Miary Zo is the newest addition to the Tekken 8 roster and the final Season 2 DLC character to be added to the game next week.
In preparation for her release, producer Katsuhito Harada and director Kohei “Nakatsu” Ikeda published a two-part Dev Talk that touched upon everything from the very idea of making her to the local Malagasy influence on her concept and fighting style.
Table of contents
Who is Miary Zo?
Harada opens by admitting something every Tekken player already knew in their heart: there has never been a set blueprint for the series’ characters. For 30 years, it’s mostly been “whatever I thought was cool at the time,” which makes lots of sense if you take a look at the roster of martial arts archetypes and sentient, deeply cursed animals, and Final Fantasy crossovers.
This freeform approach meant that they were receiving character requests from all over the world, and one gap started to feel impossible to ignore: the lack of Africa. Zero native African characters in a franchise that’s supposed to be a global King of Iron Fist Tournament. This realization became the catalyst for the team.
Curiously, when they started their research, Madagascar came up as the immediate option: a huge island that’s visually unique, and with a strong Tekken community to boot – 22 Dojo level Tekken World Tour events are no joke. The country also had that “mysterious” aura that Bandai Namco designers love. So Harada did what he does best–packed his suitcase and went there in person.
Miary Zo was first shown after the Armor King’s preview at Evo: a brief teaser of a new cute girl with distinctive armlets. Sharp-eyed fans immediately noticed the resemblance to Tekken 3’s Ogre and started asking, “Isn’t that borrowing elements from the Ogre from Tekken 3?” which deeply surprised Harada. In Madagascar, however, the reaction went viral: local outlets, even print newspapers, had her on the first page – a Malagasy character in Tekken 8!
Developers paid proper attention to every part of her as a character: even her name, Miary Zo, is just a shortened one. The full version is Nomenjanahary Miary Zo Andrianavalona, following the three-part structure common in Madagascar: the father’s name, the given or “calling” name, and a supplemental name that carries extra meaning.
- Nomenjanahary is her father’s surname and means “gift from god.”
- Miary Zo translates roughly to “one who carries freedom.”
- Andrianavalona gives her a noble and royal impression.
Just Miary Zo is fine, too, as it carries most of her essence.
Ogre, the Fighting God
Miary Zo’s backstory leans heavily into the mix of everyday life and myth. Her grandmother, a wise fortune-teller, makes a prophecy about a child with crimson eyes, and she is that child. She grew up very close to nature, and from a very young age, started imitating animals and their movements. This naturally grew into her interest in martial arts. She discovered that she loved the feeling of connecting with people through combat and fighting with mutual respect, so she slowly built a circle of BFFs: Best Fighting Friends.
As rumors of her spread, challengers began to travel to Madagascar just to fight her. But one day, luminous patterns appeared across her skin, and she collapsed with a fever. When she came to, the power of the Fighting God had fully awakened inside her. From there, her mission was simple: travel the world and find new BFFs.
Harada also reconfirms that the character from Tekken 3 is not the Ogre, it’s an Ogre. In Tekken project, there’s a concept of an Ogre per continent, but Harada clarifies that the original setting always envisioned multiple Ogres, so there can be several ones per region. Out of all the Orges, Tekken 3’s one in central Mexico was just the first one to awaken and start punching people.
Miary Zo’s power comes from a different Ogre, one that was worshipped in Madagascar. Unlike the Mexican version, this god never harmed humans and was revered as a guardian deity, akin to Zanahary, the supreme deity of the Malagasy culture, considered the creator of the island. That’s why her powers feel more benevolent than those of the fire-breathing monstrosity.
Everyone noticed the arm-stretching snake punch, but there are more visual similarities and deliberate changes. Tekken 3’s Ogre had two horns; Miary’s deity also has them, but twisted together into a single one, and the tail design is influenced by ring-tailed lemurs instead of a reptile.
She gets most of that power in Heat mode. When she activates it, geometric patterns light up across her body, her red eyes glow blue, and she gains access to more obvious Ogre-style moves: wing-assisted airborne strikes, huge snake punches, and tailspins. The team explicitly built her to be a lore foil to Azazel’s power inside Zafina.
In general, since her awakening, Miary Zo has become sensitive to other people’s powers. For example, in her special intro with Nina, she compliments Nina’s beauty, but senses that something is off about her: in this case, it’s all the cold-sleep and experimentation, as confirmed by the devs.
Miary Zo’s Malagasy identity
Harada and Nakatsu stress that Miary Zo’s mannerisms and special interactions are rooted in what they actually saw and heard in Madagascar. Malagasy people revere the creator god Zanahary and follow lots of superstitions and rituals. All of this is deeply woven into deeply life, especially among elders, and there are specific customs and etiquette around this. Bits and pieces of that worldview are layered into her dialogue and win quotes, so she doesn’t feel like just another token cheerful girl.
The dev team followed the same philosophy when it comes to her voice. Tekken has a tradition of characters speaking their native languages, but according to Nakatsu, they have never faced challenges like this before, as there basically are no game or anime voice actors in Madagascar. Locals told the team straight up, “We don’t have voice actors.”
Bandai Namco’s European office secured them studios and auditions, and they found three candidates with basically no game voice-over experience. The one they ended up going with is a 14-year-old girl trying it for the first time. Harada and Nakatsu described the recording sessions as half coaching, half discovery, watching her grow into her role across takes. By the time they wrapped up, the end result reflected everyone’s hard work and cooperation.
Her visual design was led by a long-time Tekken Project artist, Takuji Kawano. On location, Harada and Nakatsu kept asking themselves, “Is this really Africa?” because parts of Madagascar reminded them more of Southeast Asia, with its dense city life, specific vegetation, and lots of color. They gathered keywords from locals and then showed them Kawano’s early concepts. The response was super positive, with the comments boiling down to “this really feels like Madagascar!”
They timed their visit perfectly: jacaranda trees were in full bloom around Antananarivo. Harada describes them as Madagascar’s version of cherry blossoms, right down to the weird experience of being rained on when you stand under them. Those jacarandas ended up being woven into the design of her top, as well as earrings and accessories. They tied this with armlets and anklets that represent Ogre. The final look is intentionally a blend of “what Tekken has built up over 30 years” and what people in Madagascar told them they wanted to see.
For the Default 3 outfit, Bandai Namco brought in Mari Shimazaki, the designer behind Bayonetta, Tekken 8’s Reina, and many other characters. She was given the direction of “child of the fighting god” from Africa, and granddaughter of a wise fortune-teller. Shimazaki proposed a miko-style outfit, based on the Japanese idea of shrine maidens who serve the gods. She added gold accessories and pushed for changes on Miary Zo’s facial expressions and hairstyle, including the distinctive shaved section at the back. Those choices fed back into the face design, influencing her overall look, and not just the third outfit.
Default 4 is Miary’s everyday city wear in the capital: casual shorts, a cap with a jacaranda motif, fewer divine trinkets, more “18-year-dressing up.” A female designer iterated on different streetwear combos until she landed on something that felt like a real young Malagasy woman would wear while shopping in Antananarivo.
Miary Zo’s fighting style
On the gameplay side, Miary Zo’s fighting style is based on Morengy, Dambe, and other African fighting traditions on top of her animal-mimic gimmick and Ogre power.
Harada is keenly aware of the fact that Morengy isn’t really a martial art in the sense that karate or boxing are. It’s more of a cultural thing for fighting in the tournaments, pre-fight rituals of inviting the spirits to possess them or intimidate the opponents, and the general practice of martial arts in Madagascar. Since there’s no real, fixed Morengy martial art, the devs took this as a license to mix in several African striking styles and wrap them into Miary Zo’s playful, animal-inspired body language.
In practice, she’s a small, highly athletic character. One signature move allows her to briefly cling to the wall, then flip for an attack or a two-way mixup. She can also summon a spear with her Fighting God powers, but the devs deliberately avoided giving it to her as a usable weapon. Instead, the spear appears as a support pillar for her to vault off or use to extend combos. It’s used to strike the opponents in her Heat Smash and Rage Art.
Heat mode is where most of her Fighting God power lies: patterns on her skin light up, her eyes become blue, she sprouts wings, and snake-like tendrils on punches. Her usual moveset also becomes upgraded: her usual wall-spring becomes available everywhere thanks to her spear, and she gets more options to open up her opponents. Her Rage Art also taps into her Ogre side: she rides a giant serpent bursting from the ground, and then dives down with a spear as the camera pans to show the entire island of Madagascar, finishing with an explosion shaped after the traveler’s tree.
But under all that spectacle, she’s still very much a Tekken character: right uppercut, hopkick, 1-2 string, basic jump kick. Her short range means she has to get in and stay in, and her easy-to-pick-up, fundamentals-based gameplay is easy to pick up for beginners.
Additionally, some Tekken 8 content creators got early access to Miary Zo, and thanks to them, we can give you her entire move list:
- 2+3 Heat activation – 12 damage
- 3, 2 – 32 damage
- 1+2 – 24 damage
- WS 1, 4 – 32 damage
- MOR stance 1,2 – 39 damage
- BAO stance 3 – 40 damage
- H f4,2 – 37 damage
- H b3+4 – wall climb
- H u3 on hit ot block 2 – 44 damage
- H uf3,2 – 46 damage
- H ff2 on hit or block 2 – 47 damage
- H and MOR stance 4,3,1+2 – 38 damage
- H 2+3 – 52 damage
- R df1+2 – 55 damage base
- 1,1,2 – 22 damage
- 1,2 – 11 damage
- 1,2,2 – 31 damage
- 1,3 – 15 damage
- 2,2 – 30 damage
- 3,1,2 – 44 damage
- 3,2 – 32 damage
- 4,4 – 32 damage
- 1+2 – 24 damage
- f2 – 23 damage
- f4,2 – 32 damage
- f4,4,4 – 57 damage
- f1+2,1+2,3+4 – 30 damage
- f3+4,2 – 30 damage
- df1,1,2 – 47 damage
- df1,1,1+2 – 50 damage
- df1,4 – 27 damage
- df2 – 12 damage
- df3,3 – 35 damage
- df4 – 17 damage
- df3+4 – 17 damage
- d2 – 20 damage
- d3 – 14 damage
- d1+2 – 23 damage
- db2,3 – 20 damage
- db2,4 – 27 damage
- db3 – 21 damage
- db4 – 13 damage
- db1+2 – 18 damage
- b1,4 – 31 damage
- b2,3,2 – 51 damage
- b3,4,2 – 41 damage
- b4 – 19 damage
- b1+2 – 25 damage
- b3+4 – backflip
- u3 – 17 damage
- u4 – 17 damage
- u1+2 – 20 damage
- uf1 – 50 damage
- uf2,3 – 28 damage
- uf2,4 – 20 damage
- uf3 – 24 damage
- uf4,4 – 26 damage
- uf3+4 – 18 damage
- ff2 on hit or block 2 – 32 damage
- ff3 – 19 damage
- bb2+3! – 30 damage
- qcf1 – 25 damage
- WR 2,1 – 26 damage
- WR 3 – 30 damage
- 1+3+4 – taunt
- 1+2+3+4 – Ki charge
- WS 1,4 – 32 damage
- WS 2 – 15 damage
- WS 3 – 20 damage
- WS 4 – 15 damage
- FC 4 – 20 damage
- SS 2 – 22 damage
- f3 – MOR stance
- MOR 1,4 – 31 damage
- MOR 2 – 20 damage
- MOR 3 – 20 damage
- MOR 4,3 – 24 damage
- MOR 1+2 – 23 damage
- MOR 3+4 – BAO stance
- MOR u1+2 – 16 damage
- 3+4 – BAO stance
- BAO 1,4 – 37 damage
- BAO 2 – 24 damage
- BAO 3 – 40 damage
- BAO 4 – 38 damage
- BAO f – forward leap
- BAO uf – remount
- MOR wall – TRO stance (wall climb)
- TRO 4 – 40 damage
- 1+3 – 35 damage
- 2+4 – 35 damage
Miary Zo is coming out on Dec. 5, but Season 2 Character Pass owners can get early access to her starting on Dec. 2.
