The Sumo clan
Sumo are the only clan built to a different size: a much wider body, thicker arms and legs, a belly, a black mawashi and a topknot. Two of their four attacks make the whole board bounce, so "Heavy, unstoppable, shakes the whole board." is meant literally.
Big figures, food names
The Sumo figure is drawn with pale skin and is noticeably bigger than the fighters of the other seven clans. Their names come mostly from the kitchen, with a few heavyweights mixed in: Mochi, Dango, Bun, Tofu, Onigiri, Daifuku, Taiko, Boulder, Pudding, Gyoza, Udon and Chonk. "Sumo" is also the plural, so the game says "the Sumo" for the whole side.
Real sumo wrestlers wear the mawashi belt and tie their hair in a topknot, and they warm up with a high leg raise followed by a stomp. That leg raise is one of the two poses a Sumo strikes after winning a fight, and it is the wind-up for two of the clan's attacks.
Belly bump and Palm barrage
Belly bump is exactly what it says: a low charging stance, then a slow-motion charge into the defender with afterimages behind (BOOM!). Of all 24 regular finishers it sends the knocked-out fighter the furthest, and the stagger among nearby fighters reaches further than usual. The narration line has the right idea: "Mochi belly-bumps Lead clean off the board."
Palm barrage is the comic one. Six alternating open-hand slaps snap the defender's head left and right, with SLAP! appearing halfway through, and a seventh, slow-motion slap ends it (SMACK!). It also throws the defender a good distance, second only to the belly bump among the clan's moves.
Thunder stomp: the board itself moves
"shake the whole board" is the chooser text for Thunder stomp, and it is not an exaggeration. The Sumo raises a leg in slow motion and stamps down. A shockwave ring spreads out, dust flies, the screen shakes, a single inverted frame flashes, the game holds still for an eighth of a second, and the whole board bounces. The defender is thrown up and drops in a heap (THOOM!), staying on the floor rather than flying away.
Mountain Drop
Mountain Drop is the same idea taken to the sky. After the leg raise and a crouch the master leaps clean out of the frame. For nearly half a second there is only the defender and an empty view. Then the Sumo falls straight onto them: the board bounces again, two shockwaves ripple out, dust covers the square, DOOOM! fills the screen and the defender lies flat.
When a Sumo loses a fight the knockout matches the body. The figure is pressed flat like a sheet, FLAT! appears, and then the flattened fighter drifts upward, spinning and shrinking for most of a second until it is gone.
On the court, the weight is real
Badminton is the one place where picking Sumo changes how you play. Sumo accelerate and change direction more slowly than any other clan, and that applies when you control them, not just the computer. You have to start moving earlier, and you feel it on drop shots.
The powers make up for it. Earthquake (2 uses) freezes your opponent for 0.7 seconds with each stomp, enough to win a race to a short shot. Sumo Slam (2 uses) loads a shot so heavy that their return pops up, setting up the next smash. The badminton Mountain Drop fires the moment you call it: an ink circle appears under the opponent, LOOK UP! pops above them and the Sumo comes down for a quake lasting about a second and a third. The tell is the advice: "Get out of the ink circle before he lands!"
A computer-played Sumo hits deep, aims at your body fairly often, rarely plays drops and jumps less than any other clan. Keep it running side to side and its slow starts show.
Picking the Sumo
Pick the Sumo for captures that shake the camera and the board, and for a knockout that floats off the page. Thunder stomp and Mountain Drop both bounce the whole board, and no other clan's attacks do.