A list of characters from the Rival Schools series. School affiliation is a big part of the characters' identities, so they're grouped by the school they go to (or work for) as of the latest game, Project Justice.
NOTE: Spoilers will be left unmarked in the examples below. You Have Been Warned!
open/close all folders
Taiyo High School
Batsu Ichimonji
Hot-Blooded Transfer Student
Click here to see Burning Batsu
Fighting style: Imawano-style Ninjutsu
Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama
The main protagonist of the series and The Leader of Taiyo High's main Power Trio (alongside with Hinata and Kyosuke). A Hot-Blooded high school student, he starts off the series with his mother Shizuku as his only family. Her disappearance is the reason he transfers to Taiyo High (where she works) at the start of United By Fate, where he sets out to find who kidnapped her. With the help of Hinata and Kyosuke, he not only succeeds in finding his mother, but also learns the principal of Justice High, Raizo, is his father as well as learning Kyosuke and Raizo's ward Hyo are his cousins; Shizuku was the only person who knew it, which was the reason for her kidnapping.
In Project Justice, Batsu is plagued by a look-alike who is randomly attacking students from other schools, sullying his reputation. Depending on how he deals with the situation, he can end up training so that his ki has properties of fire. At the end of Project Justice, he is left with the other Taiyo High students wondering when Kyosuke will return from his disappearance.
- All-Loving Hero: Batsu cares deeply for his family and friends and will do whatever it takes to protect them.
- The Cameo: He appears in Iron Fist's ending in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
- Death Cry Echo: Chikushooooo!! ("Damn it!")
- Everyone Is Related: He only finds out after he's reunited with his mother, but his classmate (Kyosuke) and the main antagonist (Hyo) are his cousins, and the Disc-One Final Boss, principal Raizo, is his dad.
- Extremely Protective Child: His motivation for transferring to Taiyo and getting involved in the events of the first game is due to the fact that his mother, Shizuku, has mysteriously disappeared and all evidence points to Justice High being somehow involved.
- Fan Boy: Batsu really loves ninjas, and is also a big fan of Strider Hiryu.
- He's Back!: A certain story path in Project Justice has Batsu leave the team for a while. He comes back as Burning Batsu and pulls this alongside a Big Damn Heroes moment in saving Hinata from Kurow (who's disguised as Vatsu at the time).
- Hot-Blooded: His main identifying trait. His description in his bio even calls him "The Hot-Blooded Transfer Student!"
- Jack of All Stats: Befitting his role as the main character of a fighting game.
- Kamehame Hadouken: His team-up as Burning Batsu is a laser projectile.
- Look What I Can Do Now!: When he comes back as Burning Batsu in Project Justice, his first act is to save Hinata from Vatsu with a new, upgraded Kiaidan.
- Manly Tears: In Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, if he does his Level 3 super when his teammate is knocked out.
- Meaningful Name: "Batsu" literally means to attack or fell (an opponent). It's also the word for an X-mark, as in the opposite of an "O" in Tic-Tac-Toe.
- New Transfer Student: Started as this in United by Fate. By Project Justice, he's now a full-fledged Taiyo High student.
- Ninja: Not officially, but Batsu does later learn of his family's ninja heritage and incorporates ninjutsu techniques into his fighting style as Burning Batsu. This includes using a Spinning Piledriver Burning Vigor Attack called "Imawano-Shrike Drop (Imawano-Ryuu Mozu Otoshi)", where he does a traditional Izuna Drop.
- Playing with Fire: As Burning Batsu, his ki takes on fire-like qualities.
- Shonen Hair: Look at all those spikes in his hair!
- Shotoclone: A lesser example - he's got fireballs, but his uppercut doesn't take him off the ground like other adherents to the trope.
- Super Mode: Burning Batsu in Project Justice.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: As Burning Batsu. Technically he's not completely shirtless, but the ninja gear he wears doesn't leave much to the imagination.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Batsu's profile lists dogs as one of his dislikes, and the date-sim modes reveal it's because a dog bit him when he was a child. This is referenced in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, where he's not comfortable around Casshern because of the latter's robot dog companion, Friender.Batsu: I... I can't take it anymore! I absolutely hate dogs! Sorry, but I've got to get out of here!
- "X" Marks the Hero: Has an X-shaped scar on his forehead.
- "You!" Exclamation: He often uses the word temee (てめえ?) to address others. This is actually a rude and frowned-on way of saying "you" to other people (sometimes even translated as "you bastard"). This is downplayed in the western versions of the games.
Hinata Wakaba
Fighting style: Masters-style Karate (via online correspondence course)
Voiced by: Tomoe Hanba
The main deuteragonist of the series and the obligatory stock seifuku-wearing Japanese schoolgirl who serves as The Heart of Taiyo High's main Power Trio (alongside with Batsu and Kyosuke). In United By Fate, she is the first to join Batsu in the search for his missing mother, but she also feels obligated to help defend her school from the attacks and kidnapping that have plagued it. She plays a similar role in Project Justice, but she also ends up whacked with the Distress Ball a couple times throughout. It's also hinted that she has some feelings for Batsu.
- Armed Legs: Has a special move where she kicks off her shoes (in an apparent blooper, all three of them), wherein they become projectiles aimed at the opponent.
- The Cameo: She appears in Street Fighter V in the background of the Kanzuki Beach stage.
- Damsel in Distress: She's taken hostage by Kurow in the Taiyo High School storyline after she leaves to help Natsu and everyone. Batsu and Kyosuke find out and soon arrive to rescue her. Roy and Tiffany also join in, where they save Hinata from being crucified by Kurow.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Her skill in martial arts is mostly self-taught and her cute appearance belies her natural gift for combat.
- Genki Girl: Energetic and chipper compared to her brooding (Batsu) and stoic (Kyosuke) friends.
- Hurricane Kick: The Enbukyaku, her variation on this, can set opponents on fire with the hard kick version.
- Joshikousei: Being the hero girl from the main school, it's not surprising she's a rather straightforward example.
- Meaningful Name: "Hinata" means "Girl in the sunshine", which suits her sunny disposition.
- Older Than They Look: Hinata's height and appearance give off the impression that she's younger than most of the cast, which occasionally disturbs her.
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: The hard punch version of her Kikou-Shoutei special has her do this after the initial projectile.
- Sweet Tooth: According to the character creation games, she really loves her cake.
- Whole Costume Reference: As revealed by co-creator Hideaki Itsuno in an interview
on Capcom's Capcom Fighters Network blog (English translation here), Hinata's uniform is exactly the same one worn by Ibuki in her Street Fighter III endings. Itsuno and the Rival Schools team had liked the design and asked the SFIII team for permission to use it for Hinata.
Kyosuke Kagami
Fighting style: Imawano-style Ninjutsu
Voiced by: Isshin Chiba
The main tritagonist of the series who serves as The Lancer of Taiyo High's main Power Trio (alongside with Batsu and Hinata) in the original game. At Taiyo, he is the head of the Morals committee (a student group to create and enforce the school rules, basically a prefect) and joins Batsu and Hinata in investigating the student and teacher disappearances. However, he is actually in cahoots with the main culprit, Hyo (his twin brother) and even was the one who kidnapped Shizuku (Batsu's mom), but working with Batsu and Hinata convinced him that there was a better way to change the world. In Project Justice, he becomes concerned by Hyo's disappearance around the same time new violence around the schools start, and later disappears after Hyo apparently dies. His friends patiently wait for his return.
- Alliterative Name: Kyosuke Kagami.
- Assist Character: Hinata delivers a spinning kick and Batsu uppercuts his opponent during one of Kyosuke's moves in Capcom Vs SNK 2, before all three of them give their opponent one final blow.
- Becoming the Mask: Comes to really care for the students he pretended to befriend, hence his Heel–Face Turn.
- Heel–Face Turn: He ostensibly volunteers to help Batsu find his mother, but it's later revealed that Kyosuke was behind the kidnapping, working for his twin brother, Hyo Imawano. Ultimately, Kyosuke changes allegiances, and helps Batsu and Hinata defeat Hyo, while convincing his brother that Justice High's methods won't fix Japan's problems.
- Heroic BSoD: Melts down after Hyo's apparent death.
- Journey to Find Oneself: Embarks on one at the end of Project Justice, after his brother, Hyo, dies.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Kyosuke is the archetypal Japanese high school bookish, yet hot, smart guy.
- Ninja: Believe it or not, along with Batsu, he is descended from a ninja clan. His special moves are derived from the Iwamano Clan's ninjutsu, which can be seen in the similarities between the movesets of him and Hyo.
- Not So Stoic: When Hyo dies in Project Justice, he screams in horror and sadness.
- Pretty Boy: So much so that Vega throws a rose at him in their intro in Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark Of The Millennium, which Vega only performs for female characters, and very few others.
- Shock and Awe: His special attacks have an electrical component to them.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: He's often depicted adjusting his glasses in artwork, and also poses doing as such in-game. Kyosuke is also quite the Teen Genius, with no areas of academic difficulty.
- The Stoic: His personality is the opposite of Batsu's, being cool, calculating, and almost never showing emotions of any sort.
- Stoic Spectacles: For the most part, he's pretty calm and collected — but as noted above, it doesn't always hold.
- Teen Genius: Academically, he excels in math and science, and unlike all of the other students, there is apparently no subject that he fares poorly in.
Hayato Nekketsu
Fighting style: Kendo
Voiced by: Takumi Yamazaki
A character created for the PlayStation port of United By Fate, Hayato is a physical education teacher at Taiyo High. When the school is the target of kidnappings and attacks, he sets out on his own to find out who is responsible. He doesn't assist his students, believing that they need to find out the problem and solve it on their own. In Project Justice, he teams up with fellow teachers Hideo and Kyoko to investigate the new wave of attacks on the schools.
- Badass Teacher: A PE teacher who kicks ass and holds his own in a fight.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: To go with the Shonen Hair and Hot-Blooded Sideburns.
- Cool Old Guy: Well, relative to the youth of the average Rival Schools character.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: This is most reflected in his Nekketsu Udetatefuse super — he forces the opponent to do push-ups, then hits them with his shinai after a few reps.
- Expy: Of Haohmaru and of Ryoma Nagare. If you saw Hayato in a temple robe instead of a track suit, he and Ryoma would be indistinguishable.
- Fan Boy: Really looks up to Akuma as the penultimate term of being a MAN.
- Hopeless Suitor: To Kyoko. He does not resent Hideo, however, and even appears to be a Shipper on Deck for the two in the Justice High ending in Project Justice
- Hot-Blooded: He's pretty much Batsu's mentor. As noted below, his last name is the Japanese word for "hot blooded".
- Hot-Blooded Sideburns: Very long and spiky ones befitting his hot-bloodedness.
- Meaningful Name: His last name is the Japanese word for "hot blooded".
- Oral Fixation: Most, if not all of the time, he's chewing on a thistle.
- Shonen Hair: See picture. Spiked hair and sideburns!
- Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: His main weapon is his shinai (kendo stick).
Chairperson / Iincho
Fighting style: Saikyo-style Karate
Voiced by: Miki Narahashi (United By Fate), Megumi Toyoguchi (Project Justice)
First appearing in Hinata's ending in United By Fate, she is the class rep for the class the Taiyo students belong to. She is inspired by Hinata to take up karate so she can protect the school, but ends up taking classes for Saikyo-ryu, the martial art of Street Fighter joke character Dan Hibiki. She makes her first playable appearance in Project Justice, working with Ran and the students from Pacific High to investigate the new wave of school violence.
- Class Representative: It's literally her name in-game, since her real name isn't given.
- Correspondence Course: The means by which she learned Dan Hibiki's Saikyo-style karate.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Her real name is never given; she always insists on being referred to by her position. Even when you have the option to ask her name in Nekketsu Seishun Nikki, she'll tell you not to worry about it and just call her the Chairperson.
- Joke Character: Her moves are very basic karate techniques that do only paltry damage. Except that is for her assist, which then makes her a Lethal Joke Character, as she's the only one who's able to fill up both gauges when assisting.
- Made of Plasticine: One of her victory poses has her injure herself while celebrating her win.
- Promoted to Playable: Goes from ending extra in United by Fate to playable character in Project Justice
- School Sport Uniform: Her attire is a school T-shirt over navy buruma and a Coat Cape.
- Words Can Break My Bones: Her Burning Vigor Attack "Lecture Attack" knocks her opponent on their knees before she starts scolding at them and dealing actual damage with her words.
Ran Hibiki
Fighting style: Photography
Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu
Debuts in the Updated Re-release of the first game. Ran is a reporter for Taiyo High's schoolnewspaper, who's determined to get the scoop on the kidnappings and attacks going on, so she can win an award for best school paper story, and apparently succeeds. In Project Justice, she and Chairperson tag along with the Pacific High students in investigating the new disturbance.
- Camera Fiend: Lampshaded in one ending. Hyo dies and Kyosuke holds Hyo's body in a Pietà Plagiarism pose. The picture is put in the school newspaper and it's mentioned: "Later, Ran felt guilty for taking this photo."
- Going for the Big Scoop: Her motivation in both games — she desperately wants to get the big scoop for Taiyo's student newspaper, even if it brings danger on her and her friends.
- Improbable Weapon User: Her camera is her weapon, the flash of which acts as a close-range fireball attack.
- Paper Fan of Doom: Her other weapon is a fan used to whap opponents.
- School Newspaper News Hound: As stated above, her goal is to get a front-page story on the Taiyo school newspaper — even if she has to get tangled up in a crazy school-conquering villain's plans to do so.
- Throw the Book at Them: She occasionally throws some copies of the school magazine, too.
- Weaponized Camera: She uses her camera this way. No bottomless film rolls for her, though — she has to load new film (either automatically after a set number of shots or manually through a special) and players have to plan their Ran strategies around this limitation.
- Youthful Freckles: Her most identifying feature.
Gorin High School
The athletic school, where just about everybody in the school is on a sports team or is studying a field related to sports. Every character knows Madden Kombat and will not refrain from using it. Has a further education branch in Gorin University.
Shoma Sawamura
Fighting style: Baseball
Voiced by: Yuji Ueda
Baseball player at Gorin High. In United By Fate, he sets out to get vengeance on the people responsible for injuring his older brother and fellow baseball player Shuichi. He ends up being captured and brainwashed to work for Justice High, before Nagare snaps him out of it. In Project Justice, he is again a direct target of the villain, as Momo (as The Mole) becomes a Clingy Jealous Girl to him in order to divide him from his friends. He eventually returns to them after Momo betrays him. Momo's interference also caught him in a vicious Love Triangle involving himself, Momo and Natsu (who Shoma has a long-standing Masochism Tango relationship since the first game).
- Alliterative Name: Shoma Sawamura.
- Anime Hair: Has spikes sticking out of his baseball cap.
- Batter Up!: His bat's bigger than he is, to boot.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Optional in the Gorin storyline but not so in other school's storylines. He is also the only member of Gorin to suffer this since the other two theoretically cannot fall victim to it. However it does use part of Gorin's storyline. Should the player choose Natsu and Roberto as the two main characters there will come a point in the story when Natsu and Shoma get into a rivalry battle. After said battle they apologize to each other but Natsu has injured Shoma quite a bit who stays behind to recuperate. It is most likely at this point that he is kidnapped by Raizo and consequently brainwashed as the two appear in other school's storylines together.
- Can't Stand Them, Can't Live Without Them: Aptly sums up his relationship with Natsu. As much as they bicker (sometimes leading to physical altercations), you'd think he'd call it off with her and find someone else. Nope. Still, the Gorin ending of Project Justice shows him trying to confess his feelings for Natsu before Momo kills the moment.
- Clueless Chick-Magnet: Somehow obtains the feelings of Natsu and Momo, the former being a Tsundere, while the latter is a Deredere.
- Compensating for Something: Shoma's giant baseball bat, which is to compensate for... his height. No, really — he admits in the character creation games that he hopes carrying around and using a bat of that size will force his body to compensate for its size by making him stronger and taller.
- Death Cry Echo: Bakayarooooo!!! ("You idiot!") It's not clear if he's trying to get one last dig at his opponent before falling, or he's mad at himself for losing.
- Dual Boss: For their team's second story mode battle, he and Roberto double-team Natsu after she and Shoma have an argument. Shoma and Roberto start the match with 3 full stocks of super meternote , while hers is empty. Meaning, they get to use their Burning Vigors and their team-up attack right from the start. So if you're using Shoma as your primary character, it's basically a Curbstomp Battle. But if you're using Natsu,
it's one of the most lopsided matches in the game. - Home-Run Hitter: His Team Up and one of his super moves has him do this to the hapless opponent.
- Hot-Blooded: He's a short, permanently fired-up little bruiser.
- I Know Madden Kombat: Fights with baseball equipment — one of his moves is a base slide, and he can bat his baseball at the opponent, as well as whack them with his huge baseball bat.
- Inconsistent Spelling: His name is spelled "Syoma" in the arcade version of United By Fate.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His hot-blooded-ness causes him to make rash or rude decisions, but ultimately Shoma has the concerns of his family and friends at heart.
- Love Triangle: With Natsu and Momo.
- Masochism Tango: Deep down, his heart belongs to Natsu, but given his fiery personality, and the fact that she doesn't stand for any of his shit, their interactions often quickly turn into bickering and then full-on blazing rows.
- The Napoleon: Never, ever bug him about his height.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: He hits hard and has more damage despite being shorter, with his trusty bat. Uses his sliding tackle and fast-swinging bat to knock out opponents.
- Pointless Band-Aid: On the bridge of his nose.
- Recursive Ammo: One of his super moves has him throwing one baseball which multiplies into five as it hurtles toward his opponent.
- Shonen Hair: Three large spikes of hair sticking out of his baseball cap.
- Tsundere: He's constantly arguing with Natsu, yet he definitely has feelings for her and blushes when she is referred to as his "girlfriend."
Natsu Ayuhara
Fighting style: Volleyball
Voiced by: Narumi Tsunoda
The captain of Gorin High's all-girl volleyball team. When her club members become the victims in the attacks, Natsu joins Shoma and Roberto in trying to find the culprits. It's her rather abrasive interactions with Shoma that nearly divides the group, though she also shows some feelings for him. In Project Justice, when Momo shows up, Natsu has serious reservations about her hanging around Shoma all the time, which end up dividing the group of friends. Natsu is joined by Roberto and Nagare to find out the source of the new disturbances. She's one of the first to welcome back Shoma after he's betrayed by Momo and starts to more overtly show feelings for him.
- Amazonian Beauty: She's the tallest female character, has the most athletic physique of the female cast, and participates in competitive sports. While all of that makes her intimidating, there's no denying that she's a looker, as some of her teammates have crushes on her, as does her sometime boyfriend, Shoma.
- Boyish Short Hair: Wears short hair with side-tail accents. She's a tomboy and the captain of the school's volleyball team, and so good at it that she's based her fighting style around it. The members of her team all look up to her (literally!) as a Cool Big Sis and role model. Most of all, they know she'll protect them.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She becomes flustered and possessive when Momo begins flirting with Shoma, which Momo teases her about, much to her chagrin, with the trio forming a tense (albeit one-sided on Momo's part) yet comical love triangle.
- Cool Big Sis: To her sports club members.
- Even the Girls Want Her: She's highly idolized by the junior high volleyball players she tutors, and in the character creation modes, gets love letters from some female admirers. Shoma even teases her about it in her Japanese United By Fate ending:Shoma: (while Natsu's speaking with her junior high students) Well, if it isn't Natsu! Stop flirting in front of the school!
- Bowdlerised in the English translations where Shoma's sentence is changed to:Shoma: Hey Natsu! What are you doing here? Beating up your club members?
- Bowdlerised in the English translations where Shoma's sentence is changed to:
- Huge Schoolgirl: And very awkward about it. At 182cm (a shade under 6 feet), this measurement is a huge deal in Japan, where the average female height is 158 cm, or 5'2".
- I Know Madden Kombat: She makes use of her volleyball skills in battle, and her main moves include servers and spikes, among other volleyball-themed attacks.
- Improbable Weapon User: She fights using her volleyball. She can spike it hard enough to KO her opponents, and can even make it burst into flames!
- Masochism Tango: With Shoma, her Hot-Blooded, much shorter (sometimes) boyfriend.
- Meaningful Name: Her last name, Ayuhara, is a Shout-Out to Kozue Ayuhara, star of the venerable 1960's volleyball manga serial Attack No. 1.
- Nice Girl: She's a very calm and virtuous person who protects those who can't defend themselves.
- Onee-sama: Serves as one to the junior high students she teaches.
- One of the Boys: Very much so, which is the reason Shoma jokes about her getting love letters from her team members. Naturally, she doesn't take that lying down.
- Passionate Sports Girl: In addition to her interest in volleyball, she's also a strong swimmer and even does a bit of spearfishing; as seen in the ending of the PlayStation version of the game (seen at 0:22).
- School Sport Uniform: As captain of Gorin High's volleyball team, she fights in her team uniform, which consists of a jersey, knee pads, and bloomers◊. In the sequel ("Project Justice"), she switches to a regular pair of gym shorts.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: She is the taller one with Shoma being shorter.
- Statuesque Stunner: She’s a Huge Schoolgirl and the tallest female character in the series, yet is still quite a looker.
- Tsundere: She argues frequently with Shoma, yet clearly shares his romantic interest, and becomes easily jealous when Momo flirts with him.
- What Does She See in Him?: It's a wonder why she puts up with Shoma, let alone dates him. Their friend, Roberto, usually gets stuck playing mediator whenever she and Shoma are at each other's throats, but he ends up exasperated just as often.
Roberto Miura
Genius Keeper
Fighting style: Soccer
Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa
Soccer/(association) football player at Gorin. He joins Shoma and Natsu in their investigation of the attacks not for any personal reason, but because he's the only one who can mediate their constant arguing. His ending has him breaking his arm and nearly ruining his career as a goalie, but he gets better (and transitions to a forward position). In Project Justice, he is unable to stop the group splintering and has to hang out with Natsu and Nagare for most of the story. The Gorin High ending has him humorously observe the Shoma-Natsu-Momo love triangle along with Nagare.
- But Not Too Foreign: He's a quarter Brazilian, with his first name evidencing his heritage.
- Dual Boss: Along with Shoma (see the related entry in his section).
- Eye-Obscuring Hat: His eyes are always hidden behind his visor or some other headgear.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Roberto has nothing against Natsu, and only teams up with Shoma against her in order to make her settle down. Regardless whether he and Shoma win or not, he apologizes to her in the following cutscene and asks if she feels better now that she's blown off some steam.
- I Know Madden Kombat: Makes use of his soccer skills in fights; he can punt his football at the opponent, slide-tackle them for a low hit, and leap up as if to save a goal, which acts as a rising attack.
- Improbable Weapon User: His soccer ball/football is his weapon of choice, and he can dropkick it at his opponent at lightning speed.
- Only Sane Man: He usually has to be the voice of reason during Natsu and Shoma's arguments. If only so they'll agree not to kill each other.
- Shout-Out:
- Two of his outfits are clearly inspired by real soccer teams (the Brazilian national team and Barcelona FC).
- Also, he is most likely named after soccer players Roberto Baggio (an Italian player very popular in Japan) and Kazuyoshi Miura (one of the first Japanese players ever to play in an European league).
- Shrug Take: His usual reaction to Shoma and Natsu's arguments◊.
- Visible Sigh: Seen during his shrug takes (link in the preceding entry), whenever Natsu and Shoma are fighting.
Nagare Namikawa
Fighting style: Swimming
Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki
Swimmer at Gorin, debuting in the Updated Re-release Nekketsu Nikki 2. In that game, he is a childhood friend of both Shoma and Shuichi Sawamura, and when Shoma disappears while investigating the kidnappings, Nagare sets out on his own to find him. He succeeds in finding Shoma and snapping him out of his Justice High-induced brainwashing. In Project Justice, he joins Natsu and Roberto after Shoma slips from the group to help Momo. In the Gorin High ending, he join Roberto in commenting on the the romantic mess Shoma gets himself into.
- Gay Moment: His hilarious, incredibly camp synchronised swimming attack, where he and his teammates along with the opponent all do a synchronised swimming routine — on dry land.
- Goggles Do Nothing: While it would makes sense that he would have goggles (which are standard equipment for competitive swimmers), Nagare really doesn't use them in fights (nor would he even need to, given he's fighting on land and not underwater).
- I Know Madden Kombat: With swimming. Seriously — includes dives, back-stroke, splashing etc, all accompanied with water effects... on land.
- Making a Splash: Nagare's moves are accompanied by splashing water effects, fitting his skills as a swimmer.
- Meaningful Name: "Nagare" means "flow" as in the flow of a river; another very apt name in this series, given his design.
- Mr. Fanservice: Nagare's quite a sight for sore eyes, since he's a very muscularly built athlete with a slim, smooth face, who fights in just a speedo.
- The Quiet One: It's pretty rare for him to even speak, to the point that he doesn't even speak in his introduction pose, but rather a female announcer introduces him as if he were competing in a swim meet.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: In all fights, Nagare is always clad in a speedo, flippers, swim cap and a jacket with no shirt.
- What the Fu Are You Doing?: In a series where fighting styles and special moves are pretty out there across the board, his swimming-based combat techniques take the cake as the weirdest of the bunch.
Momo Karuizawa
Crash The Heart
Fighting style: Tennis
Voiced by: Rei Sakuma
Tennis player at Gorin, who debuts in Project Justice. She is introduced in the Gorin High story as the supposed victims of bullying of Batsu, and latches on to Shoma when he saves her from it. In actuality, she is a a minion of the Big Bad, Kurow, who uses her stature and cuteness to play out an extended Wounded Gazelle Gambit to drive Shoma away from his friends and use him to spread chaos among the other schools. She eventually betrays Shoma after she feels he is no longer of use, but Kurow then pulls the same on her and surprisingly, the Gorin students she messed with earlier come to her defense, and she finally joins them in gratitude. She continues to go to Gorin, but her previously fake affection for Shoma has developed into actual feelings for him, much to the chagrin of Natsu.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: In the beginning of the Gorin High storyline in Project Justice, Momo had pretended to like and love Shoma as a part of Kurow's Evil Plan to Divide and Conquer the various fighters so that he could eliminate them all with no problem, but after Kurow's betrayal towards her near the end and Shoma surprisingly and unexpectedly coming to her aid (defending her after Kurow's cruel "The Reason You Suck" Speech and saving her from getting her head chopped off by Demon Hyo), Momo had truly ended up falling in love with Shoma for real, much to Natsu's own personal dismay.
- Becoming the Mask: Momo's fake crush on Shoma turns real after he defends her from Kurow's outbursts.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She's a conniving, scheming little brat who uses her appearance and an apparent attack by Kurow disguised as Batsu to win over friends.
- Blush Sticker: Stangely, Momo has these all the time, even when she's crying◊. Even stranger, she's the only character in the series that has a detail like this.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: To Shoma, but that's part of her plan to infiltrate Gorin. That it drives Natsu nuts is a bonus to Momo.
- Cute Bruiser: She's very strong for her size — so much so that her racket is reinforced with large bolts to compensate for her strength when she plays tennis.
- Deliberately Cute Child: Pretty much how she wins over Shoma as a supporter.
- The Fake Cutie: A prime example, Momo presents as an adorable Kawaiiko, but she is in fact a scheming brat working for Kurow.
- Genki Girl: Gives Hinata a run for her money in how energetic she is.
- Girlish Pigtails: Which emphasize her Older Than They Look appearance.
- I Know Madden Kombat: Uses her tennis skills in fights, including powerful volleys, drop-shots, and massive whacks with her racket.
- Improbable Weapon User: Her tennis racket and ball(s).
- Kawaiiko: To a rather ridiculous extreme, though it's mostly a ploy to further her goals as Kurow's loyal minion.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Her devotion and possible love for Kurow are quite genuine. It doesn't work so well for her in the long run.
- Meaningful Name:
- Karuizawa is a famous Japanese holiday/activity spot, and it was here that Emperor Akihito famously met the Empress Michiko... on a tennis court.
- "Momo" means "peach", and is a typically cutesy, girly name, which suits her look and forced personality.
- Older Than She Looks: Is 15, looks about 12. According to her bio she's so Genre Savvy about it that not only she uses it in her cover, but also to become a popular model of children's clothes.
- Perky Female Minion: To Kurow, until her Heel–Face Turn.
- Pink Means Feminine: As an (ostensibly) sweet Girly Girl, her outfit is candy-striped pinks and white.
- Tareme Eyes: Another feature that adds to her fake cutsey-little-girl image. Compare to her fellow Darkside conspirator Yurika and her Tsurime Eyes.
- Third-Person Person: Has a winquote where she refers to herself in the third person as "Momo-chan". This is more apparent in Project Justice's character creation game.
- Token Mini-Moe: Cetainly not at loli age, but everything else about her fits the trope.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Pretends to be hurt by Vatsu to endear herself to Shoma and try get him away from Natsu and Roberto.
- Wingding Eyes: Unlike the other characters, her eyes become X's when she's KO'd.
Gedo High School
The all-male school of Japanese Delinquents, where troubled students are sent when they are failing at other schools. Luckily, one student, Daigo Kazama leads a gang made up by most of the student body, where he teaches them the lessons of being a "real man" (or in other words, good upstanding citizens).
Daigo Kazama
Click here to see Wild Daigo
Fighting style: Street Fighting
Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese, United By Fate), Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese, Project Justice and Street Fighter V), Michael McConnohie (English, Street Fighter V)
Leader of Gedo High's gang, Daigo is fiercely determined to protect his hometown, and teaches his follows on how to do so. When the kidnapping and attacks strike local schools prior to the events of United By Fate, Daigo sets out to find out who is behind it. He does find out Hyo is The Man Behind the Man and challenges him to fight, but is defeated and becomes a brainwashed servant of Hyo. It takes the intervention of his sister Akira and two of his gang's most loyal members, Edge and Gan, to break him out of it. Disappointed by the loss, Daigo set out to train himself to avoid such a loss. During that time, he is somehow turned into a brainwashed sleeper agent of Kurow Kirishima, which segues into Project Justice. Under Kurow's influence, Daigo orders Edge, Gan and the rest of Gedo's gang to attack the other schools, which concern Edge and Gan to the point where they team with Akira again to knock some sense into Daigo. Depending on the ending, either they succeed in breaking Daigo out of his brainwashing and Daigo sets off to train himself again, or he dies from fighting them too many times.
- Badass Longcoat: Befitting his role as a heroic delinquent leader.
- Big Brother Instinct: Don't ever hurt his little sister Akira and his gang.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Happens to him twice, one for each game no less.
- Distressed Dude: During the first game, he's captured and brainwashed by Hyo and has to be rescued by his sister and subordinates. And then it happens again in the sequel — and may end up being killed.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Daigo's style is identified as "street fighting", where he hits his opponent really really hard. However, he does show skill and finesse despite the name and is able to use ki blasts like his little sister.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a scar running straight down his right eye. Daigo himself is on the side of good, but the scar is manipulated by the clearly evil Kurow to brainwash Daigo into one of Kurow's servants.
- Japanese Delinquents: Unlike the other students of Gedo, Daigo aims to work these tendencies out of his gang.
- Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Best summarizes his assist move - the unfortunate opponent takes several shots at him that don't even make him flinch, followed by a single powerful punch from him sending the opponent flying. His Wild Daigo version has him throw the opponent against his own partner and punching them both.
- Sarashi: His Wild Daigo form reveals that he wears this.
- Shonen Hair: Well, technically, he's a seinen.
- The Stoic: He's quiet, cool, calm, and collected in a game where most of the characters are rowdy, energetic and passionate.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Anything Akira cooks, especially when it's anything sweet.
Edge (Eiji Yamada)
Fighting style: Dirty Brawling
Voiced by: Yoshiharu Yamada
Student at Gedo, dressed in all-purple and styling his (dyed) blonde hair in tall spikes. When Akira appears at Gedo to search for Daigo, Edge is one of the ones to help out. He is initially skeptical of Akira but after a fight, comes to trust her and is not bothered by the revelation of her true gender. In Project Justice, he initially followers a returned Daigo but when he notices Daigo orders are getting more violent and asks Akira for help in snapping Daigo out of it. When Daigo leaves again to train, Edge is named as one of the co-leaders of the Gedo gang along with Gan.
- Anime Hair: His hair is sprayed into vertiginous spikes, which he even uses in a few attacks.
- The Cameo: He appears in the background of the Construction Site stage in Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000, having lunch with the construction crew.
- Combat Pragmatist: Wields knives, kicks sand at opponents, and even uses his hair!
- Embarrassing First Name: Prefers to go by "Edge", and one of his dislikes is his first name.
- Japanese Delinquents: A classic example with his sneering, hunched pose, hands jammed into his pockets, and his absolutely non-regulation dyed blond, punk hairdo.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though he's acts like a hooligan in public, there's a side to Edge where he will do what's right, even if he has to break rules to do it.
- The Quincy Punk: A Japanese take on the Western concept, he sports the big baggy pants and headband typical to Japanese Delinquents, and has the mandatory shitty, trouble-making attitude to go with it.
- Silver Spoon Troublemaker: Comes from a rich family, and is a delinquent.
- Those Two Guys: With Gan, as they pretty much play backup to Akira during both games.
- Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: Edge is actually afraid of ghosts, and like most people who are afraid of ghosts, he's also a little wary of the dark as well.
Gan Isurugi
Superhuman Gang Leader
Fighting style: Sumo Wrestling
Voiced by: Takashi Nagasako
Gan is a sizable student at Gedo who is a member of Daigo's gang. When Daigo disappears, Gan is quick to join Akira in helping find the lost leader. Like Edge, he has initial reservations about Akira but becomes accepting to her, even after learning her true gender. In Project Justice, he follows Edge in asking Akira for help dealing with an erratic Daigo and is named co-leader of the Gedo gang along with Edge at the end of it all.
- Ass Kicks You: He has a dash attack where he throws his sizable money-maker at the opponent.
- Big Eater: Supplementary materials note that he eats like a sumo-wrestler.
- Big Guy: Of the Gedo team; he towers over his teammates and has a fighting style based around his huge build.
- Country Mouse: Is from the countryside and has a very large (no pun intended) family — he’s one of seven children.
- Dumb Muscle: Evidenced in his United By Fate ending, where he tries in vain to understand a textbook.
- Expy: Of E. Honda, from his look, to his fighting style borrowing elements of sumo wrestling (including his own rendition of Honda's "Hundred Hand Slap").
- Fat Idiot: Emphasized in his United by Fate ending, where he struggles in vain to understand a history book and destroys it when he reaches a breaking point, earning him a scolding from Akira.
- Genius Bruiser: Not in terms of intelligence, but according to Chairperson, she discovered that Gan is actually very talented in art. The reason he doesn't develop this talent is out of duty to help support his relatively poor family.
- Gentle Giant: Unlike Edge, Gan naturally means well and wants to do right by his humble, country origins but this is impeded by his dimwittedness and easily riled-up temper.
- Japanese Delinquents: Like Edge, he's in Gedo because of his delinquent behavior.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Gan's the oldest of six kids, which is not that uncommon around the world, but highly unusual in Japan nowadays due to the inherent expense and limited space.
- Meaningful Name: "Gan" means "rock" — which perfectly suits his huge build.
- Mighty Glacier: He's the in-game equivalent to Zangief and T. Hawk. He's slow but his sumo-inspired strikes cause lots of damage.
- Stout Strength: Many of his moves are even rooted in sumo wrestling.
- Sumo Wrestling: The basis of his fighting style.
- Those Two Guys: With Edge, as they pretty much play backup to Akira during both games.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Onigiri (rice balls). Eats them in his taunt and in one of his winning poses. He's apparently been given the title of "Dr. Onigiri" because of his knowledge on rice balls. He also supposedly carries chocolate on his person to share with others.
Seijyun Girls High School
The all-female Distaff Counterpart to Gedo, introduced in Project Justice. As opposed to Gedo reforming delinquent males, Seijyun instead teaches its mostly well-off female student body the traditional values and virtues a Japanese woman is supposed to have. The school is also the base for the Ladies Team, an all-female gang that is occasional rivals with the Gedo High gang, led by Aoi "Zaki" Himezaki.
Akira Kazama
Click here to see helmeted/Powered Akira
Fighting style: Bājíquán
Voiced by: Chiharu Tezuka (Japanese, United by Fate and Project Justice), Akira Sekine (Japanese, Street Fighter V), Kayli Mills (English, Street Fighter V)
Motorcycle-loving younger sister of Daigo. In United By Fate, she enrolls in Gedo High to search about the whereabouts of her brother but since Gedo is an all-boys school, Akira dresses in a thick motorcycle suit and her brother's motorcycle helmet to pass herself off as a boy. She convinces Edge and Gan help her out and manages to become good-enough friends with them to the point that when her gender was revealed, they didn't care. She finishes her first year at Gedo but has to transfer to Seijyun High prior to the events of Project Justice, where she befriends Yurika. When Akira receives news of Daigo's erratic behavior, the two girls ask Zaki for help. The three girls become fast friends, and even after Yurika is revealed as The Mole, Akira is more than willing to welcome her back to school.
Appearing as a playable character in Street Fighter V via DLC, Akira is the first Rival Schools character to officially cross over into the Street Fighter series.
- Badass Biker: Akira has a passion for motorcycles and is an exceptionally skilled fighter for her age, able to go toe-to-toe not only against her rival fellow students, but also the best fighters in the world when she enters the Street Fighter universe.
- Breakout Character: She's the fan favorite of the series and banked a slot for the 5th season of DLC in Street Fighter V. Not only that, she got over half of the votes between the 4 characters on the Street Fighter Twitter to reveal which of the 4 revealed newcomers fans were most hyped about.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: To Zaki's redhead and Yurika's blonde.
- Fangirl: She LOVES Mega Man.
- Guest Fighter: Returns Sakura's favor of crossing over into her series by appearing in Street Fighter V, after nearly two decades of her franchise lying dormant.
- Idiot Hair: Has a noticeable cowlick, but doesn't display the typical character traits associated with it.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: She would like to have one, but the apartment complex she lives in forbids pets in the premises.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: In Project Justice, you know she's a girl from the start.
- Mask of Power: Becomes a much stronger and confident character when wearing her brother's motorcycle helmet. In Project Justice, her masked biker-chick form from the first game is available as a secret character called "Powered Akira", and as an optional 11th-Hour Superpower during the Seijyun High storyline.
- Nice Girl: Despite what her intimidating appearance (and to some extent, her personality) when wearing her brother's biker outfit may have you believe, she's actually a very sweet young lady, if not rather shy.
- Samus Is a Girl: The big reveal in her ending in United By Fate.
- Shout-Out: Her assist for her non-helmeted form in United By Fate looks very similar to the "Synchronized Attack" done by Eva Units 1 and 2 in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Ship Tease: With Yurika.
- Shrinking Violet: When she's not wearing her brother's biker outfit, she's more or less a downplayed take on this trope.
- Super Drowning Skills: She couldn't swim until Nagare taught her.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Has to disguise herself as a boy in the original Rival Schools because her brother's school is all-male. Good thing "Akira" is both a boys and a girls name in Japanese...
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: As a rough, androgynous biker, she serves as the tomboy to Yurika's girly girl.
- Tough Spikes and Studs: She wears a biker jacket with spiked shoulder pads and is as tough as they come.
- Town Girls: The Neither to Zaki's Butch and Yurika's Femme.
- Wrench Wench: She not only knows how to ride motorcycles, she's good a fixing them too, having learned the craft from a friend of her family.
Zaki (Aoi Himezaki)
Cold Female Gang Leader
Fighting style: Soubenjutsu
Voiced by: Ai Orikasa
Debuting in Project Justice, Zaki is the delinquent leader of the Ladies Team gang. Because of this, Akira approaches her to help find out what's up with Daigo. Zaki is a very "chain-whip first, ask questions later" sort of person, hating teachers and is generally very irritable. The Ladies Team is fiercely loyal to her, as she's quick to mobilize and organize them when the Gedo High gang leads an attack on Seijyun High. In the Seijyun ending, she helps cheer up Akira in Yurika's absence and comments on the Pseudo-Romantic Friendship between the two.
- Chain Pain: Her weapon of choice is a chained whip.
- Chained by Fashion: It's not just a weapon for her — Zaki wears chains on her uniform and even in her hair.
- Cool Mask: You never, ever see her without her mask.
- Embarrassing Middle Name: She hates having "hime" (Japanese for "princess") in her name, hence why she prefers the other half of her surname.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Zaki's assist ends with her grabbing her partner and using them as a club to beat the opponent with.
- Japanese Delinquents: Her school uniform includes chains, a mask, and a lengthened skirt with a split seam, the kind typically worn by female delinquents and gang members known as sukeban.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: If she comes to care for you, she'll be your (very stoic and bad-tempered) friend for life.
- Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: She doesn't seem to be fond of overly feminine girls, despite her friendship with Yurika.
- Sensual Spandex: A part of her outfit, which is something of a Shout-Out to the Visual Kei artistic movement.
- Shipper on Deck: Might be one, if her comments on Akira and Yurika in the Seijyun High ending say something.
- Town Girls: The Butch to Akira's Neither and Yurika's Femme.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: The least feminine of the three Seijyun gals, with the aformentioned chain-styled hairdo to go with it.
Yurika Kirishima
Fighting style: Fencing
Voiced by: Keiko Han
Demure violin-playing girl, debuting in Project Justice. She is one of of the first friends Akira makes when she transfers to Seijyun High between the events of the two games, and helps her in asking for Zaki's help. In actuality, Yurika is working as an agent of her younger brother Kurow to further his plans. However, Yurika's time with Akira convinces her that her brother's plans are wrong, and she eventually switches sides in order to stop him. In the Seijyun ending, she disappears from school for a period of time out of guilt for what she did, before returning, much to the relief of Akira.
- Anime Hair: With the ridiculously large Ojou Ringlets and cinnamon bun-esque ringlets on top of her head, she's the queen of this in the series, if not in Capcom games as a whole.
- Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: In a series set in modern day Japan, she seems to have stepped right out of 19th century Europe. However the interest in period-style European clothing is actually a fairly modern fashion trend in Japan, so her look is not completely incongruous.
- Becoming the Mask: Like Kyosuke, she was supposed to be The Mole for her brother, but comes to truly care for her teammates.
- Beware the Nice Ones: There's a slightly disquieting side to Yurika, mostly due to her maudlin expression and dead eyes, and some in-game artwork of her carrying out her brother's evil plans is downright creepy — especially the image of her in silhouette playing the flute....with glowing eyes.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Both Kirishima siblings have the same curious eyes, with the iris color bleeding into the whiteness of the sclera, lending them a sullen, dead look. Yurika however turns out not to be as evil as her brother Kurow is, but is rather just an unwilling pawn in his evil plans.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The blonde to Akira's brunette and Zaki's redhead — if you squint just right, as her hair is more of an ash-brown.
- Combat Stilettos: Not exactly obvious at first glance◊, but her in-game self clearly shows those clogs of hers have a heel on them◊.
- Dance Battler: Her fighting style integrates quite a few ballerina-esque movements. Not surprising that one of her specialized talents listed in her profile includes ballet.
- Defector from Decadence: Ends up betraying the Darkside Congress in the interest of her own conscience.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Yurika typically sports a very maudlin expression, with blank, sad-looking eyes, though it's not surprising considering the way her brother treats her.
- Elegant Classical Musician: A violinist, to be specific.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Her outfit echoes the look, but her colors (sky blue, white, and bright red ribbon and shoes) contrast to the dark colors normally associated with EGL outfits.
- Giant Poofy Sleeves: On her school uniform◊.
- Gratuitous French: During her Minuet of the Abyss special.Un, deux, trois!
- High-Class Gloves: White opera ones, to be specific. Considering that she is an ojou, they fit her like, well, a glove.
- Improbable Weapon User: Her violin, which manifests large, energised musical notes in the manner of a classic fireball attack.
- Instrument of Murder: Though she mainly uses manifested musical notes when fighting, Yurika also has several moves where she uses her violin like a fencing foil.
- Japanese Politeness: One of the conversations in Project Justice's board game implies that Yurika is a very polite speaker, to the point that even Gedo High's numerous delinquents start speaking more politely around her.
- Lady of War: Uses feminine, graceful movements inspired by ballet and fencing in her fighting style and her attitude in fights gives off the air of being above combat.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: The most feminine (ridiculously so) of the Seijyun gals, and her Ojou Ringlets are already pretty big◊ as it is.
- Magical Flutist: It's apparent that her musical talents also extend to the flute, which she uses (rather creepily) to hypnotise the other students, whilst acting as her brother's mole in the main storyline.
- Meaningful Name: "Yurika" means "Lily flower". As well as being an incredibly feminine name (which suits her personality), it is also one the so-called "Geisha names" — that is, names (often florally inspired) that follow conventions and forms typical to the Geisha community. This lends Yurika a further degree of old-fashioned prestige.
- Mukokuseki: What Japanese girl has ash-blonde hair and gray eyes?
- Musical Assassin: Fights with her violin, both with the music it generates and the bow as a weapon itself.
- Ojou: A mix of both major types of the character.
- Ojou Ringlets: The poster girl for this style, to the point of exaggeration.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: Wears white tights to go with her ensemble.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Where Yurika is timid, gentle and polite (if occasionally disquieting), her brother Kurow is violent, ruthless and power-mad.
- Ship Tease: With Akira.
- Super-Senses: In Project Justice's character creation board game, Yurika reveals to the player character that she can identify people by the sound of their footsteps.
- Token Wholesome: In a series where the female characters are attired in either mini-skirts or tight clothing, Yurika is the most conservatively-dressed and is easily the least sexualised, if at all.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: As a relatively feminine lady, she's the girly girl to Akira's tomboy.
- Town Girls: The Femme to Akira's Neither and Zaki's Butch.
- True Blue Femininity: Wears a sky-blue dress.
- Tsurime Eyes: Adds to her dour, quiet demeanor. Compare to her fellow Darkside conspirator Momo and her Tareme eyes.
Pacific High School
The school of foreign exchange students. Typically a haven for rich Western families to send their kids to see the world, although it has opportunities for the less-advantageous such as Boman. Despite this international reach, the characters here are not Japanese, but rather hail from the United States.
Roy Bromwell
Fighting style: Personal Style (based on American football)
Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu
American foreign transfer student, and The Rival of Batsu. The son of a high-ranking police detective, Roy is ordered by his father to investigate the kidnappings and violence in United By Fate. Roy reluctantly accepts, as he distrusts Japanese people and hates the country after hearing his grandfather's bitter stories about Imperial Japan and World War II - this causes him to clash with much of the mostly-Japanese cast, most notably Batsu. With the help of Tiffany and Boman, Roy traces the attacks to Justice High, but is defeated and becomes a brainwashed servant of the school. It takes the intervention of the Taiyo High students to break them out of it, which convinces Roy that Japanese aren't as bad as it seems, and his burgeoning rivalry with Batsu becomes more of a friendly one. He returns with the United States to Tiffany, determined to change the world. Both he and Tiffany return to Japan during the events of Project Justice, bailing out the Taiyo students and Boman from Kurow's plans. Following Kurow's defeat, Roy returns to the USA, more determined than ever to help change the world.
His United By Fate ending hints at how he does so — by becoming President of the United States 20 years down the line. Yes, seriously.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: Of Terry Bogard. Roy borrows several of his attacks, complete with liberal use of Gratuitous English:
- His "Touchdown Wave" Ground Punch is a short-ranged version of Terry's "Power Wave". While his "Touchdown Spike" BV is essentially the same as Terry's 'Triple Geyser'/"Overshoot Geyser".
- His "Dynamite Straight" Power Fist is a stationary version of the "Burn Knuckle" and, in "Project Justice", he gains own version of the 'Power Dunk'.
- Americans Are Cowboys: In at least one supplemental art featuring him. He's normally wearing his preppy Pacific High uniform, though.
- Big Damn Heroes: In Project Justice, he and Tiffany arrive just in time to save your team's kidnapped character and join your team in taking Kurow down.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Along with his classmates in United by Fate.
- Composite Character: Many fans like to call Roy a combination of Terry Bogard and Ken Masters due to him having an appearance and moves that mostly resemble Terry and having shoryukens like Ken.
- Foreign Exchange Student: He and his team are exchange students from America, who've come to Japan under orders from his father to investigate the rash of kidnappings at the other schools.
- Gratuitous English: When he yells out his attack names: "TOUCHDOWN!", (during Dynamite Straight) "Go, FURY!", (team up attack) "DOUBLE MIGHTY!"
- I Know Madden Kombat: As the star quarterback of Pacific High's football team, some of his moves are derived from the sport.
- Jerkass: Roy is very condescending of the Japanese and has a huge superiority complex when it comes to the respective countries. This was toned down a LOT in the western translation which makes it rather odd for gamers who can understand Japanese since only the translation is different. The dialogue is still the same as the original making it somewhat strange to read one thing and listen to something completely different. It should be noted that towards the end of the game Roy has changed his outlook on Japan considerably and seems to view the country with a lot more respect.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: From the sequel onwards.
- Lovable Jock: To his friends, at least. Though he becomes a legitimate example by the first game's conclusion, after losing most of his jerkass tendencies.
- Meaningful Name: The name "Roy" comes from the French word "roi", meaning "King", which suits his status as a big man on campus and future leader of the United States.
- No Party Given: His United By Fate ending shows him as the President of the United States. Whether he ran on the Democratic or Republican presidential ticket is left unstated.
- Our Presidents Are Different: A budding example, considering that he isn't actually sworn in until 20 years later, but he starts off as a mixture of President Action, President Target and President Jerkass, with the latter two eventually getting dropped to make him a hybrid of President Action and President Personable.
- Patriotic Fervor: Loves his country, and admires his WWII-veteran grandfather. In his United By Fate ending, he ultimately becomes the President.
- Shoryuken: His "Twister Upper" is an anti-air spinning uppercut that bears resemblance to Street Fighter's Ken and Dudley's moves, the Shinryuken and Jet Upper respectively.
- The Rival: To Batsu, but it is more friendly post-United By Fate.
- Time-Passage Beard: His United By Fate ending takes place 20 years after the game's events, and thus depicts him with one — after having taken the oath of office.
- Translation Convention: Despite being an American, he speaks mostly Japanese in his in-game appearances, save for bits of Gratuitous English as noted above.
Tiffany Lords
Fighting style: Kickboxing (enhanced by cheerleading acrobatics)
Voiced by: Miki Narahashi
American transfer student, the daughter of a wealthy businessman and the series' Ms. Fanservice. A member of Pacfic High's cheerleading team, Tiffany joins Roy's investigations of the school violence not out of concern but rather to impress Roy, who she has a crush on. Like Roy, she ends up as a brainwashed servant of Justice High until the Taiyo students break her out of it as well. She returns to the United States with Roy following the events of United By Fate, but when Roy heads off alone to study to get into politics, Tiffany sets out to train to be a bodyguard so she can always be with him. She gets her wish in Project Justice, joining Roy in returning to Japan to help out their classmate Boman and their friends at Taiyo. Afterwards, she returns to the United States to assist Roy in changing the world.
And that ending of Roy's where he becomes US President? Tiffany plays a role in that, too — she's Roy's future wife and First Lady.
- Ass Kicks You: Has both an ass attack and a "kiss my ass" taunt.
- Big Damn Heroes: In Project Justice, she and Roy arrive just in time to save your team's kidnapped character and join your team in taking Kurow down.
- Boxing Battler: She's an acrobatic cheerleader who incorporates boxing moves into her fighting style. She's even got large boxing gloves to prove it, which also resemble pom-poms.
- Brainless Beauty: A gorgeous, bubbly, blonde cheerleader who seemingly struggles to make sense of the situations she finds herself in, with Roy often relaying what’s going on in fatigued deadpan.
- The Cameo: She appears in Deadpool's ending in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as well as in Street Fighter V in the background of the Kanzuki Beach stage.
- Cleavage Window: Her outfit in Project Justice has a star-shaped one on her chest, in an inversion of her star-shaped bikini in the first game.
- Combat Stilettos: On the boots of her Project Justice outfit. How's that's even acceptable for cheerleading boggles the mind...
- Dumb Blonde: She shows signs of it in her dialogue, especially in the English translation:Tiffany: Brainwashing? Hey Roy, what's brainwashing?
- Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Part of her apparent stupidity can be explained by the fact that her grasp of the Japanese language is much more slippery than Roy or Boman's. For example, the above quote makes her out to be a little less clueless if one remembers that everyone is actually speaking Japanese — the way she tries to say "you guys" in Japanese is you-tachi; as in the English word "you" to refer to who she's talking to, and 達 (tachi) to make it plural.
- Foreign Exchange Student: Tiffany’s originally from the US, but is spending a term or two studying in Japan.
- Genki Girl: Compared to the serious Roy and the reserved Boman, Tiffany has a bubbly, energetic vibe to her.
- Gorgeous Gaijin: Have you seen her costumes? A blonde, large-breasted, scantily-clad American whose move-set includes a variety of butt-bashes and a throw where she literally smashes her pneumatic breasts into the opponent to send them flying.
- Gratuitous English: All of Tiffany's special's are called in her native English, despite speaking Japanese in all cutscenes.WANDAFUL! BEAUTIFAL! EXCITING!
- Intimate Healing: Tiffany's Team-Up Technique "Love & Peace" has her glomping the chosen point character, before giving them a literal Kiss of Life, healing a portion of their HP. She does this for all male and female characters of different ages including Hideo, Kyoko, Hayato who are teachers, Hinata and Momo who are shorter characters, and even for Hyo and Kurow who are the villains. If the player makes a team just of Tiffany, she even does this to herself.
- Jiggle Physics: The only female in the series whose breasts are animated. Of course, since she has the most visible assets as well, it was inevitable.
- Marshmallow Hell: One of her throws has her smother the (un)lucky opponent in her impressively bouyant cleavage.
- Meaningful Name: The name Tiffany refers to The Trinity in the Christian faith, which isn't particularly meaningful for her character. However, the name is inextricably linked with bubbly, all-American type girls in popular culture, and therefore suits her perfectly. The name Tiffany Lords seems quite similar to an infamous pornstar called Traci Lords, who also played up the bubbly blonde angle. Make of that what you will.
- Ms. Fanservice: No, really, have you seen her◊ costumes◊? She was very much designed to be the main fanservice girl of the series.
- Murderous Thighs: Her super in Project Justice is a Lighter and Softer version.
- Nice Girl: Despite being not the smartest of the cast, Tiffany's a very friendly and cheerful student who values her friends.
- Pom-Pom Girl: As she’s the token American girl of the series, she’s designed as a very sexy cheerleader, complete with spirited, cheerful personality and an acrobatic move-set, though Tiffany exhibits none of the oft-encountered cheerleader cattiness.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: On her alternate costume in United by Fate.
- Red Boxing Gloves: Uses comically large ones when she fights.
- She-Fu: Her acrobatic move-set is explained by her cheerleading skills.
- Slippery Swimsuit: In Shiritsu Justice Gakuen: Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2's character creation mode, if you go with Tiffany to the Water Park, she'll ride the giant water slide, and when she reaches the pool at bottom, her bikini top comes off. The end result is that she is shown with her back to the viewer while she's frantically covering her front.
- Translation Convention: Like her classmates, she speaks entirely in Japanese, though in-universe it's not as strong as Roy's or Boman's leading to her Dumb Blonde moments (as noted above).
- Valley Girl: Peppers her speech with liberal use of “like” and “totally” as per the stereotype. She’s also got the look down pat.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Or her body, rather, as her cheerleading uniforms all have a very obvious American flag motif to them.
Boman Delgado
Fighting style: Boxing
Voiced by: Takashi Nagasako
Middle-class black student from the United States, going to Pacific High on a scholarship. A deeply religious young man, Boman joins Roy's investigation out of concern for the victims and worries about having to fight other since it conflicts with his Christian values. Like his classmates, he also becomes a brainwashed agent for Justice High until snapped out of it by Taiyo High. Unlike Roy and Tiffany, Boman stays in Japan, seeing the good in the people of Japan and wanting to help bridge relations between Japan and the US. In Project Justice, he teams with Ran and Chairperson to investigate the new wave of school violence, and it later joined by the returning Roy and Tiffany. He continues to stay in Japan after the end of the violence, wanting to help continue to build goodwill over in Japan.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Along with his classmates in United by Fate.
- Extremity Extremist: His style is based in boxing; he has kicks, but all of his specials and supers are punch-related.
- Foreign Exchange Student: And unlike Roy and Tiffany, he sticks around in Japan to further his studies.
- Gentle Giant: The biggest, and most peaceful of the Pacific trio.
- Martial Pacifist: A Christian, he prefers to avoid fighting whenever possible and if he does fight when need be, he always apologizes and prays to God for forgiveness. All his moves' names (at least in Japanese) have "God" in them as well.
- Religious Bruiser: He's a devout Christian and his burning vigor attacks invoke images of crosses; in one he stretches his arms in a cross as he spins upwards and in the other he delivers an horizontal and then a vertical punch that leave a fiery cross and make the opponent briefly stand in a Crucified Hero Shot. Plus, when knocked out, he shouts, "AMEN!"
- Token Minority: Doubled up — he's the only black student on the token foreign team.
- Translation Convention: Like Roy and Tiffany, he speaks Japanese in all his quote, but unlike them he does not use any English when calling out his attacks.
- Younger Than They Look: Despite looking like a huge muscular man in his 30's, Boman is still a high school student.
Justice High School
The ultra-elite school in town, this school is designed for teaching the best of the best of the best. Unsurprisingly, it is also the launching pad from where many of the villains in the series set their plans in motion.
Hideo Shimazu
Fighting style: Shimazu-style Karate
Voiced by: Tetsuo Mizutori
A Japanese language teacher at Justice High, Hideo is sent out along with Kyoko to recruit students for the fledgling Justice High. When he and Kyoko start questioning the means for their recruitment and bring it up with the principal Raizo, they are defeated by him and brainwashed by Hyo into unquestioning servants of Justice High. Students from Taiyo High snap him out of it, and he helps snap Kyoko out of it as well (or the other way around). After Hyo and Raizo are defeated, Hideo confesses his feelings for Kyoko and proposes to her, which she accepts. In Project Justice a random attack from Gedo High students concerns the pair and they join fellow teacher Hayato in looking into the cause of the new school violence. Hideo is injured during their investigation, but it does not stop Kyoko in reminding him of their wedding.
- Badass Teacher: He's a Japanese teacher who's formerly the scion of a school of karate.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: What happens to him and Kyoko during United By Fate. Snapped out of it after fighting the Taiyo trio.
- Cool Old Guy: It's implied that's he's a bit older than his colleagues and despite his nerdy, salaryman appearance, Hideo is a badass fighter and heir to a prominent dojo.
- Expy: Looks like Takuma Sakazaki with Ryu's move-set.
- Heir to the Dojo: He was heir to the family dojo before becoming a teacher. A feud over his family's fighting style led him to be unfairly ousted from the position, which led him into teaching.
- Love at First Sight: Once finding enough courage to finally speak with Kyoko, he immediately proposes to her.
- Nerd Glasses: More like Salaryman Glasses, but that doesn't take the coolness away from him.
- Office Romance: Ends up having a romantic relationship with Kyoko.
- Perma-Stubble: He's sporting a constant 5-o'clock shadow at all times.
- Punch-Clock Villain: When he first joined Justice High School, he was just another teacher applying for the job for normal salary, but the distaste of the students he scouted tipped him that something is wrong with his school. When he found out that the school was committing mass-brainwashing for world conquest, he tried booting out, but was subdued and brainwashed into loyalty.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Rather than Red Eyes, Take Warning, he takes this trope as a way to tell he's Brainwashed and Crazy.
- Shotoclone: Blatantly so. In Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Batsu inadvertently lampshades this in his winquote against Ryu.Batsu: Hmm...that's the Shimazu-style karate, isn't it? Seems like everyone's using that these days.
- Shoulders of Doom: His shoulder pads, which represent his accomplishments in his family's martial art style.
Kyoko Minazuki
Fighting style: Grappling
Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi
The school nurse and chemistry teacher at Justice High, Kyoko is teamed with Hideo to recruit students to Justice High by Raizo. Like Hideo, when she questions the means by which they do their recruiting, she becomes brainwashed into another servant of the school. Like Hideo, Taiyo high students help break her out of the mind control and later, she accepts Hideo's marriage proposal. Her dealing with the students also inspires her to help change the world more, outing a corrupt former employer and becoming a teacher at Justice High teaching chemistry. In Project Justice she teams with Hideo and Hayato to investigate the new school violence, and later reminds Hideo of their wedding, as well as their duty to help rebuild Justice High.
- Attractiveness Isolation: Because she's so tall and beautiful, men are easily intimidated by her, which prevents them from having the courage to ask her out. She's been eternally single because of this, until Hideo gathers the fortitude to propose to her.
- Badass in Distress: She is kidnapped and then crucified during Project Justice, but once rescued, can still fight on.
- Badass Teacher: A chemistry teacher that can easily hold her own in a fight.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: What happens to her and Hideo in United By Fate. Snapped out of it after fighting the Taiyo trio.
- Combat Stilettos: Always fights in her high heels.
- The Cynic: Kyoko is quite very aware of and often expresses that Japan as a country is rotting, but that won't stop her in having to try and fix the system by showing and teaching the newer generation about what truly and really counts as both good values and morals.
- Deadly Doctor: Okay, school nurse, but she still kicks ass all the same.
- Dressed to Heal: Her lab coat, glasses and clipboard.
- Five Moves of Doom: Her burning vigor move "The Breaker" is a standing crossface chickenwing, abdominal stretch, wakigatame armbar takedown, boston crab and triangle choke delivered in rapid succession.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She really loves her sake.
- Hospital Hottie: A gorgeous school nurse when she's not teaching. Conversations with her and other character in the Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki modes mention how there's always a line of students outside the nurse's office waiting to see her. In addition, she used to work in a hospital, until at least United by Fate where she filed malpractice on her corrupt boss after being inspired by the events to take a stand for herself.
- Hot Teacher: Kyoko is a tall, attractive, faintly louche woman who many of the students have a crush on.
- Improbable Weapon User: She swings around a clipboard in some of her normals and special moves.
- Lethal Chef: She approaches cooking like a chemist, making her food nutritious but horrific tasting.
- Ma'am Shock: Does not take being called "old" in any way well.
- Magic Skirt: Somehow despite all her fighting, which includes plenty of high kicks, her skirt never manages to fly up like it does with Hinata, though it's a tight-fitting miniskirt, as opposed to the flowy pleated school skirts Hinata wears.
- Meaningful Name: "Kyoko" has a couple of direct translations, including "mirror" and "child of the capital (Kyoto)". In her case, the meaning is derived from the fact that the name is now out of style amongst the young, which lends her an older, momsy vibe. Anglophonic equivalents would be "Marge", "Pam" or "Carol".
- Office Romance: Ends up having a romantic relationship with Hideo.
- Old Maid: Kyoko takes it very personally that she's not married yet at her age. She immediately accepts Hideo's marriage proposal without having dated him, though there's signs of Love at First Sight.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Like Hideo, she thought she was just doing her job as a normal school nurse, but then she became aware of the corruption running in the school. After getting Brainwashed and Crazy and being snapped out of it, she goes to set things straight.
- School Nurse: As mentioned above, that was her main profession at Justice High before becoming a teacher as well. And despite those new duties, she still performs her nursing job at Justice as well.
- Statuesque Stunner: Kyoko stands at 173cm (5'8"), which is REALLY tall for a Japanese woman (average height 5’2”).
Raizo Imawano
Fighting style: Brawling, taking advantage of his brute strength
Voiced by: Tomomichi Nishimura
The principal of Justice High. Originally, Raizo was a member of a clan of assassins led by his family, with his older brother Mugen at the head of it. Mugen's plans for the group was domination of the world through force. Raizo however, had other plans to change the world through education, and left the clan to achieve this dream - but had to leave his wife and infant son behind lest the society come after them for his betrayal.
His dream is realized in Justice High and Raizo eventually adopts its best student, Hyo, as a surrogate son and eventual heir to run the school. In actuality, Hyo was the son of Mugen, with the same ambition of his father to take over the world by force. When Raizo finds this out, he confronts Hyo, but is turned into yet another brainwashed servant of the young man. It takes Raizo's now grown-up son Batsu to snap the old man out of it. Though his school is tarnished by Hyo's actions and the resulting chaos, Raizo is more determined than ever to teach his students not only how to change the world, but also to be immune to tactics like the ones used by Hyo.
His plans, however, are cut short very early on in Project Justice — he is attacked by new student Kurow Kirishima in order to further his plans, and Raizo spends much of that game on the sidelines incapacitated, appearing only to explain who is possessing Hyo and making a cameo in the Justice High ending.
- Badass Teacher: He's the enormously intimidating principal of Justice High, and fights like an outraged bear most the time.
- Beard of Evil: And a very bushy and spiky one at that.
- Demoted to Extra: In Project Justice. He's not even playable!
- Disappeared Dad: To Batsu, who only finds out about his parentage upon defeating Raizo and rescuing his mother, Shizuku .
- Disc-One Final Boss: To Hyo in United By Fate.
- Expy: His moveset is almost identical to Wolverine's in the Capcom vs. games.
- Fastball Special: Does this for his assist move.
- Femme Fatalons: A male example, he fights with his huge, bear-like nails.
- High-Class Glass: Has one spiffy monocle (which tends to get knocked off during fights, of course).
- Large and in Charge: Do you know of any school principals built like a grizzly bear?
- Luke, I Am Your Father: In United By Fate, we find out Raizo is Batsu's long-lost father, whom he left to not get him and his wife involved in the politics of his ninja clan.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Have you seen his wife Shizuku? Raizo lucked out on that one.
- The Worf Effect: When Capcom needed to prove how dangerous Kurow was, Raizo was the one that took a savage beating that sidelined him at the start of Project Justice's story.
Hyo Imawano
Click here to see Demon Hyo
Fighting style: Imawano-style Kenjutsu
Voiced by: Kaneto Shiozawa
The mastermind of the entire plot of United By Fate. The twin son of Raizo's older brother Mugen along with Kyosuke, Hyo was selected by his father to be trained their clan's ways and to eventually inherit the leadership of the group. Mugen also imprinted on Hyo the belief that the world could only be reformed through sheer force. When his father died, Hyo moved onto the outside world, enrolling at the school started by his estranged uncle. Raizo noticed Hyo's excellence quickly and adopted the young man as a surrogate son and an eventual heir to run Justice High.
Hyo, however, was still imprinted with his father's training and ambitions, and quickly took over Justice High for his own ends. He ordered the kidnapping and coercion of students and teachers for the school, and the attacks and/or brainwashing of those that could be a threat. With the help of his twin brother Kyosuke, Hyo had many schools in a panic and even Raizo under his control. However, it began to fall apart as Hyo's brainwashing was weakened against the teamwork of the other characters, most notably Raizo's son Batsu and his own twin Kyosuke, who turned against him. Hyo was eventually defeated but thanks to Kyosuke, was convinced there could be a better way to change the world.
In Project Justice, Hyo confronts Kurow Kirishima after the latter incapacitates Raizo, and is defeated and turned into a brainwashed servant of the new student... or so Kurow thought. Hyo faked his defeat and pretended to be under Kurow's control, eventually dropping the ruse when Kurow's plans collapsed around him like it had to Hyo a year earlier. Fighting for real this time, Hyo defeats Kurow, but the defeat awakens the spirit of his father Mugen, who possesses Hyo in an attempt to finally realize his plans. It takes the work of Kyosuke and his classmates to defeat the possessed Hyo, but the strain on his body leaves him dying (apparently) in Kyosuke's arms as Justice High burns...
- Battle Aura: As Demon Hyo.
- Custom Uniform: Though similar in design to his classmates', Hyo's school uniform is decorated like a weirdo military getup, with jackboots and metal epaulettes.
- Demonic Possession: His Demon Hyo form comes as a result of him being possessed by his father Mugen.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: At the end of Kyosuke's storyline.
- Doppelgänger Attack: One of his supers has him suddenly conjuring a clone of himself which mirrors his moves from behind the opponent to deliver a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown while laughing maniacally, ending with a leaping sword slash.
- Eviler than Thou: In all of the story paths (apart from Kurow's, of course), Kurow is cut down by Demon Hyo at the end of Project Justice.
- Final Boss: Of both games. In United By Fate, he's the True Final Boss who can only be fought if you finish Raizo with a Team-Up Technique, while he's fought at the end of Project Justice as Demon Hyo.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The circumstances behind Mugen's ghost, and by extension Demon Hyo, isn't really explained at any point.
- Gone Horribly Right: Following his own defeat, Kurow races to Justice High to awaken the curse buried within Hyo. He didn't anticipate Hyo being impossible to control, however...
- Heel–Face Turn: After his first defeat at the hands of Kyosuke, Hyo abandons his evil ways.
- Iaijutsu Practitioner: Though he uses a sword in combat, he keeps it sheathed until he needs it for a move.
- Katanas Are Just Better: His weapon of choice is a katana — and Demon Hyo wields two katanas, though one of them is broken with it's tip formed by ki instead.
- Killed Off for Real: Dies from a combination of the strain on his body while possessed and the high amount of injuries inflicted on him to stop his rampage.
- Knight Templar: His plan in United By Fate is to take over the schools (and eventually Japan) to convince people that his way of living is correct. This trait gets (literally) beaten out of him by Kyosuke and his Taiyo classmates.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: A very handsome, sharp-faced young man, with the long hair to match.
- The Man Behind the Man: He was the true mastermind of United By Fate, being behind Raizo all along.
- Nietzsche Wannabe: "Ha ha ha! So this is what they call friendship!" In Batsu's storyline, Kyosuke helps his brother see the error of his ways.
- Not Me This Time: Immediately falls under suspicion in Project Justice, after Daigo is brainwashed by the Darkside Congress.
- The Paragon Always Rebels: According to his
school record, Hyo excels at absolutely every subject. - Übermensch: Hyo acts according to his own familial code, whether Mugen's or Kyosuke's, not society's own code.
- Unfriendly Fire: His Team-Up Techinique "Brutal Slashing (Zankokuzan)" has him commanding his teammate to grapple his opponent behind before slashing at them and then using a final dashing horizontal slash that hits both his opponent and teammate. Demon Hyo does the same move, but finishes it off with a double cut to both the opponent and his teammate's heads.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Bounces around this status; he starts off as the Man Behind the Man villain, then reforms and becomes a good guy at the end of United By Fate. He's back to being the final boss in Project Justice, but only because he's being possessed by his father.
- Younger Than They Look: Between his long white hair, broad frame, and military uniform-like apparel, you'd have a hard time telling from a glance that he's a teenager.
Kurow Kirishima
Cick here to see him as Vatsu
Fighting style: Kirishima-style Ninjutsu
Voiced by: Bin Shimada
The Big Bad behind the events of Project Justice. The assassin group Raizo and Hyo hailed from were not pleased that they had defected to the outside world, and had tossed aside the group's plans for domination. Reorganizing as the Darkside Society, it sent their best remaining assassin, Kurow Kirishima, to eliminate them and their families. Bringing along his sister Yurika as well as admirer Momo in his plans, Kurow set out on his assigned mission, but also made his own plans to take over the world for himself.
Enrolling at Justice High, Kurow set himself up as a normal student until he set his plans in motion, making his move when he incapacitated Raizo and apparently defeating and brainwashing Hyo. Kurow set up a plan where a brainwashed Daigo Kazama would have the Gedo gang cause trouble, Yurika infiltrate Seijyun High to distract Daigo's sister Akira, Momo infiltrates Gorin High to split the core characters' friendship and Kurow himself disguising himself as Batsu and openly attacking other students - the goal being to spread mistrust and confusion among the schools, making them easy pickings for his brainwashing.
Of course, like Hyo before him a year ago, Kurow's plans go awry when the friendship of the characters are only strengthened by the chaos instead of weakened, and his moles betray him for their newfound friends. Kurow attempts to use his apparent trump card Hyo, but find out that didn't work out as well as he thought either, and Hyo defeats him, leaving him severely injured. A few days after the fire at Justice High, however, Kurow's hospital room is found wrecked and empty, implying that he'll be back later...
- Alliterative Name: Kurow Kirishima.
- Anime Hair: A masculine version◊ of his sister Yurika's curls, consisting of a sweeping side-parting combined with a large, tightly curled ringlet. As well as having a penchant for ringlets, both Kirishima siblings share a similar ash-brown hair colour.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Exaggerated. Despite being Yurika's younger brother, he is incredibly domineering and controlling, forcing her to go along with his Evil Plan for world domination. When Yurika betrays him out of conscience, he furiously brands her a traitor.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Both Kirishima siblings have the same curious eyes, with the iris color bleeding into the whiteness of the sclera, lending them a sullen, dead look.
- Bloody Horror: His attempts at fighting Hyo end up with him lying in a pool of his own blood from Hyo's cuts.
- Evil Laugh: "Nyee-heh-heh-heh!"
- Life Drain: Kurow has a super move that does this, although he has to combo it off a specific special move to perform it.
- Manipulative Bastard: Kurow's entire plan revolves around sowing mistrust between everyone else to manipulate them into fighting each other — so he can swoop in and advance his own goals for world domination.
- Master of Disguise: Throughout Project Justice, he disguises himself as Batsu in order to get Batsu's friends to mistrust him. This fake's playable as "Vatsu".
- Meaningful Name: "Kirishima" means "island of fog", which has a gloomy, vaguely sinister overtone and suits his duplicitous nature.
- Mukokuseki: A Japanese man with unexplainable ash-blonde hair and gray eyes, just like his sister.
- Musical Assassin: Somewhat — he uses a flute to brainwash his victims, but doesn't use it in actual fighting.
- Never Found the Body: Kurow vanishes from his hospital room in the finale, leaving only ominous claw marks behind...
- Power Copying: He imitates most moves and ki powers of Batsu in his "Vatsu" form, albeit in his own evil version of course.
- Red Right Hand: When disguised as Vatsu, his eyes and grin are the main signs that all is not what it seems...
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Where his sister Yurika is timid, gentle and polite, Kurow is violent, ruthless and power-mad.
- Slasher Smile: Kurow's wide smile is menacing and deranged.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Has all of Raizo's special moves, plus a few new ones added in for variety.
- Unfriendly Fire: Like Hyo and his Team-Up Technique, Kurow's Party-Up Technique has him commanding his two teammates to launch the opponent into the air, but he then decides to impale them with his claws and toss them into the air as well, finishing the move with him using a running lunge and extending a long claw through his falling opponent and two teammates.
- Wolverine Claws: He fights with a pair of clawed gloves.
Tamagawa Minami High School
A presumably normal high school that is actually not involved in the events of the first game. It's mentioned here because it happens to be the school attended by...
Sakura Kasugano
Fighting style: Imitation of Ryu’s Ansatsuken
Voiced by: Yuko Sasamoto (Japanese, United by Fate)
This junior Street Fighter happens to be a friend of both Hinata and Natsu. For many other tropes regarding to her, check the Street Fighter Alpha character sheet.
- Guest Fighter: From a different series, though the Rival Schools and Street Fighter games take place in the same universe. Sakura is childhood friends with Natsu and Hinata.
- Hero-Worshipper: For Ryu.
- Hurricane Kick: Carries over into her RS appearance.
- Meaningful Name: Her given name means cherry-blossom in Japan, although its officially spelled in hiragana (さくら). Her surname, Kasugano (春日野) means "Sunny Field in Spring".
- Shotoclone: She retains her fireball/dragon-punch/hurricane-kick triple set of moves from her Street Fighter appearances.
- Shout-Out: Her team-up technique is very similar to the Shun Goku Satsu, except 1. her partner grabs the target from behind so Sakura can freely attack him/her, 2. the attacks are shown as freeze frames interspersed by white flashes, and 3. cherry blossoms fall when she finishes and leaves.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: For having Boyish Short Hair and being a Genki Girl.
