Hayato Kanzaki is the main protagonist and hero of the Star Gladiator series of 3D fighting games. Hayato is a rebellious young Japanese intergalactic bounty hunter who fights with a Plasma Sword and has a strong sense of justice when battling against the forces of evil.
Story
Star Gladiator
Abandoned by his parents as a young child, Hayato was the uncanny leader of a group of orphans in the streets of Neo Tokyo. When the group was chased by a police officer, the officer was suddenly shot in the foot. Though they could have left the officer's pursuit, Hayato refused to abandon the wounded officer. Out of nowhere however, the officer was killed by another gunshot.
Taken into custody, Hayato was taken in for the blame and was considered for a direct "reeducation program" to rehabilitate criminals by means of forcibly instilling a "good personality" by mental and cognitive brainwashing, which was actively condemned by various human rights activist groups, before the judgment of the court. However, his case was interrupted by a female owner of a local orphanage who had caught wind of the affair, and demanded that the case was to be put into the affairs of child services. Soon after paying a 30,000 yen bail, Hayato and the group were given a new home. Shortly after, Hayato decided to take up the bad old habit of stealing as a means for thrills, and was caught red handed by the police. Awaiting punishment, Hayato however heard the caretaker crying over what he had done. Feeling ashamed at what he had done, he realized that his old life was no longer relevant and that he was now in the arms of someone who cared for him.
As time passed, the caretaker raised Hayato as well as many other disadvantaged children in her own time, but in doing so, she fell deeply into debt. When he turned 19, Hayato decided to stay behind and continue helping the orphanage as a career counselor and the next director. As he continued his education for a year however, Hayato had learned the truth of what the caretaker had to go through just to raise them all, and vowed to help the owner get out of debt. Unable to find other work from within the city, Hayato had reluctantly became a bounty hunter in order to gain easy money so that he could help support the orphanage.
Though the bitterness of bounty hunting he grew accustomed to, and having grown to be a renowned hunter in only a few months time, the red tape for his rewards to transfer did not make things any easier for Hayato. One day after transferring a few of his latest captured bounties to the local authorities through the usual procedure, Hayato had discovered an ad offering a huge reward to join a project called Star Gladiator, realizing that this was his chance and opportunity to help the owner and the orphanage out. Soon, Hayato had joined the project without any hesitation or second thought. From within this point on, Hayato would eventually meet up with his future girlfriend June and his future friends Saturn and Gamof from within the project and that the four of them would find themselves battling against Bilstein and the Fourth Empire.
Plasma Sword
One year later from within the events of Plasma Sword (Star Gladiator 2), Hayato has become a successful bounty hunter and has settled down with June, spending his days peacefully in rebuilding the orphanage with the bounties he has earned. One day after coming back home from another successful bounty hunting mission, Hayato is shocked to hear and learn that June has suddenly disappeared and that his friends had told him on what had happened. Realizing that Bilstein, who had shockingly and surprisingly returned from his supposed "death" at the end of the Final Crusade, is behind the unexpected situation, Hayato sets out to find June and to finish things with Bilstein once and for all.
Other appearances
Hayato is the only Star Gladiator character to cross over to another Capcom game; in this case, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (Gore was technically the first, with his appearance in SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium, but that game was an SNK release and his appearance was merely a cameo in one of Akari's special moves).
Hayato also makes a cameo appearance in Tekkaman Blade's ending in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (in which he saves Tekkaman Blade from being attacked by Bilstein's ghost).
Trivia
- It is implied in Plasma Sword that Ele is his and June's daughter from the future.
- Due to the nature and cosmetics of his sword, Hayato may have been inspired by the Jedi of Star Wars fame. How he is a bounty hunter, also matches the career of main supporting character Han Solo, while his aspects of Jedi like qualities bear resemblance to main protagonist Luke Skywalker. The fact that Star Gladiator was originally supposed to be a Star Wars game[1] also support this.
- Hayato's overall appearance also draws similarities to the character Eiji Shinjo from the first interactive 3D weapons fighting game Battle Arena Toshinden (which Capcom publish supported).
- Many of his techniques bear name references to Japanese Buddhism.
- Waka, from the Ōkami series, shares Hayato's Plasma Blade activation sequence through the weapon Pillow Talk.
- They also share a reference to the moon and a theme of outer space in some manner; Waka is from the Moon Tribe and came to Nippon, in extension, Earth, from space; Hayato wields a technique named Engetsu (full moon in Japanese), and journeys out into space.
- Bayonetta (the protagonist of Hideki Kamiya's action game series of the same name) also shares Hayato's Engetsu and Ashura techniques through the weapon Pillow Talk.
References
See also
Gallery
For more of this character, see their gallery.