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This Hero was Headlined on August 2016. | ||
| “ | Heh, heh. You got burned! | „ |
| ~ Kyo after win the match. |
| “ | Don't let it get you down. You probably have some talent... Probably. | „ |
| ~ Kyo in The King of Fighters XIV. |
| “ | I am the champion! | „ |
| ~ Kyo's win quote. |
Kyo Kusanagi is one of the four main protagonists (alongside K', Ash Crimson and Shun'ei) of SNK's The King of Fighters franchise.
He was first introduced in The King of Fighters '94 as the leader of the Japan team. He is one of the most iconic characters of the franchise and regularly appears on publicity material and merchandise. His name and abilities were designed in order to relate him with the Yamata no Orochi legend. Because he was highly popular and his outfit was changed along the series, the designers created a few clones with his old appearance. He is one of the three mascots for SNK, with the other two being Terry Bogard and Ryo Sakazaki.
Kyo is first introduced as a cocky delinquent high school student who is the heir to the Kusanagi clan, who can use pyrokinetic powers. In The King of Fighters universe, his clan is one of the three clans that sealed the legendary snake entity, Yamata no Orochi. Due to his clan's past, Kyo fights against the Kusanagi's enemies; his rival Iori Yagami, the last member of the Yagami clan, and the Orochi's soldiers.
He enters every The King of Fighters tournament representing Japan and uses his clan's fighting style to combine fire with kenpo. Aside from the main series, Kyo also appears in several other media series such as spin-offs and crossover video games as well as comic adaptations of the series. Video games reviewers have praised his design and fighting style as one of the best from the series. Reviewers noted him to be a necessary character to have in every video game from the series and commented of him to have the best winning pose. Within Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Kyo was voted as the staff's second favorite character. A variety of collectibles based on Kyo have been created, including key chains and figurines.
Portrayals[]
He is voiced by Masahiro Nonaka between his debut, King of Fighters XIII and King of Fighters All Star in the audio, Ryōtarō Okiayu in The King of Fighters '94 Dengenki drama CD, Tomoaki Maeno for the rest of his appearances, and Andrew Roth in the English versions of the Maximum Impact series. His live-action actor was Sean Farris in The King of Fighters movie, and is also voiced by Tomokazu Sugita (best known for voicing Kiyomasa Katō, Chrom, Joseph Joestar and Gintoki Sakata from Gintama) in the Japanese version of the movie and CR The King of Fighters, and by Peter Von Gomm in The King of Fighters XII.
In the VIZ dub, he is voiced by Bryce Papenbrook, who also voices Cat Noir, Rin Okumura, Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya, Eren Jaeger, Meliodas, Red, Masaomi Kida, Inosuke Hashibira, Makoto Naegi, Nagito Komaeda, and Shirou Emiya.
In the Cloverway dub, he is voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch, who voices Yukio Okumura in Blue Exorcist, Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach, Artemis in the Sailor Moon series, Kiba in Wolf's Rain, Lelouch vi Britannia in Code Geass, Giyu Tomioka in Demon Slayer, Genma Shiranui in Naruto, and Whittaker Reardon in Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures.
Appearance[]
Kyo is often depicted as a young adult Japanese male with an athletic physique and a brown curtain haircut. Since in his debut in KOF '94, Kyo sported a modified black gakuran, a Japanese male school uniform, as it appeared with his unbuttoned coat with the sleeves rolled up to his biceps and a vest, each with gold buttons, a tucked-in white shirt, a brown/gold belt and white buckled shoes. He often wears a large white headband to compliment this attire, along with a pair of his uniquely designed black fingerless gloves. Originally in KOF '94, each of his gloves were cut at the length of his wrists, with a single gold stripe marked around right under the knuckle area to the palms. In KOF '95, while his gloves remain the same of his in-game sprites, his portraits marked a significant update, as the cut extends to midway of his forearms, another gold stripe added near the end of the cut, and an eclipsed sun crest near the area of his wrist. The sun crest is best known to represent the Kusanagi clan, which it also marked on the back of his coat since KOF '94. This outfit is considered Kyo's most recognizable look, often deemed this as his "classic" to the fans that it even makes the most appearances on crossovers featuring him. In-canon, Kyo prominently wears this outfit in the entirety of the Orochi Saga from KOF '94 up to KOF '98. Beyond in the main KOF series after KOF '98, some of Kyo's clones tend to wear this exact outfit in various colors, including Kyo-1 for a navy-blue variant and Kyo-2 for a reddish-brown variant, while his dark clone, Kusanagi, also worn the exact same black attire. This classic outfit also appears as an alternate costume in most KOF games such as KOF Maximum Impact, KOF XIII, and KOF XIV.
Overview[]
Kyo begins as a high-school student who enters the first tournament both to prove his strength to the world (having already won the All-Japan Martial Arts Tournament) and to find his missing father Saisyu. After defeating Rugal for the first time, he encounters Iori Yagami who proclaims himself as Kyo's eternal enemy. Kyo makes it to the finals again and fights his brainwashed father, and then Rugal once again. He learns of his destiny to seal away Orochi from Chizuru Kagura, and in '96, defeats Goenitz along with Iori. In '97 he, along with Iori and Chizuru, battle the last remaining forces of Orochi and reseal him, but he disappears afterward, and he is found by NESTS and cloned.
After having been missing for a year, he re-emerges and decides to investigate NESTS, joining K' in combating the organization.
In the Tales of Ash saga, he joins with Iori and Chizuru once again to stop a group of people trying to resurrect Orochi, but Iori and Chizuru have their powers stolen by Ash Crimson, leaving Kyo as the final target. Due to Ash fully managing to unfurl his plan, however, Kyo never has his powers stolen.
In the Shun’ei Saga, Kyo learns that a friend of Saisyu, Tung Fu Rue, is participating in the tournament with some new students. Kyo is asked to participate in order to 'show the ropes' to these newcomers, and reforms Team Japan. In XV, though initially having been requested to join Team Hero after the last tournament, the presence of the newly resurrected Team Orochi was a cause of concern for Kyo, and so at the request of Chizuru, reforms Team Sacred Treasures with Iori to figure out what exactly they are up to, sending Benimaru in his place.
Personality[]
Kyo is the over-confident but well-meaning protagonist of the series, more interested in enjoying life than having to partake in any particular responsibilities. He is quick to dismiss subjects that don't interest him and will often carry out his actions with a devil-may-care attitude. Despite his seemingly arrogant and rude demeanor, he treasures his friends and family, enjoying their presence and particularly doting on his girlfriend, Yuki, who is a descendant of the Kushinada clan. Because of this, he can be quite protective of her, especially against the Hakkesshus.
His extreme disinterest in studies has led to his chronic inability to graduate from high school (which has become subject to in-jokes). Although he is confident in his poetic talent, most of his poems aren't considered to be good by his listeners.
Kyo takes his clan's responsibilities on a more personal level, disregarding ancient legends and predestined events as any reason for his actions. His strong sense of justice and his zeal to fight stronger opponents are what he believes to drive him to carry out his destiny. His rivalry with Iori Yagami is one of mutual hatred and was hardly spurred by their clans' history, and partly due to Iori's prior aggression. While he will fight Iori, he won't go as far as to kill him, being aware of his role as a part of the Three Sacred Treasures. When Kyo and Iori join forces, it is often begrudgingly and as a last resort solution to the conflict at hand, with seemingly no desire to seek lasting and mutual peace, particularly on Kyo's part. However, he will leave Yagami alone as long as Iori doesn't seek to antagonize him as usual, and will respect his actions, especially if it involves their clan responsibilities. It is for this reason Chizuru watches over both men, to keep both their rivalries in check.
Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Pyrokinesis - Due to his Kusanagi heritage, Kyo can control fire. He can create fire from thin air, create fire balls, deliver punches of fire, create pillars of fire and put his own body on fire. However, he is neither immune to other types of fire nor able to control other fires that he didn't create. Also, the flames he wields are nothing more than just ordinary fire: it does not have the mystical 'trapping' ability of Iori's purple holy flames.
Fighting Style[]
Kyo fights using the Kusanagi style of ancient martial arts, a Japanese style of empty-handed combat taught only to the Kusanagi clan members. Like most of the clan members in modern times, these are labeled as Method/Style with numbers; numbers that actually use alternate kanji different from their originals. These examples are 108 Shiki: Yami Barai (Method 108: Darkness Sweeper), etc. with "Reverse Methods" being stronger versions of other attacks such as Kyo's signature DM, Ura 108 Shiki: Orochinagi (Reverse Method 108: Great Serpent Mower) being an example. In some sources, this even applies to his "unnamed" normal attacks.
Kyo also knows Kenpo, and uses it in most of his normal attacks. Kyo's moveset emphasizes Kenpo from KOF '96 onwards, discarding two of his attacks and instead focusing on two of the clan's other techniques, burning hook-punch techniques that can be followed-up into his own additions to the list of Kusanagi arts, ranging from kicks-to-elbow dropping attacks which are also types of notable moves in Kenpo. The names of these new moves are anything but vague and simple names, possibly due to Kyo's taste for poetry. Story-wise, this was possibly due to his initial defeat by Goenitz, Kyo reformed his style into a more-offensive focus via his original follow-ups from the Aragami and Dokugami.
Other Media[]
Super Smash Bros.[]
Kyo appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a background character on the King of Fighters Stadium stage and one of the spirits of Terry's DLC spirit board, he is a ace primary attack spirit that increases the user's fire attacks. His spirit battle is on the King of Fighters Stadium stage against Captain Falcon with who have increased powers on explosion and fire attacks, Pikachu and Donkey Kong with all fighters decreased jump powers.
Trivia[]
- Much like Mai Shiranui in 2019, Kyo has become a target of Internet memes around mid-2024 after the realization of fans that SNK is picking Terry over him as the face of the company given the mascot status he should've never been left of in the first place, some of these memes include Terry taking his place in the Team Sacred Treasures or even erasing him entirely from the collective memory of the KOF timeline, replacing him with Terry.
External Links[]
- Kyo Kusanagi on the SNK Wiki
- Kyo Kusanagi on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
- Kyo Kusanagi on the Shonen Heroes Wiki
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