|
| “ | Evil is unforgivable! | „ |
| ~ Kim Kaphwan's most famous quote. |
| “ | I can't let this end here, not if I'm to show others a true warrior's path. | „ |
| ~ Kim's win quote. |
| “ | So, with this result you must understand the greatness of Tae Kwon Do! | „ |
| ~ Kim in The King of Fighters XIV. |
| “ | I'll show you the fruits of my labor. | „ |
| ~ Kim in The King of Fighters XV. |
Kim Kaphwan (Korean/Hangul:김갑환, Gim Gab-hwan/Japanese: キム・カッファン, Kimu Kaffan) is one of the major characters from Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters franchise. He is a master of Taekwondo and considers himself a fighter of justice. Kim's original teammates, Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge, were to be teamed up with another dangerous criminal character to form the "Fugitive Team", but Kim was added to the team instead. His official nickname is The Crown Jewel of Taekwondo.
He was voiced by Satoshi Hashimoto, Kazuhiko Nagata, Hiroshi Isobe (who also voiced Magoichi Saika and Liu Kang), and Kunihiro Kawamoto.
Biography[]
Fatal Fury[]
Kim first showed up in Fatal Fury 2, and upon hearing that Terry Bogard was also invited to Krauser's tournament, declared Terry to be his rival and set out to beat him. Terry won, but the two have remained good friends since then. Kim is also a proud family man and has trained his sons Jae Hoon and Dong Hwan to be fine martial artists in their own right.
The King of Fighters[]
In XI, Choi and Chang convince Kim to enjoy himself, prompting him to take up Terry on his offer for joining that year's Fatal Fury Team. Impressed with his disciples' maturity, Kim believes that his first "rehabilitation" efforts have paid off and set his sights on two other villains from the past, Raiden and Hwa Jai.
In XIV, Kim rewarded Chang and Choi with a week break, but they did not return. Instead, he received a visit from his master Gang-il and the latter's newest lover, Luong, the two brought news that both Chang and Choi are seen hanging around with the legendary criminal Xanadu. Kim resolved to enter the tournament with Gang-Il and Luong in order to find out what happened to Chang and Choi.
In XV, after his failure to rehabilitate Chang and Choi, his master Gang-il believes that Kim had started to slack off on what his master had taught him, and decides that it's time for Kim to take the next step towards Taekwondo mastery - a new, significantly more intense training regimen of Gang-il's own design. Kim enters the tournament as a solo entry bearing the results of his master's new teachings, though he isn't too happy about it.
Personality[]
Kim strives for excellence and righteousness in everything he does, be it his fighting or personal life. He is a loving husband and father, and a strict disciplinarian. He is deeply respected and admired by his acquaintances for his honesty and bravery, and has many friends amongst the characters in both The King of Fighters and Fatal Fury. However, he apparently can't handle his liquor very well, as seen in his team's ending for The King of Fighters XI.
One of Kim's defining characteristics is his strong, inherent sense of justice. He has the ability to tell whether or not someone is evil at a glance. As such, Kim has a special opening pose whenever he fights against an evil character, someone influenced by Orochi or any other sinister power. In this pose, he glares menacingly at the evil opponent, slowly raises his hand and points at the opponent, saying "Aku wa yurusan..." ("Evil is unforgivable...") "Hah!" before jumping into his fighting stance.
Kim also feels joy in training as many people as he can. He feels that training his pupils in Tae Kwon Do is an obligation to the world, as his training program not only teaches the martial art itself, but also teaches the concepts of justice and honesty. Kim's devotion to justice can be overzealous and even fanatic, always trying to recruit and reform evil people into the Tae Kwon Do ways.
Kim has trained many students over the years (voluntarily and forcibly), and will always try and "recruit" as many fighters as he can into his training regime.
Powers and Abilities[]
Kim demonstrates his signature move on Billy in King of Fighters XV.
Kim uses a very traditional taekwondo style with heavy acrobatics and occasional alternate stances (depending on the game), which also packs much of a motif for phoenixes, or more accurately, the Fenghuang (romanized via on'yomi in Japanese as the "hou'ou"), a Chinese firebird that is a combination of a male and female phoenix.
Despite this, many of his techniques are mainly written in and spoken out in Japanese, though Kim on occasion may yell out traditional Korean battle cries.
In the Fatal Fury games (mainly in the Real Bout games), Kim often had his front side face the background in his fighting stance, while in the King of Fighters games and in other titles onward his front side faces the foreground instead. Games where he gains an alternate stance may reference his original fighting stance from time to time.
Other Media[]
Super Smash Bros.[]
Kim Kaphwan appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate both as a cameo on the King of Fighters Stadium stage and one of Terry's DLC spirits, he is a novice support spirit that increases the user's power on foot attacks. His spirit battle is on the King of Fighters Stadium against giant King Dedede and tiny Ridley (representing Chang and Choi), after defeating the two fighters, Ken Masters appears (representing Kim himself), during the battle, the enemies have increased powers on kicks and knees strickes with all fighters reduced jumps.
Trivia[]
- In the fan Q&A for Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, a fan asked Kim about his thoughts regarding hypocrites. In an "interview", Kim answers that any sort of lie is evil and unforgivable. He then naively asks why he received this question.
- After Kim bests Clark Steel during a match in KOF2013 Kim's winning quote towards Clark indicates that Kim too had served in the military (in Korea).
- Korea, Kim's home nation, has conscriptive military system; meaning in Korea all able-bodied male citizens of the country must serve for set number of time when they reach certain age.
External links[]
- Kim Kaphwan on the SNK Wiki
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