R. Mika
R. Mika | |
---|---|
Street Fighter character | |
First game | Street Fighter Alpha 3 (1998) |
Created by | Akira "Akiman" Yasuda[1] |
Designed by | Akira "Akiman" Yasuda[1] Daigo Ikeno[1] Toshiyuki Kamei (SFV)[1] |
Voiced by |
|
In-universe information | |
Fighting style | Professional wrestling |
Origin | Japan |
Nationality | Japanese |
Rainbow Mika (Japanese: レインボー ミカ, Hepburn: Reinbō Mika), commonly shortened to R. Mika, is the professional wrestling moniker of Mika Nanakawa (七川 美華, Nanakawa Mika), a character in Capcom's Street Fighter fighting game series. First appearing in Street Fighter Alpha 3 in 1998 as a wrestler trying to make a name for herself, Mika was designed by Akira "Akiman" Yasuda with the help of artist Daigo Ikeno. The character has since appeared in comics related to the Street Fighter franchise and other titles by Capcom. In 2016, Mika returned in Street Fighter V with a redesigned appearance by Toshiyuki Kamei, now a mainline wrestler with a tag team partner. Originally voiced by Junko Takeuchi, as of Street Fighter V she was voiced by Bonnie Gordon and Hiromi Igarashi in English and Japanese respectively.
R. Mika has received mixed critical reception since her introduction, with a significant focus being on her appearance and discussions on character sexualization. While several outlets were critical of her design, others noted it was suitable for her wrestling character, and in particular The Mary Sue utilized her in a discussion contrasting sexualized versus empowered in regards to the differences between her game and comic counterparts. The character was also the source of some controversy when one of her attacks in Street Fighter V was seemingly censored, with several outlets questioning the validity of the controversy.
Conception and design
Designed by
R. Mika stands 168 cm tall (5 ft 6 in) and has measurements of 97-72-93 cm (38-28-37 in).[7] In Street Fighter Alpha 3 her outfit consists of a blue and white leotard extending down her thighs and arms, while her long blonde hair is in pigtails on the sides of her head. The leotard itself has various cutouts exposing her skin, namely on the shoulders, cleavage, thighs, buttocks, and a heart cutout on her upper back intended to bring attention to her backside. A white bustier covers her breasts, with a large blue heart on each of her nipples,[3] an aspect inspired the character Michiru Saotome from Getter Robo.[8] White frills circle her neck, wrists, and sides of her pelvis, while white laced wrestling boots extend up to her knees.[3] A blue rounded domino mask covers her eyes, a feature inspired by anime character Yatterman-2 in an attempt to capture what Akiman felt made that character cute. In the book How to Make Capcom Fighting Characters, Akiman added that her blonde hair/blue/white color scheme combination was also inspired by another character, in this case Lisa Kusanami from Sega's fighting game Last Bronx.[1]
Years later, Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono heavily petitioned the game's director for her inclusion in the title, citing her as his personal favorite character, with no success.[9] However, she was later included in Street Fighter V, with art director Toshiyuki Kamei focused on updating her outfit with a bolder design, and adding flair to signify her character transition to a headline act in professional wrestling. Describing her in a design note as a "peppy girl with some meat on her bones and a classic pro-wrestling style", they emphasized her "girlishness" and "cuteness" in contrast to the other series wrestlers, and wanted to show her bouncing around the arena as she fought. In this incarnation more skin is exposed, while her chest is now covered in white material with a heart shaped cutout extending around the top of her breasts.[1] Akiman on his Twitter voiced approval for the change, stating that she was easier to see thanks to the removal of the hearts from her chest, adding in a later tweet they made her look "overdone" and describing the cutout as "very neat! The juniors at Capcom are very proper!"[10][11] In addition to the changes, Mika was also given a wide variety of secondary outfits, including a version of her regular attire that exposes less skin with a white stylized "M" on her chest, a schoolgirl outfit with glasses, and a red ornate outfit modeled after a phoenix.[12]
With Street Fighter V another character named Yamato Nadeshiko (大和 ナデシコ) was designed to appear in several of her attacks, and alongside her in-game.[1] An athletic Japanese woman wearing red and white wrestling boots and leotard with a bob style haircut, she was designed by Ikeno during Street Fighter Alpha 3's development as Mika's tag team partner, and appeared on the cover of Capcom's "Secret File" arcade flyer for the game.[13] When implemented into V, game director Takayuki Nakayama sent an image of Japanese professional wrestler Hikaru Shida to the character designer to use as a guide.[14]
Appearances
As introduced in the 1998 video game Street Fighter Alpha 3, Mika Nanakawa is a Japanese woman seeking to make her debut in professional wrestling under the stage name "Rainbow Mika", inspired by her idolization of Zangief. To promote herself, she decides to travel the world and fight various martial artists.[15] She encounters Zangief himself along the way, and after the two spar they are attacked by the criminal organization Shadloo and its leader M. Bison. The wrestlers manage to escape and go their separate ways, with Mika pondering if she'll see Zangief again while she trains.[16] In Street Fighter V, a game set after the events of her first appearance, Mika is now a full professional wrestler and works with her former tag team partner Yamato Nadeshiko. After encountering Zangief, she travels with him for some time, and after fighting off a rampaging bear together, he praises her spirit and agrees to be her wrestling partner. Later in the story, they work together alongside other Street Fighter characters to stop a revived Shadaloo.[17]
Outside of the Street Fighter series she appears as a supporting character in the 2001
In print media, Mika is featured frequently in
Reception
Since her introduction Rainbow Mika has been met with mixed reception.
However this opinion is not shared between all critics, with
In a series of articles examining characters from the Street Fighter series, Becky Chambers and Amanda LaPergola of
Maddy Myers, in her own article for The Mary Sue, stated that while Mika's outfit represented "campy, posed sexuality" that often alienated players, she felt Mika as a character was more interesting than other sexualized characters in the series. Comparing her particularly to fellow Street Fighter character
Controversy
In debut footage of Street Fighter V, Mika is seen slapping her butt as part of her Critical Art attack.[39] The decision not to show the animation in the North American[40] version of the game was a subject of controversy, leading to a petition to restore it.[41] According to producer Yoshinori Ono regarding not showing her butt slap, "Those changes came up internally. We decided to remove that because we want the biggest possible number of people to play, and we don’t want to have something in the game that might make someone uncomfortable."[39] Some other shots, including the entrance animation for Cammy, were also replaced.[40]
Jonathan Holmes from Destructoid questioned the controversy over the decision by stating "While there are surely plenty of folks who adore seeing their screen filled with frilly thong shots, I imagine there may be even more players out there who'd find the sudden prioritization of arse in their fighting games to be little out of place."[42] Chris Carter at Destructoid commented "It's still a bit weird that something this goofy was removed, especially with the design Laura has in general," and noted that a character like Necalli is "probably far more harmful" for children's eyes.[43] In another article by Destructoid, Carter stated "It's such a weird thing to me, because R. Mika's butt is still very visible, she just doesn't lightly tap it a few times per match."[44] Likewise, ND Medina at iDigitalTimes expressed confusion over the change, noting that her butt was still being exposed.[45] Her butt slap was later restored as a mod for the PC version, albeit in a different pose.[43]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1772941364.
- ^ "An Interview with Noritaka Funamizu". Game Informer. No. 70. February 1999. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
- ^ ISBN 978-4881995433.
- ^ @takaNakayama (April 25, 2022). "あきまん先生@akiman7 のミカちゃんラフ、とても素晴らしいです。好き" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2023-05-12 – via Twitter.
- ^ @akiman7 (April 25, 2022). "ちゃんとツインテールのもどっかにある はず" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2022-04-25 – via Twitter.
- ISBN 4575163856.
- ISBN 4575163856.
- ^ @akiman7 (August 11, 2021). "初代レインボーミカの乳首部分にハートマークがあるのはゲッターロボのミチルさんの影響に違いない" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-08-11 – via Twitter.
- ^ "'Super Street Fighter 4' Producer On Which Character Didn't Make The Cut". MTV. 2010-03-29. Archived from the original on 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
- ^ @akiman7 (July 15, 2013). "レインボーミカは胸のハートをとったおかげで見やすくなりましたね" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-10-02 – via Twitter.
- ^ @akiman7 (August 11, 2021). "昔のレインボーミカ(左)には乳首にハートマークがあってやり過ぎ感がありますが 今のレインボーミカ(右)にはそれがないかわりに 胸の開き方がハートになってい とてもちゃんとしてる!カプコンの後輩の人とてもちゃんとしてる!と思いました" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-10-12 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Costumes | R. MIKA | Character Data | CAPCOM:Shadaloo C.R.I." Capcom. Archived from the original on 2023-05-12. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
- ^ "Street Fighter Zero 3". Capcom Secret File. No. 21. August 1998. p. Cover. Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
- ^ @takaNakayama (October 3, 2016). "大和ナデシコさんを作る際に、デザイナーさんに志田光選手の画像を送りつけました。" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-07-15 – via Twitter.
- ^ Capcom. Street Fighter Alpha 3. Capcom. Level/area: R. Mika arcade introduction profile.
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- ^ a b "R. Mika Returns as Tag-Team Wrestler in Street Fighter V". Paste. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
- ^ "STARTLING ADVENTURES 空想3×大冒険". Capcom (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2001-06-08. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
- ^ "カプコン、『モンハン 大狩猟クエスト』で大狩猟祭「月光・月影」を2週連続開催 『ストリートファイター バトルコンビネーション』とコラボ第二弾も" (in Japanese). Gamebiz.jp. 2016-01-07. Archived from the original on 2023-05-10. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
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- ^ Ordoñez, Gonzalo (2009-03-21). "UFS Rainbow Mika". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on 2023-05-13. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
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- ^ Justin Amirkhani (17 April 2012). "6. Rainbow Mika". Complex. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
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- ^ a b "Street Fighter 5 developer explains why R.Mika buttslap was removed". GameZone. 9 December 2015. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
- ^ a b "Street Fighter V modders have already brought back R. Mika's 'butt slap'". Digital Trends. 19 February 2016. Archived from the original on May 14, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
- ^ Andy Chalk (18 February 2016). "Street Fighter 5 mod restores R. Mika's ass slap". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on May 25, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
- ^ Kyle MacGregor (8 November 2015). "R. Mika butt-slap close up removed from Street Fighter V". Destructoid. Archived from the original on May 20, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
- ^ a b Kyle MacGregor (19 February 2016). "This Street Fighter V mod returns R. Mika's butt slap". Destructoid. Archived from the original on April 30, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
- ^ Kyle MacGregor (9 December 2015). "R. Mika's butt slap was removed in Street Fighter V because it would make people 'uncomfortable'". Destructoid. Archived from the original on April 30, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
- ^ ND Medina. "R. Mika Butt Slap Censorship On Street Fighter V: Is This Really The Hill We're Going To Die On?". iDigitalTimes. Archived from the original on May 18, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.