Every year, Hanzo bypasses the bodyguards of Hanamura to visit Shimada Castle, employing all manner of tactics, combat, and costumes.
Storm Arrows take the shape of rabbits.
Dragonstrike is now Rabbitstrike.
There isn’t a single thing I don’t love about this concept: The quiver that’s too short because it’s ~magic~, the tattoo going up his entire leg, the raw magic bow, the little mask.
We all know that Hanzo is a ranged combatant, so he doesn’t need to wear actual protective clothing. Indeed, those shoes probably help him be stealthier! And if someone does find him and tries to initiate in melee, he’s got the distraction tactic all ready to go with those buns. It’s perfect.
Blizzard really missed a golden opportunity with the magician skin idea. I am conflicted about one thing though…. which skin of the bottom 3 is my favorite!! How am I supposed to choose?
Whenever someone brings up the “you can see Hanzo’s one pec, therefore there is no sexism in Overwatch”, I will always be thinking of this Reverse Hanzo and his glorious butt.
Now, this is is the sort of empowerment that Blizzard should be providing for their male heroes in these trying times. Look at that confidence and badassery – plus the sexual empowerment of being willing to let you see all his piercings (or is it just most of his piercings… if you know what I mean)
Here’s hoping someone on the Overwatch team latches onto this idea and lets it inspire their next Hanzo skin.
I do like this as an example of a design that is a pretty faithful alternative gender for a male character and, as part of that, a pretty good demonstration of how little modification to costume is really needed.
The only real gripes are the reduction in muscle tone and the indication that there’s bandages/strips of cloth used to hold boobs in place: That’s actually really dangerous and something we should really stop depicting as though it were a good idea.
– wincenworks
(edit: Thank you to those who pointed out the unfortunate de-aging when compared to Hanzo’s default skin, which this is a gender flip of. Also thank you to those who wrote in to notify of Sarashi, which is a specifically Japanese technique using special bandages – while it is not clear on this model, this technique is too often depicted with regular bandages. The heels would be a lesser gripe.)
Too bad Blizzard isn’t in a hurry to officially display male heroes like that and make the equivalence real. As always, male and female empowerment gets to be truly balanced only through fan activity.
