Karin Kanzuki (神月かりん, Kanzuki Karin) is a video game character from the Street Fighter fighting game series. She was originally a character from the 1996 Street Fighter manga Sakura Ganbaru! authored by Masahiko Nakahira, but her character would be integrated into the video game series starting in Street Fighter Alpha 3, where she appears as a playable character.
Biography
Background
Karin is the daughter of Daikenjuro and Nadeshiko Kanzuki. 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". Her family's private estate covers 200 acres of land, and not only has its own geographical features, but its own climate.
Karin considers herself a rival of Sakura, who defeated her when challenged.
Appearance
As a self-styled rival of Sakura, Karin naturally has a similar outfit, complete with sailor fuku (this one being predominantly red and white with a blue bola tie. However, she uses the martial art style Kanzuki-ryū kakutōjutsu, a style she created herself, instead of the "original" style Sakura uses. Her hair is styled into long, oversized ringlets in a European Victorian-era fashion, and she occasionally wears a blue bow in the back. She also unusually wears her underwear on the outside of her leggings.
Personality
Due to the fact that she is from a wealthy family, Karin is quite snooty and thinks other people are "commoners", or inferiors. She lives by her 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 Sakura is actually the best of them. Karin then decides to step a little out of her family's motto of "always winning", and starts to praise the fighting itself as more importantly than victory or defeat, thus showing a bit of humility.
Story
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 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).[1]
Entourage
Ishizaki is Karin's butler, and appears in her win poses. Ishizaki is a pudgy but engaging middle-aged Japanese man with burly arms and a warm, welcoming smile. He is always willing to do what Karin wishes of him (such as tending to the opponent's injuries or serving her a cocktail drink), though sometimes he wants to get in on the action and do battle. In addition, Ishizaki was assigned the job of baby-sitting/watching over Karin while she traveled the world, in search of a rematch with Sakura. Since he and her have such a close albeit rocky bond, he can be considered to be her closest friend in the Kanzuki mansion, as he is very proud of her and takes such good care of her.
Shibazaki is the Kanzuki family's steward. While steward usually means butler, it has many other definitions, such as a person who manages another's affairs and/or finances. According to Sakura Ganbaru!, he drives her to and from school, arranges her meals (she won't eat school cafeteria food), does background research on anyone she takes interest in (even straying into the TMI territory), and other odd jobs. While concerned for her welfare, especially in regards to her interest in street fighting, he is nonetheless in awe of her abilities as a martial artist and as the heir of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu.
Other Appearances
Karin also appeared in Capcom Fighting Evolution as a playable character.
Trivia
- Karin may have been intended to appear in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter; a sprite of her with Sakura's outfit (with boots instead of sneakers, as shown below) exists somwhere in the ROM data, near Dan's sprites.[2]
- Emilie "Lili" de Rochefort from the Tekken series is often compared to Karin since the former bears many similarities to her:
- Karin and Lili both have fighting schoolgirls (Sakura and Asuka Kazama respectively) for rivals. Both declared their rivals so after they were defeated by them; Karin was defeated by Sakura after a challenge, while Lili was defeated by Asuka at the fifth King of the Iron Fist Tournament.
- Both are somewhat selfish and stuck-up rich girls who come from wealthy families with companies/businesses being threatened in their main storylines.
- Their butlers are present during their winning poses; Karin is shown with her butler, Ishizaki, while Lili asks her butler Sebastian if he can find a better person to fight than the person she defeated.
- Both enjoy the prospect of victory.
- Both developed their own fighting styles.
Stage Theme
Gallery
Screenshots
Sprites
See also
Karin's moves in Street Fighter Alpha 3
References
| Street Fighter Alpha Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | Adon · Akuma · Birdie · Charlie · Chun-Li · Dan · Guy Ken · M. Bison · Rose · Ryu · Sagat · Sodom | |||
| Alpha 2 | Original | Dhalsim · Evil Ryu · Gen · Rolento · Sakura · Zangief | ||
| Console | Shin Akuma | |||
| Gold | Cammy | |||
| Alpha 3 | Original | Balrog · Blanka · Cody · E. Honda · Juli · Juni · Karin · R. Mika · Vega | ||
| Console | Dee Jay · Fei Long · Guile · T. Hawk | |||
| Upper | Eagle · Maki · Yun | |||
| MAX | Ingrid | |||