esports
Andrew "Jiyuna" Fidelis narrows the divide between eastern and western fighting game communities.
Although he’s arguably the most popular fighting game player in the world, Daigo Umehara is still something of a mystery. A man of few words, the competitor known as The Beast has been content to let his play speak for him over the years, and only recently has this shell been pried apart.
A key factor in this change has been Daigo’s weekly BeasTV broadcasts. By gathering fellow Japanese players on stream to play Street Fighter V, the legendary competitor has also welcomed the global fighting game community into his life, if only for a few hours at a time.
As the language barrier typically keeps fans outside Japan from enjoying similar programming, BeasTV employs an incredibly important individual to ensure viewers across the world can tune in and understand the discussion. His name is Andrew Fidelis, but you may know him better as Jiyuna.
Underlying differences
During his many years in the fighting game community, Jiyuna has been involved in a variety of scenes. Starting with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 when he was younger, the New Jersey native soon transitioned to more anime-inspired titles like Melty Blood. More recently, Jiyuna’s interests have lied with Persona and Guilty Gear, and his work has focused on bridging the gap between Japan's competitors and the rest of the world.
Since moving to central Japan in 2010, however, Jiyuna’s competitive drive has waned. "I’ve been here for six years, so my feelings have obviously changed; how much is because of age and how much is because of Japan, I don’t know," he told us. "For the past few years, I’ve considered myself a casual player. It’s hard for me to really stay motivated with the absence of the trash talk and bravado that’s so prevalent in the West."
It’s this key difference in attitude that comprises the main divide between the two communities, at least in Jiyuna’s mind. Where players in North America are more "rough" in their drive to be the best, calling out other players and challenging them to money matches, Japanese players improve by working together and, perhaps, enjoying the games a bit more.
"The biggest difference to me is the lack of aggression and rivalries in Japan," Jiyuna continued. "Players here play fighting games because they love them and can bond with and respect anyone else who shares the same passion."
Diverse opportunities
These differences in mindset make Jiyuna’s work on BeasTV that much more important, especially when it comes to the normally reclusive Daigo. Jiyuna recognizes the gravity of this responsibility both as a service to the fighting game community and his own personal goals.
Daigo’s show launched in late February, drawing in over 40,000 viewers during its first broadcast. As much of the audience tuned in from outside of Japan, Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi and Kyo "KichijojiKEN" Takahashi bore the brunt of the English translation.
"Both of them are amazing, but it’s much, much harder to translate from native to second languages than vice versa. Some things were lost during the stream, so I figured I would restream it with my own interpretation," Jiyuna said. "My work was well received, and influential people like Mark ‘MarkMan’ Julio, Seth Killian, and Zhi ‘Zhieeep’ Liang Chew vouched for me to Daigo’s management. I was brought on the next week as the official interpreter."
By adopting a dual-channel setup, where the original Japanese audio is broadcast through one speaker and English translations come through the other, the stream caters to both native and foreign audiences in a more casual way. With online matches, strategy discussion, and more comprising the show on a regular basis, this does away with the "unnatural pauses" of consecutive interpretation and fosters a better learning environment, no matter which language a viewer happens to speak.
As the months wore on, Jiyuna’s positive influence led to further responsibilities, most notably a new job as BeasTV’s producer. "Now, I interpret the stream, come up with the schedule, run the cameras and audio mixer, handle the show’s Twitter and YouTube accounts, hold business meetings with third parties, and more … pretty much everything but 'be Daigo,'" Jiyuna detailed.
Of course, as with many positions in the fighting game community, Jiyuna understands that his position is a fleeting one. Unlike other competitive games, where top personalities can pull in tens of thousands of viewers on a daily basis, fighting game players have yet to achieve the same success on a wide scale. Even someone as popular as Daigo, who started out with a comparable audience, now maintains a decent four-digit following.
"My own personal goal is to make sure Diago has fun with BeasTV and doesn’t get tired of streaming," Jiyuna explained.
Apart from bringing the fighting game community together, Jiyuna’s work on BeasTV is also something of a personal dream. He described the experience as a surreal one, saying that he’s been a huge fan of Daigo’s for over a decade, and even learned to perform Guilty Gear’s famous Dustloop by watching the Beast in action.
"My drive is the same as most people, I think: make a living doing something I care about," Jiyuna said. "I’m doing my best to build up my skills and experience in order to continue my work in the fighting game community once this ends."
"A dream come true"
Though many may now know him simply as "Daigo’s interpreter," Jiyuna’s skills extend well past translating information for English-speaking audiences on BeasTV. His personal YouTube channel is a fantastic mixture of tutorials, "day in the life" vlogs, and earnest discussions of important fighting game topics, showcasing a work ethic that surpasses his humble attempts at deflecting compliments.
Whatever people think of Jiyuna, there’s no arguing the importance of the niche he fills, especially as the separate regions of the fighting game community become aware of their invisible ties with the rest of the world. Fortunately, his passion continues to be a major motivation.
"This whole BeasTV thing is a dream come true," Jiyuna concluded, "and I'm savoring every moment of it until it ends."
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