Kuma

Story

The name of Kuma is shared between two different characters in Tekken, Kuma I being the father and Kuma II being the son, who appears from Tekken 3 onwards. Original Kuma was an abandoned bear cub who was found in the forest by Heihachi Mishima. At first, Kuma was just a pet. Still, after he showed signs of unusual intelligence, Heihachi trained him to be his bodyguard, going as far as entering Kuma into King of Iron Fist tournaments, where he was unfortunately defeated by Paul Phoenix.

Years later, Kuma passed of old age, and his son took his place as Heihachi's pet and bodyguard. Despite not knowing Paul Phoenix, Kuma II also has an instinctual dislike for him and wishes to defeat Paul in the third King of Iron Fist tournament. 

Much like his father, Kuma fails to defeat Paul Phoenix and decides that he won't be able to grow much strong while serving as Heihachi's pet and bodyguard. As such, Kuma sets out to Hokkaido to begin his intense training and get in touch with his animal instincts. After years of the grueling regiment that paled in comparison to Heihachi's lessons, Kuma saw an ad for King of Iron Tournament 4 and decided to test his powers once again.

Unfortunately, even after growing more powerful, Kuma just barely lost to Paul. As if that wasn't enough, his owner, Heihachi, was now presumed dead. Jin Kazama was now the new leader of Zaibatsu and ordered Kuma to be dumped out of a helicopter in a remote forest. Despite such severe measures, it wasn't enough to kill Kuma. He toughed it out and set out for Mishima Zaibatsu HQ to defeat Jin and save the conglomerate.

Sometime later, Heihachi, who turned out to be alive, would reclaim Mishima Zaibatsu and promote Kuma for his loyalty and effort. Now an officer of the Tekken Force, Kuma continued his diligent service to Heihachi.

Personality

Kuma is a lighthearted and slightly goofy bear. Most of the time he's either trying to confess to his beloved Panda with no success or gets into all sorts of comedic situations. 

Appearance

Kuma, being a bear, simply looks like any other bear. However, in some Tekken games, he wears a red bandana around his neck or in the case of Tekken 4, a red shirt with red sneakers.

Playstyle

Panda and Kuma share the same playstyle as they share the same moveset and frame data, the only difference being their Rage Art animations. Bears are interesting and unorthodox characters. Like other fighters with large bodies, their movement is below average, and most of their moves are on the slower side. However, their long arms and short, somewhat tucked-in legs mean that they have a good range to play neutral and check their opponents with pokes. Because of this, bears tend to favor staying at mid-range and chipping away at their opponents, occasionally capitalizing on strong counter-hit launchers. The assortment of evasive stances can allow bears to be more aggressive, but this kind of approach tends to fall apart when fighting more experienced opponents.