Hsien-Ko

Hsien-Ko, also known as Lei-Lei, is one of the major characters from the Darkstalkers series.
== Charactah Account ==
The twins Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling were born to a family of Senjutsushi spiritualists. One day their family was attacked and the twins' mother, in order to save them, banished the monsters by sacrificing herself, sealing her soul in the darkness. The twins wanted to save their mother's soul, and in order to do that they performed a magic spell that turned Hsien-Ko into a Kyon-Shi (the "hopping vampire" of Chinese folklore), and turned Mei-Ling into the sealing ward that prevents Hsien-Ko from going berserk, taking the form of a seal. They set out to hunt monsters and in general doing good deeds (to earn enough brownie points for their mother).
After releasing their mother's soul from darkness, they were reincarnated as normal girls. During their 16th birthday, their powers from their past life activated, gaining Jedah's attention and sucking them into Majigen. Their souls took the forms of their former bodies, and they fight for their survival with their newfound powers (they don't have memories from their past-life). In the end they returned to their normal lives.
== Appearance ==
=== Anime ===
* Vampire Hunter
=== Cartoons ===
* Darkstalkers: The Animated Series
=== Comics ===
* Darkstalkers
* Street Fighter VS. Darkstalkers
=== Manga ===
* Vampire Savior: Tamashii no Mayoigo
=== Video Games ===
* Capcom Fighting Evolution
* Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
* Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower
* Darkstalkers Resurrection
* Lei-Lei's Magical Hammer
* Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
* Namco × Capcom
* Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge
* Onimusha Soul
* Project × Zone
* Project × Zone 2
* SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS
* SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2
* SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash
* Street Fighter Alpha 2
* Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix
* Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
* Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
* Vampire Chronicle for Matching Service
* Vampire Hunter 2
* Vampire Savior 2
* Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire
* Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection
== Trivia ==
* Hsien-Ko is known for the following distinctions:
** She is the only character in the series to transform into more than one person when hit by Demitri's "Midnight Bliss".
** She is one of the few characters who can break the forth wall in Capcom media, alongside Anakaris.
** She is the only character in the series whose body breaks up into three parts when killed by being sliced; her arms break off along with her torso.
* Hsien-Ko's localized Chinese name in pinyin format, Héxiān Guu (Kasenko in on'yomi), comes from one of the Eight Immortals in the Daoist pantheon.
* Hsien-Ko was planned to be in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes as a playable character, but was dropped.
* Lord Raptor has romantic feelings for Hsien-Ko due to him being a fellow supernatural being, as demonstrated by his special intro towards her, but she is very annoyed by him. In Namco × Capcom, Raptor constantly attempts to go on a date with her, but she wants nothing to do with him. She also mentions her annoyance of Raptor in the Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, saying her opponent was annoying, but not nearly as annoying as Lord Raptor.
** If playing as Lord Raptor in Vampire Savior, Hsien-Ko will be his secret challenger, and based on the quotes, she is at least cordial, until she finds out his fixation on her.
** In the Vampire Savior manga however, she does have feelings for him but has no interest in admitting it to him. This could imply that she is a tsundere type character.
*** In the same manga Hsien-ko is rescued by Lord Raptor from Victor (and later he rescues her from Rikuo).
** Lord Raptor and Hsien-ko make a cameo as human figures in Street Fighter Alpha 2 (along with some other Darkstalkers characters). Lord Raptor is seen playing his guitar while Hsien-ko watches him, however she first looks around to see if anyone is watching her before doing so. This could also imply that she is shy.
** In Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo Hsien-ko uses Lord Raptor's chainsaw instead of her own, he is also seen watching her in the background of her stage within the bushes and his eyes are shaped like hearts. If she wins the stage his heart-shaped eyes start to beat. This could hint that Hsien-ko is at least allies with Lord Raptor or have some sort of positive relationship at some point.
* Hsien-Ko's hammerspace sleeves filled with nigh infinite amounts of weaponry to throw (and even chained weapons) is similar in design and functionality to Mousse, a character from Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½ series. While it may be implied some of her character design and fighting style (and to an extent, even nationality) was inspired in part or wholly from Mousse, Hsien-Ko herself became an apparent inspiration to some future character design.
** Xiao Lon from KOF Maximum Impact Regulation "A" also seems inspired by Hsien-Ko in terms of appearance and especially fighting style.
** Taokaka from the BlazBlue series may also be a reference, having large sleeves with metal claws and saws in them; her personality is possibly inspired by Felicia as well.
* Hsien-Ko was announced in Project × Zone along with fellow Capcom character Frank West, who is ironically a man who fights zombies.
** The two appears together as well in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, with humorous jabs against one another in win quotes.
* Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are mostly likely fraternal twins, as neither of them look similar (Hsien-Ko has spiky purple hair, and Mei-Ling has straight brown hair).
** In the Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge anime it is shown that they have the same dark brown hair color but Mei-Ling's hair is longer.
* Hsien-Ko has had the same voice actress in nearly all of her video games appearances up to Namco × Capcom: Michiko Neya (the exception being Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, where Kae Araki took over). As of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, she is now voiced by Saori Hayami.
** In Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire, Mei-Ling is also voiced by Michiko Neya via reverb and in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (Pocket Fighter) using an unregulated voice. Despite this she is voiced by actresses different from those of Hsien-Ko in all other appearances in Japanese media as well as all English appearances.
* In the Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge OVA, Hsien-Ko's design looks like Chun-Li from the Street Fighter series in her human form, this is due to the characters being drawn by the same artist.
** Furthering this resemblance is the fact that her Japanese OVA voice, Yūko Miyamura, voiced Chun-Li in most of her video game appearances in the mid-to-late '90s.
* In her appearances where she has a voice in English, she was been voiced by Nicole Oliver in the Night Warriors OVA. Whereas in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 onwards, she is voiced by Hunter MacKenzie Austin.
* Her first appearances in both Namco × Capcom and Project × Zone have several things in common. She first appears in the fifth prologue chapter of the game. Both levels take place on a boat. She meets the representatives of Resident Evil in this stage. Also, she is called by Lord Raptor who greets her with the words "My sweetheart! Hsien-Kohhhh (Lei-Lei-chan)!!" in both games.
* In Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and its remake, most of the English-speaking actors, including the announcer, cannot properly pronounce her name, instead saying it as "shin-ko", "sen-ko", "sheng-ko", and "hee-sen-ko". The correct way is in fact "syen-ko", as heard in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix.
* According to concept art, Hsien-Ko's many weapons are stored in carrying devices she holds onto, while her claw weapons are in fact chained directly to her scapulas. When electrocuted, her sprites will show her chains coming from the back area and two small boxes with weapons falling out of them. Due to the size of these boxes it is possible that they work like pocket dimensions.
* Hsien-Ko keeps a statue of Akuma made of clay that she carries, it is still currently unknown if she has any ties to Satsui no Hado from Kage and Dark Ingrid in the UDON Comics.
* Unlike Anita, whose Japanese name became her defacto English name (from Amanda), her sister's English name varied. Pre-Vampire Savior, it was Mei-Ling, until the game used the Japanese name for her sister, Lin-Lin. As of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, her sister's name is once again Mei-Ling, and she even calls her Mei as a nickname.
* The hanzi/kanji on the blades that appear during her Chireitou move; literally meaning: Imperial Edict: Rising Dragon Sword.
* Hsien-Ko's characterization in Vampire Savior takes place after the events of her story mode in Vampire Hunter/Night Warriors but this would be contradictory to the rest of the plot of the series since only Demitri's fight against Pyron was canon in that game and Hsien-Ko being reborn is meant to be her reward after defeating all the Darkstalkers including Pyron. The reason why they went with this story and characterization is unexplained but it is possible the team had no idea what to do with Hsien-Ko's character but wanted her to still be playable so they just went with whatever character interpretation is available.
== Gallery ==
File:Hsien-Ko Render 01.png
File:Hsien-Ko Render 02.png
File:Hsien-Ko Render 03.png
File:Hsien-Ko Render 04.png
File:Hsien-Ko Render 05.png
File:Hsien-Ko Fan Art 01.png
File:Hsien-Ko Fan Art 02.png
== External Links ==
* Hsien-Ko at Darkstalkopedia
Category:Characters
Category:Females
Category:Darkstalkers