Overwatch 2 players argue that Kiriko’s age makes no sense

Blizzard has revealed the character ages of the Overwatch 2 characters, and in Kiriko, Genji, and Hanzo’s case, it has seemingly broken the lore. 

Thanks to an update on the Overwatch 2 website, players now know the exact age of all the characters in game. This has allowed players to find out who they share an age with, or even birthday, bringing them closer to their favorite characters in an interesting new way. 

It also gives broader context into these characters, and where they are in their story. With the launch of the Overwatch: Invasion season, Blizzard is telling the story of an older Overwatch team passing the mantle to a younger generation of recruits. Seeing everyone’s ages adds to that context. 

However, it has also come with an issue in the broader lore, making some situations almost impossible. The most prominent of these is the relationship with Kiriko, Genji, and Hanzo. These three were trained together under the tutelage of Kiriko’s mother. 

The problem is Hanzo is 40, Genji is 37 and Kiriko is 21. This age gap makes it harder to believe, if not impossible for the characters to have trained together. Even if Kiriko started training alongside the Shimada brothers when she was seven or so, both Genji and Hanzo would be in their mid-20s, at a time when both were already actively involved in other history in the Overwatch universe.

Overwatch 2 fans are scratching their head over Kiriko’s age

This discrepancy was noted on Reddit. In a thread posted by provafieroh with over 1.5k upvotes at the time of writing, players have been left confused. They posted: “Basically genji in his twenty hung out with an infant? Also they clearly look like teen in her origin story video and also their height doesn’t match, proving that they are basically still “little” teenagers.”

You can see the three training together in the below video:

Another user posted, “There’s no way she is in her early 20s only when Genji and Hanzo are around 35-38. She should be at least in her early 30s.” Another added: “I don’t understand why they have to shoehorn her into being a “childhood friend”. They could have easily written them as mentors who she wants to catch up to.”

Others think Blizzard should correct her age to make the story work. A user said, “All Blizzard has to do is say she’s 28-30.” They added, “Her relationship to the Shimadas is more important to her characterization than her being 21”.

Complicating things, Kiriko runs with a vigilante gang full of mostly teens, so her being closer to their age helps. It’s not clear what Blizzard can do to make all these pieces work, or if they intend to at all. Here’s hoping a solution can be found to make all these pieces fit together because right now, the math is not mathing.