Sakura (Street Fighter)

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Sakura
Sakura Kasugano in Capcom vs. SNK 2, as illustrated by Shinkiro.
Game series	Street Fighter series
First game	Street Fighter Alpha 2
Voice actor(s)	Yuko Sasamoto
In-Universe Information
Birthplace	Japan, Setagaya-ku 2-5 Choume, Tokyo
Blood type	A (O in Rival Schools)
Fighting style	Self-taught imitation of Ryu's fighting style
Likes	Track and field, white rice
Dislikes	Math, playing videogames with her brother Tsukushi
Special skill	Speaking English, cooking

Sakura Kasugano (春日野さくら , Kasugano Sakura^?) is a video game character in the Street Fighter series of fighting games. She is a 16-year-old (as of Street Fighter Alpha 3) Japanese schoolgirl who has an intense fascination with Ryu. She's managed to copy and learn some of Ryu's techniques, but really wants him to train her personally.

Sakura typically fights in her school's uniform, a short-skirted sailor fuku (seifuku), with a pair of red panties underneath. She wears a red top under her uniform, sparring gloves, and a white headband.

[edit] Story

Sakura first appeared in Street Fighter Alpha 2, where she had begun to participate in street fighting after watching Ryu win the first World Warrior tournament. She was searching for him and wished for him to train her to be a better fighter. She met up with many interesting people along the way, notably the Muay Thai master Sagat of all people and fought him, and eventually came across Ryu, who was still stressed over the Satsui no Hadou that had corrupted him -- he told her he couldn't train her as he still had much to learn himself. He sparred with her for a bit and as he began to leave, she took a picture of him to remember him by.

Rival Schools saw Sakura involved in the adventure between her school and various others in Aohura city. Fighting in it, she realized how much it meant to her to protect something she cared about.

She was still fighting in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and decided to travel the world to find Ryu. She started off in her native Japan and fought the sumo wrestler E. Honda, who mentioned Ryu was going off to such places as India and Thailand. She also fought a rematch with her rival Karin Kanzuki, and though Karin won the fight, admitted Sakura was better and she had learned winning wasn't everything. Thereafter traveling with her self-proclaimed sensei, Dan, she met his friend Blanka along the way and was promised a match with him. She continued to search the world for Ryu, eventually ditching Dan and finding Ryu's friend and rival Ken. She commented to him how she loved to fight to better herself, and finding inspiration in those words himself, Ken and Sakura eventually found Ryu in Thailand, where he was actually being brainwashed by M. Bison. Sagat had come by this time to find the scene as well, and as Sagat took on Ryu, both Ken and Sakura took on Bison. A combination of Sakura being hurt by Bison and Sagat's urgings finally snapped Ryu out of the mind control and he smacked Bison away, forcing him to retreat. He told Sakura then he wasn't ready to train her and fight a rematch with her yet, and walked off, Sakura watching him go.

Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Capcom vs. SNK 2 indicate Sakura may have finally put off street fighting to go to college, especially as she would have been the perfect age to be attending it by the next chronological game, Street Fighter II.

[edit] Gameplay

Sakura fights in an emulated Ansatsuken form. She can successfully manipulate ki and is subsequently able to perform the "Hadouken" energy attack (however, due to her lack of training, she cannot throw it the full length of the arena like Ken or Ryu can). Unlike the other Ansatsuken warriors, however, she can control the size of her Hadouken and throw larger Hadoukens that sacrifice range and execution speed for size (up to 3 times larger). In the Marvel vs. Capcom series, she throws her Hadoukens diagonally. In Capcom vs. SNK 2, she is given an energy spark instead of a traditional projectile (called the "Hadoushou") that hits 3 times but is limited to the area in front of her hands. Her other attacks include "Shunpuu Kyaku", a short version of the "Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku" attack (instead of sailing through the air, Sakura's version rises then falls in an arcing pattern and traditionally only goes about 60% of the screen at its longest range) and "Shououken", a version of the "Shoryuken" that sees her running before executing the attack (however, when performed with the strongest Punch button, the attack can hit 6 times as she's running toward her opponent). Her super attacks include her own interpretations of the "Shinkuu-Hadoken" and "Shoryu-Reppa" (the Shinkuu-Hadoken, like her regular projectile, will not cover the full length of the screen). Her third super attack is a ground based spinning leg attack (called the "Haru Ichiban") that ends with a side kick that knocks her opponent away.

[edit] Trivia

• She rescued her best friend Kei Chitose from being assaulted by three college bullies by knocking them out completely. The battered punks ran away while Kei was upset of Sakura's fascination of street fighting. Kei wishes that Sakura had chosen a better and safer hobby.
• Sakura is also friends with Taiyo High School student Hinata Wakaba (who oddly idolizes her) and Gorin High School student Natsu Ayuhara from the Rival Schools series, both of whom are Sakura's childhood friends.
• Sakura's storyline in Sakura Ganbaru states her as being initiated to fighting by Dan Hibiki, who challenged her constantly (including races to the bus stop) in order to evaluate her skills. Her parents eventually allowed her to compete in streetfighting with Dan as her supervising adult. The same book ended with her after growing up, wearing a red jersey and teaching physical education to her former school, Tanagawa Minami High School.

[edit] Games

List of fighting games in which Sakura appears as a playable character in chronological order.

• Street Fighter Alpha 2 - first appearance
• Street Fighter Alpha 3
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
• Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold
• Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
• Street Fighter EX 2
• Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter
• Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix
• Rival Schools: United By Fate
• Street Fighter Alpha 3
• SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2
• Street Fighter EX 3
• Capcom vs. SNK
• Capcom vs. SNK 2
• Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper
• Capcom Fighting Evolution
• Namco x Capcom (Paired with her rival Karin Kanzuki)

[edit] Cameos

• Breath of Fire III (Among the crowd during the coliseum battle, along with Leon S. Kennedy from the Resident Evil series)
• X-Men vs. Street Fighter (Trapped in a tube in Apocalypse's level. Also appears in Storm's ending along with Dan)
• Marvel vs. Capcom (appears along with Kei taking a bath in the bathhouse level)
• SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash (featured on some cards. Made by SNK)

[edit] External links

• WikiKnowledge.net’s entry for Sakura Previously hosted by Wikibooks