Kekowa Respect Rant

The Kekowa Respect Rant (henceforth to be referred to as KRR) was a meme created—perhaps unintentionally, perhaps not—by Miburohunter929 on the subject of Kekowa Hasegowa and the character's various "virtues". It has since become known as invoking "Kekowa's Law" in that, if you mention him, a KRR is sure to follow that post.

Though there weren't exactly a ton of posts on the subject, they were certainly.. enlightening, and evoked a variety of reactions from players familiar with the character.

The KRR meme had humble beginnings, beginning in reply to posts on the SHR2 Discussion thread upon the SHR1 "UNDEFEATED" meme (another one related to the character Kekowa Hasegowa). The contents of that first, glorious post were thus:

"UNDEFEATED" is not a lie.

It's sorta like Zoro vowing to never lose again, and getting pwned by Aokiji, and Kuma, and Eneru, and Kaku the first time they met.

He very clearly could not be considered the winner, in any sense other then he was concious, and not in prison, yet he still holds to his promise.

How? Because he meant he'll never lose to another guy with a sword—Aokiji dosnt count, not being a real swordsman, nor does people ue runs from—and in that sense, he has never lost.

Kekowa is undefeated in many ways. He's never lost to Dean, or another black guy, and his first fight ended with Janos before "conclusion" and Janos got killed the second time.

And Julien beat Kekowa in his dreams.

And loosing to Syn dosnt count being not of this world, nor does—

What? Mordred?

Well, okay, it counts, but Kekowa is undefeated of this generation, and Mordred isn't from this generation, so bah.

However, it was not long before posts questioning the veracity of Miburohunter929's post spawned the first true KRR post in reponse to a post by FalconX2000.

I've simply had time to contemplate the true awesome of a man born form the Hasegawa Clan, and I've become impressed.

Let's recap: This shall be a mini-respect thred:

Determination/Persistance: Was rejected by almost every female member of Dragon Dorm, after one of the most impressive pursuits of tail ever. He would not quit, he could not quit. Infact, after seeing Dean and Kagaura together in the apoclyptic future, what's the first thing he does? He hits on her, and tries to get her on a date. Kekowa Hasegowa cares not for destiny, his will is one that defies fate!

Sure, he failed, but does that make his defiance any less noble?

Was almost defeated—I mean—almost defeated Janos Tatlus, but due to outside interference, Janos was spared the loss. For this moment on, dispite the interference being beyond either mans control; It was fucking on. Kekowa devoted every waking moment, not releated to the pursuit of Vagina and power, to defeating Janos at every turn, his pride, and honor not allowing him to be satisfied with the conclusion of their fight. He rectified that later, after defeated Janos, nearly killing him, due to Kekowa's insatiable bloodlust taking over.

Janos might have had a cold or something, but it wasn't that big a deal. In the same fight Janos had managed to break Kekowas mastercraft Katanas, but due to Kekowas will and desire to have them fight along side him again, they somehow reforged anew. It was at this point it was speculated Kekowa has Spiral Power, but might have been the turning point where he fully mastered his Ki abilities, unlocking several new powers as time progressed.

Janos sucks.

Kekowa managed to somehow get into the pants of the untamable Valkire, Valeria, after several days of exerting a level of charm, charisma, and cunning, beyond that of all of Dragon Dorm.

For comparison: Dean had failed miserably in his original attempt to court with Kagaura, despite his charasmatic audicity and it wasn't until several months later, did he succeed in wooing her to his awesome—by non Hasegowa standards—ways. It then took him 20 years to get laid.

Xellos, despite his smooth, machiveilan mannerisms, had utterly failed to woo natalie for nearly two years, before finally, barely, edging out Selma St. Johns. It should be noted that his other competetion has mind wiped themselves (Sirus Savage) moved on (Daichi and Kekowa after getting bored with how easy it'd be to claim Natalie) or lacked the ability to give Natalie personal space, and came on just a bit strong. (Natalie) it was implied she choose Xellos just to stop his, and Selmas harassment, and that she might have even been blackmailed into a releationship with the infamos "Cripple Dropkicker" and "Privacy Violater Extrodinare".

And even then, she still prefered Juilen, and still secretly yearned for Kekowa, which is why she agreed to help him with his child in Valerias absence. She wishes she were Valeria, dead or not.

Daichi got laid, but his girlfriend—Mai?—was crazy, and Daichi got killed. Kekowa Hasegowa lived for many years yet.

Justin, while he did get with Tamiko, and in all likelihood, laid much sooner then Dean did, it most likely took an epic amount of time, and much begging.

Henry lost Rhia to Alexia. Kekowa kept Valeria till death and beyond. This speaks of his superority. Not to mention Kekowa was the only Dragon—Daichi aside—to have a sex scene, very artfully done. The other dragons, most likely took 30 years for any action. RhiaXAlexia took either a week, or 1000 years, depending on your interpretation of events.

Also, his sperm was so fertile, his son, Daichi Hasegowa II was concieved and born and an excellerated rate.

He's also a much better lover then anyone in Dragon Dorm. Anyone. Had Kekowa Hasegowa been alive, and not eternally devoted to Valeria, he'd be the only man worthy of her virginity.

Who is her?

Hilda.

After Valeria was assasinated by a member of the Gambino Family Crime Syndcate known as Stradavarius, resulting in the death of his unborn child, in addition to Valeria, Kekowa Hasegowa enacted a daring plan to rectify these wrongs.

He slew the men who took his beloved from him, and then went to rescue her, and his son.

At this point you may notice I useds words "Assassinated" not "Attempted Assassination" and another word "Rescue" which would be mutually exclusive to Assination.

Usually. Not for Kekowa Hasegowa. His solution was to almost die, go to Death's Wasteland, and steal his son back by force, in a frantic battle with death.

Kekowa emerged victorious. Kekowa Hasegawa made Death his bitch, not only escaping his own death, but returing his son to the land of the living. Sadly, Valeria chose to stay, pledging her eternal love to Kekowa before his departure.

Kekowa Hasegawas solution to having his family murdered, was to kill some people, go to hell, and bring them back forcefully.

How is this not manly?

This post evoked many responses of disbelief and bemused amusement on many of SHR's cast of player's part, but, to put these feelings to rest, Miburohunter929 struck back once again with the written word.

That was the point.

Kekowa Hasegawa was meant to be a caracature, and social commentary on the concept of honor, and how it was fleeting, especially for Samurai and Yakuza in SK's eyes, and how men are only as honorable as the times allow for them to be.

It also makes Kekowa the most human, most realistic of all of the SHR1 fighters.

Where as Dean might have been steadfast in his refusal to break his vows, or taint his honor, and where as Xellos would break his vows if neccessary, he'd still acknowledge—if only mentally—that he was doing so, and might regret it.

Kekowa, being more realistic, developed a coping mechansism, to allow himself to endure his moral dissinice. Yes, he'd always talk about his unbreakable honor, and pull of….somewhat morally ambigous tactics, but that was the point.

His honor was important, but victory even moreso, and to allow himself to win, he had to forsake his morals, but to allow himself to sleep at night, for forsaking them, he had to constantly deny what he did was wrong. Kekowa might not be perfectly honorable, but he desperately attempts to be, and the revealation he might not be as moral as he should, is what drives him to emphasis honor above all, despite knowning that his desire to win shall always prevail.

He spoke in the manner he did to mask the pain, the suffering, and the shame he felt at losing, and at always having to foresake his honor to do so. Kekowa, in many senses is a tragic character, always fighting to reconicle his views of what he and the world should be like, and how he—and it—really are.

His powers are a manifestation of the emotional turmoil in his heart, which is the reason he's as powerful as he was, being the most tormented out of all of us. Sure, Alexia may have had her issues, but she had ways of coping with them—multiple personalities—while Kekowa didn't have cut off memories or other personalities to hide behind.

He faced the truth daily, and at some point, his will, and his emotions became directly corrolated with his Ki power, which allowed him to do the things he did.

And this 'Thuggishness' while acting like it's not there, is also a reflection of the movies, in which we see down and out Samurai acting like mere bandits, and thugs, despite being Samurai.

Why do they do that? To press their strength upon the weak, to hide the pain and turmoil in their hearts, and to reflect the suffering they felt upon them, even if they were doing it subconciously.

Kekowa dosn't act that way on purpose, he's just so conflicted, so confused, so heartbroken, he needs an outlet to appease it, which results in many of the things he did, as well as the fact he looked down upon many people who didn't share his glorification of honor.

I'm not saying it was right, I'm saying it was an Ingenious social commentary on SK's part, and while not nice in the terms of maintaining a harmonious RP, was excellent nonetheless.

His ever expanding powerset, also reflected his desire, to live up to the reputation of his ancestor, the Great Miamoto Mushashi, and be—and stay—UNDEFEATED.

It's his desire for excellence, to honor his family name, to make peace with himself and his views with the world, and his utter inability to do so that makes him so strong, and it's also what makes him so tragic, and why it's hard to get a true grasp of the kind of man Kekowa Hasegawa really is, and what he claims to be.

As for the bling snatching…The Defeated have no right to complain.

The Strong take from The Weak(Janos) what they need.

It may not have been right, or honorable, but it represent Kekowa's drive to surpass Janos, and to defeat and humilate the man who nearly defeated him, no matter what.

It was his pride as a man, that caused this. And by taking Janos' bling, he was able to in some way, appease the chaos in his heart, while still feeling bitterly remorseful for his actions.

I can't believe you all don't appriciate the art SK has created.

If Dean and Levi were to be likened to White Knights of this RP, Kekowa would be the Darkness to their light, except he's eternally struggling to remove himself from the depths of darkness, yet the knowledge he never will drives him mad.

Even towards the end, he only found peace in death.

This sampling of KRR was still received by some with doubt and skepticism, but even Cleric of Hell's Brigade had to admit that Miburohunter929's post was apt in its own way, describing it as a "very good breakdown of Kekowa", though he did question exactly how serious Miburohunter929 was when he made these claims.

Even to this day, we do not know the answer to this question.. but what we do know is that Kekowa Hasegowa (if one were to go by how much content he spawned simply by existing) was perhaps the most well-known character of SHR1.

I swear Dean and Kekowa had a rivalry. It's lolsome, since we all know Kekowa was superior to Dean in every way.

Consider this.

Dean gets knocked into the spiritual Plane by Sabin—His more or less unwilling mentor—in his Astral Form for about a week—or a day or a few hours in normal time—and gains the Shingan through some contemplative mumble jumbo, and getting tourtured for days and getting tossed off a cliff and fighting a crab demon from hell.

All of that was actually unnecessary, except the almost dying part. Sabin is a dick.

Kekowa gets dragged off to his spiritual training by his mentor, who gives him a few years worth of training in the span of like five minutes, and he gains his badass kickass fighting style.

Dean finds out he's a descendant of a long forgotten warrior king who lost and died, Kekowa finds out he's descended from a famous, UNDEFEATED swordsman.

Dean finds out he's gonna have a daughter and wife in the future, Kekowa has a wife and son—the manlier gender—years ahead of Dean.

Dean gets with Kagura? Kekowa gets with Valeria, and bangs her, while Dean needs cold showers.

Dean has two magical items? Kekowa has three.

Dean wants to avenge his people's massacre, and has lost to Jon Grey, and like…Other folks.

Kekowa Hasegawa was undefeated.

Dean's daughter dies. Kekowa's son dies, but he brings him back by being badass.

Dean brings his back by relying on Kekowa to kill Lilith.

Dean is almost Immortal? Kekowa beats Death up and steals his son.

Dean and Levi get raped by Hilda?

Kekowa accidentally kills her and feels bad.

Kekowa»»»»»»»»»»»»Dean.

As can be seen by this piece of KKR, it can truly be seen that Kekowa was more than anyone could have ever have expected. He was brave, honorable, and absolutely more awesome than Dean Gatlain, a fact acknowledged even by Dean's creator, Miburohunter929. While this could be viewed as simple hero worship of an UNDEFEATED warrior of, admittedly, Godly caliber, one must admit that Kekowa Hasegowa was more than met the eye.

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