase made many Japanese players misread it as a female character’s name, i. e. “T'was easier than Keiko Asano!” (あさの けいこより、楽勝 で ごわす！！ Asano Keiko yori, rakushō de gowasu!!?). The fact that the stout sumo wrestler seemed to boast about an unknown woman sparked the imagination of some Japanese players, who thought of her as a powerful figure who was not only much stronger than the defeated character, but someone that left an impression on the victorious E. Honda.
Street Fighter V
Keiko Asano's 1st Photobook in CASH.COM
While no mention is made of her in-game, the misconception is jokingly mentioned in E. Honda’s Japanese Shadaloo Combat Research Institute profile, where it says that his morning training is also known as “asa no keiko” (あさのけいこ?)[3].
However, in the official website’s 2016 Street Fighter/Tekken themed April Fools' Day webpage, “CASH.COM”, one of the fictional products is Keiko Asano's 1st Photobook (あさのけいこ 1st写真集 Asano Keiko 1st shashin-shū?), which is mentioned to be a content-packed book based on the famous martial arts expert and E. Honda’s favorite idol, with a 128-page command list that costs 2,300 yen. Upon adding it to the cart, the website displays the remark "T'was easy" (らくしょうでごわす Rakushō de gowasu?), once again a reference to the original E. Honda quote[1].
Street Fighter 6
Keiko Asano, simply called Keiko in the non-Japanese versions, finally makes her Street Fighter canon debut in Street Fighter 6 as a E. Honda-style NPC that can be encountered in World Tour. She is one of the highest-rankend opponents in "The Fighty Mighty" side-mission, where she appears as a stout Level 83 woman who wears a mix of MMA clothing and traditional sumo elements like a chonmage hairstyle, keshō-mawashi belt and fighting style. When the player talks with her, she asks "Think this will be easier than your morning warm-up?" (あさのけいこ より らくしょうかい？ Asano keiko wa rakusho de kai??) (a pun in Japanese, as it can also be interpreted as "Think I'll be easy?"), immediatly recognizing that the sudden statement is confusing[4].
If the player defeats her, she says makes another pun in Japanese, translated as "I ain't too shabby, right?" (どうだい？ あさのけいこは強かっただろう。 Dōdai? Asano keiko wa tsuyokatta darou.?), which can also be translated as "Morning training wasn't too shabby, right?". Afterwards, she recognizes that the player is indeed stronger than Keiko Asano / morning training[5]. Once the fight ends, the player recieves the rare Ornamental Sumo Belt (化粧まわし keshō-mawashi?) item, much like the one she wears.
Legacy
Suto II Bakushō!! 4-koma Gag Gaiden
In one of the strips of Takashi Hashiguchi’s 4-koma manga Suto II Bakushō!! 4-koma Gag Gaiden (ストII爆笑!!4コマギャグ外伝?), the joke is referenced when E. Honda delivers the win quote against a defeated Ryu, and immediately the mentioned Keiko Asano (浅野景子 Asano Keiko?), depicted as a 24-year old mistress, appears to engage in sadomasochistic practices with E. Honda to Ryu’s disbelief.
Keiko Yanase
Street Fighter Gaiden
In the eighth chapter of Mami Itou’s manga Super Street Fighter II X Gaiden starring Ken Masters, a similar character sharing the same name, Keiko Yanase (梁瀬 恵子 Yanase Keiko?), appears. In the comic, she's shown to be an old acquintance of E. Honda, as a -48kg category Judo champion, and a Physical Education college student. However, E. Honda doesn't want her to participate in mixed martial arts, so she and Ken have an exhibition match.
In the manga's afterword, a friend of the author asks if the character was based in E. Honda's famous "Keiko Asano" win quote, which is answered only with a cryptic laugh.
Gallery
Trivia
- Keiko is the first female character in the series to be overweight.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "A photo book of Edmond Honda's favorite idol Keiko Asano! It's crammed with the charm of the martial arts expert. Includes 128 pages of command tables." (あのエドモンド本田イチオシのアイドル「あさのけいこ」の写真集！格闘技の達人である、けいこの魅力がぎっしり詰まってごわす。128ページのコマンド表付き。?) from CASH.COM
- ↑ Suto II Bakushō!! 4-koma Gag Gaiden
- ↑ “Morning training (朝稽古 asageiko?), also known as "morning training" (あさのけいこ asa no keiko?), are part of his daily routine.” (あさのけいこ こと朝稽古が日課になっている。?) from Kyara Zukan 069: Edmond Honda
- ↑ Keiko Asano: Heh. Not sure what I'm talkin' about, are ya? Hey, if you know, you know. And what I know... It's that it's time to rumble! (ははっ、急に言われても 何のことか分らないか。分かる人が分かればいいさ。それはそとして…やるかい！ Haha, kyūni iwarete mo dono kata ka wakaranai ka. Wakaru hito ga wakareba īsa. Sore wa sore to shite... Yaru kai!?) from Street Fighter 6
- ↑ Keiko Asano: But you winning like you did... It must mean that you're tougher than my morning training! And that, my friend, is the long and short of it! (でもあんたが勝ったってことは… あんたは あさのけいこより 強い！つまりそういうことだね！ Demo anta ga kattattekotowa... Anta wa asano keiko yori tsuyoi!?) from Street Fighter 6
External links
| Street Fighter 6 Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | Blanka · Cammy · Chun-Li · Dee Jay · Dhalsim · E. Honda · Guile · Jamie · JP · Juri · Ken · Kimberly · Lily · Luke · Manon · Marisa · Ryu · Zangief | |||
| Year 1 | A.K.I. · Akuma · Ed · Rashid | |||
| Year 2 | Elena · M. Bison · Mai (Guest) · Terry (Guest) | |||
| CPU Only | Albert Jackson · Andore Family · Antler · Axl · Azam · Bosch · Bred · Carlos Miyamoto · Carol · Chandi · Damnd · Eliza · Eternity · F.A.N.G · Fair Libra · G. Oriber · Gerald Golby · J · Kalima · Keiko Asano · Kenichi Kakutani · Li-Fen · Max · Mel · Retsu · Rewancha · Roxy · Rudra · Sheng Long · Somsak · Yua | |||