Sakura


 * "Careful! You might hurt yourself!"
 * —Sakura

Sakura Kasugano (春日野 さくら, Kasugano Sakura) is a character in the Street Fighter series. She is a Japanese schoolgirl who has an intense fascination with Ryu. She has managed to copy and learn some of Ryu's techniques, but really wants him to train her personally.

Appearance
Sakura typically fights in her school's uniform, a short-skirted sailor fuku (seifuku) with the collar popped and red bloomers underneath. She also wears red Converse-esque shoes, a red top under her uniform, red boxing gloves, a yellow scarf tied in the front, and a white headband (given by Ryu before Street Fighter Alpha 2). She has short brown hair.

Story
Chronologically, Sakura first appeared in Rival Schools, where she had begun to participate in street fighting after watching Ryu win the first World Warrior tournament. 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.

Street Fighter Alpha 2
The then-14-year old Sakura was searching for Ryu and wished for him to train her to be a better fighter. She met up with many interesting people along the way, and eventually came across Ryu, who was still stressed over the Satsui no Hadou that had corrupted him - he told her he could not 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. Sakura also kept training in the hopes of one day meeting Ryu again with a better understanding of fighting.

Street Fighter Alpha 3
At 16, 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 was not everything. Thereafter traveling with her 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 screaming for Ryu and Sagat's urgings finally snapped Ryu out of the mind control and he defeated Bison, destroying him temporarily. He told Sakura then he was not ready to train her and fight a rematch with her yet, and walked off, with Sakura watching him go. She then realized that there was something really special about Ryu, but she didn't know what. She has a friend named Kei Chitose who attends the same high school and sometimes goes along with Sakura's street fight tour.

Super Street Fighter IV
Sakura, now 18, returns again, still searching for Ryu. This time, it is heavily implied that her admiration toward Ryu has developed into a full-on crush. Her win quote against Sagat has her admitting that she understands his obsession with Ryu, adding "Isn't he just dreamy?". Some time after the end of the second World Warrior tournament, she confronts Dan about whether he knows anything about where Ryu might be. Dan, not wanting to appear out of the loop, says that a new tournament is rumored to be about to start, and that Ken will be participating, speculating that Ryu will also be there. Ecstatic, Sakura immediately runs off to enter. She, Dan and Blanka depart on a cruise ship on which she endures a gruelling self-imposed training regime. She also seems to have since become friends with Karin, texting her frequently to update her on Sakura's progress through the tournament. During the tournament, she actively seeks out Ryu, eventually finding him in the S.I.N. building in the midst of destroying the BLECE project. The force of the struggle knocks Sakura unconscious, and she awakes to see a triumphant Ryu standing over her. The two escape from the S.I.N. building in the midst of explosions - which were probably Vega's doing - and run into Dan and Blanka along the way. After the tournament, she and Ryu exchange goodbyes and Sakura leaves for home on the ship. Sakura realizes that it was love that she felt for Ryu. Some time later, while out walking her dog, a slightly older-looking Sakura sees Ryu approaching. What happens next is unknown.

Gameplay
Sakura fights using an emulated version of Ryu's fighting style. 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 Ryu and other warriors from the same style, however, she can control the size of her Hadouken and throw larger Hadouken projectiles that sacrifice range and execution speed for size and power (up to 3 times larger). In the Marvel vs. Capcom series, she throws her Hadoukens diagonally upwards, though her "Hiyakeshita" (literally "Sunburned") version still throws them horizontally. In Capcom vs. SNK, 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 (though her EX version lets her use her special version of the Hadouken).

Her other attacks include "Shunpuu Kyaku", a short version of the "Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku" attack that, instead of sailing through the air, rises and 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.

Her Super Combos include her own interpretations of the Shinkuu Hadoken (which, like her regular projectile, will not cover the full length of the screen) and Shoryu-Reppa ("Midare Zakura"). Her third super attack is a ground based spinning leg attack (called the "Haru Ichiban", literally translated as "first one of the spring") that ends with a side kick that knocks her opponent away. In the Marvel vs. Capcom series (under her "Hiyakeshita Sakura" version), the Street Fighter EX series and Rival Schools, she also gains the Shun Goku Satsu, altough it has no cannonical reference on the Street Fighter plot.

Her appearance in Street Fighter EX3 sees her gain two unique Meteor Combos: first is the "Nekkestsu Hadouken", in which she fires a massive, pink Hadouken, which is several times her size, exceptionally fast, and does more damage than any other projectile attack in the game; the second is "Genki Ichiban", which can deal about 80% damage to an opponent but is widely telegraphed (she tiptoes toward her opponent and points & laughs; the pointing is unblockable and causes a great deal of knockback).

Trivia

 * Sakura is one of two fighters who are taught by two of the main characters in the Street Fighter series: Ryu and Ken. The other is Sean.
 * Sakura is one of the 19 characters in Street Fighter 4 to not have second rivals in Super Street Fighter 4, despite having a ultra combo video to include her second rival (Cammy).
 * She remains as the only Street Fighter with a vocal theme song "I Just Want You to Know", first found in the arrange soundtrack of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. The melody would find itself being emulated in her theme song of Street Fighter IV.
 * She's one of the most popular Street Fighter characters, having more appearances on non-Street Fighter games than Ken.
 * Cammy and Sakura may have likely met and fought in the past, based their quotes in Super Street Fighter IV (especially in Cammy's quote).