Kuchiyose

Kuchiyose is Old and Young Zeku's second V-Skill, introduced in Street Fighter V.

Input

Kuchiyose - Shii	oror ++
Kuchiyose - Bii	+

Description

Executed by pressing Medium Punch and Medium Kick simultaneously while in his Old form, Zeku whistles to summon a bird carrying explosive firecrackers from the air. The bird drops the dynamite at a certain part of the screen, depending on the directional inputs. Pressing left causes the bird to release the firecrackers at 1/4 screen away from Zeku. No directional inputs results in the bird dropping the explosive around midscreen. Pressing right makes the bird drop the dynamite near fullscreen. The firecracker soon explodes moments after it hits the ground.

By pressing down plus Medium Punch and Medium Kick simultaneously while in his Young form, Zeku points toward his opponent. From behind him, a masked ferret appears from a burst of smoke and runs toward the opponent. Once in range, the animal delivers a flying kick to the opponent. During the kick, a trail of energy projecting from the ferret's creates a black slashing wave. A high-pitched, slashing sound of a sword plays as the animal kicks.

Tactics

While Zeku's first V-Skill gives him a combo ender that allows him to change forms freely and potentially switch sides with the opponent, the ceiling for the amount of setups and techs from his second V-Skill is huge. Zeku can still change forms after performing Kuchiyose. Doing so opens up many combo routes to inflict more damage to the opponent. Changing forms also gives him a faster recovery against his opponent if they are trying to punish him. However, if Zeku gets hit while performing his second V-Skill, the animal that he summoned disappear, thus ending the move. Timing and spacing is critical to utilize Kuchiyose.

Each version of his V-Skill serves a purpose in Zeku's gameplay.

Kuchiyose - Shii

This move can only be performed while in his old form. Performing this move takes a total of 63 frames. The bird drops the firecracker in relation to Zeku's location on the screen. Depending on which directional input is used, the dynamite can be placed in front of or behind the opponent. When the explosive lands on the ground, it takes no more than a second for it to detonate. It hits the opponent four times and launches them into the air, allowing Zeku to follow-up with another special move such as Bushin Gram - Koku and Ban

Because of the move's long startup and the amount of frames needed for it to explode, it is difficult to link his second V-Skill from his normals or special attacks to use in combos. Once Zeku gets the explosive on the stage, he can pull off a bunch of flashy, yet damaging combos using the firecracker. He can use his normals and special moves to combo into and from the explosive. Spacing and timing is important to get the most out of this V-Skill.

Besides using it in combos, Zeku can use Kuchiyose- Shii defensively as well. With the explosive in front of him, the opponent is forced to respect both Zeku and the firecracker to avoid taking big damage. With the opponent on their heels, Zeku can safely approach them or zone them out with his long-range special moves. If the firecracker is behind the opponent, Zeku can end combos with unsafe special attacks just before the explosion. Despite being negative on block, the dynamite keeps the opponent defending, thus making his special moves at least safer.

Kuchiyose - Bii

This move can only be performed while in his young form. It also require 65 frames to perform. When the ferret appears, it dashes toward the opponent's location before attacking. It inflicts decent damage and launches the opponent in the air for a follow-up attack. While the overall frames makes it hard to link into combos, Zeku can safely perform it if he hits his opponent with his target combo.

The ferret gives Zeku a safe way to approach the opponent in the neutral game. While his opponent is focused on the approaching animal, Zeku can use Hayagake to dash toward his opponent and put them in a mix-up. He can go low with the sweep, attack them with an overhead, or cancel the dash into a throw. Zeku can also use the ferret to bait jump-in attacks. If the opponent attempts to jump over the animal, he can swap back into his old form to use his most reliable anti-air move to create separation.

Gallery

Kuchiyose - Shii

Kuchiyose - Bii

Zeku's pet weasel attacking Ibuki.

Trivia

• Kuchiyose and its variants are based off of Strider Hiryu's Options, robots that can be obtained through item boxes scattered around the level, while their animations are based off of his Formation special move in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. The names of the attacks also reference Option B, a robotic Smilodon, and Option C, a robotic hawk that drops a bomb.
• According to Takayuki Nakayama, the ferret is male, and is the son of a mighty ferret that Zeku slew long ago, while the bird is female. There was originally a male monkey named Ei, but was not included due to there only being two variants for Kuchiyose.
  • Zeku slaying giant monsters was part of some of his character concepts prior to his Strider connections.