Karin

"I'll show you the divide in our class! (格の違いをお見せしますわ！)"

- Karin (Street Fighter V)

Karin Kanzuki (神月 かりん) is a character from the Street Fighter series who was originally featured in the 1996 manga Sakura Ganbaru! before appearing as playable fighter in Street Fighter Alpha 3. She is the elitist rival of Sakura, and head of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu.

Family
Karin is the daughter of Daigenjuro; their butler is Ishizaki‎, and Shibazaki is the family steward. Karin's father Daigenjuro is a rather strict man as he constantly pushes his daughter into becoming a better heir to the Kanzuki family fortune, as he wanted a son.

The wealthy Kanzuki family's mottos are "All you need is victory" (also interpreted as "Be the winner in everything") and, alternately, "The worst we'll ever be is the best" (a bonus short in the Street Fighter III: Ryu Final manga takes this further with "Victorious, therefore Supreme! Supreme, she is Karin Kanzuki!"). Her family's private estate covers 200 miles of land, and not only has its own geographical features but its own climate. The Kanzukis are even wealthier than the Masters, so rich that they have their own satellite called "Red Spider-Lily". She was given a son's upbringing because her father always wanted a male heir to his conglomerate.

Appearance
As a self-styled rival of Sakura, Karin naturally has a similar outfit, complete with sailor fuku, except hers is predominantly red and white with a blue bola tie. She stylizes her blonde hair into long, oversized ringlet curls in a Victorian Europe-era fashion with two small forelocks, and occasionally wears a blue bow in the back. She appears to wear underwear on the outside of her black shorts and completes her outfit with matching black socks and short, red boots. She also wears brown fingerless gloves.

In Street Fighter V, her outfit appearance has been altered from her original school uniform into a business suit-esque outfit but has still a resemblance to the original in palette and design. She wears a red long sleeve jacket with a blue frill shirt and white frill folded sleeves underneath and a white ascot tie at the center of her collar, red frill skirt with black tights.

Her first alternate costume consists of a black turtleneck dress and matching black flats. She also wears a matching black watch on her right wrist and a pendant on her neck. Her ribbon is pink. Her second alternate costume is mostly identical to her main outfit but with a pink sweater vest on her top, a white frilled skirt and matching tights. Her boots are red and white, her hairstyle remains the same but in a full fringe.

Personality
Karin's laugh and mannerisms are derived from the unpleasant "ojou" stereotypes common in anime and manga and "rich person"/"popular schoolgirl"/"spoiled brat" stereotypes of Western animated cartoons and movies; while she typically remains snobbish and haughty as per the standard, other aspects of her personality can vary wildly in other media. In Namco x Capcom, Karin is calmer, more level-headed and cynical, and serves as the voice of reason for the impulsive Sakura (though she still retains her trademark laugh and condescending comments during battle sequences). In the UDON comics, on the other hand, she is extremely hateful and competitive to the point of obsessiveness, making her much more of an antagonist. Throughout the franchise, she does retain her mannerisms and snobbiness and a habit of acting before thinking.

Typical of some rich girls in fictional media, Karin usually refers to other people as "commoners", or inferiors. She lives by her family's motto more than the rest of her family, as she takes majority control of her father's company from under his nose in a hostile takeover (ironic, since he was the one to drive that philosophy into her).

After Karin finds and eventually defeats Sakura in a rematch, she feels that she won only "by chance" and finally admits that Sakura is actually the best of them. Karin then decides to ditch her family's motto of "always winning" (at least when concerning martial arts) and starts to praise fighting itself as more important than victory or defeat, showing a bit of humility.

One of Sakura's Versus mode win quotes in the Street Fighter IV games implies that she and Karin have become friends sometime after Street Fighter Alpha 3.

In Street Fighter V, her character has somewhat changed. As new head of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, she is proper and polite at all times, but her haughty demeanor has been replaced, to a degree, by a new respect towards her opponents, and an interest in new and unique fighting styles; while still capable of making unflattering comments towards them if they don't meet her expectations, she seems to have lived up to her previous realization that it is the challenge, not the victory, that is important. By this time, her friendship with Sakura is confirmed, although their rivalry is very much present still.

Sakura
Karin and Sakura are friends and rivals. Sakura first defeated Karin, making Karin lose her long winning streak. Shortly after, she defeated her. Sometime after, they became good friends and rivals, much like Ryu and Ken.

Birdie
Birdie and Karin first met while Birdie was attempting to escape from Shadaloo. After she defeated him, and he told her why he escaped, she hired him as a bodyguard.

Guy
Karin first confronted him in Street Fighter Alpha 3 to test out his skills. After being defeated, she sent him to Shadaloo with the intention of defeating M. Bison.

R. Mika
They first met also in Street Fighter Alpha 3, in which Karin underestimated her. Karin soon became Mika's sponsor. In Street Fighter V, she, along with others, helped take down Shadaloo.

Dhalsim
After missing the opportunity to fight Oro, she fights Dhalsim instead. They later team up to destroy Shadaloo.

Oro
Karin seeks to fight Oro.

Zangief
Karin saved Zangief from Shadaloo's henchmen and asked for a match in return. They soon got together, along with others, to destroy Shadaloo.

Ibuki
Ibuki came to Karin's party after Sakura couldn't come, filling her place. They greet each other and have a match. Being impressed by her skills, Karin hires Ibuki for a short time, so her and Birdie are on the same payroll. They join the others in the plan to destroy Shadaloo.

Ken
Karin is good friends with Ken and his family. She invites them to a party at some point in Street Fighter V. They take part in the takedown of Shadaloo.

Rashid
At first, she thought he was an intruder and a guest "without manners" who wanted the pieces for himself. However, after Rashid gained her trust, they became friends and allies in the battle against Shadaloo.

Chun-Li
Karin and Chun-Li are good friends. In a win quote against her, Karin states that some of her moves were inspired by Chun-Li. Chun-Li takes part in Karin's plan to destroy Shadaloo and take down M. Bison.

Background
Karin considers herself a rival of Sakura, who defeated her when challenged.

Karin has been given several tests by her father to complete or else she is disqualified from inheriting the family fortune. Her first test was when she was 9, where she was taken to the woods with meager food and water; she had to come home safely or else she'd be disowned (her father struggled two weeks to accomplish this when he was her age, but Karin polished the trial off in 4 days). Another test, based solely on her gender, was that if she didn't charm at minimum 5,000 of the world's gentlemen she cannot inherit the family fortune. Yet another test required her to stop a stampede of fifty wild bulls, single-handedly stopping a running of the bulls at age 14. Karin subdued fifty bulls in all, beating her father's record by one.

Street Fighter Alpha 3
The Kanzuki corporation is threatened by Shadaloo, which makes demands of the dynasty. She uses the family fortune in an attempt to track down Shadaloo, as well as confronting a roving Sakura to challenge her again. Along the way, she encounters Blanka and defeats him in a friendly match, musing that "the world is so vast" for such a beast to exist. She also encounters R. Mika and battles her, and is so impressed by Mika's ability that she offers the wrestler her sponsorship. Karin eventually finds and defeats Sakura, but realizes the victory was a fluke, and that the fight itself is more important, not winning or losing (as Ken Masters told her this previously).

Street Fighter V
Karin was revealed as a returning character for Street Fighter V on September 16, 2015, during the Tokyo Game Show. This is her first playable appearance in the main games since her playable debut in Alpha 3. By the time Street Fighter V takes place, she is now the head of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, having succeeded her father; it is confirmed that she still is R. Mika's sponsor.

Story
Now succeeding her father as the head of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu (and currently engaged in direct relationships with the Prime Minister and other heads of state), Karin returns home to the Kanzuki Estate, where Shibazaki and Birdie are waiting for her (in the latter's own backstory, it is revealed that Karin invited him to stay as his guest, impressed by his improvements and as a test of her own leadership); after a sparring match with Birdie which leaves her victorious but unsatisfied, Shibazaki tells her that a worthy challenger could have been found: a mysterious Senjutsu master who fights with an arm sealed (with whom apparently her own grandfather had battled for three days straight). Promptly, Karin decides to go to India.

There, she meets Dhalsim, who tells her that the Senjutsu master has been gone for a few days; Karin decides to make up for the lost opportunity and challenges the Yoga master. After a very long match, they both praise each other's skills (Dhalsim's increased mastery of Yoga, and Karin's "pure fist") before the latter teleports away. Just then, Zangief arrives on the scene, being chased by Shadaloo hitmen; Karin dispatches them (apparently with a secret Kanzuki technique), and after that, she and Zangief have a match. They part ways satisfied, and Karin returns to Japan. There, she is met at the estate by a friend she has not seen in a while, Sakura; after greeting each other amicably, Karin is quick to assume a battle stance, to which her rival laughs that she hasn't changed a bit, but that's just how she likes it.

A Shadow Falls
In the game's main story, Karin was seen talking to other business officials during her party and also watches the tag team battle between R. Mika and Zangief against Alex and Laura. When one of the Black Moons created an electromagnetic pulse in New York on its activation, the signals soon jam. Karin looked at one of the seven Black Moons, seeing that it was responsible, she finally decides to go investigate New York. The next day after the investigation, Shibazaki informs her about the solution to stop the Black Moons, when Rashid arrives to get the chess piece from her. They do battle as Karin appears triumphant. Rashid admits that he is not the enemy, persuading Karin to allow him to keep the chess piece, he then escapes with Azam. Karin then orders Shibazaki to gather all the top fighters and bring them to the estate.

Karin's leadership is also shown to gather all the fighters to stop Shadaloo by collecting the chess pieces to stop their plan and she meets up with Cammy who informs her about the seven Black Moons and the connection of the missing hackers. When Marz and Decapre infiltrate her estate. Karin states that she will teach her uninvited guests in manners by fighting them. Karin eventually takes down Marz while trying to break her arm and warns both Ibuki and R. Mika while they have to argue that she will join their argument if she beats them in satisfactory which makes both disagree and they are satisfied. She makes a mission to all fighters to get the chess piece from Alex and the other is Laura from Brazil. Dhalsim takes his mission in New York, while Ken takes his mission to Brazil with Chun-Li and Cammy. Therefore, Zangief takes his mission with Guile and Karin, Ibuki and R. Mika to infiltrate Shadaloo's main base.

As they successfully infiltrate the base and Rashid returns the chess piece back to her, she and Chun-Li manages to stop the plan by completing the six chess piece. Before that F.A.N.G arrives to confront them making Karin fights him. Karin knocks back F.A.N.G long enough for Chun Li to halt his plans. F.A.N.G then warns them that he has a backup plan that will never be stopped until he escapes using poison clouds. Since the backup plan was activated and has a time limit, Karin decided to regroup back in her estate while waiting for the helicopter until Guile arrives to take them back including Rashid and a revived Charlie Nash who are chased by Necalli.

Karin finally decides to make a final assault back in Shadaloo and she was impressed to see Ryu for a long time. She already made preparations to infiltrate the base using her family ninjas by her side. During the final assault, she allows Chun-Li, Guile, and Ryu to get inside the base while fending off the Shadaloo soldiers and the Dolls. Karin was confronted by Enero who is the leader of the Dolls and both shares the same laugh before she manages to takes her down. To her surprise, Enero was controlled by Psycho Power while she screams in pain making the fight into a more serious one until they are now free from its control due to F.A.N.G's device is destroyed by Rashid during the confrontation.

After Bison was defeated by Ryu, Karin is last seen relieved to see Chun-Li, Ryu and Guile safe upon reuniting with the other fighters.

Sakura Ganbaru!
Karin was introduced for the first time in this manga as the heiress of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, enrolled in Sakura's school, Tamagawa Minami High, to "observe the life of commoners"; intrigued by her ability to fight, Karin challenged her to a match, showcasing a deadly style created by blending together all the martial arts that she had mastered, however Sakura managed to defeat her, thus sparking off their rivalry.

To avenge this dishonour, Karin organized a street fighting tournament held throughout the city which attracted numerous participants, planning to fight and win against Sakura in the final match; however, after seeing Ken Masters (participating in the tournament under a false name) defeating Dan, she decided to fight against him to test her own strength, and ended up losing and being disqualified (although Ken acknowledged her skill and resolve).

UDON comics
Karin appeared in UDON's Street Fighter Legends: Sakura comic. In it, she is portrayed in a considerably less honorable light, using questionable methods to gain underhanded advantages over Sakura, such as rigging a hot-dog eating contest in which Sakura took part just so Karin could challenge her later when Sakura was stuffed full of food, and thus in no real condition to fight.

Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter
Karin may have been intended to appear in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter; her sprite, based mostly on her Sakura Ganbaru! appearance (i.e. the same school outfit as Sakura with boots instead of sneakers, as shown below) exists somewhere in the ROM data, near Dan's sprites.

Capcom Fighting Evolution
Karin also appeared in Capcom Fighting Evolution as a playable character. In her ending, after defeating Pyron, she travels to a secluded retreat on the moon via spaceship.

SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium
Karin appeared in Match of the Millennium as the Capcom guide character for the game's Olympic Mode.

Namco × Capcom
Karin appears in the Japan-only Namco × Capcom as Sakura's partner.

Granblue Fantasy
Karin appeared in the collaboration event Granblue Fighter V along with F.A.N.G, Necalli and Rashid.

Gameplay and fighting style
Though she styles herself as a rival to Sakura, Karin uses the Kanzuki style martial arts, a style she created herself, instead of the "original" style Sakura uses. Karin has a wide array of strikes, throws and potent reversals, and she prides herself on being able to handle any opponent she faces. She prefers to keep her opponents guessing by varying the speed of her attacks, and also makes them second-guess their own choice of moves for fear of her powerful counterattacks.

She is well versed in various forms of Bushido, military arts, and "combative sports". This was probably mistranslated from a term that meant "combat sports", which includes various events (e.g. Japanese pro wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts groups). The sum of all her accomplishments in the field of martial arts is equivalent to 100 dan and 8 kyu (the Japanese ranking system for martial arts, among other things).

Karin's overall style focuses on pacing, dashing strikes and counters, and aerial attacks. Karin's fighting versatility allows her to stay on the move while setting up crushing counters. However, she has a moderate lag time between her attacks and can be thwarted by an opponent that jumps over her and attacks. Her style can be seen as a mix of Fei Long and Chun-Li, as both utilize pacing and speed. Utilized correctly, Karin is not one to be taken lightly and can have her opponent falling for a perfectly-timed counter.

Quotes
See: Karin/Quotes

Pop Culture
See: Karin/Pop Culture

Trivia

 * Although Karin is usually depicted as an only child of the Kanzuki family in most Street Fighter media (this is even stated as much in Sakura Ganbaru!), in the Ryu Final manga, she has three unnamed sisters.


 * According to the Street Fighter: World Warrior Encyclopedia, Karin's school uniform is the same style as Sakura's, but colored in red and blue and custom-made especially for her.


 * Karin may have been intended to be the female counterpart of Ken Masters since they both are blonde rich fighters who wear red clothing and their respective rivals (Sakura and Ryu) are the reason why Karin and Ken are motivated to becoming stronger. Furthermore, Karin looked up at Ken as her inspiration in martial arts and she considers Sakura as her greatest rival just like the friendly rivalry between Ken and Ryu.

Gallery
Karin/Gallery

Sprites
Karin/Sprites