Kyo Kusanagi

Kyo Kusanagi
The King of Fighters XIV final concept by Ogura
Profile
Birthdate	December 12; 19 years old (KOF '94), 20 years old (KOF series)
Birthplace	Tokyo, Japan
Height	181 cm (5'11½")
Weight	75 kg (165 lbs)
Blood type	B (RH-)
Family/Relatives	Saisyu Kusanagi (father) Shizuka Kusanagi (mother) Souji Kusanagi (cousin) Aoi Kusanagi (cousin) Kyo-1, Kyo-2 (clones) K', Krizalid, K9999, Nameless (possess your DNA) Kusanagi (clone created by Chizuru Kagura) Yuki (girlfriend)
Job/Occupation	Student, heir to the mandate of the Kusanagi clan
Likes	His motorcycle, his girlfriend (Yuki)
Dislikes	Effort
Hobbies	Writing poetry
Favorite Food	Broiled fish
Forte in Sports	Ice Hockey
Special skill	Pirokinesis
Favorite music	Rock
Measurements (bust, waist, hip)	Unknown
Weapon	Does not have
Fighting style	Kusanagi style of ancient martial arts + personal style of Chinese boxing (Kenpo)

Kyo Kusanagi (草薙京, Kusanagi Kyō) is the main protagonist in the game series, The King of Fighters. He was first introduced in The King of Fighters '94 as the main leader of the Japan team. He is known as the rival of, Iori Yagami.

He was first introduced as a cocky delinquent high school student who is the hair of the Kusanagi clan, one of the three clans that sealed the legendary snake entity, Orochi, 1,800 years ago, His clan wields pyrokinetic powers, an inherited power that few members obtain. They, along with the Yasakani and Yata clans, keep one of the three sacred treasures used to contain Orochi long ago. His family's treasure is the Kusanagi Sword, and his family crest is the sun, represented in a stylized halo of fire. His official nickname is Scion of the Flame ^[1]^[2] or The Cleansing Exorcising Flame.^[2]^[3]

Aside from the main series, Kyo also has a spin-off manga story based on his adventure in The King of Fighters '96, entitled The King of Fighters: Kyo. A video game under the same name was also created to further expand his character. In addition, a number of image songs and audio dramas featuring Kyo's character have been released, including the contents of his own character image album consisting of all of his theme songs. He is a member of SNK's character image band, The Band of Fighters and also co-star alongside Iori in one of SNK's promotional series, Part Time Stories: Kyo & Iori. At Vigamus,^[4] a museum of videogames sponsored by the municipality of Rome, a lists Kyo as the mascot of the mid-90's era of Neo Geo.^[5]

Development

When designing characters for the first The King of Fighters, developers wanted a new hip hero who would easily rival the Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting characters in style.^[6] Through most of his development, Kyo was meant to be called Syo Kirishima, and was dressed in martial arts clothing common with fighting games at the times. But late in production, his name became Kyo Kusanagi, likely due to the KOF story's change in direction towards the Yamata no Orochi legend. When designing Syo, Shinichi Morioka (Kyo and Iori's creator) used Shotaro Kaneda from the Akira manga as inspiration. When Syo appears as a striker in KOF 2000, he would be voiced by Mitsuo Iwata who also voiced Kaneda.^[7] The idea for his flames -as well as the other elemental powers for the rest of the Japan team- was derived from the anime Getter Robo; in the show, there were three featured heroes who served as the inspiration for the KOF trio: the protagonist had a "fiery" persona, his friend was "down-to-earth giant". It is also a homage to a Japanese phrase of giving birth to fire (roughly translated as "lighting strikes the earth which sparks the flame").^[8] Other influences include Jo Yabuki and Akira Fudo from the respectively series Ashita no Joe and Devilman.^[6] While in charge of designing the character, Yuichiro Hiraki sought to contrast Kyo with Street Fighter character Ryu, he considered the character to be an "overwhelming rival or a wall." ^[9] He believed the latter was a popular character that couldn't be surpassed in the same field, so he made Kyo's characterization and design contrast Ryu so he could benefit from appealing to a broad demographic. He wanted Kyo to be a character who "dislikes training and was strong due to natural talent." ^[9]

His change in fighting style was also made as a part of the series's overhaul in The King of Fighters '96. To appease all fans, they also included an older version of Kyo from The King of Fighters '94 into The King of Fighters '97 and placed the '95 version of Kyo in '98, which made both versions of Kyo popular during location tests. The idea of having two versions of Kyo at once lead to the concept of his clones; during the early development stages of The King of Fighters '99, SNK planned to avoid adding any version of Kyo altogether, or Iori, to the game, as the story's focus was meant to center on the new protagonist, K'. However, they retracted this decision, as "they couldn't leave these popular characters in limbo".^[10] Since then, veteran developers for the series admit that Kyo's repeated appearances in the series is due to the marketers and the main planners' insistence to add him, Iori, and other SNK regulars in every game, making it a challenge to decide the story for each title. Kyo's voice actor, Masahiro Nonaka, related greatly with his character as being young and reckless until he "grew up" in his later appearances. He then expressed some difficulty accepting Kyo on the same level.

According to Nobuyuki Kuroki, the staff wanted to provide a new design that would captivate new fans.^[11] Despite Kyo being the main character, they decided to drastically change his hair and outfit. Fearing fans would not like Kyo's new appearance, the staff commented that they aimed it as a challenge, they also mention that old players from the series would understand he is still the same character despite cosmetic changes.^[12]