Yuki (The King of Fighters)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yuki (ユキ, Yuki) is a secondary character in SNK Playmore's King of Fighters videogame series; she was first introduced in the The King of Fighters '97 and King of Fighters: Kyo games. She is a normal school girl as well as Kyo Kusanagi's love interest.
| Yuki | |
|---|---|
| Game series | King of Fighters series |
| First game | King of Fighters '97 |
| Voice actor(s) | Tomoko Kojima |
| In-Universe Information | |
| Birthplace |  Japan |
| Blood type | A |
| Fighting style | none |
Contents |
[edit] How Yuki was created
There was no real original idea for Yuki, since her first mention ever in the KoF story was in Kyo's profile as one of his most cherished possessions, which was added by one of the programmers mostly as a joke since Kyo was more popular with female gamers (some of them being yaoi fans) than male ones.
By 1996 and 1997, Yuki appeared in diverse official KoF pictures by Shinkirou. One showed her peeking into Kyo's bathroom when he was getting dressed, another had her kissing Kyo on the cheek as they went Christmas shopping, a third one featured her in a leather jacket along with a similarly-dressed Kyo, and she also showed up in several pics featuring Kyo with his teammates. Some more-or-less official mangas picked this up and gave her small cameos; then came along the semi-canon KoF: Kyo manga and games that were released more-or-less simultaneously with KoF 97.
By that point, what started as a joke on Kyo's popularity had, in SNK's words, grown "from a one-dimensional filler to a full-fledged character". Still, Yuki remains as a very underdeveloped character, mostly remaining in the background of the Kusanagi's family story. 'The King of Fighters: Kyo', the manga and games by Masato Natsumoto, doesn't dwell into her prior-to-KoF storyline, but does give her a basic personality besides her damsel in distress future role in the storyline.
[edit] Yuki's personality and looks
Physically, Yuki is a sweet-faced girl around Athena Asamiya's age or somewhat younger. She has short light brown hair (slightly longer and messier in the KoF: Kyo), big dark brown eyes, a quite large chest (83 cm, just 2 cm smaller than Mai Shiranui's) and is usually clad in the typical white and blue sailor fuku, but isn't afraid of dressing up fancily and even rather sexy when she's given the chance. Apart of having good grades at school, Yuki is also a quite athletic young woman; her favorite sport is high jump and she's also proficient in tennis, according to the KoF: Kyo games.
Personality-wise, Yuki is pretty much the 'girl next door' type; she's also quite of a smartass and has very limited patience towards Kyo, who in return treats her more as a sister than a proper girlfriend. They squabble rather frequently over petty things, but are still extremely loyal to each other if need arises. When Athena Asamiya transfers to their school to see Kyo's powers with her own eyes after being defeated by him in KoF' 95, Yuki does show some degree of jealousy and treats Athena as a child for a while, but become fast friends.
[edit] The King of Fighters '95 and '96, Kof: Kyo
Yuki is the last descendant of Kushinada, the only one of the legendary maidens from Izumo that was saved from being sacrificed to Orochi by the Kusanagi, Yasakani and Yata clans. She, however, was unaware of this fact until at least The King of Fighters '96, having lived her whole life as a normal schoolgirl until she met Kyo Kusanagi, gained his friendship and later his love.
According to KoF: Kyo, Yuki didn't even know about the existence of the KoF tournament until she, Kyo, Athena and Sie Kensou (who had followed Athena to confront her over Kyo) are approached by Iori Yagami not too far from their school. At one point, tired of Iori's no-nosense attitude and fearing that other people may get hurt, Yuki hurls herself in between Iori and Kyo, telling him to leave the school grounds since Kyo doesn't want to fight him right then. Iori grabs Yuki by the neck and asks Kyo if he considers him as the type who'd injure a defenseless civilian, and then releases her. Later, he leaves without fighting Kyo. Yuki is quite disturbed upon the deal, and resents being left behind in the KoF trials.
As Kyo loses his Kusanagi powers and distances himself from his friends prior to the KoF'97 tournament, Kyo's childhood friend and mentor Goro Daimon introduces Yuki and her friend Sanae to one of his students, Maeta, who has had a crush on her from quite a while ago. Maeta defeats Kyo in an unnoficial judo match organized by Daimon, gaining a date with Yuki as a prize. After speaking to Sanae, Yuki goes out with Maeta despite her discomfort at being seen as a trophy of sorts; in the middle of the date, when she's gonna tell the boy that she only sees him as a friend, she's kidnapped by a masked man in a motorcycle, who is somehow familiar to her.
The man ties Yuki up to a lamp post's top and challenges Kyo, who has followed him along with Benimaru Nikaido, Athena and Kensou. During the fight, Kyo progressively starts to be consumed by the Orochi aura, becoming a darker and more evil version of himself. However, the taunts from the stranger (whom Yuki recognizes as Saisyu Kusanagi, Kyo's father) finally get through him, and Kyo goes back to his senses. Saisyu then cuts the rope and Yuki falls from the post's top, and Kyo catches her in time as he realizes that the Kusanagi flame was given to his clan to protect people, and specially their loved ones. Almost immediately after this, Kyo fully gets his powers back.
[edit] King of Fighters' 97
From then on, Yuki remains as a constant but background-ish character in the KoF:Kyo manga and games as well as the other KoF games, until The King of Fighters '97. Yuki is kidnapped sometime during the KoF: Kyo games, but after Kyo tracks her down through several countries with the help of his fellow fighters, she's rescued and taken back to Japan by Chizuru Kagura. The next time, she's not so lucky; in her way to the last date she'd have with Kyo prior to KoF 97, Yashiro Nanakase and his teammates Chris and Shermie (whom she briefly met some time ago in a TV station) manage to get a hold on her.
As Kyo, Goro, Benimaru and other fighters make their way in the tournament, Yuki is held hostage by the Orochi clan, and through her captors she learns more about her heritage and role in the whole story... and that she's gonna be killed in the ritual to bring Orochi fully back into the world. However, before this takes place, Kyo, Iori and Chizuru arrive to the scene and are told about this too. Kyo is enraged after he learns that Yuki is gonna be sacrificed, and this gives him an extra boost to take on the newly-awakened Orochi, augmented after the spirit of the Yasakani clan briefly talks to him and, along with begging him to seal Orochi along with Iori, entrusts him with the last Kushinada's protection. Kyo doesn't say anything, but he obeys the Yasakani spirit's orders and seals Orochi; his last thoughts before losing consciousness are of a smiling Yuki, who says she'll wait for him to come home.
[edit] What happened to her?
What truly happens to Yuki from then on is unclear. It's generally assumed that she survived her ordeal, was taken away (presumably by Chizuru) from the battlefield after Kyo and Iori sealed Orochi away, and decided to come back to her normal life, avoiding any attention towards herself until Kyo is able to come back to her.
Since the main enemies in the new King of Fighters games are the Heralds of Orochi, whose major goal is to re-awaken the god, there's the possibility of Yuki coming back to the storyline. Whether she will be killed off-screen in the middle of the conflict, kidnapped for a second time or leave her damsel role to become a full-fledged fighter (like Yuri Sakazaki), it's not known.
[edit] Trivia
- Yuki's voice actress is Tomoko Kojima. She was chosen for the CD and radio dramas, and had only a single line in the KoF' 97 game: "Matteru kara ne, Kyo!" ("I'll wait for you, Kyo!"). Kojima was a newcomer to voice acting in general, chosen in an open audition for aspirant teen idols.
- In the manhwa by Andy Seto, Yuki is Kyo's fiancée through a clan arrangement, thought they still had genuine feelings for each other. At one moment, Vice tries to kill Kyo by disguising herself as Yuki and seducing him, but Kyo unmasks her in the last moment: he says Vice could imitate Yuki's usual sweet demeanor wonderfully, but not her angrier and more tomboyish side.
- In the KoF'98 game, one of the ending CG's includes Yuki, smiling and sewing Kyo's jacket as Benimaru and Goro spar in the background.
- The only game that has Yuki as a more active character is SNK Gals' Fighters. She is a selectable hidden fighter in that game.
