R. Mika

"The superstar of the ring... That's what I wanna be!"

- R. Mika

"I'll kick your ass! All right! Let's begiiiiin!!! (かましたれえ！！ おっしやいいいくそぉぉぉ！！！)"

- R. Mika (Street Fighter V)

Rainbow Mika (レインボー・ミカ), often shortened to R. Mika, is a video game character from the Street Fighter series. Her true name is Mika Nanakawa (七川 美華), and she is a professional wrestler trained by her tag-team partner: the big, domineering, shinai-sporting, Honda Canopy-riding Yoko Harmegeddon. She first made her debut in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and returned in Street Fighter V.

Appearance
Mika has long, blonde hair with bangs that is tied in two geometrical pigtails. Her attire is a revealing blue and white leotard with ruffles around the collar, sleeves, and the leg holes, meant to be flamboyant, so as to stand out from the more experienced wrestling pools and circles. On her chest are blue hearts, one on each breast. Being a Japanese blonde has its way of hiding her devotion and sincerity to her sport, as does her mask, and she possibly aims for making her arm joints less constricted due to the exposed portions of her uniform around her elbows and shoulders. She also wears tall, white, lace-up boots with white stockings.

In Street Fighter V, her appearance remains largely the same, except the blue hearts on her chest were removed. Because of the shift from sprites to 3D models, her pigtails are animated more realistically.

She has two alternate costumes in the game, the first is a blue wrestling suit with a single long sleeve identical to Zangief's first alternate costume and the other is her primary outfit modified in a phoenix motif with different shades of red and phoenix feathered design on her wrestling mask.

Personality
Mika is a sprightly, beautiful girl who prides herself on going all out and wowing the crowds with her wrestling moves. Her performances can be a little rough around the edges, but she definitely has the potential to enter the pro circuit. She idolizes Zangief and considers his way of fighting as the ideal route for herself. The mask she wears around her eyes can sometimes make it difficult to tell what Mika is thinking or feeling, but she is very open about about her emotions and speaks in a distinctive manner.

Concept
Mika was created to introduce a "tricky and technical character" into the series, though she was not a female wrestler in the beginning. After her development, the team introduced Karin to provide a contrast to her.

Street Fighter Alpha 3
After graduation from a local junior high school, a woman by the name of Nanakawa Mika begins her plans to become a female wrestler as the pupil of Harmageddon Youko. By way of a several year-interval training period, Rainbow Mika was ready to make her debut as a pro wrestler. She thought of the perfect marketing gimmick to promote her name-- traveling the world and engaging in random matches with street fighters. Through this publicity journey, R. Mika meets the great Zangief and cooperates in some way with his mission to destroy the Psycho Drive, though they end up rescuing people with E. Honda as well (specially noted in AAC). Afterwards, Mika continues to train as a pro wrestler so that she can finally meet him (Zangief) again later on.

At some point in the story, Mika meets Karin, and the two fight. Karin is so impressed with Mika’s fighting ability that she promised that the Kanzuki Zaibatsu would become her sponsor if/when she becomes a first-class wrestler. Six months after the Psycho Drive was destroyed, Zangief finally met R. Mika at her home stage for a public bout. In just under 20 minutes, Zangief finally trounces Mika with a Final Atomic Buster; despite the devastating loss, she still has nothing but respect for him afterwards. Zangief remarks that she's got a high wall to climb, but she is well underway.

Karin's sponsoring R. Mika is confirmed in Street Fighter Eternal, since Mika did later on become a reputable pro wrestler.

Street Fighter V
R. Mika returns in Street Fighter V, making her first playable appearance since her debut in Alpha 3. By her quotes, it is confirmed that Karin is still her sponsor.

Story
R. Mika met with Zangief in London, much to her excitement, and the two fought to show each other's progress; as she expressed her admiration towards the Russian fighter, he, praising her skills, suggested that she follows him in his quest around the world to find "Muscle Spirit". She didn't know what that is, but eagerly accepted. During a pause in India, Mika found Birdie stealing donuts, and stopped him. After overpowering the thug, she told him he wasn't nearly Zangief's equal and he had no Muscle Spirit; when he said he didn't understand what she was talking about, Mika realized to her confusion she didn't really know either, and Birdie took advantage of it to slip away, much to her irritation.

In Russia, Zangief got Mika to fight Laura, then he stepped in for a match of his own. Mika looked on with admiration, but after a while she realized that the bear had gotten loose; not wanting him to spoil the fight, and wishing to protect her idol for a change, she stepped in and grappled with him. As she was at the end of her rope, Zangief came to help and dispatched the beast, to which she felt that she was more distant than ever from her objectve. Mika told the Russian wrestler that she felt that she hadn't advanced yet enough, but Zangief disagreed, saying that by fearlessly facing the bear she showed Muscle Spirit - the fusion between the physical effort and the passion of the spirit. He then told her that by following in his quest she had earned the right to be his partner and fight by his side, much to her happiness.

After that, Mika met Ibuki at the Kanzuki Estate; the meeting, however, degenerated as Mika found Ibuki arrogant and not even willing to listen to her offer of "helping her build some muscle", and Ibuki calling Mika bossy and finding her overexcited, and as a result they prepared to fight.

UDON comics
R. Mika also appeared in UDON's Street Fighter II: Turbo comic, Street Fighter Legends: Sakura comic, Street Fighter IV comic and in Super Street Fighter: New Generations comics.

El Fuerte is also shown to be a huge fan of R. Mika in the comics. In the Street Fighter IV comic, one of her matches is being shown on TV at a restaurant. T. Hawk, watching, requests that the channel be changed, since he can't stand pro wrestling. After hearing T. Hawk badmouth both pro wrestling and R. Mika, El Fuerte bursts from the kitchen and yells at T. Hawk. R. Mika's image adorns every piece of El Fuerte's cooking attire.

Later on, El Fuerte befriends Sakura while they are in the backstage of a game show in Japan, after she mentions that she's a personal friend of R. Mika (something that was shown in Street Fighter Legends: Sakura), and at the end of the Street Fighter IV mini-series, Sakura brings R. Mika in person to El Fuerte's restaurant in Mexico, much to his amazement.

Cameo Appearance
R. Mika made a cameo appearance in Felicia's Capcom Fighting Evolution ending.

Gameplay/Fighting style
Mika is primarily a vortex character. Like all vortex characters in the Street Fighter series (and fighting games in general) Mika is fast and agile. She has a fairly high and quick jump, and walks quite swiftly. Mika's normal attacks are diverse and useful, but aside from two command throws, her specials are none too impressive, so they must be used as a vital part of play strategy.

Like Dan, some of Mika's special attacks are rather comical. In her Flying Peach and Shooting Peach specials, she flings herself into her opponent buttocks-first, and mostly falls on it and has to rub it due to recoil. For her opening taunt and Beach Special Super Combo, she uses the top turnbuckle of a wrestling ring that appears from the side of the screen. The sudden appearance of a turnbuckle is amusingly redundant when Mika is fighting on her own stage at a beachside wrestling ring.

In Street Fighter V, Mika gains more wrestling moves such as a Frankensteiner, a Stunner, and a Giant Swing. Her V-Trigger enables her to be aided by her tag-team partner Yamato Nadeshiko as seen in some of her special attacks and her Critical Art.

Quotes

 * See R. Mika/Quotes.

Trivia

 * Nanakawa in kanji means "seven rivers," and her first name Mika means roughly "beautiful blossom".


 * R. Mika's measurements (Bust, Waist, Hip) are 38" (97 cm), 28" (72 cm), and 36" (93 cm).


 * R. Mika is the only playable female wrestler in the Street Fighter universe.


 * The All About Street Fighter Zero 3 guidebook states that R. Mika's hobbies are running on sandy beaches, push-ups, and wrestler's bridge. It also states that her special skill is gluttony.


 * On the cover of the Capcom Secret File from the arcade version of Alpha 3, R. Mika is teamed up with a black haired fellow female wrestler named Yamato Nadeshiko (her name is a phrase which actually means the Japanese concept of the "perfect" woman), who works for the same wrestling organization as R. Mika and is also her tag-team partner (as seen in gallery below). Yamato appears as R. Mika's V-Trigger in Street Fighter V, every special attack has its own version with Nadeshiko while during the activation of the V-Trigger.


 * R. Mika's attire appears as a Swap Costume for Tekken character Kuma in Street Fighter X Tekken.


 * Junko Takeuchi, R. Mika's voice actress in Street Fighter Alpha 3, is known for voicing the protagonist Naruto Uzumaki in the original Japanese language version of the Naruto and Shippuden anime, even though her role as R. Mika predates it.


 * Mika's blue eyes are likely due to contact lenses. In her alternate colours, her eyes always match the colour of her outfit.

Gallery
R. Mika/Gallery

Sprites
R. Mika/Sprites