Top Street Fighter Player Arrested For Alleged Molestation

This weekend, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike player Kenji Kuroda was arrested for allegedly committing incident acts against a high school girl.

ANN News reports the that this February 32-year-old Kuroda invited a high school girl to his home, where he allegedly started hugging her and committing what the Japanese press is referring to as waisetsuna koui (わいせつな行為), which means “obscene acts” or “sexual molestation.”

According to authorities, this was the first time they had met in person, and the two had met through Twitter. The student’s mother reported the incident to the police.

Kuroda lives with his mother, which isn’t that uncommon among unmarried Japanese. She was reportedly not at home when the alleged incident happened.

When the arrest made the Japanese news, Kuroda was listed as mushoku (無職) or “unemployed.” He was not named as a Street Fighter pro, nor was it mentioned that Kuroda had previously penned a regular column for Weekly Playboy (note: this is different from the American magazine), one of Japan’s most famous men’s magazines.

Weekly Playboy has since scrubbed his articles from its online site.

As Kotaku’s in-house fighting game expert Ian Walker points out, Kuroda was one of his generation’s best 3rd Strike players. His abilities were more impressive because he played with Q, one of the game’s worst characters.

黒田ってまさかあのクロダ！？ pic.twitter.com/qqCkRjLmWo

— LAST RANKER (@across_gomi) June 30, 2018

The initial reaction online was disbelief. People were not sure that Kenji Kuroda was the same Kuroda. In the news reports, the suspect’s name was written in kanji (黒田 or Kuroda).

As a player, however, Kuroda wrote his name phonetically as クロダ (Kuroda), which is why there was some initial confusion over whether or not this was the Street Fighter player.

クロダの家までいって胸触られたから通報ってマジで心境がわからねえよ

この家までいったんだからさー pic.twitter.com/Dnu0ZU3xzk

— エンヘイおねです (@enheione) June 30, 2018

But Twitter users and net commenters pointed out the suspect’s residence shown on TV was a perfect match for previous photos of Kuroda’s distinctively coloured home. There was, however, also official confirmation.

Kuroda is starring in the upcoming indie movie 9road, a project fellow fighting game player Daigo Umehara backed.

After the story broke, the movie’s Twitter account issued an apology for the Kuroda-related news.

【クロダに関する報道について】
Project 9road を応援してくださっている皆さま、ならびに関係者の方々。この度はクロダに関する報道でご迷惑、ご心配をおかけしてしまい大変申し訳ございません。現在諸々の事実確認を行なっております。

— Project 9road (@9roadProject) June 30, 2018

Kuroda has confessed to doing the charges, ANN News adds, and police are currently investigating to see if he has committed other offences.