CHIZURU KAGURA (Chizuru Yata)
First Appearance: King of Fighters '96
Game Appearances: King of Fighters' 96-98 & 2003, KoF XV (33% of series)
Role: The Stoic One, Captain Exposition
PL 9 (171)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+13)
Athletics 9 (+11)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+14)
Expertise (Martial Arts) 6 (+10)
Expertise (History) 4 (+8)
Expertise (Business) 8 (+12)
Expertise (Magic & Demonology) 9 (+13)
Perception 4 (+8)
Ranged Attack (Blasts) 6 (+12)
Stealth 2 (+7)
Vehicles 6 (+10)
Advantages:
Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Critical (Piercing Peak Punch), Improved Critical (Oracle's Decree), Improved Critical (Heaven's Way), Ranged Attack 2, Ritualist
SNK Fighting Style: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Defensive Roll, Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab, Improved Defense, Improved Hold, Improved Trip (Throw), Power Attack, Takedown, Withstand Damage (Block)
Powers:
"Divination" Senses 4 (Precognition) (Flaws: Requires Ritual) [2]
"Piercing Peak Punch- Mirror Image Punches" Blast 4 (Extras: Multiattack) (Flaws: Distracting) Linked to Affliction 4 (Toughness; Dazed & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless) (Extras: Ranged, Extra Condition) (Flaws: Limited Degree) (Diminished Range on Both -1) (10) -- [13]
- AE: "Oracle's Decree- Mirror Image Dash Punch" Blast 4 (Reduced Defenses -1, Diminished Range -1) (5)
- AE: "Heaven's Way- Mirror Image Flying Swipe" Blast 4 (Feats: +2 to Hit Jumping Opponents) (Reduced Defenses -1, Diminished Range -1) (6)
- AE: "Switch Places With Copy" Teleport 2 (Feats: Change Direction) (5)
"Posession" Mind Control 8 (Extras: Possession) (32) -- (34 points)
- AE: Teleport 12 (Extras: Extended) (32)
- AE: Mind-Reading 10 (20)
Unarmed +14 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Piercing Peak Punch +12 (+4 Damage & Affliction, DC 19 & 14)
Mirror Images +12 (+4 Ranged Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +5
Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +3 (+4 D.Roll), Fortitude +6, Will +8
Complications:
Responsibility (Defeating Orochi)- Chizuru is the last remaining member of a clan that sealed Orochi centuries ago. She now needs to team up the adversarial Kyo Kusanagi & Iori Yagami to seal the demon again.
Relationship (Maki Yata)- Chizuru's elder sister was murdered by Orochi's agent, Goenitz. She must fight a "shadow" of her later.
Weakness (Predictability)- SNK Characters cannot simply "spam" out the same attack over and over again, as the opponent will expect the attacks, and be ready for them (and a counterattack). The third time they try the same technique (or same combo of techniques) in a short span, they will be at -2 to Accuracy, AND to his Active Defenses in that round. All will decrease by 2 every successive round the same move is done.
Total: Abilities: 74 / Skills: 64--32 / Advantages: 7 + 11 / Powers: 36 / Defenses: 14 (171)
-Chizuru is another character I feel somewhat failed as a design. This character was supposed to be SO important to the King of Fighters lore, and was the Sub-Boss of the 1996 edition of the game (before you faced Goenitz)... but the fans were never taken with her, and she eventually disappears for a long four years, and has now been out of the games for SIXTEEN! I think it comes down to her design... which is dull. She's just this tall, slender woman with long hair and a weird pokey-shouldered shirt. There's nothing "iconic" or cool about her design. She looks suitably mystical and mysterious, but that alone doesn't really make her appearance justified. I feel like if they'd gone for a cooler dress, a fashion-plate outfit (maybe an all-white suit or something?)- ANYTHING- they'd have had a long-time popular character.
-Chizuru, as I said, is incredibly important to the plot- as the descendant of one of the three clans that sealed Orochi 1800 years ago, she is also the one with all of the important plot information as to what Orochi IS, and how to stop it. Teaming up with rivals Kyo Kusanagi & Iori Yagami, she plans the downfall of the demonic force that threatens the world. She holds the Yata Mirror, which can help seal Orochi. It turns out that Orochi's agent Goenitz had killed her older sister (at that point the heir to stopping Orochi), leaving Chizuru with the responsibility instead. Becoming a businesswoman under a false name, she keeps track of the King of Fighters tournament, ultimately joining Kyo & Iori, under their protests. Finally, the team succeeds when Kyo wins the 1997 tournament.
-Chizuru's appearance was apparently based off of Yohko Shiraki from the Tomorrow's Joe manga. A Sub-Boss in KoF '96, she reappears in '97, being so important to the plot. The next game was a "Dream Match", and so she appeared again, but she missed 2002's version of the same. In the end, she joins KoF 2003, now important once more as a victim of Ash Crimson, who seeks the three clans' powers- Chizuru is the first victim, losing her Yata Mirror. In KoF XIV, her powers finally return, and she heads to Hungary with Kyo & Iori, hoping to defeat an unleashed Orochi yet again. In KoF XV, Chizuru makes her first apperance in TWENTY YEARS, joining the "Sacred Treasures Team" yet again to investigate Verse and the Amp-powered beings.
-Chizuru fights in a very "mystical" sort of way, lacking martial arts hitting power, using more of that kind professed by real-world charlatans- open-handed swipes and swats that, because this is a video game, actually hurt. She also uses Special Moves that do weird stuff like throw out mirror images of herself that do the damage for her. Her Yata Mirror is a massive plot device that can do God knows what, like creating "Kusanagi", a dark clone of Kyo meant to test other fighters, look into the minds of others, etc. As a mere Sub-Boss, she's still only PL 9, but her "Mirror Images" make her less vulnerable than other characters (less Reduced Defenses), and are quite accurate.