How "Samurai" Is Yamato Man from Mega Man 6!? - Which Samurai 

Click here partner.bokksu.com/gaijingoombah and use my code "GAIJIN15" to get $15 off your first Bokksu Japanese snack box! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR CHECK OUT THIS BLAST FROM THE PAST! Doing something a little bit different next upload cause I like trying new things. And yes, you will NOT want to miss it! Doing something different with a new game I absolutely love!

"If I had a nickle for every time the difficulty of obtaining a purple dye resulted in it being assosciated with royalty and nobility and also spawned actual laws about who's allowed to wear it and under what circumstances, I'd have two nickles, but it's weird that it happened twice!" For those not in the know, purple was just as highly regarded in Mediterranean and European societies because it was only available through a rare snail's secretions.

Little clarification about Yamatoman in Battle Network, he's still called Yamatoman in the Japanese script. That's why his battle chip has the Y code, much like how Protoman's is coded B for "Blues," his Japanese name. My guess is that the localization team for Battle Network either wasn't the same for Mega Man 6 so they didn't get the reference and translated "Yamato" into "Japan," they rushed through the script and forgot Yamato was to be left as is, or it was mandated. Considering that Battle Network 5's translation and especially 4's are infamous for being riddled with typos and grammatical errors, I think it's more plausible it was a mistranslation rather than a mandate.

Another detail about Yamato Man I just noticed while watching this video is that the crest he wears on his helmet is actually a W for Dr. Wily, just with the ends of the letter extremely elongated compared the rest of it.

To this day I never understood why Yamatoman got named as Japanman in Battle Network when he never got his name changed in the Classic games...

First off, I want to point out how hilarious it is to imagine the two of them as like. Work colleagues turned roommates, eating each other's food and getting on each other's nerves. Second, how wonderful this is timed considering a just finished an 8 hour video essay on the entire Megaman timeline by Ben Saint.

One thing i think you missed is that when he jumps he attacks with small spear tips, which could be a reference to how samurai were originally archers more then melee fighters.

I've been consistently amused by the change of little g to a standalone character, the banter always makes me laugh

Was familiar with the name, but not the story! Good to finally learn of it! Can't wait for the next episode-- Whenever and whatever it might be! Take care of yourself boss! 😀

Seems like purple was just a hard to get color in general. In medieval Europe it was so expensive that even paintings of royalty often substituted it for red.

5:51 **Clash on the big bridge plays** As if I hadn't noticed the similarities between Benkei and Final Fantasy's Gilgamesh. Armed with seven weapons, a quest to take 1000 swords from samurai warriors. Gilgamesh is often armed with two, four or six weapons (depending on how many arms he has out) that vary from game to game but his main weapon as seen in his his classic Final Fantasy sprite art (when he only has two arms) is a spear (which is also a weapon Benkei is often depicted with) and is known to steal swords from various alternate realities, even Erdrick's sword from Dragon Quest.

Yamato Man from Mega Man 6 doesn’t get enough attention. Thanks for making a video about him, Gaijin.

This is one of the best educational channels ever.

Purple was a nobility color nearly world-wide, not just Japan but Europe as well. As for the spear/sword thing... a good polearm user could fend off 2 equivalent swordsmen.

Really, the little details are what make each Mega Man bot so memorable. From the OG robot masters, X series mavericks, or the Zero series Mythos units. I still personally want a Which Ninja for Phantom & the rest of the Zan'ei.

I would love to see a culture video on the four ruination Pokémon that are in the sealed vaults

A fun fact with JapanMan.EXE/YamatoMan.EXE, you can only encounter him in the Post Game of Battle Network 3. You encounter him in the Secret Area, the home of the head of the Undernet... and he's pulling a Benkei, stopping anyone from going to see his lord "S" unless they can best him in combat. It's been a few years but if I remember correctly he's still reluctant to let MegaMan pass even after being defeated, but his lord allows MegaMan's passage. Because S, or Serenade, is a really interesting navi.

Given that the color purple is associated with royalty, and how much royalty has been seen as corrupt and deadly in more recent years it is understandable how the meaning has changed over time.

Wait a second... right near the end, it's mentioned how there's a lot of 'legendary swords' and not a lot else, nevermind any 'legendary spears', despite the actual, historical importance of such weapons. But aren't you forgetting the Tonbo-Giri? Tadakatsu Honda's famous 'Dragonfly Cutter' from the Sengoku era, said to have been so sharp that when a dragonfly alighted on its blade, it was cleft in twain... That's a legendary spear if ever there was one!

Yamato Man is one of my favorite Robot Masters. Quite literally, your original video on Mega Man 6 got me into the franchise! His awesome spear, the beautiful royal purple armor, his entire stage!! Yamato Man is the GOAT.

Huh, I got a bit mixed up. I thought Yamato Man was one of the two Robot Masters designed by fans for MM6 but it turns out I was thinking of the only two designed by non-Japanese: Wind Man (Michael Leader, American) and Knight Man (Daniel Vallèe, Canadian). However, I was able to discern that Yamato Man was designed by Rai Ichikawa.

I'm actually curious about the Samurai Class in the Final Fantasy series if it hasn't been covered yet. Mainly how throwing money is a main trope for the Class and if there's cultural reference.

Hasn’t really been that long since you asked covered MegaMan six? My how time flies by!

Bit of trivia: Knightman and Yamatoman are respectful rivals. So those plate bits might have been a gift between the two.

As soon as I saw the robot with the weapon backpack I thought of the Yu-Gi-Oh card "Armed Samurai Ben Kei", which references the weapon collecting by gaining an additional attack for each equip spell.

Yamatoman is my second favorite boss of the game just right after Knightman (Who is my No.1 Favorite Robot Master of all time), always like the guy. I like that his goofy spearhead attack he has to run and pick up is portrayed in the Manga as he throwing the whole spear which looks badass, and speaking of Manga, he took ALL of Silver Tomahawks and died standing like an absolute unit! Rock thought he lose for a moment seeing this guy just won't go down after everything shot at him.

Yamato man! I prefer his .EXE design but yea glad the more forgotten robot masters are finally getting their chance to shine.

It is always so cool seeing all the research you do for this show, something i would love to see you analize would be either the super heavy samurai or six samurai archetypes from yugioh

Great analysis, it's kinda hard to notice those things during gameplay (specially for non-japanese players like we) so I'm glad that videos like this exists. It would be great if you could do a "Shinobi no Ittoki" analysis lol. Your channel was the first thing that came into my mind when I watched it.

I love how when you brought up Samurai man from the OVA I personally just went "oh no." XD cuz I knew what was coming

Seriously, Yamato Man's stage is one of my favorites in the whole series - not just MM6, but the WHOLE. DAMN. SERIES. Multiple references to Japan and samurai culture, plenty of booby traps, a secret path through the stage (okay, not so secret, but one still felt like a genius when one found it), the fact that the stage is literally called the "Impregnable Fortress" - yeah, this stage just drips. Kinda makes me want to go play through MM6 again right now... ... BTW, I dunno if the sale is still on, but Capcom was offering the entire Mega Man Collection, erm, collection for $30 when I downloaded it the other weekend. Just saying... 😏

Kamen Rider Gaim would also be a good addition/deep dive into samurai styled ideas, as he's literally a samurai, plus his final form is fully referencing Nobunaga.

I find it funny that I'm now starting to recognize more things from japanese history and culture because of you and Nioh

Wisteria…in Japan, it symbolizes longevity due both to how long the plants can live, and because its Japanese name, fuji 藤, sounds like the word for immortal 不死 - an auspicious color! (I wonder if that is one reason it was chosen as the weakness of oni in Demon Slayer.)

I was trying to figure out what Yamato means for a while now. Ty for the quick explanation.

While I am not a big fan of the Mega Man franchise, I totally appreciate the lore that and the history that you talked about in the video. Thank you so very much for another fun, entertaining and educational video.

Remember watching the classic when I was just a kid, I’m glad to see there’s more to be said. And how about looking at Dr.Cassock and his Russian origin? I always got a stereotypical vibe from his castle. It’s almost like Wily designed whatever he thought would look the most Russian and most tossed Cossack inside to fight.

All I know is, Zero is a sword / saber wielding beast. And Bass / Forte in the Battlenetwork series was always a cool secret boss. Also really tough.

Huh... hearing about how samurai looked to bugs honestly just makes it so much funnier and cooler that one of their big entertainment shows started with a grasshopper and then gradually evolved into all kinds of things.

Oh hey Benkei no Tachi Oujou, this guy made an appearance in another game called brave fencer Musashi where he was the first boss to the baddie's fortress who uses a similar weapon, and died standing up. His name was Ben. However I dont think he throws out different weapons but he does throw out a number of things like a spinning spear that homes in, throws out bombs and I forget what else.

Idk if this has been in the polls before but really hope to see our favourite eyepatch booba amputee samurai from the guiltiest of gears, Baiken. Like the weapons she uses in battle and the various moves she has.

On the topic of Ben Kei, YuGiOh has a few cards that take inspiration from him. The most obvious are Armed Samurai - Ben Kei, and Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei, and there’s a more subtle nod in Hunter With 7 Weapons.

Perhaps one of the Scarlet/Violet videos will be about Kingambit or all of the old generation Pokémon’s new evolutions and the lore behind them.

Gaijin, You should do a video for yokai hunters on centiskorch and the connection to the yokai. Omukade.🐛🔥 And for your next which samurai video, it should be about golisopod and how much this pokemon takes after samurai garb🏯

To be fair, purple being the color of nobility wasn't just exclusive to the samurai, natural sources of purple pigment were exceedingly rare and expensive just about everywhere, so many cultures reserved it for their nobility and kings.

Love the video I even learned more new things I like how you point out the way of spear and how there are so many variety of pieces for it not allot of people know that

it's kinda interesting that purple has the same symbolism and importance in japanese history as in medieval europe as well. i wonder if that was a concept introduced via trade?

I think we should bring to the spotlight a classic Famicom Disk game for a future Which Samurai: Takamaru from The Mysterious Murasame Castle.

13:32 Uh, considering the robot masters never appeared in Upon A Star, I'm honestly inclined to believe that _IS_ Yamato Man. Although considering the Mega Man characters came out of Mega Man 5 and Mega Man even uses Water Wave, maybe not...

So Yamatoman was your introduction to Samurai? Cool, mine was probably Auron from FFX. Hope to see an episode on him or some other final fantasy samurai like Cyan. Edit: Yeah, Yamatoman seems legit. I’d be interested to see a sort of mini episode analyzing the EXE versions of him and shadow man to see if there’s any other samurai or ninja connections.

Wow, I didn't realize how long ago that Mega Man 6 Breakdown was. Then again I've been busy in the last nine years.

I think purple was the color for some European royalties also because of how difficult the dye was to obtain back then. Not sure if it was directly connected or just one of those historical coincidences

My ears perked the moment I heard "Benkei". I first learned about him from what is probably the best case in Detective Conan, and one Google search later, got sucked into the rabbit hole of Japanese culture. I guess Benkei is responsible for me being subscribed to you lol

Loved the Yamatoman stage music remix in this video.

Which Samurai on the Multiple Musha Gundams of the SD Gundam series. Musha, Bakunetsumaru and others. Also Niels Nielsen from Gundam Build Fighters.

7:37 --- Benkei: appears as a fish, refuses to elaborate.

For some more samurai-bots you should look into, I think the Gundam franchise would be a perfect choice. Specifically the original RX-78-2, since it's common knowledge by this point that it was based off of samurai armor. As well as Neo-Japan's Shining, Burning/God, and Rising Gundams from G Gundam (especially the Rising Gundam which even 6yo me could tell was a samurai). And finally the Turn A Gundam which while unusual still has a samurai vibe to it.

Man... I need to go replay MMBN now. (grabs what is left in the Bokksu box and runs)

God, Benkei just continually proves one undeniable fact. If you die standing, you are a badass.

Absolute upvote and joy for talking about Saito Musahito 'Gengoro' Benkei. Epic

Hey GG, i was wondering if you ever played the game Kena: Bridge of Spirits. I played it a while ago and it was an experience, and the design and atmosphere of the game made me think it would be an amazing game for you to try and dissect the culture of the game, since there are a lot of cultural references in the game that i imagined you could catch or do a video about.

How ninja is Koga the poison type gym leader from pokemon? I believe you'll find some unique facts and similarities to his character and real life ninja facts!

Y'know, I feel like it would be a fun change of pace to step away from Japan for a moment and do Knightman.

Great video! Here's some suggestions: Silver Samurai (Marvel Comics) Roronoa Zoro (One Piece) Mugen and Jin (Samurai Champloo) Katana (DC Comics) The Seven Samurai (Kurosawa film) The Jedi (Star Wars) Jetstream Sam (Metal Gear Rising) Ghost Dog (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai) Nathan Algren (The Last Samurai)

Honestly it would be cool to see a video on the Mesoamerican inspired stage of Block Man from Mega Man 11

you should do _Which Samurai_ on Bishamon & Oboro Bishamon (secret character) from Darkstalkers in your Which Samurai list

Megaman 6 is one of the few games in the series I've personally played, despite actually enjoying the franchise more than most would assume from my apparent lack of partaking. However, Yamatoman is tied with two others for my absolute favorite Robot Master from the original nine games, his spot at #1 shared with Tomahawkman (also from 6) and Splashwoman (from 9). Between those three, you've got three vastly different cultures from around the world to spark interest. Yamatoman being Sengoku-jidai Japan, Tomahawkman being (sadly stereotypical) Native American, and Splashwoman being Greco-Roman with ties to Atlantis. Yamatoman using a yari spear is definitely impressive, and I've always imagined his jumping triple-shot being representative of bow-based marksmanship. I also love the fact that Yamatoman's stage has the outdoor backdrop of Mt. Fuji and what appears to be either Tokyo or Kyoto (likely the former) while the interior design is a more cybertech approach to a shogunate castle. Honestly, I'd kind of like to see a remastered version of the older games done with more modern graphics. Imagine running through Yamatoman's stage if it had graphics on the level of MH: Rise!

Megaman 6 was like a robot master world your. I think it has a great line up, and Yamato man is definitely one of the coolest

"No, I will not explain why Benkei is a fish in this image" Had you not drawn attention to it, I don't think I would have noticed. Now I wanna know.

T’was only a matter of time gaijin talked about the robot master of JP (again) 😅

I’d love to see more cultural lookings on mega man!!! The blue bomber is amazing

- yeah during the mid '00s Capcom made some very silly/interesting translation choices, like Megaman X5 featuring Guns n' Roses & the entirety of Ace "eat your Hamburgers, Apolo" Attorney series - honestly, Fish Benkei is something I wouldn't want to question anyway, is Fish Benkei - Purple was the color of Royalty pretty much everywhere without any industrial development, actually, now I think of it, I wonder if it became associated with Poison because of said industrial activity

I hope you continue further with this series!

I love how all ancient cultures deemed purple a royalty color due to its rarity and cost lol

Sometimes I'm tempted to to send money to Gaijin an attempt to convince him to play some of the popular historical fantasy VNs I've done. His reaction to Birushana would be interesting to see.

glad to see you talk about how samurai used spears

Love seen Meganan getting some love

East or West, Purple is the Color of Nobility, it seems.

You did amazing job and your video are funny And well maybe keep it up

So, is Benkei also a source of reference for Final Fantasy's character Gilgamesh? That's who I immediately thought of as you mentioned he collects weapons from unworthy samurai and confronted an enemy on a bridge. Not to mention that image @7:36 just screams Gilgamesh.

I think YamatoMan.EXE was named JapanMan.EXE not due to being stupid but due to YamatoMan being a long name. This was a game that used the same space as the original to get its message across, so shortening some names may have been necessary to meet that requirement.

Purple being associated with Royalty in Japan… given that purple was is also associated with Royalty in the west. It makes sense.

I would love to see a pass over ShadowMan.EXE and JapanMan.EXE when the Legacy collection comes out! I'll admit there isn't too much to JapanMan.EXE as he's an optional boss in the postgame, but ShadowMan.EXE ended up in Battle Network 2 and Battle Network 5 Team Colonel, so they very well could be lumped together in the same video.

7:37 What do you mean you will not? That's critical information on how he shapeshifted into a Man sized Catfish

Thank you for pronouncing Yamato Man properly, unlike some other Mega Man RU-vid content creators out there.

We want to learn more about Goombas

The people who responsible for calling him Japanman probably would've been the same people who call anime 'Japanimation'

I still go back and watch that old Mega Man 6 video, but at least now I don't have to. Also WHY!?!?!?!?!?!?!? 7:38-7:49

I now understand the lore behind the look of the yugioh card Armed Samurai Benkei

Wondering, which of these two lists Yoshimitsu would fit the most in. As for legendary spears: Tonbo-giri.

Okay, these little things you pointed out just blew my mind D:

I got Bokksu a while ago. It's actually pretty good. I recommend it.

Purple in the past: Associated with royalty Purple now: associated with poison and death I wonder why (:

Hey goombah and community, i wanted to ask...do you know of any good book about japanese culture that focuses on honor, dedication to family and consequences of breaking traditions? im writing a thesis on warhammer dwarfs, and i feel like they share certain aspects of culture, but i need some decent text to back up that claim...thanks in advance

You have to do an episode on Scarlet and Violet. One of the new pokemon, Lokix, is pretty much Kamen Rider.

I now want to see Yamatoman on a robot horse, I assume it would be cool as a game mechanic too.

Purple is high class huh with all the purple from magnamalo im guessing his armor is based off a high ranking samurai

Speaking of Benkei, How Samurai is Final Fantasy's Gilgamesh? A weapon collector associated with bridges and kabuki

i for get its name but i remember in the cartoon there was a master in a hoody with ice and snow powers as a kid it made me think of alaska but now im older i wounder how much of his powers where taken from the yuki-onna myths

"Because they already had a Samurai Man" Didn't stop Oil Man, Wave Man, Blade Man or Torch Man