Capcom Cup champion Kakeru Watanabe has decided to retire from active competition. The 27-year-old cited persistent neurological issues that had already kept him out of competing for the past two months.
Via social media, Kakeru posted a long and heartfelt message to the Street Fighter community and his fans, explaining that he will leave his current organization, ZETA Division, at the end of the year to focus on his recovery.
Kakeru has been around the Street Fighter community for years, competing in Street Fighter V under the tag Uzura. He rose to prominence when SF6 was released, becoming one of the best, if not the best, JP player in the world.
Throughout the first couple of years competing in Street Fighter 6, he achieved impressive results, including a 5th-place finish at Evo 2023 and winning the Gamers8 tournament, which earned him $400k. But perhaps his best year was the ongoing one, becoming the latest Capcom Cup champion earlier in February, taking home a whopping $1 million after listening to his wife's sound advice that told him to drop Mai in favor of a return to old-reliable JP. He followed that with a 2nd-place finish at Evo 2025.
His last offline event was the Esports World Cup back in August. He sadly had to abandon the competition midway through it due to his ongoing health issues.
As for future commitments, ZETA Division has replaced Kakeru with Yamaguchi for the upcoming Street Fighter League season. Furthermore, his spot in the next Capcom Cup will be taken by Amjad "AngryBird" Al-Shalabi, who placed 4th at this year's Cup, as both Derek Blaz (2nd) and Shin "Leshar" Moon-sup (3rd) have both secured their spots already.
From everyone at Gfinityesports, we wish Kakeru a speedy recovery. If you've never seen him play, I highly recommend you check out his stellar Capcom Cup 11 run, his Gamers8 Grand Finals set vs AngryBird, and also perhaps one of my favorite moments in Street Fighter V history, linked below:
And that's it, for more stick with us at Gfinityesports: your go-to source for all things fighting games.