Ken's karate prowess

[Originally posted on Bluesky on 08 April 2026.]

The newspaper article in Exceedraft E13 tells us that Ken has won consecutive karate championships. Exceedraft's official guidebook specifies that Ken won six of them.

Why is Ken so OP (overpowered)? In comparison to Exceedraft, the iconic Karate Kid films only have their strongest fighters be two-time champions. Presenting Ken as not just good at karate but overwhelmingly good shows that his karate prowess is central to his identity.

It's then inevitable for Ken to turn to his karate skills for connecting with others as he does when he switches from serving the public as a firefighter, then as a police officer. Both professions involve saving lives, but only in the police force is it relevant and important to be good at fighting and physically subduing others.

E13's title also suggests the importance of Ken's karate skills to defining his identity.The episode's title is "禁断の地獄拳!", which is in English, "The Forbidden Fist of Hell!". "拳", the kanji for fist in the title, is also the kanji for Ken's name. Also, while "拳" is usually pronounced as 'kobushi’ when it means 'fist’, E13’s preview has it pronounced as 'ken’.

In sum:

拳 ('Ken') = Fist = Draft Keace Okuma Ken

We can then read E13's title as 'The Forbidden (Okuma) Ken of Hell' with its double meaning linked to the episode doing double duty in suggesting the dark potential of what Ken could do with his fists.

It's also revealing to characterise Ken as being good at winning karate matches, which is a skill that involves more than just being better than others in karate. Ken's good at not just performing karate techniques but also in proving that he’s an excellent fighter to those overseeing his fights instead of participating in them.

Fighters of martial arts competitions often have to earn points that are taken as a proxy for their level of ability. Earning those points involve following the competition's ruleset. For example, as an actual karate champion explains in 16:26 of the video below, sport karate has the rule for competitors to have to shout a kiai to get a point.

Rules of martial arts competitions enable fighters to perform their skill while keeping the competitors safe. While the illegal matches in E13 throw safety concerns out the window, they are still centred on the performative nature of karate fights just like those in legitimate competitions. That ties in with the performance Ken puts up as part of his cover for the case.

Even as Ken has a genuine and straightforward personality, his special skills have a distinct performative quality. In the outro, he doesn't just cook pancakes but also flips them, performing a physically impressive move like those part of his karate kata, that is a pattern of movements based on karate techniques. It's undeniable too that Ken extends his power from his fighting ability through performing his public identity as a police officer.

Ken's excellence in performing his strengths could differentiate and distance him from others, as seen from the Exceedraft episodes showing how his role as Draft Keace influences how others outside of Exceedraft relate to him. E13's a rare case where performing his talent lets him to do good in a way that only he can.