MASTERCUP EVO 2015 Interview with Japan's ORZ Yuu & Nobi

Japan's most famous Tekken playing duo Yuu & Nobi recently got picked up by the Otaku React Zest group which is a company that is set out to spread the otaku 'Akiba culture' which may have a negative connotation depending on who you ask. Their recent efforts have them sponsoring top Tekken players to EVO which is what's making this a frightfully difficult tournament to come up top now with the increase in well regarded foreign players. MASTERCUP sat down with both Yuu & Nobi to ask what they feel and think traveling across the world and competing in such an event, as well as general past experiences and who they're watching out for. The complete Japanese interview is now published on the MASTERCUP website which you can see in the URL. I can't currently provide a full translation of the interview so feel free to use complete auto translate but I've done a little bit of the interview below.

MASTERCUP EVO 2015 Interview ≫ http://mastercupofficial.com/9773

▌MASTERCUP EVO 2015 Interview
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EVO2015を優勝し応援してくれるorzさんや皆さんに報いたい！

"I'll repay all my supporters and sponsor ORZ with the EVO 2015 Grand Championship!"

About the ORZ sponsorship:

Yuu: Originally, ORZ was an IT based company. But that later branched out into interest into the general Otaku culture. Hameko had the chance to introduce the company to both me & Nobi and that's how we got our chance to get sponsored.

Nobi: To put it in simpler words, we got the chance to go 'professional' gaming.

Yuu: That's a really short quick way of putting it! (haha) There's plenty of interesting people that work in ORZ and whenever we both come in for meetings there's always something new going on so we hope everyone looks forward to what we have planned for the future.

This will be the 2nd time Yuu has entered EVO:

Yuu: Correct, and at that time I was 20 years old. During the time of Tekken 5 (Kenbou) Tare chichi Ganryu played a big role in making me want to enter the Evolution fighting game tournament. There was about 8 players that were able to go that year including Hato, SDZ, Souten & Mishimastar. At that time Steve had a certain guaranteed combo on the opponent's side so during the pools of that tournament roughly 80% of the players played Steve. After that, the Tekken 5 evo tournament had left 4 Japanese players in the top 8. I was in the semifinals on the winners side and Mad Dog Jin (Hwoarang) was the favorite to win but I was able to beat him in the tournament which is my most pleasant memory.

We have a long history with Tekken in that players come and go and is later replaced with new ones. 10 years later Yuu is still among the top players, that's really amazing!

Yuu: Thank you very much. I'm surprised it's been over 10 years already. It all felt like it went by like a blink of an eye. Now that Nobi's coming along with me this year, I don't feel too bad about losing this time.

Nobi: I'm surprised you say that because you have beaten me in the past on the e-sports MAX tournament event. On a large stage, the win/loss ratio between us is about 50%.

Yuu: That's right, and I'm looking forward to playing against you at EVO this year too. I think that whatever happens on the large stage will be interesting and well worth looking forward to.

Nobi's chance at EVO:

Nobi: This is the first time I've ever got the chance to go to EVO. Even though I have in the past been invited to foreign fighting game events for instance, last year I got to play at a tournament in San Francisco. While I hear many good things about EVO, I still haven't got the special feeling / general vibe of such an event. Prior to me leaving I'll be looking up videos of other players to see more of the playstyles over there.

Yuu: This time around however, there's a large amount of really good Japanese players so of course the tension will be high at the event.

Nobi was our representative for the Global Championships 2013 and cracked under the pressure, thoughts?

Nobi: Honestly, yeah. At that time I failed to get any good sleep before the event so I ended up watching videos until the morning.

Yuu: I didn't say it while I was on commentary but you looked dreadful at the time of the event.

Nobi: Maybe I should consider sleeping pills then.

Yuu: No don't (haha).

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Yuu: Condition control is really important in fighting game events like this. I personally think that if you want to put your best performance into the event, you need to avoid doing certain things and keep in great physical condition. Things like getting drunk or not getting enough sleep before the event for instance. For a world class event like EVO, it can feel like a marathon going through it so you need to do what you can to put your 100% in.

Nobi: Since the physical condition of the player is so important, I've now started frequently going to the gym. Yuu's also looks like the type of player to not get nervous.

Yuu: You might think that but I'm actually a bit nervous. I just have to hope it doesn't influence my performance at the event.

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Read the rest on MASTERCUP ≫ http://mastercupofficial.com/9773

(I might complete this in the future, when I get the time)