Jin Kuwana (桑名 仁, Kuwana Jin), born Yu Kitakata (喜多方 悠, Kitakata Yū), is the main antagonist of Lost Judgment. He is a former homeroom teacher at Kurokawa Academy who later took the Kuwana alias, and operates as a handyman based in Isezaki Ijincho.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Kuwana has a slim build, short hair, and a thin goatee. Though he lacked the goatee during his tenure as a homeroom teacher. His slim build is similar to that of Akihiro Ehara, allowing him to pose as a stand-in for Ehara when using a 3D printing of the latter's face, albeit disguised with a face mask and glasses. He also has a large white vaping pen
Attire[]
Kuwana wears a cognac brown cafe racer leather jacket (later an olive green military jacket) over a charcoal gray T-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and a pair of dark brown leather combat boots.
Personality[]
— Kuwana about his motives (English audio), Lost JudgmentI'm facing the reality of bullying head-on. The rest of the world is content to turn a blind eye to the problem. Our whole society... They make a show of it when a kid commits suicide, but nothing changes about the reasons why. And every time, some bully with tears in his eyes always has the exact same line: 'I had no idea they would ever kill themselves.' [...] They have no idea how their cruelty affects the person on the receiving end. You know why? Because they've never suffered. They don't know what it means to feel unsafe. I take care of that. I show them how much they've taken their safety for granted. Their actions need to have consequences. Even if they don't realize until it's too late."
Kuwana comes off as calm and professional, as befitting of a handyman in Ijincho. He prides himself on his ability to complete any job for the right price, and always maintains an air of professionalism when on the job. However, this air around him masks his true nature regarding the motivations behind his actions.
During his time as a school teacher, Kuwana was mostly disconnected from his class, but nonetheless still thought himself to be popular among the students. This illusion was shattered after a warning from his student Yoko Sawa as well as a hidden recording set up by him revealed the truth behind his students' nature towards Mitsuru Kusumoto. After Kusumoto's incident, Kuwana became embittered and resentful towards anyone he deemed a "bully" and believed it to be his duty to ensure that their actions would not go unpunished. He is so obsessed with this singular goal that he overlooks the unintended consequences of his actions. Though he isn't entirely heartless, as he expresses remorse over Sawa's death.
Despite his disconnectedness from a majority of people, he cares deeply for Reiko Kusumoto, partially because he feels responsible for what happened to her son. He is willing to do anything to ensure that her crime of murdering Shinya Kawai does not come to light, since he believes that the murder was justified and that her son would be further stigmatized for being the son of a murderer. He seems to put her wishes before his own, such as how he supported Reiko's decision to turn herself in due to the guilt she had.
Even though he places a high charge on his work, he doesn't seem to care much for extravagance, as his home is incredibly small, messy, and with little to no amenities.
Background[]
Yu Kitakata was born around 1978 to unnamed parents. Growing up, he was an average kid. In his adulthood, he became a teacher at Kurokawa Academy. In 2008, Kitakata's student, Yoko Sawa, reported the bullying of Mitsuru Kusumoto to him. He took the warning lightly and dismissed the tormenting as typical teenage behavior, however, after she warned him again, he secretly recorded an after-school bullying session of Mitsuru to confirm its seriousness. He acted too late, as Mitsuru jumped off the roof around the time he saw the footage.
When the news of Mitsuru falling into a coma from his suicide attempt reached school, most of his bullies stated they were unwillingly assisting Shinya Kawai and made him take full responsibility. For allowing his student to be bullied into suicide, Kitakata was disgraced and fired afterwards, and he returned to his mentor to start a life in the shadows, assuming the name "Jin Kuwana" in the process.
Kuwana was guilt-ridden by his inability to save Mitsuru and disgusted by the other bullies being able to escape consequences, so he waited until they became adults and built lives for themselves. Kuwana hatched a plan to punish bullies: He would ask the parents of bullied students if they want the bullies to die, and if they refused, he backed off. If the parents agreed to his request, he would blackmail his former students into abducting the target, then allow the parent(s) to kill them.
With the now-adults no longer having their bullying of Mitsuru into suicide excused as teenage behavior, and now having much more to lose, they were unable to refuse. Kawai was the first bully to die to Kuwana's conspiracy, though it was Reiko Kusumoto who ended his life. Kawai's body was later preserved in a freezer as stronger leverage, as he had recorded his former students abducting him, and the corpse had their fingerprints on it. Kuwana continued his killing spree and eventually caused the deaths of at least five more bullies in the process.
In 2019, Makoto Tsukumo and Fumiya Sugiura exchanged pleasantries with him around the time they started up Yokohama 99. In mid-2021, after Akihiro Ehara's lawsuit against Seiryo High School for letting his son be driven to suicide was dismissed, Kuwana contacted Sawa to ask if Toshiro Ehara was bullied, secretly recording the call. She told him she was forced to remain silent due to a lack of evidence against the bully, Hiro Mikoshiba. This caused Kuwana to target Mikoshiba; he approached Ehara while he was on duty with Sawa's recording, and prompted him to take revenge for his son.
Involvement[]
Lost Judgment: 2021-2022[]
Kuwana has Hiro Mikoshiba captured and sets up a situation that allows Akihiro Ehara to kill his son's bully. While Ehara kills Mikoshiba, Kuwana disguises himself as him, then pretends to grope Yui Mamiya. At Shinjuku Station, he swaps places with the real Ehara, having his former students restrain and record him to give him an alibi for sexual battery and allow him to escape a murder sentence. He then uses signal flares to alert authorities to the location of Mikoshiba's body. After Ehara is sentenced, he leaks Mikoshiba's murder footage as part of a ploy to humiliate the legal system.
Kuwana is then called by Sawa, who asks him if he was involved with Mikoshiba's death, during which he hears about Takayuki Yagami's investigation into Mikoshiba's murder at Seiryo High, but denies any involvement. He hires the Yokohama Liumang's White Mask faction to force Yagami to back off, and also has Mamiya give Yoko Sawa an unreleased picture of Mikoshiba as a warning. Yagami is able to stand his ground against them, so he personally intervenes to allow the Liumang to escape. Kuwana tries to dissuade Yagami from investigating his territory without permission, but the conversation ends in fisticuffs. The Yokohama 99 detectives arrive and break up their scuffle.
He hits the town with the detectives and later tries to convince Yagami to hire him to help him investigate Mikoshiba's murder. When he sees they are not willing to back down, Kuwana makes an anonymous request to the Liumang to attack the agency. When the attack occurs, Yagami jumps from the windows to fight them, with Kuwana and Kaito not far behind. This gives an opportunity for Kuwana's former students to attack Sugiura and Tsukumo, who are now alone. After seeing camera footage, Kuwana states he no longer wants to work on the case after seeing the parties involved.
After receiving a call from an unusually worried Sawa requesting his presence, Kuwana goes to see her and finds Yagami. Daimu Akutsu then leaves Sawa's apartment and fights the two, with Kuwana realizing he was lured by RK. Yagami tells Kuwana to run while he keeps RK busy, Kuwana accepts and flees but is soon caught by Akutsu and the other RK. Yagami catches up, and Kuwana then uses the distraction to flee. Kuwana goes into hiding and asks the Siren Owner to retrieve a fake lighter which is a USB drive containing his former students' bullying footage and leave, as he will be targeted too.
When Yagami and his group are questioning Mamiya, Kuwana has his students wait in a parking lot as a safety measure and calls Yagami. He arranges to meet at Yagami's office in exchange for releasing Mamiya, asking Yagami to come alone. During their discussion, Kuwana says he feels guilt for what happened to Sawa. He also tells Yagami about Mitsuru's attempted suicide, Mikoshiba's murder, and him contacting the Liumang to deter Yagami and Sawa. Kuwana does not know why RK are after him, but suspects a mastermind behind them.
After receiving a call from Mamiya who tells him she has been freed, Kuwana decides to leave, but not before asking Yagami to stay out. Yagami plans on continuing the case, and when Kuwana runs out, Yagami chases him to the parking lot where the masked men waiting for him. Kuwana then explains that Yagami knows too much and he must be eliminated, assuring them he will finish him off, and flees. Hidemi Bando, RK's mastermind, frames Sawa's death on Kuwana and starts a manhunt for him. Kuwana informs Tesso of his anonymous hiring of them and hides with the Liumang.
To check out his enemies, Kuwana asks the Geomijul to spread word of him being in their territory, and to tell Yagami of his true location. At Qing Jin, Yagami tells Kuwana that Public Security is after him, theorizing Reiko Kusumoto wants him dead, but Kuwana states Kusumoto will not target him and tells of his history with her, leading to a fight. Kuwana and Yagami form a truce over a dinner prepared by Tianyou Zhao and make a phone call using two burner phones to flush out Public Security, if they are indeed the enemy. Kuwana makes the phone call and explains his situation to Kusumoto, allowing Yagami to confirm the enemy is indeed Public Security.
Kuwana is later told that Yagami met Kusumoto behind his back to convince her to turn herself in, sparking a heated exchange between them where Kuwana states that though he may not like his job, it needs to be done to prevent a repeat of Mitsuru's tragedy, and gives him a recording of Sawa's confession to prove she felt guilt as well, though Yagami points out he is ignoring her death as collateral damage. He changes his hiding spot to a museum on a ship and has Yasushi Akaike take Yagami to meet him to avoid any tails.
On the ship, Kuwana and Yagami have another exchange, with both acknowledging their paths in life being for justice. Kuwana will still hunt bullies and gives Yagami a pendant containing unaltered footage of Ehara killing Mikoshiba, asking him to pass a message to Ehara requesting he carry on alone, but Yagami states he will not allow Kuwana to be comfortable with dragging innocents into his plot. Akaike is killed by Kazuki Soma, and the fact that Akaike was tailed makes Kuwana realize Kusumoto sold him out - a clear sign that Mitsuru has awakened. He escapes by detonating a bomb on the ship.
Kuwana makes a deal with Soma where he would reveal the location of Kawai's body in exchange for Soma sparing the lives of Yagami and his cohorts. He also writes a letter to Kusumoto, stating he will call on her phone after Ehara's retrial. In 2022, he calls Kusumoto with his own phone to allow his location to be traced, and has Kawai's body rigged to a bomb meant to explode manually or if the corpse is pulled out as a backup plan. He then uploads a picture of Kawai's corpse online, allowing Tsukumo to pinpoint his location.
In the lowest floor of the warehouse where Kawai's body is stored, Kuwana attempts to kill Soma, and joins Yagami and the others in neutralizing RK. After Soma's defeat, Kuwana has one final bout with Yagami over their beliefs. After his defeat, Kusumoto arrives and tells Kuwana that seeing Kawai's corpse caused her to decide to turn herself in. No longer able to turn away from the damage he has caused, Kuwana breaks down in tears.
Due to a lack of evidence against him, Kuwana is able to walk away, and Yagami tells him before leaving that he will help those let down by the justice system in his own way. Kuwana disappears, allowing Soma to be arrested due to not having a scapegoat anymore. Yagami's words and actions have an effect on him, and he gives an anonymous tip to the police of the locations of all other victims' corpses scattered across Japan, telling them they were all malicious school bullies.
Fighting Style[]
Kuwana is fought three times in Lost Judgment. He also fights alongside Yagami as an AI companion at several points throughout the game, including the Liumang hideout long battle, Akutsu's first and second fight, the yacht battle, and the first half of Soma's second fight.
Kuwana proves to be an exceptionally skilled combatant, and could even be considered Yagami's equal. His overall fighting style consists of different forms of Kung Fu, such as Bajiquan and Wing Chun, and his two separate movesets take queues from those of his rival.
His universal moveset consists of:
- a Rush Combo composed of a kneeling right vertical cross, a ducking left upward backfist, and a right Thai roundhouse kick;
- a running right flying knee strike,
- a flying left-right front kick,
- a left rolling thunder kick as a downed attack (2nd fight onward), and
- a taunt where he claps his hands twice and beckons Yagami with his right.
In his first encounter, as well as the first phase of his last, Kuwana utilizes techniques reminiscent of Yagami's Crane style. He even picks up the latter's Sky Dancer move during the fight. His attacks include:
- a right rolling thunder kick as a Sky Dancer attack,
- quickstep attacks, including:
- a right downward roundhouse kick after frontstepping,
- a spinning right/left hook kick after sidestepping right/left respectively, and
- a sliding right side kick after backstepping; and
- a spinning left heel sweep kick as a get-up attack.
In his second boss fight, and the beginning of the latter phase of his third, he fights with tactics based on Yagami's Snake style, such as quick grabs, throws, slams and parrying. His attacks are listed below:
- a right Thai roundhouse kick into a parry stance after his Rush Combo upward backfist,
- a lunging right elbow thrust,
- a running command grab, followed by:
- shoving his right arm under Yagami's and tripping him over his right knee, or
- throwing a right knee strike at Yagami's back before slamming him on the ground; and
- a parry stance where he presses his right fist against his left hand, retaliating by parrying Yagami if he attacks.
He will perform either his lunging elbow strike or one of his command grabs immediately after parrying Yagami.
When he enters Heat Mode, Kuwana begins using a couple of extra moves. These include:
- his Rush Combo with an additional spinning right vertical cross (all fights), and a charged left spinning heel sweep kick (2nd fight onward); and
- a combo consisting of a right vertical cross-left palm strike, a right hook-right backfist, and a left reverse punch-left front snap kick-left elbow thrust.
His Deadly Attack is a running left elbow uppercut command grab, followed by him shoving Yagami to the ground and delivering a spinning left foot stomp to his stomach.
In his final boss fight, both of Kuwana's styles merge into one full moveset upon entering Heat Mode.
His aura in Heat Mode is white, and his attack trails vary between each of his movesets: white for his universal attacks, azure blue for his Crane moves, green for his Snake moves, and pinkish red for his Heat Mode combo and Deadly Attack.
Trivia[]
- The alias "Kuwana" corresponds to a possible GoroawaseWP reading of 917; September 17 is the day Mitsuru Kusumoto attempted suicide.
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- ↑ The given birth year of 1978 is an estimate based on Kuwana's age and is not intended as a substitute for an official date.
- ↑ The given height of 185 cm (6′ 1″) is based on the character model's scaling factor within Lost Judgment's data.[2] For Dragon Engine games, this method is believed to be very accurate (±2 cm). However, this is intended as an estimate, not a substitute for an official statistic.
References[]
- ↑ Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Pause Menu - Help - Characters - Jin Kuwana, Lost Judgment (Tokyo: SEGAWP, 2021), PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5/Windows/Xbox One/Xbox Series X and S/Amazon Luna.
- ↑ Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, “character_model_model_data” (.BIN file), Lost Judgment (Tokyo: SEGAWP, 2021), PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5/Windows/Xbox One/Xbox Series X and S/Amazon Luna.