Sakura Kasugano

Sakura Kasugano is a recurring character in the Street Fighter franchise. She is a Japanese schoolgirl who has an intense fascination with idolizing Ryu, who is capable of copying and learning some of Ryu's moves, but really wants him to train her.
Sakura first appeared in Street Fighter Alpha 2 as one of three female playable characters along with Chun-Li and Rose, making her the fourth female as a playable character in the entire series at once after the latter.
She is seen wearing her usual school uniform until the events of Street Fighter V, where she is now wearing her new outfit for the game, as her school uniform is available for the Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter IV, and Street Fighter V paths, and she is not playable in the Street Fighter, Street Fighter II, and Street Fighter III paths.
She is voiced in Japanese by Yuko Sasamoto in most of her appearances, Chiaki Osawa in Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, Mao Kawasaki in Street Fighter Generations, Misato Fukuen as of Street Fighter IV, also known for the voice of Sailor Chibi Moon in Sailor Moon Crystal and Cure Happy, and Aya Hisakawa in the Street Fighter Alpha 2 drama CD, also the voice of Palutena, Cure Moonlight and young Yuki Sohma.
In the English version, she is voiced by Saffron Henderson in the cartoon, who also voiced Morrigan Aensland in the Darkstalkers cartoon, and has been voiced by Michelle Ruff in Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation and Street Fighter Alpha: Generations, Hannah Church in the motion comics, and Brittney Lee Harvey as of Street Fighter IV.
Sakura is a playable character ever since Street Fighter Alpha 2, where she is playable from default, and returns to the console editions of Street Fighter IV as an unlockable character, and once again returns to Super Street Fighter IV, where she is playable from the start, and is a downloadable playable character in Street Fighter V.
==Appearance==
Sakura is an athletic teen with a exceptionally toned body. Even if she has an overall strong physique her muscular legs stand out. She's 157 cm tall and weighs 55 kg. She has brown eyes and short brown hair. 
Sakura wears her school uniform, a short-skirted sailor fuku with the collar popped out, red bloomers underneath, red sneakers based on Converse, a red top under her uniform, red combat gloves, a yellow scarf tied in the front, and a white headband, which is given to her by Ryu before the events of Street Fighter Alpha 2.
==Personality==
In all aspects, Sakura has a very typical teenage girl personality, as she is most of the time happy, energetic, cheerful, positive, hard-working and focused. She has a strong spirit and a very determined attitude in life, either in studies or trains in martial arts. 
She sees Ryu as an idol, rather than an opponent, since she always watched him fight and mirrors herself on his lifestyle and philosophies. Although her techniques may seem somewhat "rustic" in comparison to Ryu's, she manages to balance her schoolgirl life with her daily tasks in order to be accepted as Ryu's pupil and prove herself by fighting worthy opponents.
Sakura is an upbeat, fiery, spirited, plucky and spunky girl. She is comical and clumsy as well but she doesn't let that stop her from improving. She is witty, bold and brave Sakura is also curious looking for new ways to learn. Sakura is a very friendly girl who is sweet, kind, gentle, caring and trusting who loves to have fun.
==Biography==
Chronologically, Sakura first appeared in Rival Schools, where she had begun to participate in street fighting after watching Ryu defeat Sagat in the First World Warrior Tournament. Rival Schools saw Sakura involved in the adventure between her school and various others in Aoharu city. Fighting in it, she realized how much it meant to her to protect something she cared about.
===Street Fighter Alpha 2===
The now-15-year old Sakura was searching for Ryu and wished for him to train her to be a better fighter. She met up with many interesting people along the way, and eventually came across Ryu, who was still stressed over his encounter with Akuma and the revelation that he possessed the Satsui no Hadou - he told her he could not train her as he still had much to learn himself. He sparred with her for a bit and as he began to leave, she took a picture of him to remember him by. Sakura also kept training in the hopes of one day meeting Ryu again with a better understanding of fighting.
===Street Fighter Alpha 3===
At 16, she was still fighting in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and decided to travel the world to find Ryu. She started off in her native Japan and fought the sumo wrestler E. Honda, who mentioned Ryu was going off to such places as India and Thailand. She also fought a rematch with her rival Karin Kanzuki, and though Karin won the fight, admitted Sakura was better and learned that winning was not everything. Thereafter traveling with her sensei, Dan Hibiki, she met his friend Blanka along the way and was promised a match with him.
She continued to search the world for Ryu, eventually ditching Dan and finding Ryu's friend and rival Ken Masters. She commented to him how she loved to fight to better herself, and finding inspiration in those words himself, Ken and Sakura eventually found Ryu in Thailand, only to find that he had been brainwashed by M. Bison, the leader of the Shadaloo terrorist organization. Sagat was also there, having recently abandoned Shadaloo after discovering M. Bison's true intentions. While Sagat desperately attempted to get through to Ryu, Ken and Sakura both took on Bison, only to be heavily outmatched by the ruthless dictator. 
Sakura would end up taking a Psycho Crusher meant for Ryu and was about to be killed by Bison when an enraged Ryu, having just regained control of his senses, heard Sakura's cries for help and destroyed the dictator's body with a Metsu Hadouken. Afterwards, Ryu told Sakura that he was not ready to train her and fight a rematch with her yet, and walked off, with Sakura watching him go. She then realized that there was something really special about Ryu, but she didn't know what.
===Street Fighter IV===
Sakura, now 19, returns again, still searching for Ryu. This time, it is heavily implied that her admiration toward Ryu has developed into a full-on crush. Her win quote against Sagat has her admitting that she understands his obsession with Ryu, adding "Isn't he just dreamy?". Some time after the Second World Warrior Tournament, she confronts Dan to know anything about where her idol Ryu might be. Dan, who doesn't like to appear out of a loop, says that the Third World Warrior Tournament is rumored to begin, and that Ken will be participating, speculating that Ryu will also be there like in the previous tournament. Sakura decides to participate, hoping to get her long-awaited rematch with Ryu. She, Dan and Blanka depart on a cruise ship on which she endures a grueling self-imposed training regime.
Sakura also seems to have since become friends with Karin, texting her frequently to update her on Sakura's progress throughout the Third World Warrior Tournament. As the tournament descends into chaos following M. Bison's sudden return, Sakura actively seeks out Ryu, eventually finding him in the S.I.N. headquarters in the midst of taking out the BLECE project. She is sent flying into a wall by an explosion and soon awakens to see Ryu helping her to her feet. Both Sakura and Ryu escape from the destruction of the S.I.N. headquarters and quickly run into both Dan and Blanka. 
After Bison's forces are forced into retreat, Sakura and Ryu exchange their farewells before she returns home. She realized that it was love that she felt for idolizing Ryu. Some time later, while walking with her pet dog, a slightly older-looking Sakura sees Ryu approaching and happily runs towards him.
==Other Media==
===Super Smash Bros.===
Sakura appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a ace-ranked primary attack-type spirit. Her spirit battle is a stamina battle against Ryu who favors neutral specials with increased powers on them on the omega form of Suzaku Castle with decreased jump powers.
==Abilities==
Sakura fights using an imitation of Ryu's "Shotokan" fighting style or Shoto-Clone. She has an ability to manipulate ki and is skilled to use the imperfect Hadoken, but she can't throw it the full length of the battle arena due to her untrained fighting skills unlike Ken, Ryu and other imitators of the same fighting style. Differently, she is able to control and charge the size and power of her Hadoken energy attack and throw larger ones that sacrifices both range and execution speed, which is up to 3 times in a row. 
In the Marvel vs. Capcom series of tag-team fighting games, she launches her Hadouken energy projectiles diagonally upwards, even though she performs the Hiyakeshita (Sunburned) to horizontally throw them at the opponent. By the time of the Capcom vs. SNK series, instead of traditional projectiles known as Hadoushou that can be hit thrice, she manipulates an energy spark. However, it is limited to the area during the fight, even though her EX counterpart relies on her special Hadouken.
For attacks other than the Hadouken, Senpuu Kyaku is a short version of the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku that rises and falls in an arcing path and goes about 60% of the screen at its longest range; not sailing in the air. The Shououken is an imitation of the Shoryuken that sees her running before executing the attack by using the throwing body, blowing the end of the combination with an uppercut.
Both Shinkuu Hadoken and Midare Zakura, imitated versions of the Shoryureppa, are her own interpretations and Super Combos added in her fighting style. One of her super attacks is a ground-only spinning leg attack called Haru Ichiban, which translates to "First One of the Spring". This move ends with a side kick that knocks the opponent off of her. Also, in the Marvel vs. Capcom series (under the name of the Hyper Combo called the "Hiyakeshita Sakura"), the Street Fighter Ex series and Rival Schools: United by Fate, she can use the Shun Goku Satsu (Raging Demon), which officially has no canonical reference on the storyline of Street Fighter.
In Street Fighter EX3, her appearance sees her gain two unique Meteor Combos: "Nekketsu Hadouken", which manipulates a massive, pink Hadouken several times, exceptionally fast, and deals a big damage than any other projectile, and last but not the least is "Genki Ichiban", which can inflict at least 80% damage to her opponent in the fight. However, it is widely telegraphed if she tiptoes toward her opponent and points & laughs; the pointing doesn't block and causes a great deal of knocking them back.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*Sakura means "cherry blossom" in Japanese.
*Sakura is one of two fighters to be taught by two of the main characters in Street Fighter, Ryu and Ken. The other is Sean Matsuda, who learned the same fighting style.
*Sakura is one of the 19 characters in Street Fighter IV to not have a second rival in Super Street Fighter IV, despite having an ultra combo video to include her second rival (Cammy).
*She is the only Street Fighter character with a vocal theme song "I Just Want You to Know", primarily found in the arrange soundtrack of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. The melody would find itself being emulated in her theme song of Street Fighter IV.
*She's one of the most popular Street Fighter characters, having more appearances on non-Street Fighter games than Ken.
*She is also the youngest fighter of the Street Fighter franchise.
*Cammy and Sakura may have likely met and fought in the past, based on their quotes in Super Street Fighter IV (especially in Cammy's quote).
*Sakura is the most popular character from the Street Fighter franchise as she voted first from the character rank.
*Sakura is similar and has been compared to Bumblebee from :
**Both are one of the most popular characters in their series.
**Both are the youngest characters.
**Both served as the main protagonists in their film and comics.
**Both are taught by their leaders and deeply cares for them.
**Both love fighting and peace and willing to protect their friends from danger.
**Both successfully stoped their leaders from being brainwashed by their enemies. For example, Sakura stoped Ryu from being controlled by M. Bison in Alpha 3 and Bumblebee stoped Optimus from being controlled by Quintessa in The Last Knight.
==External Links==
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