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Hinata Wakaba (若葉 ひなた Wakaba Hinata) is a fighting game character from the Rival Schools series of 3D fighting games. She first appeared in Rival Schools: United by Fate, being the first student to tag along in Batsu's search for his missing mother Shizuku.

Biography[]

Personality[]

Being a very curious girl, Hinata just can't keep still, and often run around off campus after school. She can be sometimes be a bit of a smart-aleck because of her winning spirit, but other than that, she is a cheerful and lively person who lives the usual life of a modern schoolgirl.

Appearance[]

Hinata has short brown hair with a white headband on her forehead and brown eyes. She wears a blue sleeveless shirt under a short sleeve white button shirt with a pink ribbon in the collar, blue skirt, white panties, white socks, and white and yellow sneakers.

As "Hinata2", she wears a white short sleeve loose shirt with red outlines, red bloomers and her sneakers from her primary outfit. Her hair is golden brown and her headband is red.

In the School Life Mode of Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2 during certain events, she is not seen wearing her headband while wearing various outfits except during both Swimming Day and the Beach Overnight. She also wears two swimsuits during the two specific days themselves. When she swims with the player during Swimming Day, she wears an orange high-neck swim top with a single sunflower design and a matching bikini, but when she hangs out with both Batsu and Kyosuke during the Beach Overnight, she wears a white and blue stripped one-piece suit with her name imprinted on the chest. In her cameo appearance in Street Fighter V, her one-piece suit became a one-piece shorts and is no longer have her name imprinted on the chest.

Story[]

Rival Schools: United by Fate[]

Before Batsu was transferred to Taiyo High, the school was somewhat a downtrodden place. She wanted her schoolmates to fight alongside with her, but nobody had the courage to do so. That is, until Batsu came into the picture with a personal mission in mind: to find his missing mother Shizuku. Although Batsu didn't want to have Hinata along, she still went with him, helping him out. Her efforts eventually paid off; news of her cooperation with both Batsu and fellow Taiyo High classmate Kyosuke had inspired many students to take up martial arts, much to her surprise.

Project Justice[]

In Project Justice, Hinata once again joins Batsu and Kyosuke in investigating a new threat to the local schools. Her fate in the Taiyo High story varies; in one potential scenario, she is kidnapped by Kurow and eventually saved by the combined efforts of Batsu, Kyosuke, and the returning Roy and Tiffany while in another potential scenario, Hinata herself leads Taiyo High's investigation in Batsu's absence and is later saved by him when attacked by a disguised Kurow.

After the incident, Hinata is completely devastated upon learning of Kyosuke's unexpected disappearance after the tragic death of his twin brother Hyo and along with Batsu, Ran, Chairperson, and the rest of their Taiyo High classmates, all of them personally and emotionally await the return of Kyosuke.

Gameplay[]

Hinata, when played correctly, can become quite a nuisance to her opponent. One of the keys for players is to remember that her back/down Heavy Kick is excellent as a Tardy Counter, and can lead to some high-damage air combos when used in the right instances. For instance, after blocking an opponent's projectile or slow-recovery special move, Hinata can use the Tardy Counter for great results. Using quick, poking Light Punches, followed by either a throw or a Fiery Dance Kick can also be quite troublesome. Players must always be ready to cut short a Textbook Combo and come out with a throw. This can keep an opponent on the wary side. Her style can be described as a combination between both Ken and Sakura's fighting style.

Hinata's Team-Up Technique is pretty quick. It's a great move to get players out of jams while powering up her teammate with Burning Vigor. Once it is performed, there will lots of Burning Vigor available for the teammate to use in the fight.

Special Moves[]

  • Energy Focus Palm (Japanese: 気功掌底 Kikou Shoutei) - Hinata unleashes a short-range energy burst from her palm. Its Hard Punch version can be made to deal up to a maximum of five hits by repeatedly pressing the punch button. In Project Justice, her projectile becomes one hand instead of both making her combo damage into eight hits. Her one-hand projectile appears as a small version of Gouken's Go Hadoken.
  • Sunrise Punch (Japanese: 昇陽拳 Shouyouken) - Hinata does a jumping twirl roughly resembling Ken's Shoryuken and Sakura's Shouoken. Depending on the punch button pressed for this move's button combination, Hinata may or may not do a sidestep before executing this move. Good as an anti-air attack. In Project Justice her punch becomes a fiery tornado instead of being an uppercut that deals 2 hits.
  • Fiery Dance Kick (Japanese: 炎舞脚 Enbukyaku) - Hinata does three spin-kicks, and this has two versions, depending on the kick button pressed for this move's button combination. Both versions are also usable in the air.

Version One

An exact copy of Sakura's Shunpuukyaku, wherein Hinata does a helicopter kick.

Version Two

Hinata does three flying spin-kicks that set the opponent on fire for a brief moment.


  • Consecutive Kick Blast (Japanese: 連脚弾 Renkyakudan) - An air-only move. Hinata kicks her shoes 45 degrees downward. The weird thing here is that she is able to kick a third shoe, when she is wearing only two. Best used against opponents approaching from the ground by dashing.

Burning Vigor Attacks[]

  • Assured Victory Constant Punching (Japanese: 必勝連撃拳 Hisshou Rengekken) - This has a maximum range of approximately four steps. Hinata rushes forward, delivers a fast barrage of punches, and ends with a Sunrise Punch that briefly sets the opponent ablaze. While Hinata is approaching the opponent, she cannot be fazed by almost any attack, including Burning Vigor versions of projectile attacks, e.g. Hideo's Shimazu-ryuu Seihaken. Recommended as a Tardy Counter. In Project Justice since her Sunrise Punch has a minor change, the damage deals into 11 hits instead of 10 hits.
  • Spiralling Fiery Dance Kick (Japanese: 螺旋炎舞脚 Rasen Enbukyaku) - Powered version of the Fiery Dance Kick that roughly resembles a slow but fiery version of Ryu's Shinku Tatsumaki. Hinata does five, ascending forward spin kicks that briefly set the opponent ablaze. Best used either as an anti-air attack, or an Air Combo finisher. In Project Justice, this move has a minor change that roughly resembles Ken's Guren Enjinkyaku.

Team-Up Technique[]

  • Guts-a-Hundredfold (Japanese: ガッツ百倍 Guts Hyakubai) - Hinata approaches the active character to cheer the latter up. This fills the Guts meter to maximum level.
  • Crossfire Kick- The active character will uppercut her opponent into the air then leaps up and smash punches them as both Hinata and the active character will cross-kick the opponent (as Hinata2).

Party-Up Technique[]

  • Hinata does the Final Symphony.

Comics[]

Hinata also appears, along with Natsu and Shoma, in UDON's Street Fighter Legends: Sakura comic.

Crossover appearances[]

Hinata was planned to be included in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as a playable character, but was dropped from within the later development of the game.

Cameos[]

Hinata, along with Batsu, appears in Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 as part of Kyosuke's Final Symphony Remix: after the opponent is launched, she hits them on the way down with a punch combo followed by an Enbukyaku, later joining the classmates for the final hit.

She made a cameo appearance in Felicia's Capcom Fighting Evolution ending.

Hinata's recent cameo is in Street Fighter V's DLC stage Kanzuki Beach. She and Tiffany also appears at the last part of Akira's character story having fun on the beach party made up by Karin Kanzuki as well as Akira's one of the secret images in her arcade ending.

She is seen in the background along with Tiffany and the Street Fighter III Judgement Girls. They are also both seen in Akira's character story.

Gallery[]

Hinata Wakaba/Gallery

Trivia[]

  • Hinata is a smart girl who, despite her small size, excels in almost all kinds of sports. Her proficiency in hand-to-hand fighting is said to be at par with those who compete at the national level. She received her training via a correspondence course, but the identity of her trainer remains undisclosed up to this day.
    • It was later revealed that Hinata had mastered martial arts from Ken Masters' online fighting school.[2]
      • However, it is made clear in Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2 that the Masters style does not teach specific ways to embed flames into the attacks, instead it's something Hinata learned through her own talent.
  • The following details on Hinata's life is as described:
    • She lives with her parents and older sister Asaka, who is a college student. Where Asaka studies has never been disclosed to this day.
    • Talent-wise, Hinata loves to sing and dance.[1]
    • She is good at Japanese language, physical education, and social studies; but fares poorly in calligraphy.[1]
    • Hinata may be known for her national-level proficiency in martial arts, but her real skill is in origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.
    • Hinata does not belong to any club in their school, but on Sunday's many people ask for her help in various clubs.[1]
    • Hinata is close friends with Sakura Kasugano and Natsu Ayuhara. It is revealed that they were all friends since childhood and often hang out at the cake shop "Delfonne"(デルフォンヌ). Although she knows Sakura's best friend Kei Chitose, Hinata doesn't know her as well as Sakura.
  • Her official epithet is "Whirlwind School Girl".[1]
  • The kanji for her last name is sometimes misread as Wakabi and in addition to this from within the production for the international version of United by Fate, her last name was initially misread as Wakana, though this small error would later be corrected in Project Justice. The reason for the reading error is that the Kanji for her last name can be read as either Wakana or Wakaba, to which the both of them are correct.

References[]

Rival Schools Characters
Rival Schools: United by Fate Akira · Batsu · Boman · Daigo · Edge · Gan · Hayato
Hideo · Hinata · Hyo · Kyoko · Kyosuke · Natsu
Raizo · Roberto · Roy · Sakura · Shoma · Tiffany
Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2 Nagare · Ran
Project Justice Chairperson · Kurow · Momo · Mugen · Yurika · Zaki
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