Takahashi Takeda was one of the exciting new generation of fighters introduced in Mortal Kombat X, and although he's sadly missing from the latest installment of the game, kommunity interest has propped up a commisioned piece by Japanese artist Eiji Shiroi that is sure to please!

Eiji Shiroi is the pseudonym of artist Jin Mera, whose artwork and character designs are best remembered from SNK fighting game series Samurai Shodown.

The Mortal Kombat commissioned piece was originally posted to her English Facebook in August 2017, but recently came to attention through re-circulation by Twitter user Mel Oliveira. Drawn at a live event in Nagoya, the artist herself described the request as "very unique".

Although not quite the phenomenon it is in the United States and Europe; Mortal Kombat has maintained a dedicated cult following in the fighting game stronghold of Japan. MK Online looked back upon the series' history in Japan in 2012, when location tests took the 2011 reboot to the region. The series continues to flirt with its Japanese rivals, proposing a Street Fighter guest character as recently as Mortal Kombat 11!

2012 also unearthed an unknown artist's work featuring Quan Chi in noted Akihabra store, Super Potato. You can find more western character comissions by Eiji Shiroi by checking her work out on Facebook.

What do you think of these Japanese renderings? Got Mortal Kombat fan art of your own? Submit your work to be featured in MK Online's Fan Kreations archive & forum! We'd love to see more from the most recent games!