Characters / Psycho Soldier - Sie Kensou

Psycho Soldier | Main Index
Athena Asamiya | Sie Kensou
Related Series
The King of Fighters

KOF 2000 Artwork by Shinkiro

^{Psycho Soldier} 

^{KOF XII-XIII} 

"New threads. New attitude. The new Kensou's coming at you!"

Origin China

Fighting style: Psychic powers + Kung Fu

Voiced by: ^note Eiji Yano (94' to XIII), Yuki Ishii (Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life), Yuto Kaname (XIV, The King of Fighters: Destiny), Josh Keller (XII, English)

The other half of the Psycho Soldiers main face, Sie Kensou is a lively young man born with Psychic Powers, referred to as Psycho Powers in-universe, for this reason he caught Chin Gentsai’s attention who then took him in to be his disciple; Chin believes his students must be honed to face any future threat the world may face, he uses the King of Fighters Tournaments as a mean to improve Kensou and the others.

Kensou is mainly the source of comic relief and relaxing moments for the Psycho Soldiers, however he has his own serious sub-plot that has been developing since 99; he is also in love with Athena, going to great lengths to confess his love and declare that he is her knight, however Athena seemly only sees Kensou as a friend, getting extremely embarrassed each time Kensou confesses.

In 99 Kensou mysteriously lost his powers, seemly destroying Chin’s hopes for his future, but Kensou still participated in that editon of KOF; at the end of it the powerless Kensou awakens an immense new power in desperation for Athena’s life was at risk, that power would be called the "Dragon Spirit" which Kensou somehow shares with Bao, meaning when Bao has powers Kensou doesn’t and vice-versa.

After some ins and outs with his powers Kensou decides to pass up the 2003 tournament in order to master the Dragon Spirit, eventually coming back in XI seemly having mastered his powers. In XII Kensou is graced with a complete overhaul in his fighting style, sporting a more serious kung-fu and donning his Classic Attire from his original Psycho Soldiers appearance, in XIII he is eager to show everyone how much capable he has become and try to confess to Athena once more of course.

The Dragon Spirit apparently is one of the greatest powers in the King of Fighters universe, Ron of Hizoku clan expressed great interest in taking it for himself, claiming that all of NESTS is nothing compared to said power, later he would even warn Saiki that the Dragon Spirit is something that could be a threat to Those From the Past.

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A-G

• Aborted Arc: Despite SNK developing a Myth Arc around Kensou's Dragon Spirit in KOF 99 and 2000 (and Eolith likewise in 2001), once SNK regained the series from Eolith after 2002, the company abandoned any prospect of bringing the arc to a climax and has mostly ignored it since.
• Aborted Declaration of Love:
  • Tries to confess his feelings for the umpteenth time to Athena in XIII, only to be cut off by her. On two separate occasions. Poor guy.
  • In XIV it reaches the point where Kensou technically interrupts himself; in yet another chance to confess his feelings for Athena, in a match against her, Kensou mutters to himself he is really going to do it this time, but Athena thinks Kensou is somehow worked up over her eating his Meat Bun earlier that day, apologizing and promising to cook a serving of meat buns just for Kensou later; that makes Kensou so happy for being graced with Athena’s home cooking that he completely forgets about confessing.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: King of Fighters: KYO (both the game and manga) depicted him as Athena's obnoxious and whiny fanboy, which traits quickly found a place in the games.
• All Chinese People Know Kung-Fu: Kensou’s Kung-Fu imparted on him by Chin, clearly based around the famous Northern Shaolin Style, often seen in Wuxia films, packed with many acrobatic movements and jumps.
• All Love Is Unrequited: In The King of Fighters, Kensou is flagrantly head-over-heels for his teammate Athena, who constantly manages to somehow avoid the subject. While one could reasonably expect that Athena thinks they're Better as Friends and this is her way of not hurting Kensou's feelings, character dialog in XIII casts doubt on the situation by pointing out that Athena's feelings are an Ambiguous Situation; King, Love Heart, and Luong each are a Shipper on Deck for them in XII, XIV, and SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy respectively.
• Amazon Chaser:
  • One of the reasons why he likes Athena is her Badass Adorable charm. In XIII, his win quote against her has him explicitly saying "You're so strong, I couldn't hold back!"
  • He's also rather impressed by Leona's looks in XIII and by Luong's Heroic Seductress charms in XIV
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Kensou's got a long and storied history with this trope.
  • In KOF 2000, Kensou confesses outright, only for Athena to blatantly and clumsily avoid the subject. He remains frustrated with her refusal to answer him in 2001, and in 2002 she starts off with an apology, which terrifies him, only for her apology to actually about stealing his meat bun earlier, which makes him collapse to the floor. In his win quote against her he ultimately gives up.
  • It was dropped for a couple of games, but he tries confessing yet again in XI only for her to apparently not pick up on his intentions. In XIII, however, the intro to a Team Psycho Soldier match against Team Women Fighters includes Mai teasing him for being in trapped in "'Just Friends' Jail", prompting him to try again... only for Athena to tell him "Not in front of everyone!", which Yuri immediately latches onto.
• Ascended Extra: Kensou in his classical Psycho Soldier getup, it was first seen in the Special Team: Classic Characters Ending (Ralf, Clark, Athena) in 97, where the classic trio is seen in their original appearances from their debut games, although Athena is dressed like Goddess Athena; Kensou is seen on the side asking to not be forgotten. In 2000 Psycho Soldier Kensou became a Striker, resulting in XII and XIII where it became his main look.
• Assist Character: For Athena in Gals Fighters. Kensou was playing the leading lady's hapless Human Shield before Toad made it cool.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The most prominent new move Kensou had in his comeback for XI to signify his mastery over the Dragon Spirit, the DM Seigan Rairyu, Kensou fires an energy dragon that comes back to him, making Kensou glow for about 10 seconds boosting his damage output for every attack; unfortunately it isn’t much practical since the move can be easily cancelled (flooring Kensou before the Dragon comes back to him), probably being the reason it didn’t come back for Kensou’s full badass overhaul in the two following entries.
• Badass Adorable: An earnest, somewhat child-like, spirited, slightly clumsy young man who can pack an incredible punch with his kung-fu skills and Psychic Powers.
• Badass Normal: Kensou did not pass down the chance of participating in the tournaments when he lost his powers, he canonically went through three editions: 99, 2000 and 2001 completely powerless, still carrying his own weight with raw skill on Kung-Fu. The only time Kensou passed a tournament, 2003, was to train in order to control his Dragon Spirit.
• Battle Aura: Extreme usage of the Dragon Spirit gives one to Kensou. As shown in KOF '99, it also doubles as a force field.
• Battle Cry: "NIKUMAAANNNN~!!!" upon being selected in XIII, he really loves those Pork Buns.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Bao, who more or less is his adoptive brother.
• Big Eater: To the point that one of his old DM techniques has him eating pork buns to recover health (and sometimes choke on them). His intro animation in the older games also had him stuffing down a pork bun before entering battle.
• Big "WHY?!": Certain KO animations have him yell this out.
• Brought Down to Normal: Lost his powers temporarily, after Bao was taken in by the Psycho Soldiers. It's later revealed that they share said powers; whenever Bao's using the Dragon Spirit, Kensou loses his psychic abilities and vice versa.
• Butt-Monkey: If something bad or embarrassing happens to the Psycho Soldiers, it's probably happening to Kensou in particular.
  • In KOF: G, his very first scene has him constantly distracted during his and Athena's training and getting punished by the monks that supervise both of them because his pants were ripped.
  • In SNK Gals Fighters, Kensou cameos as Athena's hapless Human Shield Assist Character.
  • In the Team Story for XI, after Kensou returns from his year-long training journey, his crush Athena barely notices his return.
• Call-Back: The fact Kensou has a fandom in-universe for KOF doesn't sound that weird when one takes in consideration his Psycho Soldier incarnation; there Kensou actually acted as a guitarist for Athena's concerts and shows. With him being on stage from time to time performing along with Athena, this would eventually help the guy gather some devoted fans.
• Calling Your Attacks: The only attack Kensou has consistently called in all the iterations in which he had the move, the Choukyuudan. Kensou calls it out with that heavy Kansai dialect of his ("Choukyuudaya!"); you are not to blame if you can’t discern what Kensou is calling it while pulling the move.
• The Cameo:
  • He appears in the Action RPG game Crystalis for the NES under the name "Kensu", he is one of the four wise sages who must guide the protagonist into gathering four elemental swords to forge the Crystalis sword. In the Game Boy Color remake, he is the one who forged the Thunder Sword.
  • Kensou’s Meat Bun is Athena’s PRETTY CHARGE ability in SNK Gals Fighters, it refills her health. Kensou himself also appears directly... as Athena's Human Shield.
  • In the end expect to see him in any game Athena has a major role or is The Protagonist herself; with very few exceptions.
• Cannot Spit It Out: While in earlier games, Kensou was downright loud with his feelings for Athena, in XIII he has to force himself to get confessions out, and even then Athena's quick to avoid shut him down as quickly as she can. Maybe all those early years of rejection did a number on his confidence.
• Characterization Marches On:
  • Kensou has always been a Butt-Monkey, but it was most prominent in the art from the Japanese Psycho Soldier manual, while the only clue in-game was the easily-missed fact that he'd land on his face in the drop between each level. His official art didn't depict much personality outside of confidence.
  • Then he came to King of Fighters and he became (from '96 to '98) laid-back Plucky Comic Relief. Throw in his perennially frustrated attempt to be Lady and Knight with Athena (up to and including a straight-up ignored Love Confession), and you have the laughingstock characterization that defined him through KOF XI.
  • XII and forward moved him back towards his roots, putting him in a green and red kung fu uniform much like his original incarnation and re-characterized him as Just a Kid still finding his way and learning to deal with the Dragon Spirit, with several characters offering patronage and commenting on him "coming out of his slump". (Not that his silliness is entirely gone — use his Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs attack for too long and Kensou becomes exhausted).
  • XIV has nudged him back in the direction of his early KOF days, blending his old street clothes with some of the dragon stylings of his kung fu uniform.
• Chromatic Arrangement: The classic Team China arrangement features Athena in red, Kensou in blue, and Chin in green.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Kensou simply does not exist in almost all Days of Memories games, understandably since he is quite literally the most prominent character in the whole series about proclaiming his love to another major character, only Ramon comes close; Kensou had to make way for the Player Character to win Athena’s heart. The two DoM games Kensou appeared he was pretty much a completely different character who had no feelings for Athena.
  • They pretty much do that as well in the Isekai spin-off "The King of Fantasy" so they can pair up Athena's expy...with Iori of all people. Talk about bad luck.
• Color Motifs:
  • In Psycho Soldier Kensou's main colors are green and red next to Athena's pink and blue.
  • In The King of Fighters Kensou is nearly always the blue to Athena's red in the classic Team China Chromatic Arrangement, save for XII and XIII, which were Revisiting the Roots and briefly revived their Psycho Soldier aesthetic.
• Combat Parkour: Kensou’s Kung Fu is extremely acrobatic, Chin likely disciplined him in Northern Shaolin Style; the range of Kensou’s maneuverability is best seen when couldn’t tap into his powers, his moveset was adjusted with more jumping kicks and punches, backflips as well.
• Commonality Connection:
  • He gets along pretty well with Robert Garcia of the Art of Fighting team, as they're both chasing specific girls and speak Japanese in Kansai-ben. Robert's even asked Kensou for updates on him and Athena a couple of times.
  • Being themed after Dragons and loving Meat Buns couldn't have ended any other way, SNK had Mui Mui and Kensou have a Special Intro; Mui Mui says this world's Meat Buns aren't as good as the ones in her world, Kensou begs to differ, telling Mui Mui he will take her to a place that serves some really good Meat Buns.
• Composite Character: In XIV he maintains his more serious Kung-Fu introduced in XII/XIII (stance, walking, running animation, etc.) but Kensou’s looks are a throwback to the casual wear he wore upon debuting in King of Fighters 94. Most of his move set in XIV is pretty much a direct copy of what he had in KOF 2002.
• Compressed Vice: In the backstory of XI. Kensou, who has been around since '94 and is therefore well-acquainted with a number of powerful women, and who is on a team led by a girl, brings up Momoko's sex in a list of objections about adding her to the team, presumably so the story can discredit his otherwise accurate criticisms of her character.
• Costume Evolution: He gets new-old Chinese duds in XII to show his advancements in his power. He went back to a blue casual getup in XIV although it's a different design compared to his clothes in earlier games.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Athena's independent and strong character is what makes Kensou look foolish in comparison, but when Athena does need help is where Kensou shows he is someone she can rely on. Kensou dropped the Idiot Ball when he had to awaken his Dragon Spirit powers to save Athena in KOF '99. Other situations can be found in Athena's exclusive game for PlayStation, Awakening from the Ordinary Life, where Athena is being constantly haunted due being quite a dark RPG; Kensou proves to be a great ally and support for Athena as he cheers her up in crucial events during the adventure.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: The Dragon Spirit is used for vastly more dramatic and impressive things in the ending sequences of KOF '99 and 2000 than anything in the games themselves; in the first Kensou is able to rescue Athena from the inferno of the collapsing NESTS base and in the second, he's able to absorb the Dragon Spirit from Bao, who nearly died after absorbing the power of a Kill Sat, without any sign of pain at all.
• Dance Battler: His Signature Move all the way back to '94, the Shinryuu Tenbu Kyaku (roughly "Dragon God Sky-Dancing Kick"), consists of him doing a flying spin-kick during a handstand. The official translation is Holy Serpent Breakdance.
• Death from Above: his Ryuusogeki special is him doing a diving palm strike from above.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: His attacks tend to be weak, but he's got some long combos with multiple hits, especially in XIII.
• Declaration of Protection: Kensou declares himself to be Athena’s Knight, even though he sees her as someone strong enough to fend for herself; it has more to do with Kensou wanting to be someone whom Athena can always rely on when things get too tough, however there are times Kensou just wants to be strong enough to protect Athena from something he considers too much.
  • A straighter example comes with the team’s Special Ending in 99, where Kensou awakens his latent abilities to save Athena from imminent death, her telling him to go and save himself alone didn’t tick well on Mr. Knights’s mind and his desperation awakens the Dragon Spirit in its fullest.
  • Used for comical effect in 2000, the special intro he has with Athena is Kensou proclaiming loudly he is Athena’s Knight, Athena doesn’t even get flustered like the similar Intro in 2001 where it is a Love Confession instead, she just strikes her usual Idol pose and starts the match as if she didn’t even notice Kensou’s presence, understandably Kensou drops his shoulders in depression.
• Demoted to Extra: Happens to Kensou in some of Athena's games, specially the Dating Sim ones where the player character assumes the role of her manager or just an average guy seeking for love. Since said games are from the player character's POV, Kensou serves only as a cameo, in a continuity where apparently he won't compete with the given player character regardless of his feelings, or actually such affections aren't romantic at all. Exception goes Awakening from the Ordinary Life, as mentioned in this page before, Kensou gets the chance to be a great support to Athena.
• Distracted by the Sexy: The Credits Roll for 2002 is composed of funny bloopers made with the cast’s animations repurposed for completely different situations, Kensou’s shocked animation is used to represent him being completely mesmerized by Shermie’s provocative taunts, following her at every angle; Kensou showing interest in any other girl but Athena is non-canon of course as it is the case for 2002.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Athena, though it happens more in the KOF: Kyo related media.
  • In XIII, he's this close to confessing in his intro with her. Too bad Athena is way more concerned with their fight. In the Story Mode he also attempts to confess his feelings to Athena, causing an understandably embarrassed Athena to promptly cut him off. Cue the Women Fighters Team expressing their sympathies to him... which in turn leads to the ladies getting catty with each other over their love lives.
  • It should be noticed that, even when he does follow Athena like a borderline puppy and is very upset at the possibility of losing her to someone else, his affections for her are very genuine otherwise. He helps her when she needs it but NEVER demands love or sex from her in return, and he does show affection and care towards other people (Chin, Bao, Kaoru, Momoko, etc.) as well. (In XIII he shows next to no jealousy against Athena's crush Kyo, instead telling him to relax and take care of himself.)
• Drunken Master: Averted. One of the images from XIII, "Drunken Fighters", features Kensou being used as a Human Shield by King, who is holding a wine glass, against Hwa Jai, Big Bear, and Chin himself, who are carrying apparently harder liquors. Kensou himself is hunched over one of Chin's gourds and stark-white in the face, though it's uncertain whether he Can't Hold His Liquor or drank a Gargle Blaster unwittingly.
• Dub Name Change: In Japan, the kanji making up his name are pronounced known as Shii Kensuu.

• Dude, Where's My Respect?: In XIII, Kensou occupies an unusual spot in which most non-villain characters treat him as Just a Kid (with notable exceptions like Andy Bogard), but he receives neutral to respectful comments from villains like Ash and Saiki for his power and threatening potential.
• Eating Contest: The only Special Intro he ever had with Chin, Kensou will chow down on many Meat Buns, while Chin chugs down many doses of sake from his Urns.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: In the Psycho Soldier Team's special ending for KOF '99. Kensou triggers his Dragon Spirit after Athena is in danger of being left for dead at the crumbling site, he saves her with a dose of Power of Love and Undying Loyalty. This doesn't actually do much for Kensou, game-wise, until he trains to control the Dragon Spirit's power several games later.
• Energy Ball: Kensou's Choukyuudan. Originally the attack was a projectile Hadoken type ('94 to '98, XI and XIII); Kensou performed a crouching stance and fired the ball of energy from above. After losing his powers and later training to get them back, Kensou changed his to way to fire the Choukyuudan. From XII and on the attack evolved; his normal Choukyuudan becomes larger and he gets its more powerful version, Shinryuu Choukyuudan, as a DM.
• Flanderization: According to Word of God, Kensou was originally meant to be cool and particularly appealing to women. (We know, surprised us, too). In sequence:
  • Originally, the only thing he had to say about Athena was that while the ladies of Team England were cute, Athena was cuter.
  • Then 96 happened, introducing his love of meat buns and his habit of eating them too quickly and creating promotional art depicting him dreaming about being Athena's boyfriend, and KOF: KYO happened simultaneously, extrapolating it into a crush Kensou had on Athena while she liked Kyo. (Hell, the KOF: KYO game had Kensou make such a nuisance of himself that Athena actively and openly tried to distance herself from him).
  • And then 98 happened after that and had him flagrantly and showily demonstrate his affection for Athena, much to her embarrassment, and it's only gotten worse from there. (A character story for Kensou set prior to XII on the Japanese website featured him spying on what he assumes was a date between Athena and Kyo and getting arrested for it).
  • At this point, his love for Athena is such a huge Running Gag that at times it risks eclipsing every other aspect of him; if Kensou didn’t have his "Classic" SNK character status and the dragon spirit plot on the back burner, his love for Athena would basically be his whole character.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: His use of the Dragon Spirit, in story it can make Kensou fly, generate impregnable force fields, boost his powers to astonishing levels if Ron is to be believed, and when Bao used it could stop a Kill Sat instantly; now it is said that Kensou has total control over the Dragon Spirit. In gameplay, however, the Dragon Spirit has no significance whatsoever compared to how godly it is portrayed in cutscenes.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Basked in the power of the Dragon Spirit to save Athena in KOF '99, Kensou gets nice glowing eyes of blue energy.

H-Z

• Hero of Another Story: As mentioned above, he and Athena made their debuts in Psycho Soldier.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Kensou's Dragon Spirit powers by the time he mastered it in KOF XI, as by Kensou's own explanation for this in With Great Power Comes Great Insanity below (if we go by Ron's words in the NESTS Saga that the Dragon Spirit at full power can make SNK Boss Igniz and all of NESTS look like nothing in comparison) then Kensou does have a good reason not to show off his powers recklessly.
• Hyperactive Metabolism: Done through his Niku Man O Kuu DM: he eats one of his meat buns and it recovers some of his health. There is a SDM variation where he chokes on it and loses health.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Downplayed. In the Team Story for '99, Kensou is afraid that the loss of his Psychic Powers means he no longer has any business being part of the Psycho Soldiers and considers it a lucky break that the newest tournament allows four members to a team so he still gets to participate.
• The Idiot from Osaka: SNK has yet to be forthcoming on why the decidedly Chinese Kensou speaks with the accent, but he's been doing it as far back as the original Psycho Soldier, which means he has seniority over Robert and Choi in this category.
• Imagine Spot: In the Psycho Soldiers ending for XIII, they are congratulated all around, some reporters say companies are competing to get the rights to make a show out of the Psycho Soliders, Kensou thinks of how great this could be and starts day dreaming of them being in a Sentai show.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side:
  • Kensou has a colossal romantic streak.
    • From KOF 94 to 97, his official "likes" consisted of Real Life idol Yū Hayami's debut album (And I Love You, which as the name suggests is filled with love songs).
    • In early games his hobby was reading Seito Shokun!, a Real Life Slice of Life Romantic Comedy Shoujo manga.
    • Kensou's romantic feelings for Athena tend to be expressed in very public displays of affection.
  • From 98 to 2002 and in XII, Kensou's likes were the stuffed animals his fans sent him.
  • There were some efforts to dial this back in later installments. In XI, he was given a more masculine item for his likes—a soccer ball autographed by Real Life player Alessandro Del Piero—and his hobby was generalized from reading Seito Shokun! to reading manga in general.
• Inconsistent Dub: Although Kensou's ultimate energy attack is called Senki Hakkei, he will sometimes call it Choukyuudan, which isn't that strange since the Senki Hakkei is just a more powerful and close ranged Choukyuudan. In XIII Kensou's new and improved DM is the Seigan: Senki Hakkei, but still he says Chouryuudan in the end.
• Informed Attribute:
  • The fact he has fans. He hangs around Athena much of the time, even when she's on tour (which might be a Mythology Gag to him being a guitarist in Psycho Soldier), which might have helped Kensou gather his own fandom. He even has a collection of plushies and stuffed animals alike received from his fans. In the '97 Psycho Soldier Team Story, he got exactly one (1) fan letter for his performance in the previous tournament, and a pile of razor-filled hate mail from Athena's male admirers.
  • The Dragon Spirit. It gave him some Cutscene Power to the Max in ending sequences twice (once in '99 and again in 2002), but the way Ron says the Dragon Spirit can make Igniz and all other SNK Bosses that NESTS created look like nothing in comparison has yet to be substantiated; by XI and beyond Kensou should at least be referred as a Psychic Powers Master, even if he is holding his powers back.
  • Related to the Dragon Spirit, Kensou was supposedly on a training journey for a whole year during 2003, but his return showed no real change, which is repeatedly joked about. Athena's win quote against him in XI chastises him for accomplishing nothing, and the ending jokes about how Chin's training was to teach Kensou how to not use his power... though it also tries to have its cake and eat it, too, by also having Ron praise Kensou from afar for mastering the spirit in only a year. Some characters indicate he's been training with Chin again in XIII, though if they beat him they'll note his new training also didn't accomplish much.
  • Occasionally he gets hit with an Informed Flaw — supposedly he hates training, but while that would normally imply his skills are prone to atrophy, he's always been a viable contender against everyone else in the cast.
• It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": Despite the way it's Romanized, his name is pronounced "shee ken-soo."
• Kamehame Hadoken: Kensou's forward throw, the Sunda, or "Inch Blast", (originally Hakkei, "Release", in '94) technique, is Kensou nailing the enemy in the face with a burst of psychic power from his palm. Later games gave him the Senki Hakkei, "Hermit Power Release", super move, which is a quick succession of about five Inch Blasts, and a powered up version of a dozen that sends even Kensou flying, though he's mastered it by XI and can stand his ground. His final desperation move in XIII is the Seigan: Senki Hakkei, "Waking Eye: Hermit Power Blast", technique, which, due to the light show, resembles a buzzsaw more than anything else.
• Kiss of Life: In the team's 2000 ending, this is how he recovers his powers.More exactly: Bao has taken a massive energy beam from a NESTS Kill Sat to protect the team and Kaoru and is laying in great pain in Kensou's arms, seemingly very close to suffer a Superpower Meltdown. Kensou gives this to Bao and absorbs the remaining energy through his own body, which unleashes the Dragon Spirit and saves Bao's life; from then on his powers are restored, but Bao is Brought Down to Normal.
• Love Confession: Blurts out loud, echoes included, on the Special Intro he has with Athena in 2000, Athena gets fidgety and dodges an answer by trying to start the fight, Kensou gets down in the slumps because of it.
• Magic Knight: While he's had Psychic Powers like Athena as far back as the first game, Kensou's moveset has always been dramatically more physical than hers, and plot developments related to the Dragon Spirit forced him to do spend a few games purely as a Bare-Fisted Monk. After he returns from his training abroad, he's back to using a blend of both.
• Martial Arts Headband: For XII and XIII as a nod to his Psycho Soldier incarnation.
• Minor Major Character: Kensou isn’t someone who has been in the center of every conflict during the Orochi Saga, NESTS Saga and and the Ash Saga, and up until 99, wasn't that important at all. However, the introduction of the Dragon Spirit made him a lot more noticeable, as did how one shady figure, Ron Hizoku, kept appearing to foretell his antagonist status by only showing interest in Kensou’s powers. All of this shows how much Kensou is truly worth when considering the larger scope of things, despite constantly getting overshadowed by Athena and everyone else.
• Morphic Resonance: In Psycho Soldier, the Kensou's dragon form has green scales to match Kensou's clothes and red horns and claws to match his bandanna.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Downplayed. From XIII forward, Kensou has taken a distinct dislike to facing Athena in combat, and he absolutely hates winning in terror of having gone overboard.
• Mythical Motifs: Dragons Up the Yin Yang.
  • In Psycho Soldier, Kensou can transform into a Chinese dragon that can fly, breathe fire, and be ridden by Athena.
  • In The King of Fighters installments from 99 to 2001, Kensou starred in a Myth Arc featuring a powerful Dragon Spirit, a coveted Power Source inhabiting his body.
  • In XII, XIII, and XIV, his clothes feature Chinese dragon stencils.
• Mythology Gag: During his cameo in Athena's dream sequence in SNK Heroines, Kensou is playing a guitar for the first time since the original Psycho Soldier back in 1987.
• Next Tier Power-Up: Subverted. With its immense Cutscene Power to the Max, the Dragon Spirit looked almost certain to bestow one on Kensou, but even after supposedly training extensively to "master" it, the only visible sign is SNK tinkering slightly with Kensou's moveset, which it does to everyone on a game-by-game basis. Worse, given that the cast has started treating him like Just a Kid in XII and XIII, Kensou's effectively suffered a narrative downgrade.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Athena tells Kensou to escape by himself when she got her leg stuck underneath fallen debris, during the team’s Special Ending in 99; Kensou of course isn’t fond of the idea, his frustration for being without his powers at the time and the fear of Athena dying is so great that he awakens his Dragon Spirit, saving both of them in the process.
• No-Respect Guy: His Retool in XII and XIII recast him as Just a Kid still in the midst of training, which got him some fairly patronizing comments from other members of the cast, who don't particularly care to acknowledge that he's been on even footing with them since the very first game. This occasionally crops up in other games, but not to the same extent as in XIII.
• Number Two: Tried to be this in XI, during Gentsai’s absence, trying to be a (un)wise mentor for Momoko as well, Athena doesn’t put her foot down just letting Kensou have his fun and Momoko sort of goes along with it but only trusting what Athena says.
• Older Than They Look: It's less noted than Athena and Yuri because they changed drastically, but Kensou has also been hit by this with the new character designs, or arguably he was always this. Kensou is 19 years old, and yet looks much younger than Kyo who is only one year older than him (20 years old); also there's Leona, who at 18 years old, in comparison to Kensou, looks like a mature woman in her early twenties whereas he seems more like a teenager.
• Out of Focus: To add insult to injury with his Butt-Monkey portrayal over in the KOF series, it's not uncommon for Kensou to straight up not appear in favor of Athena forming a new team of her own.
• Out of the Inferno: Kensou’s first and most extreme usage of the Dragon Spirit, he is seen by Chin, Bao and Kaoru carrying Athena on his arms while walking away from a NESTS’ Base in flames.
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: The two Days of Memories games Kensou appears he is a borderline different character; he was aged up to his mid-twenties, he is Athena’s Producer instead, and has no romantic feelings for her; what was kept for him was his Kansai accent and easy-going personality, leaving the way completely free for the Player Character to win Athena’s heart. Funny enough this older Kensou looks nearly identical to Kyo.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Ever since his debut in Psycho Soldier, Kensou has fallen into this role. In KOF it usually pops up in the form of wardrobe malfunctions and hijinks involving his meat dumplings.
• Power Floats: In his most extreme usage of the Dragon Spirit yet^note The King of Fighters '99, Psycho Soldiers special ending by defeating Krizalid with Kensou, Kensou could float around.
• Power Glows: Kensou glows during the 10 seconds power boost from the Seigan Rairyu he had in XI.
• Power Loss Makes You Strong: The power loss that hit Kensou for three tournaments straight made him rely solely on his Kung-Fu skills to get by; it consequently made way for Kensou to discover his Dragon Spirit and get serious about his training, it resulted in him getting his powers back and since then sporting a more serious Kung-Fu style.
• Power-Strain Blackout: Kensou faints after he takes Athena to safety out of the fallen NESTS base; he took the toll from awakening the Dragon Spirit, it extended to Bao who also fainted at the same time.
• Product Placement:
  • Kensou’s favorite Manga, Seito Shokun, is a real series; quite possibly why it hasn’t been mentioned by name as the years went by, lately it is just said Kensou likes reading Manga / Comic Books.
  • He also had the debut album of J-Pop singer Yuu Hayami as a prized possession early in the series.
  • Kensou’s hoodie for XIV, it’s clearly an Adidas hoodie; it has one of the brand logos upside-down. Given his love for soccer, it is definitely intentional on SNK’s part.
• Psychic Powers: Shared with Bao. When he has them, Bao doesn't, and when Bao can use them, Kensou can't (which partially explains why Kensou is only able to use projectile attacks in certain games).
• Punny Name: According to a developer interview for The King of Fighters 94, Sie Kensou's name is actually a pun on "sequence" and was decided by the programmer who put the "sequence" (the automatic control program) together.
• Put on a Bus: Kensou, Chin, and Bao are all absent from the 2003 tournament, presumably on a year's journey for Kensou's training. Athena teamed up with Hisako and Malin, instead.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Kensou’s new move introduced in XIII, Ryuubokko, he breaks into a storm of mid-punches, continuous usage will tire him out in a comic manner; the EX Ryuubokko however has Kensou performing all the possible hits without getting tired, ending it knocking down the opponent. His Shinryuu Seioushou DM is its more powerful version.
  • Before that there's his Ryuu Renda special, which looks much less refined.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Kensou is proud and not afraid of showing his plushie collection which was mounted from the stuffed animals he received from his fans, and of course he is always open for more items to add to the collection. Additionally, his favorite manga, Seito Shokun!, is a classic Shoujo romance comedy.
• Sealed Badass in a Can: Kensou is apparently carrying around a very powerful spirit, which has been a data point going almost completely unexplored for about twenty years now. It would almost be an Aborted Arc, except it keeps getting offhand mentions in XI and XIII.
• Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Drifts in and out of this depending on the continuity. Of course, his success rate currently rests at a respectable 0%.

• Shaping Your Attacks: The Seigan: Rairyuu (roughly "Waking Eye: Returning Dragon", officially "Dragon Awakening") technique, which in 2002 UM is a variant of the Choukyuudan that returns to Kensou after being released — at its higher level the returning energy will take the form of a dragon, hence the name. In XI, the move works essentially the same, though Kensou instead unleashes a shockwave through the ground and the attack always returns in dragon form. If Kensou is able to collect the returning energy, he gets a Power-Up.
• Shoryuken: His Ryuugakusai special is this, mixed with Hurricane Kick. There's also his Senkyuutai special in older games, although it's more to juggle an opponent.
• Shotoclone: His projectile is the Choukyuudan (at least in the games where he has it), his uppercut move is a both a Shoryuken and Hurricane Kick at once, and his rush-forward move is either Ryuu Renga (older games) or Shikkuu Zanryuu Kyaku (XIII).
• Sidekick: In Psycho Soldier, Kensou was the optional Player Two backing up Athena's Player One in the game's Co-Op Multiplayer.
• Sidekick Glass Ceiling: Kensou's been Athena's Player Two since Psycho Soldier, but he had a starring role in the Dragon Spirit Myth Arc of the NESTS Saga in KOF 99, 2000, and 2001... until SNK retrieved the rights to the game from Eolith (who produced 2001 and 2002) and sidelined Kensou hard. He was Put on a Bus for 2003 and when he returned for XI he was Demoted to Comic Relief. XIII Retooled Kensou into being Just a Kid and brought the Dragon Spirit thing up a few times in dialog, but XIV all but ignored it.
• Signature Move: His Ryuugakusai, Ryuusogeki, Choukyuudan (though he doesn't always have it) and Senki Hakkei.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Zigzagged. Kensou has acknowledged on several occasions that there are many attractive women (the Women Fighters team, Leona, Luong) around... but he considers Athena to be the only one for him.
• The Slacker: If the bio is to be believed, he actually hates training. But starting in 2003, he starts taking his training more seriously to master his Dragon Spirit.
• Smug Smiler: Kensou has put on all kinds of smiles through the many artists who penciled him, from innocent good spirited ones to these clear smug ones to show his (over)confidence; XIV has a text book overconfident smug in Kensou’s hand drawn draft, shown in 3D for his Winner Screen, packed with a raised eyebrow to complete the smug expression.
• Spectacular Spinning: Many of Kensou's special moves invoke circular motion in some way. His repertoire of Hurricane Kicks speaks for itself, but he also has a few high-powered Ki Manipulation that are initiated with Kensou making a large circle with his hands. One or two of the latter even launch a tornado.
• Spell My Name With An S: Being a Chinese character in a Japanese game will do that to you. The characters that make up his name have a Mandarin pronunciation of "Chui Quanchong", but in Japan are read as "Shii Kensuu", the latter of which is re-rendered into English as "Sie Kensou", which is the most common result in games translated into English. However, games released before that standardized translation would sometimes refer to him as "Kensu" in a fairly direct transliteration of his Japanese name, such as when he cameoed in Crystalis.
• Sphere of Destruction: Earlier in the series, Kensou had a DM (Senki Hakkei) of the same type that needed to be activated up close. The force of the SDM version was so great, that the recoil sends him flying into the corner. There's also its more powerful version, Seigan Senki Hakkei Neo MAX in XIII, which is very similar to Chun-Li's Kikoushou.
• Status Quo Is God: Kensou's suffered his second-stringer status and humiliating lack of success in love for years, and what hope he did have of rising to prominence (i.e. the Dragon Spirit) is on the verge of becoming a Running Gag itself, having been on the sidelines for nearly as long.
• Super Mode: Kensou’s exclusive move for 2002 and later (canonically) XI, the HSDM/LDM Seigan Rairyu, which if it connects will grant Kensou a super mode that increases the damage he can deal for 10 seconds.
• Three-Strike Combo: his Ryuu Renga special in older games hits 3 times by default. In XII, his new special Ryuu Touda is a classic 3-hit rekka chain special move.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: His Dogged Nice Guy schtick finally pays off in Maximum Impact 2, as there it is mentioned that Athena's now dating him. Unfortunately, considering that's an Alternate Continuity, he hasn't had such luck in the mainline series... yet.
• Took a Level in Badass: After sitting out the 2003 tournament, Kensou returns in XI, having improved drastically by mastering his control over the Dragon Spirit. Ron seems to be very pleased by this. Many fans see his new look in XII as another level.
  • XIII is the next logical step in his badassery progression. Holy...
• Trademark Favorite Food: Meat buns. Has a tendency to choke on them occasionally, though. He also has a Trademark Unfavorite Food, too — pizza. One of his joke specials is to actually scarf a "pizaman" and gag on it.
• Translation Style Choices:
  • Kensou’s name in China would actually be Chui Quanchong, Sie Kensou is his name being rendered to its Japanese reading.
  • Kensou’s favorite food has been translated in just about every way possible: Baozi, Meat Dumplings, Meat Bun, Pork Bun, “Kensou’s Lunch”; XIV goes an extra mile and just calls it Dim Sum, which is actually the name of varied bite-sized Chinese dishes of which a Meat Bum is one type. In Japan though it has always been called Nikuman.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Kensou awakened his Dragon Spirit when Athena was likely to die stuck in a crumbling NESTS base; it is the most impressive and seemly most powerful usage of his latent ability so far.
• Trophy Room: Where Kensou keeps his collection of plushies and stuffed animals recieved from his fans, comic books (Seito Shokun! in particular), and his beloved autographed ball from Alessandro Del Piero.
• Verbal Tic: Continuous usage of “~ya” at end of his sentences to outright warping certain words and ending them with ya, this is Kensou’s trade mark Kansai Dialect.
  Kensou: "CHOKYUDAYA!" (Chokyuudan!)
• Vocal Dissonance: Kensou always had a good spirited young boy’s voice, despite debuting on the series as a 18 years old guy then stopping at 19 years old as the series progressed, it doesn’t fit someone of his age but it does fit his easy going personality; with XIV retiring the voice Kensou had for a good two decades, SNK still didn’t stop with the theme, Kensou still sounds like someone way younger than he actually is, arguably sounding younger than ever before.
• Vocal Evolution: Around '96, Kensou's Tenor Boy-like voice became quite high-pitched for a guy past puberty. It has been toned back down around XII/XIII, however.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards Athena, Kensou’s love is sincere and being shot down, more than once, did not manage to make things go sour between them, Kensou declares himself to be Athena’s Knight without asking anything immediate, just quietly hoping one day Athena will return his feelings, to top it off the fear of Athena dying in ’99 was enough to make Kensou awake a power he never knew he had to avoid the seemingly inevitable fate at the time.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The only explanation so far why Kensou didn't become, canonically, one of the most powerful members of the cast after supposedly mastering the Dragon Spirit. Kensou himself, albeit comically and even suspiciously, said that he is consciously holding back his powers because of what happened to other powerful beings in the cast who tapped into their great powers too much, mostly final bosses like Rugal who all turned insane and/or died.

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