Akira Kazama

Akira Kazama is a fighting game character from the Rival Schools series of 3D fighting games, first appearing in Rival Schools: United by Fate.

She would later make her debut in the Street Fighter games starting with the fifth season of DLC fighters in Street Fighter V*.*

Akira Kazama and her older brother Daigo are orphans. They previously lived together in Daigo's own home before Akira moved to the Seijyun dorms. Their parents were friends with a man who owns a garage, this man taught Akira about bikes when her parents died, and now she helps the man repair bikes.

Prior to her initial appearance, she appears at the last part of her older brother, Daigo's ending, in which Akira herself decides to pose as a boy in order to enter Gedo High so that she can find out on what had happened to Daigo after he had unexpectedly disappeared from within his own personal mission of solving the school kidnappings.

Her initial appearance in Rival Schools: United by Fate is under a motorcycle helmet and being dressed in biker gear while posing as both a boy and as Daigo's younger brother. She befriends two of Daigo's subordinates, Edge and Gan, who eventually became suspicious of her actions, which forces Akira to fight against the two of them in a handicap match, with both Edge and Gan testing her fighting skills in order to truly see if she is indeed their boss' younger brother. After defeating the Pacific High students who were captured and brainwashed by Hideo and Kyoko, the trio decides to pursue the latter two, only to be stopped and informed by both Natsu and Roberto that both Hideo and Kyoko, along with Roy, Tiffany, and Boman were brainwashed by Justice High School. With this new profound knowledge, Akira now realizes that her older brother may have been brainwashed as well following his sudden disappearance.

After Hyo's defeat, the Gedo High trio eventually rescue Daigo as Akira emotionally reunites with her older brother while speaking out in a feminine voice towards him, in which both Edge and Gan are initially confused by their boss' word about "a lady like yourself" to Akira. From there, Akira finally shows her true gender to them by removing her black biker helmet and apologizes to both Eiji and Gan for her past deception towards them while also telling them that she was not Daigo's younger brother, but rather, his younger sister, much to their own shocking surprise. Despite this, both Edge and Gan eventually accepts Akira as their new friend, telling her that the three of them had fought together during their adventure to rescue Daigo and that she's now one of them, much to Akira's own dismay as she personally wants to go back to school as a regular student.

In the Seijyun High storyline of *Project Justice*, Akira, who has been transferred to the girls-only Seijyun High, is the central character, with the player themself following her on her personal quest to find out on what had happened to Daigo, who had suddenly and unexpectedly changed after returning from his personal training journey. She manages to befriend Yurika and later on Zaki, with the latter only agreeing to join the duo if they could defeat her in a test of strength.

After hearing and learning of Daigo's sudden change of personality, the trio decides to investigate the situation while also investigating the new wave of attacks on the local schools themselves. Upon meeting Batsu on the way, Akira is attacked by him (unaware at the time that it was actually Kurow in disguise). Akira and her friends then later on fight the real Batsu whom she mistakes as the real culprit. By the time of this, both Gedo High and Seijyun High are on the verge of having a school gang war against each other.

Akira and Zaki are soon confronted by a brainwashed Daigo and that Akira herself tries to snap him out of it, only to be stopped by both Edge and Gan, who tells her that they need to fight against him by force in order to help free Daigo from his brainwashed state. While the battle takes place, Zaki hears an unexpected whistle noise and soon realizes that Yurika was playing Kurow's flute in order to control Daigo from within his brainwashed state.

The group had soon went after Daigo in the mountain area near Justice High and that they were led there by Yurika herself, who had a change of heart and wanted to help Akira and the others out, causing Kurow to brand his older sister as a traitor to their mission. Kurow plans to brainwash Yurika as punishment, only to be repelled by Zaki who uses her chains to get his flute. Akira states that she can not forgive Kurow for ruining his family relationship with his older sister and faces the brainwashed Daigo one final time while also vowing to stop Kurow from carrying out his evil plan. After both Kurow and the brainwashed Daigo was defeated, Akira tries to wake Daigo up from his unconscious state, but is unable to do so as Yurika tells Akira that Daigo needs to rest for a while so that he can fully recover from his brainwashing. Edge gives Akira her black biker helmet and attire as a part of their school's behalf while Gan also helps out in carrying the unconscious Daigo to safety as well.

After the incident, Yurika had left Seijyun High out of personal guilt for having to take part in Kurow's evil plan, but she decides to return to the school a while later, where she is warmly welcomed back by both Akira and Zaki, with Akira herself happily reuniting with her. At some point after this, Daigo, who recovers from his brainwashing and realizes that he needs to improve himself both physically and mentally in order to make sure and see to it that something like this doesn't happen again in the future, leaves Edge and Gan in charge of watching over Gedo High until he returns while also giving his school jacket to Akira, saying his good-byes to them as he leaves to train once more from within another personal training journey.

In August 2020, Akira was announced as becoming the first Rival Schools character to be playable in the Street Fighter series, appearing in the fifth season of DLC fighters in Street Fighter V with a prospective Summer 2021 release date. According to the director of Street Fighter V, Takayuki Nakayama, Akira is acquainted with Sakura Kasugano, similar to how Sakura herself is acquainted with Hinata and Natsu.

Akira visits the Kanzuki Zaibatsu with her motorbike and was encountered by Ibuki who mistook her as a boy and a stranger. Akira defeats Ibuki in a fight and Sakura arrives to clear up their misunderstanding. Sakura removes Akira's biker helmet to show it to Ibuki while she introduces her and both of them apologizes for the confusion. Ibuki finally introduced herself to Akira and asking Sakura in how she and Akira met each other. Akira explains to her in how she and Sakura have met. It is revealed during the time of both Rival Schools series and the Street Fighter Alpha series that Akira had encountered Sakura during her mission to find her older brother Daigo while she sided with Edge and Gan and because Sakura is a powerful street fighter, Akira wanted to test her strength and abilities to her. After explaining, Sakura wanted to fight Akira in a sparring match and it is revealed that they are invited in Karin's tea party at her Zaibatsu so that she will reunite with Akira because of the passage of time. Karin arrives and she recognizes Akira being the sister of Daigo Kazama, the legendary gang leader and allowing them to enter the Zaibatsu for the tea party. The girls enjoy eating desserts while Akira displays her liking of confectionary. Karin decided to challenge Akira into a match which she respectfully accepts as the condition where they are invited to join the beach party at the Kanzuki private beach. After Akira defeats Karin, the girls finally enjoys themselves at the private beach during the beach party that Karin had made. Sakura also noticed that Akira had overcame her aquaphobia which Akira reveals that someone had taught her how to swim properly as Ibuki mistook her being her boyfriend who taught her. Sakura finally asking her what she can do next which Karin had decided to challenge Akira again into a match which Akira reluctantly accepts due to the moral support of both Sakura and Ibuki.