Mr. Match (anime)

Mr. Match, known as Ken'ichi Hino (火野ケンイチ), or Hinoken for short in Japan, is a character in the MegaMan NT Warrior anime. He is the operator of TorchMan.EXE and also operated HeatMan.EXE for a short time. Originally a member of the World Three with Maddy, Count Zap, and Yahoot and an enemy of Lan Hikari and MegaMan.EXE, Match and his fellow World Three members come to aid the heroes as the series goes on.

Overview
Like his video game counterpart, Mr. Match has the honor of being the first villain Lan faces as a World Three agent. Unlike his video game counterpart however, after the World Three falls Match never returns to his criminal ways in the anime, despite wishing to, and instead assists Lan and MegaMan against the various other criminal organizations. While Match does operate HeatMan for a short time, he never becomes the operator of FlameMan in the show, who instead appears as a Zoanoroid in Beast. Despite Match and HeatMan appearing in Mega Man Battle Network 6 as Link Navis, they have no role in Beast or Beast+ besides a cameo from Match.

True to his nature as a Fire-type Navi operator, Mr. Match has a short temper and a fiery passion. As an arsonist for the WWW, Mr. Match was a persistent villain who vowed to defeat Lan and MegaMan and cause chaos and confusion for the real and cyberworld. However after the defeat of the WWW, Yahoot opens #1 Curry where Mr. Match becomes the delivery man, and seems to quickly become a more civil character, aiding Lan on several occasions and serving him and his friends at the restaurant, ultimately becoming more of a friend and ally to the heroes as the series goes on. Despite this, he and his fellow WWW members wish for the return of Mr. Wily and the revival of WWW, though they are unaware their leader does not wish the same.

He is a skilled fire dancer, and often takes vacations at tropical locations where he puts on shows.

In the English dub, he speaks with a Scottish accent.

MegaMan NT Warrior
Mr. Match is the first villain Lan and MegaMan fight in the series as an arsonist under the direction of Mr. Wily. Despite a successful string of attacks by setting the oven in people's homes on fire, Mr. Match and TorchMan.EXE are stopped when a newly programmed MegaMan stops TorchMan's fire-type viruses in Lan's house. Mr. Wily orders Match to delete the Navi if he comes across him again, and later, when TorchMan sets Maylu Sakurai’s house on fire through her oven, MegaMan and TorchMan duel, but Mr. Match logs TorchMan out after MegaMan cuts off his left arm.

Match, Maddy, and Count Zap are scolded for their failures by Mr. Wily, and the three hatch a plan together to make an aquarium full of robotic fish go out of control, but they are stopped by Lan and MegaMan again.

Depressed due to his defeat at MegaMan's hands, Match tries to reignite his burning passion and sends TorchMan to start overheating various electronics around the city trying to get MegaMan's attention, but Lan and MegaMan are oblivious to this due to a fight they had with Maylu and Roll. Match tries to contact them directly with a formal challenge, but TorchMan gives the challenge to Roll and GutsMan instead in hopes that they would give it to MegaMan, but Roll shows up instead. MegaMan eventually shows up and him and TorchMan fight and he nearly deletes MegaMan before Roll manages to beat TorchMan and Match jacks him out.

Wily scolds the World Three agents for failing again and is about to punish them before he is stopped by Yahoot, who calls them useless and unleashes his own scheme using hypnosis on TV to make people believe they’re are animals, which also ends up hypnotizing Match and the others as well.

Match and the others are then ordered to participate in the N1 Grand Prix to make the World Three known, and they have upgraded their Navis in preparation. They watch Lan's match against Miyu and SkullMan where he hopes Lan wins so can defeat him himself. When Lan wins, Match vows that it is time to get his revenge.

Lan and Match begin their battle and fight on even terms, and Match tells Lan that after their second defeat they went through intense training with mutual goal of defeating Lan and MegaMan. As the fight continued, Match looks up at the sun and laughed to himself that they have no idea what's in store for them. MegaMan appears to be winning, but Match uses a Battle Chip that summons viruses into the coliseum's system, causing the solar panels to aim at the sun which concentrates all of the coliseum's solar energy inside the dome and closes environmental shutters, powering up TorchMan significantly and heating the dome, especially around the terminal, up to a dangerous temperature. This nearly works and MegaMan is nearly deleted, but Yai, Dex, and Tory delete Match's viruses and the dome goes back to normal. Lan and MegaMan make a comeback and defeat Match and TorchMan, eliminating them from the tournament.

Match watches the battles between MagicMan and MegaMan and ProtoMan and ElecMan. When he learns about StoneMan and BlasterMan, he is offended that he was never told about them and watches GutsMan and WoodMan go up against them, hoping StoneMan and BlasterMan lose so he and the others can laugh at them. He is surprised to learn that the two mysterious World Three Navis are solo NetNavis. He then watches Lan and Commander Beef take the two solo NetNavis on, impressed by their plan to delete MegaMan and SharkMan. When the chance to re-enter the tournament is presented with the consolation match, Match and Maddy sneak into where the chance program that is deciding who gets to re-enter the tournament is and force the programs inside the choose TorchMan and WackoMan. The two go up against Lan and Maylu where Match and Maddy conflict with each other, but they turn the situation around when Maylu uses the Twisted Chip, corrupting Roll to their side. Match and Maddy continue to fight each other throughout the match and get nervous when Mr. Higsby arrives and helps Maylu free Roll of the Twisted Chip's corruption. Roll and MegaMan then eliminate Match and TorchMan from the tournament for good.

He appears in episode 28.

He appears in episode 29.

He appears in episode 30 (46 in the English dub), having accidentally boarded the wrong airplane to Namaste while chasing Lan to Kingland. He attempts to have the flight attendant stop the plane, but she denies him and he curses Lan while staring out one of the windows.

He appears in episode 31.

After returning to DenCity, TorchMan is deleted by FreezeMan in NetCity, and Match relies on the help of Mr. Famous to change TorchMan into HeatMan using his remaining data to save him. HeatMan is able to defeat FreezeMan during the incident with Gospel.

MegaMan NT Warrior Axess
Mr. Match returns to DenTech City in pursuit of VineMan.EXE. When he learns the Darkloid has already arrived when VineMan shuts down the rail system, he jacks HeatMan in to find him. HeatMan catches up with VineMan fighting MegaMan and saves him while Match catches up with Lan and Maylu. In the now-closed #1 Curry, Match tells Lan that WackoMan, ElecMan, and MagicMan were all captured by VineMan’s plants and that HeatMan barely escaped himself. Mr. Famous arrives having brought equipment that Match asked for to repair HeatMan, and Match gives Lan a tracking signal they managed to place on VineMan before HeatMan logged out, telling him he will catch up when HeatMan is repaired. While repairing HeatMan, Match sees the silhouette of TorchMan and Famous states that TorchMan’s data has been living inside HeatMan, and begins reformatting HeatMan’s data to separate the two.

The revived TorchMan saves MegaMan and MegaMan gains Torch Soul, and the two fight together and delete VineMan. Match thanks Famous for reviving TorchMan, and Lan thanks Match for his help in deleting VineMan, and Mr. Match replies that it was his pleasure.

Having apparently "trained" Dex and GutsMan to take on Lan and MegaMan with his fellow World Three members, Match sends Dex back to DenTech City, although this is merely a ruse to get him out of their hair, as he was useless around the restaurant. Dex however returns at the end of the episode, much to the frustration of him and the others.

Later on when Dex returns to #2 Curry with the "Net Wrecker", a strange device that he bought from the shady salesman, Match and Yahoot scold him for taking it in exchange for not collecting the storekeeper's three month old tab. Match tells Yahoot to let it go and that he will collect the tab tomorrow. Dex tries out the Net Wrecker and Match fetches him when GutsMan grows to a massive size and starts causing trouble and tells him to stop using it when Dex shows him what he did. Yahoot suggests keeping the Net Wrecker to defeat Lan, who is coming to Jyawaii, but Match wonders if their Navis can handle it. When Lan arrives, Match prepares Dex for his battle, and watches as GutsMan goes out of control, sending TorchMan in an attempt to stop him.

Rockman.EXE Stream
When Takeo Inukai’s accomplices attempt to get away with a new batch of Dark Chips they were attempting to smuggle, Mahajarama reveals that Hinoken had been on vacation near where they were docking and stopped them.

Later on, he stops by Maha Ichiban and compliments Dekao on his curry, stating it’s even worth coming over seas to eat. Yaito stops by on her rocket and takes Dekao and Dingo to make curry for her party and takes Hinoken along as well, who states it’s like being kidnapped and that people with money seem to do what they want. Yaito tells him if he wants to go home, they can give her a refund for the 64,800 plates of curry she ordered, and Hinoken quickly relents. When Yaito reveals the party is a contest for the girl with the most beautiful forehead, Hinoken wonders if winning this would really make anyone happy. He later assists in making the curry. When CloudMan.EXE and BlizzardMan.EXE attack the Yaito Memorial Dome, Hinoken tells Netto and Nenji Rokushakudama that they can’t plug-in unless they melt the ice covering the port, so Nenji gets into a fight with NapalamMan.EXE to make him heat up Nenji’s PET, using it to thaw the ice. Nenji, Netto, Hinoken, Dekao, and Dingo all plug-in to combat the Darkloids, and despite having the advantage over them, Dark Rockman summons Dimensional Converters and CloudMan and BlizzardMan form in the real world. BlizzardMan attacks Dekao, Dingo, and Hinoken before Netto cross fuses and repels them.

Hinoken is a guest at the event, where Yaito is chosen as the girl with the most beautiful forehead, though Hinoken points out that all of the other party guests are employees or relatives of employees of Gabcom, Yaito’s company. He then watches the fireworks with the rest of the guests.

He is with the other original WWW members as they watch in disgust as the Neo WWW cause destruction with massive viruses materialized in the real world by Asteroid VideoMan.EXE. Unbeknownst to them, Dr. Wily had been the sole customer at the restaurant, and tells them that they will show the Neo WWW the wrath of the original organization. Hinoken, Madoi, Mahajarama, and Dingo go to the car museum and get the Dimensional Area cars, and bring them to Wily and prepare them for use. The original WWW members, Dingo, and Dekao arrive just in time to save Netto, and activate a Dimensional Area for him to use. Wily reflects that his WWW has matured a bit before disappearing, much to Hinoken and the other’s distress.

When the Cross Fusion Members go to a “training camp” on the beach, it is revealed that Mahajarama set up a "Seaside Maha Ichiban", and Hinoken and the others were there on a business trip, joining several other cast members on a vacation. Hinoken watches on in disgust as Netto eats "curry ice", a cross between shaved ice and curry that Dekao invented. Later in the episode he flees from the "haunted mansion" (which was really Dr. Hikari's "test of courage) with the others, only to have been spit out at the hot springs nearby with the rest of the cast. Hinoken and the cast then enjoys the hot springs. This is his last appearance in the anime where he has a role beyond a cameo.

After the world is saved from Duo.EXE, Hinoken is seen watching Dark Miyabi eat curry alongside the other WWW members at Maha Ichiban.

Rockman.EXE Beast+
Hinoken is mentioned in episode 11, where Mahajarama talks about him working at MaHa Niban in Jyawaii. Ann Electel arrives searching for Count Elec, and Hinoken, believing she would not make the effort to come to MaHa Ichiban, told her where he was, much to his distress.

He has one more cameo in the final episode of the series, seemingly scolding Count Elec before being turned into cache data by Cache.