Sakura Kasugano
Sakura Kasugano | |
---|---|
Street Fighter character | |
First appearance | Street Fighter Alpha 2 (1996)[1] |
Created by | Akira 'Akiman' Yasuda |
Voiced by |
|
In-universe information | |
Fighting style | Self-taught imitation of Ryu's shotokan fighting style |
Origin | Japan |
Nationality | Japanese |
Sakura Kasugano (春日野 さくら, Kasugano Sakura) is a fictional character in Capcom's Street Fighter series. The fourth female fighter of the series, she made her first appearance in Street Fighter Alpha 2 in 1996. She is a young Japanese fighter who idolizes Ryu, by whom she wants to be trained. She has often appeared in other games, including many crossover titles. Sakura has quickly become a firm fan favorite in both Japan and the West.
Appearances
Video games
Street Fighter
Sakura first appears in Street Fighter Alpha 2, where she participates in street fighting after watching Ryu win the first World Warrior tournament. She searches for him and wishes for him to train her to be a better fighter. She eventually comes across Ryu, who tells her he cannot train her as he still has much to learn himself shortly after a sparring match.
In
Sakura is playable in the
In Street Fighter IV, years have passed since Sakura last saw Ryu, so she decides to find Ryu again for a match in the new worldwide tournament. In the introduction sequences of Super Street Fighter IV, she is often seen in a group of three with Dan Hibiki and Blanka. She eventually finds Ryu. After the tournament, they exchange goodbyes. In her ending, a slightly older-looking Sakura sees Ryu approaching.
In Street Fighter V, she is done with school and now works part-time at an arcade, but wonders what decisions she needs to make in order to be satisfied with her future. Her rivalry with Karin continues and when Karin notices Sakura's problem, she sends Ryu over to Sakura's house to spar with her friend.[6]
Other games
Sakura makes a guest appearance in the fighting game Rival Schools: United by Fate, where she is involved in the adventure between her Tamagawa Minami High School and various other schools in Aoharu City. After helping her childhood friend Hinata and the others out from within the ordeal, she realizes how much it means to her to protect something she cares about.
Sakura has appeared in various crossover fighting games, including the
Sakura is a playable unit in the tactical role-playing game
Other appearances
Sakura is the titular character of the manga series
Sakura is a character in the anime films
Many figures of Sakura were released by various manufacturers,[12] such as one in two versions by Kotobukiya in 2015.[13][14] "Sakura's bowl of stamina" meals were included in a restaurant menu during one promotional event.[15] Sakura's card is included in the card games Street Fighter Deck-Building Game and Universal Fighting System.
A Sakura cosmetic outfit has also been added to Fortnite.[16]
Design and gameplay
Sakura was created by Akira 'Akiman' Yasuda, who said he expected Hideaki Itsuno and the Street Fighter Alpha team to dislike her as he felt "she was a character outside the game's narrow world view." he thought she was "interesting because she was so different - the sort of character that Alpha and the older Street Fighter games didn't have."[17] Sakura nevertheless quickly became a favorite of the character artist Naoto 'Bengus' Kuroshima as he "could feel able to draw her freely, and to express myself, compared with the expectations that come with drawing Ryu or Chun-Li."[17] Akiman said his choice of Sakura's character type was due to a popular archetype from the works such as Sailor Moon: "As characters, female high school students are all-powerful in Japan."[18]
An early design for Street Fighter Alpha 2 featured her in a
Sakura is controlled in the same way as Ryu and Ken, but her special moves flow differently and are less powerful. Sakura's moveset contains many variants of their moves, including a running Shoryuken, a jumping Tatsumaki, and a less-powerful Hadouken that she can charge, though at the cost of distance. Her moves and combos have high potential to stun opponents and also provide many an opportunity for mix-ups. However, her somewhat low stamina and her lack of other available approaches (particularly her weak projectile) require a certain amount of finesse, leaving little room for error; this ultimately makes Sakura a high-risk, high-reward character. Sakura's combo-heavy playstyle, when supplemented by her normal and special attacks, makes her a devastating fighter once she gets an opening. Dark Sakura performs the Hadouken horizontally instead of diagonally and uses the techniques of Akuma.
Reception
The character was mostly well received. Sakura has quickly achieved and retained an extreme popularity in Japanese gaming community and globally among the fans of Street Fighter. She ranked third in the poll for the best characters of 1996 in the Japanese arcade game magazine Gamest[22] and was voted the third most popular Street Fighter character in Capcom's own 2002 poll for the 15th anniversary of the original Street Fighter, after only Chun-Li and Cammy.[23]
However, the character has received some negative criticism in the West. By 2000, New Zealand Station noted how "evolution of game babes can plough into dangerous new territory, such as Capcom's pivotal female icon changing from the wholesome and strong-willed Chun Li into the cute but undeniably underaged Sakura (though curiously, the
See also
- List of Street Fighter characters
References
- ^ "Sakura Kasugano - IGN". Uk.ign.com. October 15, 2008. Archived from the original on July 23, 2013. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ "Street Fighter 5's Newest Character Revealed". GameSpot. September 17, 2015. Archived from the original on January 20, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ Keane Ng (February 21, 2009). "The Street Fighter 4 You'll Never Play | The Escapist". Escapistmagazine.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ a b "Capcom Announces New Street Fighter Mobile Title with Puzzle Element". MMOsite. October 12, 2014. Archived from the original on October 15, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
- ^ "カプコン、『ストリートファイター バトルコンビネーション』で、さくら、いぶき、エレナの3人が可愛くて甘い「バレンタインアーツ」になって登場 | Social Game Info". Gamebiz.jp. January 30, 2016. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ Sato (February 10, 2016). "Street Fighter V Gets An Introduction Trailer For Karin Kanzuki". Siliconera. Archived from the original on July 23, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ Spencer (April 18, 2014). "See B.B. Hood And Street Fighter's Sakura Armed For Onimusha Soul". Siliconera. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ (in Spanish) Galería: Onimusha Soul Archived March 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, SOSgamers.com, March 17, 2012.
- ^ "We Love Golf! Cheats, Codes, Cheat Codes, Walkthrough, Guide, FAQ, Unlockables for Wii". Cheatcc.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ "Crimson Tears Cheats". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 14, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ "Super Street Fighter Vol. 2: Hyper Fighting HC". UDON Entertainment. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ "Kasugano Sakura ‹ Characters ‹ Encyclopedia - MyFigureCollection.net (Tsuki-board.net)". MyFigureCollection.net. Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ "STREET FIGHTER美少女 さくら ストリートファイター | フィギュア". Kotobukiya. May 18, 2016. Archived from the original on July 12, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ "STREET FIGHTER美少女 さくら-体操着- 限定版 | フィギュア". Kotobukiya. May 18, 2016. Archived from the original on July 11, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ "カプコン、PS3/Xbox 360/AC「ストリートファイターIV」、「紅虎餃子房」とのコラボレーション 2月12日より「紅虎餃子房」と「万豚記」でスト4メニューが登場". Game.watch.impress.co.jp. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ Lada, Jenni (April 26, 2022). "Street Fighter's Blanka and Sakura Will Join Fortnite". Siliconera. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
- ^ a b Hendershot, Steve (2017). Undisputed Street Fighter. Dynamite. p. 41.
- ^ Hendershot, Steve (2017). Undisputed Street Fighter. Dynamite. p. 267.
- ^ Staff (1996). "Arcade Flyer Archive scan". Secret File #02: Street Fighter Zero 2. Capcom: 5. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
- ^ a b "Early Development Ideas: Sakura | 初期&ボツ | 活動報告書". game.capcom.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 25, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
- ^ "Sakura Is Coming to Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition on January 16! Entire Season 3 Roster Announced!". Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
- ^ Ishii, Zenji (December 1996). "第10回ゲーメスト大賞". Gamest Magazine. 188: 46. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2008.
- ^ "キャラクターランキング". GeeStore. Archived from the original on December 19, 2005.
- ^ Steven Bailey, The top ten girls of PSP Archived September 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Joystiq, January 25, 2007
- ^ Top 25 Street Fighter Characters - Day I Archived January 26, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. IGN. Retrieved on August 15, 2008
- ^ "Babe of the Week: Babes We'll Wait For". Archived from the original on March 31, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
- ^ Furfari, Paul (August 25, 2010). "Top 50 Street Fighter Characters". UGO.com. Archived from the original on August 28, 2010. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
- ^ UGO Team (September 1, 2010). "Hottest School Girls: Sakura from Street Fighter". UGO.com. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
- ^ "The 30 best Capcom characters of the last 30 years". GamesRadar. June 25, 2013. Archived from the original on May 4, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
- ^ "1990年代ヒロインリスト|エンタミクス". Famitsu.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ "War of the Ridge Racer Girls". New Zealand Station 10. 10. March 2000.
- ^ "Babe of the Week: Hot, But Annoying Gallery and Images - GameDaily". Archived from the original on March 10, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
- ^ Mackenzie, Gavin. "Top 10 inappropriate outfits". Play. Archived from the original on May 3, 2011. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
- ^ Cook, Dave (June 27, 2010). "Street Fighter X Tekken Character Wishlist". NowGamer. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
External links
- Official website (Street Fighter V)
- Sakura's profile at Street Fighter IV official website (in Japanese)