Captain Sawada

Captain Sawada is a Japanese man who works as a member of the Allied Nations against the organization Shadaloo. He is portrayed in the 1994 film Street Fighter by Kenya Sawada, who envisioned the character like a samurai, with strengths including being powerful, humble, honest, and faithful. Kenya was considered a "safe, familiar choice" by Capcom according to De Souza, and was originally slated to play the role of Ryu, having portrayed a character similar to Ryu in commercials. According to Kenya, his physical abilities helped Pressman take notice of him. In order to keep Kenya in the cast, De Souza and Capcom invented Captain Sawada, as no one in Street Fighter II fit what Capcom wanted out of him, which De Souza said was "essentially another Ryu." The character was named Sawada due to a combination of it being Kenya's name and it being easy to pronounce "for all the world." He is voiced by Michael Dobson in the Street Fighter TV series. ==Appearances==

Captain Sawada first appeared in the Street Fighter film. He is an associate of Guile. He says relatively little, and serves a minor role in the film. He leads a small number of troops in laying siege to villain M. Bison's fortress. He also appears in the animated TV series the manga adaptation by Sakayuki Sakai and Street Fighter Brazilian comics. During the development of SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS, the game's artist, Falcoon, made his first request for a character to be included was Captain Sawada, but it did not pan out due to copyright issues. Sawada appears in the video game Mainichi Issho, where he provides an introductory lesson to self-defense techniques. He also appeared as a character in the puzzle game Neco Drop 2 in 2021, the first time he had appeared alongside other Street Fighter characters since appearing in the console adaptation of the Street Fighter movie. In Neco Drop 2, a cat based on Sawada is featured. ==Reception==

Captain Sawada has been received well by fans and critics, ranked among the top 50 Street Fighter characters in an official poll. His popularity among fans of the game have led to the game being nicknamed as the "Sawada Game." Due to his appearance in Neco Drop 2, speculation occurred as to whether he would return in a Street Fighter game. 4gamer writer Yoshida noted that his harakiri move contributed to the cult success of the video game adaptation of the film, stating that Sawada was loved by fighting game fans. He identified himself as a fan of both the character and his actor, appreciating his appearance in Mainichi Issho. Retro Gamer writer Nick Thorpe felt that the move was both offensive and stupid, appreciating that Sawada never appeared in another Street Fighter game and that the actor had a successful career after the film. He believed that his addition was "Hollywood politics." ==References==