A popular and memorable Street Fighter character, Sakura has been referenced plenty of times in pop culture ever since her introduction in Street Fighter Alpha 2.
Street Fighter[]
- In Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, Sakura is alluded to by Ryu in his winquote to Yun ("You posses great ability for your age. I have rarely seen such potential. Only once before..."), mentioning that he met someone with incredible potential before.
Capcom games[]
- The character of Black Widow (from Capcom's Slam Masters series) was stated to be one of the inspirations behind Sakura.[citation needed]
- Sakura's childhood friend, Rival Schools character Hinata Wakaba has a similar appearance; wearing headband, school uniform, gloves and sneakers. In addition, two of her moves, Embukyaku and Sunrise Punch, resembles Sakura's Shunpukyaku and Shouoken respectively.
- In the science fiction action-adventure game Crimson Tears, after completing certain conditions, the player can unlock character skins of Sakura, Ryu, Chun-Li and Guile.
- Sakura, alongside with Ryu, was also making an appearance in Monster Hunter: World.
- Sakura, alongside other Street Fighter characters, appears in the card game Teppen.
Other video games[]
- Ling Xiaoyu from the Tekken series shares some similarities with Sakura, namely because they are the first "schoolgirl" characters to be introduced in their respective series and have romantic attraction to their respective main characters (i.e. Jin Kazama and Ryu).
- The main difference between them in their respective games are, Xiaoyu is constantly searching for Jin since their debut in Tekken 3 and as of Tekken 7, she is unaware of Jin's current condition (who became weak and comatose following his battle with Azazel, then recovering under Lars Alexandersson and Lee Chaolan's care) during her constant search from his sudden disappearance until in Tekken 8 where she begins to lose hope and not giving up in finding him after six months of searching and later being aided by both Claudio Serafino and Zafina to find him; in comparison, Sakura is constantly running into Ryu to spar and sometimes to even talk about life in general.
- Xiaoyu's unique intro with Jin in Tekken 8 is similar to the rival battle between Sakura and Ryu in Super Street Fighter IV.
- Asuka Kazama (also from the Tekken series) is similar and often compared to Sakura and vice-versa, including her rivalry with Emille "Lili" de Rocherfort, whom herself inspired similar to Karin Kanzuki. Sakura has also Asuka's school outfit as her swap costume in Street Fighter X Tekken.
- In Street Fighter V, her Story costume has a minor resemblance to her Swap Costume.
- In Tekken 8, Asuka's new main outfit, derived on Sakura's college uniform main outfit in Street Fighter V but it was sky blue and has a school hat on her head.
- Yuri Sakazaki from SNK's The King of Fighters series shares some mannerisms with Sakura. The latter's Battle costume in Street Fighter V bears a minor resemblance to Yuri's main outfit.
- Shingo Yabuki, also from The King of Fighters series, shares even more similarities with Sakura; they are both "school student"-type fighting youngsters trying to emulate the fighting styles of their respective masters (who also happen to be their series' respective lead protagonists). Shingo, however, gets less respect from his idol Kyo Kusanagi than Sakura from Ryu.
- Wakaba from Konami's Suikoden series bears a slight resemblance to Sakura; both being cheerful headband-wearing fighters who idolizes their masters (though in Wakaba's case, she becomes Long Chan Chan's apprentice).
- Sakura Shinguji's (from Sega's Sakura Wars series) appearance and primary outfit resembles one of Sakura's disguised forms in Pocket Fighter as her hakama is purple, her ribbon is white and wears a pink Japanese geta instead of wearing toe shoes while wielding a naginata instead of a katana wielded by her. The naginata that Sakura wields resemble the same naginata wielded by Sumire Kanzaki, another character from Sakura Wars.
- Sakura appears as one of the collectible Spirits in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Comics[]
- Sakura shares some few personality traits with Videl from the Dragon Ball series.
- Sakura has been compared to Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto character Sakura Haruno, who also happens to have a fighting rival named Karin (though the latter case regards the kunoichis' infatuation over Sasuke Uchiha).
Television and Animation[]
- Sakura mostly shares similarities, and has been compared, with the Autobot espionage Bumblebee from the Transformers franchise.
- Both are fan favorite characters in the West, and placed first in the character popularity.[citation needed]
- Both are some of the most popular characters.
- They are both young, cheerful, brave and energetic fighters who love fighting in order to become stronger.
- Both are the main protagonists in some media titles in their series:
- For Sakura: Sakura Ganbaru!, the Street Fighter Zero 2 manga and Street Fighter Legends: Sakura.
- For Bumblebee: Transformers: Hearts of Steel, Transformers IDW: Bumblebee, Spotlight: Bumblebee, Bumblebee - Go for the Gold, Win If You Dare, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Bumblebee and Cyberverse.
- Both are taught by their leaders/masters and deeply care for them (by Ryu in Sakura's case, and by Optimus Prime in Bumblebee's case).
- Both appeared in their western animations and films (Sakura in the 1995 cartoon and the animated films, and Bumblebee in the 1984 cartoon, several cartoons and the live action films).
- Both appeared in their comics and manga prominently.
- They both like hanging out with their best friends (Kei Chitose, Hinata Wakaba, Natsu Ayuhara and Shoma Sawamura in Sakura's case, and Jazz, Spike Witwicky, Buster Witwicky, Sam Witwicky, Charlie Watson, Raf Esquivel, Cody Burns and Russell Clay in Bumblebee's case), playing video games with them, and are very protective of them.
- It has been stated by others that they both have a bright future.
- Both successfully stopped their leaders/masters from brainwashing by their nemesis:
- For Sakura: she stopped Ryu from being brainwashed by M. Bison in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and she prevented Ryu (who was affected by the Satsui no Hadou) to kill a S.I.N agent in Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind.
- For Bumblebee: he stopped Optimus Prime (who was brainwashed by Megatron) to destroy the humans in the G1 episode Attack of the Autobots and he prevented Optimus Prime (who was brainwashed by Quintessa) to kill him and Cade Yeager and destroying Earth in The Last Knight film.
- Both are congratulated by their leaders/masters for becoming stronger and saving the day (Ryu congratulated Sakura for becoming strong in SFIV and SFV and saved him in Alpha 3, and Optimus Prime congratulated Bumblebee for becoming strong and saving Earth in the Bumblebee film).
- Both nearly got killed by their enemies but their leaders/masters saved them in time (by Ryu in Sakura's case and by Optimus Prime by Bumblebee's case).
- Both are good friends with their rivals (Karin in Sakura's case and Cliffjumper in Bumblebee's case).
- Coincidentally, Sakura's rival, Karin Kanzuki, shares similarities to Bumblebee's rival Cliffjumper, as both are jealous due to Sakura and Bumblebee becoming stronger and popular than them and always challenge them for a fight.
- Both always frequently appeared along with their leaders/masters in the TV series, films, comics, video games and artworks (Sakura always paired up with Ryu and Bumblebee always paired up with Optimus Prime).
- Both currently have part-time jobs:
- For Sakura: she currently works in the Arcade as a part-timer and studies in a university in SFV.
- For Bumblebee: he works as Cybertron's search and rescue division and was a former member of Security Operations but was expelled under unclear circumstances in the current Transformers IDW comics.
- Both are playable characters in all of their games since their debut.
- Both are light characters in the games they are playable in.
- Bumblebee's fighting moves in Transformers: Devastation game is similar to Sakura's as well (notably the Shoryuken, Senpukyaku and the Sakura Otoshi).
- Coincidentally, Cheetor from Beast Wars and Hot Shot from the Unicron Trilogy shares many similarities and compared to Sakura as both are young, energetic and brave fighters who are taught by their leaders and deeply care for them as well as being some of the most popular characters.
- In the sixteenth episode of The Disastrous Life of Saiki K Saiki Kusuo tries to sabotage his "date" with Kokumi Teruhashi. One method includes defeating and humiliating her in an arcade fighting game, which is a parody of Street Fighter. Saiki is dressed as M. Bison, while Teruhashi appears to be dressed as Sakura.
Movies[]
Internet[]
- She makes a cameo on Death Battle during the episode "Ken vs. Terry".
- She cameos in the One Minute Melee episode, M. Bison vs God Rugal, where she asks Ibuki on social media if she's found Ryu.