Characters / The King Of Fighters Rivals

The King of Fighters | Main Index
Main Series
Protagonists | Deuteragonists
The King Of Fighters: The Rugal Saga
The King of Fighters: The Orochi Saga: KOF '95 | KOF '96 | KOF '97
The King of Fighters: The NESTS Chronicles: KOF '99 | KOF 2000 | KOF 2001
The King of Fighters: The Tales of Ash: KOF 2003 | KOF XI
The King of Fighters: The New Age: KOF XIV | KOF XV
Spin Offs
The King of Fighters EX | Maximum Impact
Related Series
Athena | Psycho Soldier | Fatal Fury | Art of Fighting | Samurai Shodown | Metal Slug | Fu'un Series | Buriki One

The main page for the Arc Rivals/Deuteragonists of The King of Fighters series.

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Orochi Saga

Iori Yagami

Unshackled Instinct

^{Classic Design}

^{The King of Fighters XII-XIII}

^{The King of Fighters XIV}

^{Ms. X}

"I will burn fear into your eyes so you never dare to face me again."

Debut: The King of Fighters '95

Origin: Japan

Fighting style: Yagami-style ancient martial arts + pure instinct

Voiced by: ^note Kunihiko Yasui ('95-XIII), Takanori Hoshino (XIV-current), Eric Summerer (Maximum Impact series, English), Jack Merluzzi (XII, English), Shou Shudo (KOF live-action movie Japanese dub)

Portrayed by: ^note Will Yun Lee (live-action movie)

Playable in: ^note '95 and all subsequent mainline games, Maximum Impact, MI2, MI:RA

One of the faces of The King of Fighters, and The Rival to series protagonist, Kyo Kusanagi.

Iori is the latest descendant of the Yagami clan, formerly the Yasakani. His family was a former ally of Kyo Kusanagi's, but they became jealous of the Kusanagi clan's power, and entered into a blood pact with Orochi, their former enemy. They were granted newer, blue-tinted flames, but at with three huge downsides: suffering extreme pain when using these powers, each mother of a newborn would die in childbirth... and most importantly, they were now susceptible to the Riot of the Blood, a state in which under special circumstances, the user is driven insane until they become nothing more than mindless zombies, killing and destroying everything in their path. When the Kusanagi clan found out about this, they waged war against the Yasakani clan, who changed their name to Yagami prior to the blood pact.
Iori himself enters the '95 tournament to fight Kyo, but fails to do so, and ruthlessly beats his teammates into the ground. In '96 he finally faces Kyo, but is approached by Chizuru to ally with them. He fights Goenitz and kills him, but his flames turn crimson. Chizuru explains that this is the true power of the Yagami clan that has long been hidden inside him, and also warns him about the Riot of the Blood, but he brushes it off. While conversing with Vice and Mature, he is suddenly stricken with blindness and nausea, and starts to cough up blood. He is finally wracked with extreme pain and ends up killing both Vice and Mature as he enters the Riot of the Blood for the first time. In '97 he is about to face Kyo in the finals, but then he enters the Riot of the Blood along with Leona, who attacks her teammates while Iori attacks Kyo. Both are snapped back to their senses and Iori teams up with Kyo and Chizuru to fight Orochi. Orochi attempts to drive him back into the Riot, but the plan backfires when he attacks Orochi instead of Kyo, and then he holds Orochi in place long enough for him to be struck down by Kyo and resealed by Chizuru.
Iori resurfaces in '99, once again searching for Kyo, and overhears about the various Kyo clones worldwide. He finds the real one and fights with him in the collapsing base. In 2000 he is also a single entry, again looking for Kyo. In 2001 he joins Vanessa, Seth, and Ramon, under the premise that he will fight Kyo again.
He teams up with Kyo and Chizuru in 2003, and witnesses Ash's theft of Chizuru's powers. In XI, he teams up with Kyo and Shingo, but due to the increased presence of Orochi, he enters the Riot of the Blood again and attacks his two teammates; Ash intervenes and takes the opportunity to hit Iori In the Back, taking his powers. His fate afterward was unknown, but in Maximum Impact he is searching for Ash Crimson to regain his powers. In XIII he doesn't have his flames but has somewhat compensated via becoming a Badass Normal. After a brief talk with Chizuru, he is back alongside none other than Vice and Mature, who are temporarily Back from the Dead to keep Those From The Past from breaking the Orochi seal. Ultimately, Iori regains his powers, forsaking his chance for a normal life.
He returns in XIV, once again alongside Vice and Mature, and aims to, yet again, kill Kyo. In XV, he teams up with Kyo and Chizuru to form Team Sacred Treasures, concerned about the return of Team Orochi, though he promises to settle things with Kyo once the tournament ends.

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• Amplifier Artifact: Had the Yasakani-no-Magatama inside of his body until Ash pilfered it in XI. He regains it at the end of XIII.
• And Then What?: If playing as Flames Iori in XIII, Mature will prod at his unending goal to kill Kyo, claiming that Iori's stuck in the past because he's afraid of where the future may lead if he does end Kyo's life. Tung asks him a similar question in XIV, theorising that Iori actually enjoys fighting Kyo and puts off killing him because of it. Iori is not impressed with that assumption.
• Animal Motifs: Snakes, befitting his connection to Orochi. Reflected in his animal transformation in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.
• Ambiguously Bi: Iori was confirmed to have a girlfriend in the past, but a lot of his interactions with Kyo can be fairly suggestive, especially in later games.
• Arch-Enemy: He was initially this to Kyo due to their clans' feuding backgrounds, though this eventually fell by the wayside in the wake of gaining more personal enemies for both parties, including the Hakkeshu, NESTS and Ash.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: And a dick about it, too. Iori isn't shy about letting his opponents know they're too weak for him, purple flames or not.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: He's a musician and so, he combines formal dress codes (long sleeved white shirt and shoes), with fashion elements (his haircut, leather jacket and red pants)
• Badass Boast:
  • A possible interpretation for his usual opening pose ("Sugu raku ni shite yaru")^Translation"I'll make it easy for you."/"I'll end your pain soon." If you believe Iori's claim that he hates violence, the quote potentially turns into Iori backhandedly giving the opponent his condolences for having the misfortune of running into him, thus promising to give them a quick death for their troubles.
  • In SVC Chaos, Iori showed no fear at being faced down by Genjuro, who may just be even more unpleasant and Ax-Crazy than himself (not to mention he's armed with a katana). The two simply shout to each other, "Vermin... DIE!"
• Badass in Distress: In the KOF: KYO manga's last volume, he's captured by Goenitz and tied up to a metal cross. Then Goenitz severely injures Kensou and, when Chizuru steps in, he runs away with both Iori and Yuki as hostages; for worse, he tortures Iori via using his powers to intermittently cause him to go into the Riot of the Blood as he's is still in chains and completely defenseless. Kyo has to rescue him and Yuki with Chizuru's help.
• Badass Longcoat: Another Iori (Iori's striker from 2000, which represents how Iori dresses outside of KOF) has one. His new design for KOF XIV has him wearing a red duster while the outfit he was given in XV is basically the Another Iori design but with the Yasakani crescent on the back.
• Baritone of Strength: His voice is deeper than that of his rival Kyo's, highlighting his rougher, harder, more menacing personality, and his initially having been an Evil Counterpart to Kyo.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Quite a few drama CDs hint at an Orochi-like presence that resides inside him, irritating him to the point that Iori usually reacts violently. His XII profile seems to confirm this, as Iori seems to be suffering from a slight identity crisis. This is presumably the reason behind his refusal to associate with others and his solitary lifestyle.
• Battle Intro: In XV:
  "There can't be light without shadow! The flame of the end is here to turn all to ash. Iori Yagami!"
  Iori: "You want to be turned to ash? No problem."
• The Berserker: Losing his flames caused Iori's bloodlust and violent tendencies to intensify, up to the point where the cast of KOF XIII can feel it just by being around him.
• Blessed with Suck: Orochi's flames grant Iori powerful fighting abilities. But the list of expenses includes a shortened lifespan, the death of his mother at birth, pain whenever using the flames, and the chance that he'll go berserk and kill everyone around him. So not the best tradeoff overall.
• Blood Knight: In KOF XIV, Tung Fu Rue implies that Iori actually enjoys his rivalry with Kyo, which is why he never actually killed the guy. Iori finds the idea preposterous.
• Bond One-Liner: In the first games, if he doesn't do the Maniacal Laugh victory pose, he'll instead tell his defeated opponent to die.
  "Sonomama shine!"^Translation"Die as you are!"
• Breakout Character: While Iori was a main character from the beginning (being The Rival to Kyo), he was of such a different mold from other video game characters at the time (such as his trademark Evil Laugh) that he became an instant hit with fans. Thus, most subsequent games have shoehorned him to a role of at least some significance. It is said Iori's design from the start sought this end.
  Masahiro Sakurai: (During "Mr. Sakurai Presents — Terry Bogard") [...] Originally he was introduced as Kyo Kusangai's rival, but when I first saw this character in the game at the time, due to his look and attitude I thought "whoever created this character must be a genius!"
• Brought Down to Badass: After having his flame abilities stolen by Ash, Iori remains a deadly fighter. Even without the Magatama, the clawing and slashing techniques employed by the Yasakani martial arts are brutally effective and vicious enough to decimate an opponent. Combine this with Iori's ridiculous speed and strength, and suddenly the loss of his flames do not appear to be anything more than a minor handicap.
• Call-Back: His Dual Assault with Kyo in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum is a homage to the Sacred Treasures Team's ending in 97 where he holds his foe in place with a Neck Lift before Kyo does his 182 Shiki to his opponent.
• The Cameo: He appears in the background of KOF Stadium in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and has a spirit battle based on him and Orochi Iori. He also has a Mii Brawler costume based on him.
• Can't Stay Normal: In his ending in XIII, Iori decides to reabsorb the Yasakani-no-Magatama into his body, despite Mature and Vice warning him that he has the chance to live a normal life without needing to worry about the Riot of the Blood or his bloodline's curse. Ultimately, they go along with his choice and return to the afterlife, telling Iori that they'll perhaps meet again on a moonlit night.
• Chick Magnet: In the CD dramas, having a very pretty prospect girlfriend who's infatuated with you is probably not much to boast about... but having her also beautiful little sister to become even more infatuated with you is definitely no small feat.
• Clothes Make the Legend: Unlike Kyo, he didn't change his clothing until KOF XII and even then, the change is rather slight. His KOF XIV outfit is a bigger change, but it's still recognizably him.
• Creepy Crossdresser: In SNK Gal Fighters, he is the final boss as "Miss X" whom you must fight as other characters.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Dresses in fairly dark ensemble and even has scarlet red hair, but he's not evil. He's still very anti-heroic, though.
• Deadly Upgrade: The pact his clan made with Orochi to acquire power reduces his life span, hurts him when he summons flames, and subjects him to the Riot of the Blood, which causes him to lose control of himself and makes him vomit blood.
• Demonic Possession: In his new Climax in XV, he is briefly possessed by Orochi as he transitions into the Riot of the Blood. Against members of the New Faces Team, however, he does not transform into Orochi Iori, as evidenced by his eyes not turning red.
• Depower: Happens at the end of XI, leaving him to fight with his slashing hands for XII and its sequel. Unlike Chizuru, at least he stayed on the roster despite losing his flames. Though, considering the mobility and priority of Iori's movelist when exhibiting the full extent of the Yasakani martial arts, one has to wonder whether losing those flames can even constitute a depowerment or not...
• Disguised in Drag: In the handheld Spin-Off game Gals Fighters he enters the tournament disguised as a schoolgirl. He changes his name to "Miss X" and wears a mask to conceal his identity. The girls don't buy it.
• Downloadable Content: "Iori with the Power of Flames" in XIII (i.e. his original, pre-XII moveset). In XIV, it's his classic outfit.
• Emo: XIII pokes fun at this via having several characters, like in K''s case, call him "emo" to his very face. Obviously, Iori isn't amused. Joe decides to one-up the others by labeling him (or rather, Flames Iori) as this and goth.
• Easily Forgiven: Although he killed Mature and Vice (albeit not of his own volition), they say that they don't hold a grudge against him and ask to accompany him as his teammates in XIII. At least Mature is slightly more willing; Vice apparently is angry at Iori doing it and she'd at least want to "relieve pent-up hostilities" before she would ally with Iori again.
• Enemy Mine: Happens on no less than four occasions with Kyo ('96, '97, 2003, and XI). Luckily, Chizuru or Shingo is there to keep the team from falling apart.
  • He teams up with Kyo and Chizuru once again to put down Orochi in his team ending in XIV. This time around, Kyo is more than willing to help out his rival, even if Iori feels otherwise. This would come to full fruition once again in the XV tournament where they're officially registered as the Great Sacred Treasures team.
• Enemy Within: Orochi Iori, the result of activating the Riot of the Blood. See his folder below for more details.
• Evil Counterpart: He started as this to Kyo, being an even more arrogant, pyrokinetic Blood Knight. He's mellowed out a bit over time to a more anti-heroic figure.
• Evil Laugh: His famous victory pose, as well as one of his super desperation moves.
  "Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm... ha ha ha ha ha ha... HAAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!"
• Evil Redhead: At least, that's how his debut portrayed him. '96 and beyond have shifted Iori towards an antagonistic, but more anti-heroic role.
• Facepalm of Doom: His Kototsuki In special ends with him putting his palm on the foe's face, then releases a flame explosion point blank. A few of his super moves also involves him doing the same.
• Foil: Initially started as the Evil Counterpart for Kyo before his status as The Rival turned him into a foil instead. Enforced by the fact that much of Iori's design is meant as direct opposite of Kyo's during '95, from his iconic symbol (a crescent moon instead of a sun's corona) as well as his moveset (i.e. He throws his swings arm downward for his projectile where Kyo waves his leading arm upward and outward, his special throw pins his opponent onto the ground rather than lifting them into the air); their namings in most of their moves are even inverted of each other as well, especially with Iori adding extra suffixes named after mythological figures with a dark motif (his CD attack's name in more-in-depth sources has the name "asura", while his axe kick has "shinigami/death god", etc).
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Confirmed in the semi-canon KOF: KYO manga. When Athena attempts to use her Psycho Reflector to stop him and Kyo from going into a Duel to the Death, she has a view of a very young Iori (no older than ten) in tears and covered in injuries and dirt. She's driven to tears and a brief Heroic BSoD, and later she explains to Kensou that she could feel an aura of sadness and loneliness coming from him. While the KOF 2000 manga has Iori explaining his own backstory to Kyo, it's not known if it stands for other continuities as well.
  Kensou: Athena... That time when you and Yagami's heart had a spiritual response... What did you feel?
  Athena: An incurable loneliness... no, I should say, grief.
  • Also in the Radio Drama The Sun and the Moon; it shows his relationship with his bandmate Konoe (the vocalist of his band) and her sister Kikuri, who were both Morality Pets to him.
• Good Is Not Nice: Iori may be an anti-hero at worst, but that doesn't stop him from being a thoroughly unpleasant individual. The majority of his dialogue against other characters is telling them to go away, threatening their life, or both.
• Gorn: Downplayed to keep the franchise's rating, but after losing his flames his moves become a lot bloodier. Back then he'd just incinerate you with his flame, now he'll rip your throat apart or maul your entire body.
• Gory Discretion Shot:
  • When he killed Vice and Mature in KOF '96 only their silhouettes could be seen.
  • Seen in SNK vs. Capcom: Chaos for his Exceed, which is a Riot of the Blood-induced attack and in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum as a leaping grab super similar to Vice.
  • And again in XIII with his Neo MAX, which is reused for his Climax DM in XIV.
• Grapple Move: His Kuzukaze (Scum Wind) special is a simple one that slides his foe behind him while leaving them open to combos. Another is his Tsuchi Tsubaki (Mallet Camellia) special in XII.
• Guest Fighter: Iori appears in the console version of Square Enix 2D fighting game Million Arthur: Arcana Blood. In exchange, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy gets Thief Arthur from that series.
• Hey, You!: Tends to refer to other people very dismissively. In particular, he refers to Iori in Japanese as kisama.
• Hidden Depths:
  • If SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos is anything to go by, he's well-versed in the works of Shakespeare, particularly Hamlet.
    Iori (to Chun-Li): "If you wish not to die, Get Thee to a Nunnery."
  • He also has his own Jazz band, which is reflected in his various themes over the years.
• Hypocrite: One of Iori's dislikes is violence. This... coming from one of the most non-villainous yet violent individuals in the series, whose movesets tend to reflect such.
  • Supplementary material tends to downplay this. He's still a violent individual, but what he defines as his dislike for "violence" is commiting acts of cruelty against defenseless people. Still hypocritical, but at least more noble of heart.
• I'll Kill You!: He practically tells this to every one he comes across. That or to go away.
  Kyo: Keri o tsukeyou ze, Yagami...^Translation"Let's settle this, Yagami..."
  Iori: ...kisama no shi wo motte na!^Translation"...With your death!"
• Iconic Outfit: From his debut, Iori has had the least wardrobe changes of any major King of Fighters regular; consisting of a short black jacket, a long white shirt underneath, red pants with the legs bound, and black shoes. However in XII, as part of his overhaul as result of losing his Yasakani powers, he also gained a new outfit for the first time outside of non-canon appearances (same black jacket but now with a short red shirt under it, white pants with a loose black belt, and white shoes). He also gains a new outfit for XIV (consisting of a dark red longcoat, maroon undershirt, leather pants, and white shoes) so they're finally getting around to changing him up like his fellow KOF cohorts. He then gains another new outfit in XV which is a modified version of his XIV outfit, but with altered colors and new elements added (such as his clan's signature crescent moon symbol) that resemble his outfit from older artworks (particularly the "Another Iori" striker from 2000; long trenchcoat, black dress shirt, red pants).
• Iconic Sequel Character: The guy debuts in the second game and then becomes another big icon of the series.
• Image Song: He has four just for himself: "Allegory of the Wind", "Never Lose My Way", "Moon of Crazy Flame", and "Monochrome".
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: His classic outfit, mostly due to the leg belt.
• Improbable Hairstyle: To the point that it's mocked in the Maximum Impact series, with a few characters noting that his hair resembles a rooster's.
• Irony:
  • As seen in Hypocrite above, Iori's profile cites his dislike being "Violence", yet his movesets tend to be anything but subtle. His dislike of violence could mean several things, which could even include refusing to engage in unnecessary violence, which again... is ironic.
  • Kyo and Chizuru's treasures and the primary virtues they represent make a fair amount of sense: the headstrong but justly good-natured Kyo gets the sword symbolizing valor, whereas the calm and fair-minded Chizuru, usually the guiding magnetic force between the three clans, possesses a mirror that stands for wisdom. Iori's magatama benevolence.
  • Iori's Yaotome super in XII and XIII, due to losing his flames, ends similarly to the Shin Yaotome that Goenitz performs. While losing his sacred treasure meant he was free from the curse for a while, the same can't be said to his techniques, which are implied to be derived from one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
• Irrational Hatred: He absolutely loathes Kyo with a passion. Why? Aside from probably wanting to prove himself as being better than him, we will never know. The manga and audio dramas sometimes would rationalize the hatred, but they're questionably canon.
• I Was Just Passing Through: How Iori aids Kyo during the fight with Goenitz in '96. 'Cause, y'know, Iori's the only one that gets to kill Kyo. Arguably happens again in '97 when the Three Sacred Treasures Team faces Orochi.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed on the "Heart of Gold". He's beaten the ever-loving shit out of his teammates in his '95 ending, has an unreasonable hatred against Kyo, and almost any of his exchanges with other characters (whether he's regular or Flames) in XIII screams "douchebag". However, some bios imply part of the reason his behavior is so hostile with everyone is an act to keep people away from him due to his propension to violent outbursts thanks to the Orochi curse. How much of it is truly an act is up to debate. Nevertheless, while "Gold" is a massive stretch, Iori does care about doing the right thing, even if he'd never admit it. He shows no hesitation in teaming with the Agents in 2001. He's also shown care for stray cats, and the isekai spinoff manga implies he defines the "violence" he dislikes as senseless cruelty against those who can't protect themselves. Iori isn't a model citizen, but somewhere in there, he's still got a heart.
• Lead Bassist: Since he has his own jazz band and he's a bassist, he's presumably this. It's unknown if Iori's the lead singer (or if the band had one to begin with), but Iori's various Image Songs are examples that he probably can.
• Leitmotif: His "Stormy Saxophone" set of songs.
• Meaningful Name:
  • His family's previous name, Yasakani, comes from the Yasakani-no-Magatama, legendary prayer beads symbolizing benevolence that were used in tandem with the Yata-no-Kagami. Much like the other members of the Sacred Treasures Team, Iori plays a crucial role in the battle with Orochi, especially considering that he fights against Orochi's mind control and snares him just long enough for Kyo to finish the job.
  • The Yaotome super, literally meaning Eight Maidens, refers to the part of the Orochi myth where Orochi had already devoured seven of a family's eight daughters and was coming to eat the final daughter, who the clan leaders save.
  • Yagami, written as 八神 ("eight gods"), alludes to the Hakkeshu whom his ancestors later made their pact.
  • Yasakazuki, literally meaning Eight Sake Cups, is another reference to Orochi's myth, where Orochi was dazed by having each of its heads drink sake. The move itself stuns his foe if they're hit, also as an allusion.
• Lunacy: Figuratively and literally. He is havily associated with the moon, and is one of the more unhinged members of the cast.
• Moveset Clone: with Kyo, but only in '95. Justified as the Kusanagi and Yasakani clans built their fighting styles together. In the games after that, Kyo starts to differentiate by using his trademark chain punches.
• Morality Pet: Chizuru Kagura, the only character in the entire series he's willing to stick his neck or do something for. To a lesser extent, he also shows sympathy for Athena (the only character he never openly threatens).
• Mr. Fanservice: Word of God admits to making him one on purpose, giving him outfits that frequently emphasize his muscles, which are evocative of Casual Kink. A lot of supplementary material points out the fact for all his cruelty he does have a softer side.
• Neck Lift: His LDM in 2003 and XI has him lift his foe with both hands as he burns them with a pillar of flame. He also did something similar to Orochi in 97's canonical ending. In XII his new Grapple Move (which is adapted to his normal throw in XIV) has him lift his foe's neck with one hand.
• Noble Demon: The King of Fantasy novel and manga imply that Iori loathes people who commit acts of violence against those incapable of defending themselves.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: His ever-popular Ya Otome begins with this.
• Nominal Hero: Even now, after years of showing Iori's personality soften up ever so slightly, he can only be written off as amoral and largely neutral on his best days. He also tends not to be motivated with "saving the day" as he only wants to take Kyo's life.
• The One Guy:
  • In SNK Gals Fighters and in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy where, unlike Terry, his usual male self is playable.
  • On another note, he's also the only male rival in the entire series, as the other three rivals to the later heroes are female.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: How he views his rivalry with Kyo.
• Optional Boss:
  • To the Japan Team in KOF '97, but only if Kyo beats Orochi. He's also this in KOF '99. Shares this status with Kyo, and you can only fight him if your battle points are over 190, and you fight Kyo if they are over 280.
  • He also gets a Crossover appearance in Netto Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special (a handheld port of Real Bout Fatal Fury Special) as a boss alongside Geese. Win, and you unlock him as a playable character.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: His "Miss X" alter ego in Gals Fighters. Subverted, as the girls were not fooled.
• The Paralyzer: In some games, he has the DM Ya Sakazuki, a projectile attack that stuns the foe in place while slowly draining their health. In later games, his EX Yami Barai can do the same thing.
• Perpetual Frowner: Usually depicted as stoic and moody. When he is smiling... run.
• Pet the Dog: Both his interactions with Chizuru in XIII and his drama CD The Sun and The Moon ~ Prologue verge on the brink of painting Iori in this light.
• Pillar of Light: More like Pillar of Fire, but still, his unique DM Saika (done after Ya Otome) ends with him firing a tall pillar of purple flame. Also present in some of his other supers, especially his (Flames Iori's) Neo MAX in XIII.
• Playing with Fire: The Yagami clan has access to pyrokinetic abilities due to their association with the Kusanagis. The pact with Orochi makes it stronger, but also comes with the caveat of a horrible curse that's plagued Iori's family for generations.
• Purple Is Powerful: His flames are often rendered as blueish-purple, and he's capable of some highly destructive attacks with them.
• The Rival: Was more or less the Arch-Enemy to Kyo earlier on, but has regressed to this, especially in the wake of him and Kyo gaining several mutual enemies like Goenitz, Orochi, NESTS, and Ash. Their rivalry tends to be highly bitter, though wile Kyo will tone it down given it's Iori, Iori himself still relishes the idea of facing Kyo in battle (if not to kill him, then at least to battle and inflict pain on him).
  Iori: Kyo...
  Kyo: Yagami...
  Both: Iku ze!^Translation"Let's go!"
• Rule of Symbolism: There are many references to the number eight in his moves and other areas. His signature super, the Ya Otome, is frequently translated in English as "Eight Maidens". The move also hits exactly 8 times in its base form. Iori's other super, the Ya Sakazuki ("Eight Wine Cups"), launches a fire spark that can explode into eight advancing columns of fire at its maximum; the DM that replaces that is the Yashiori (Eight Ferments), a reference to the Yashiori/Yashio'ori no Sake (Sake of Eight Salt Snappers), the type of wine used by Susano'o to intoxicate the Orochi. All of this is related to Orochi being an 8-headed demon and the legend that he sought out eight maidens to devour. As his family made a pact with the Orochi, this has some meaning but ultimately does not contribute to his character in any significant way, unless one refers to his Villain Override Neck Lift done to Orochi himself at the end of '97... There is also the way his design invokes himself as Kyo's opposite in several ways.
• Sarcastic Confession: In the KOF 2000 manga, Kyo asks whether Iori actually likes violence and fighting or is simply lashing out from the frustrations caused by his lineage. Iori explains that even if he doesn't care about their family feud, Iori changed when he wanted his father to stop being depressed. Kid Iori would rather play piano and read than learn to fight. His father was depressed because Saisyu was the stronger one in their rivalry, and he heard rumors that Saisyu's son had even more potential than his father. His respect for his father drove Iori to seek power. One night, Orochi's spirit came to Iori, and he asked if the boy wanted to grow stronger; Iori nodded, and thus Orochi gave him more power and complete control over his flames. Back in the present, Iori tells Kyo, "It's true that I hate violence, but I'd hate even more seeing my own family being disgraced, so if I have to use violence to destroy you, then so be it." But now, Iori hates Kyo's guts.
• Screw Destiny: Subverted. Nothing he does in the Orochi saga intends to prevent the release of Orochi, yet everything he gets involved with ends up working towards that end anyway.
• Ship Tease: For such an unpleasant character to deal with, Iori gets a lot of this.
  • The main draw of attention is, of course, Kyo. From his general obsession with killing him to his unwillingness to go through, to other characters lampshading the odd nature of his behavior, to Kyo himself softening a bit to Iori's tendencies as time goes on, or even saving him on occasion. It's grown to be so popular the devs themselves take cracks at it from time to time (the last bits of their fight in the manga KOF: A New Beginning are dripping with this).
  Kyo: "Wake up! You idiot, are you napping on me?"
  Iori: "Heh, wake me up when you're dead."
  • Then there's Vice and Mature. Not only did they accept to work as his servants, some of their comments about Iori are pretty suggestive. Which should be part of the course except Iori murdered both of them. And they don't resent anywhere near as much as they should. According to her bio in XIV, Vice has taken an interest in him beyond professional interests.
  • Lastly, there's Athena of all characters. Not only does she show concern for his well-being in their pre-battle quotes, but Iori responds in kind by showing some sympathy towards her (some quotes even suggest he thinks she's cute. She's the only character he refers to with a nickname, namely 'idol girl'). It goes to the point where an alternate version of her is Iori's Implied Love Interest in the Isekai spin-off where he's the protagonist (to who he also refers to by a nickname, 'knight lady').
• Shoryuken: his Oniyaki special, one of the few things he shared with Kyo. There's also his Nue Uchi special in XII.
• Signature Move: His Aoihana special (and arguably Yami Barai and Oniyaki) and his Ya Otome DM, which he can do even without flames.
• Slasher Smile: The few times Iori is seen smiling, it's either this or a Psychotic Smirk.
• Slave Collar: Symbolically, the collar worn around his neck is likely a visual representation of his clan's unending ties to Orochi. The fact that Iori has RotB'd three times so far and a particular drama CD has an image of Orochi mocking him from within Iori's mind can't be coincidental. He loses the collar in XIV, though.
• Smoking Is Cool: According to his team's story in XIII, Iori smokes frequently.
• Solar and Lunar: With Kyo. Iori represents darkness and the moon, and Kyo represents fire and the sun.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: A lot of characters seem comment that despite how quick he is to get unpleasant with people, he's actually pretty unhappy with pushing people away.
  Isla: You don't like getting all close and friendly? Well, you and me, both, but... you seem a little lonely.
  Clark: I see why you play the lone wolf, but one day you'll regret not finding someone who'll watch your back.
• The Stoic: And if you do manage to set him off, God help you.
• Technicolor Fire: Bluish-violet fire, a sign that it originates from a dark source.
• This Cannot Be!: His K.O. quote ("Kono mama dewa owaranzo!") translates to "It can't end like this!"
• Three-Strike Combo: His Aoihana special is a 3-hit rekka.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Iori was a pretty unpleasant guy to begin with, but upon getting his flames back in XIII his dialogue is even more callous, bordering on Politically Incorrect Hero territory. Some notable examples can be found in his win quotes, where he tells Benimaru to beg for his life and issues a Suicide Dare to Raiden.
• Took a Level in Kindness: A downplayed example in XV. While he's been very hostile to her in interactions from past games, he seems to have mellowed out a bit around Leona and tries to tell her (albeit a little dismissively) to stop worrying so much about Orochi. His special versus mode win quote against her even has him actually praise her for learning to control her Riot of the Blood.
  "It takes resolve to absorb Orochi's power into your own flesh and blood... Seems you're finally up to the task."
• Tsundere: A rare male example of a modern Harsh, platonic example.
  • With Kyo. Miss X's ending in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy implies that despite all his antagonism towards Kyo, Iori secretly wishes they could be best friends, and gets highly embarrassed over the fact that he even entertained the thought in the first place.
  • This is also the characterization of choice for him in the Isekai spin off towards Altena, where despite his aparent rudeness he goes out of his way to help her after being saved by her.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In the KOF: KYO manga, Iori shows up in Kyo's school to challenge him. Their fight becomes increasingly violent to the point that Athena fears this will be a Duel to the Death; the fact that Yuki and later Athena step in to stop Iori from killing Kyo start triggering Kyo's own insecurities about his motives to fight.
• Voice of the Legion: During his Climax Supper in XV, Orochi's voice can be heard alongside him before he incinerates his opponent in a torrent of flames. If fighting against a member of the Hakkeshu, however, he instead does the super without giving in to the Riot of the Blood.
• Vocal Evolution: Iori's voice work in '95 was a bit odd compared to Yasui's take on the character in the following years; Iori's voice was slightly higher in pitch, his "Doushita?" chant during Yami Barai was almost mocking as opposed to the harsh yell later on, and the delivery of his Signature Laugh (among other lines) was strikingly different. Simialrly, his post-SNK relaunch voice actor Takanori Hoshino has made Iori sound much harsher and deeper in recent games (including crossovers), to practically Jack Atlas levels.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: When his Orochi blood awakens, Iori's strength and speed increase greatly but he becomes violently unhinged and untamed, which is how Mature and Vice died in '96.
• With My Hands Tied: Well, legs in this case. The pants legs of his original outfit are tied together by a belt. His Impossibly Cool Clothes don't stop him from having swift, amazing footwork, including overhead kicks.
• Wolverine Claws: His actual hands are his claws, but his fighting style is pretty brutal. His version without flames in XII relies on this aspect to compensate.
• Would Hurt a Child: In Another Day, he shoves a little girl for getting in his way.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: A downplayed version in which Iori thrashes Billy and Eiji after the 1995 tournament. For this reason, they carry a grudge against Iori to this day.

Orochi Iori

Iori, Driven Insane by Orochi's Blood On a Moonlit Night

"Kill... Kusanagi... Kill... Kyo...."

Iori under the influence of the "Riot of the Blood". Under Orochi's control, he becomes feral, and even more bloodthirsty than normal, with his fighting style changing as a reflection of this; he thus becomes a Lightning Bruiser that can overwhelm his opponent in the blink of an eye.

---

• Ax-Crazy: In this form he's reduced to the state of a feral, wild animal who will attack anyone in his path. This is best exemplified with the SDM version of his Ya Otome, where he completely forgoes his more refined technique and instead just forcefully pins the opponent onto the ground while ripping them apart, briefly turns to the screen sporting a Nightmare Face, and finishes by pounding on them until they explode into purple flames.
• Demoted to Extra: Orochi Iori hasn't been a separate character since 2002. Iori still utilizes Blood Riot in many of his supers, like in XIV and XV.
• Depending on the Artist: The look of his skin and facial features varies from game to game. Sometimes his skin will retain its normal hue, while other times, it can become paler or tanned. His face might also become gaunt, and his mouth locked in a fanged snarl.
• Glass Cannon: His playable appearance. He's twice as fast and powerful, but takes twice as much damage from attacks, and you'll be surprised at exactly how hard it is to control him.
• Lightning Bruiser: During Riot of the Blood, Iori experiences a large boost in his agility.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Crosses over with Glowing Eyes of Doom and Supernatural Gold Eyes Depending on the Artist.
• Multi-Slot Character: Early games made him into a separate character, while later games simply made him a part of Iori's moveset.
• Personality Remnant: While otherwise regressed to an animalistic state, he somehow retains his deep hatred for Kyo.
• Primal Stance: He's hunched over and ready to kill anything in sight.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: As depicted in XV during regular Iori's new Climax, while being forced into the state by Orochi.
• Skyward Scream: His "dialogue" consists almost exclusively of this and animalistic growling and hissing.
  "KYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
• SNK Boss: In this form, he's roughly twice as fast and twice as strong. With him moving around so quickly, it's easy to confuse players, enough to make him almost impossible to anti-air on reaction because he can jump across the screen in the blink of an eye. Subverted when you play as him, with his defense being severely weakened for the sake of Competitive Balance.
• Superpowered Evil Side: The Riot of Blood, the manifestation of Orochi's corruption within him. It gives him inhuman strength and speed but at the expense of his sanity and restraint.
• Team Killer: The Riot of the Blood ended up causing him to tear out Mature and Vice's throats at the end of '96.
• Unstoppable Rage: Iori is trapped in a blind, homicidal rage whenever he's in this form. Not even Mature and Vice, two heralds of the Orochi, could stop him when he entered Riot of the Blood.
• Villain Override: In the Sacred Treasures Team's ending in '97, however, when Orochi attempts this for one final time, Iori instead holds Orochi in place for Kyo to deal the final blow.

NESTS Saga

Kula Diamond

Ice Doll

"Wasn't that refreshingly cool? Hope you like my ice!"

Debut: The King of Fighters 2000

Origin: Unknown

Fighting style: Anti-K' arts

Voiced by: ^note Yumi Kakazu, Kat Cassteneda (Maximum Impact 2, English)

Playable in: ^note 2000, 2001, 2002/UM, XI, XIII, XIV, XV, MI2, MI:RA

The end product of NESTS' Anti-K' Project, of which Nameless' lover Isolde was a subject of. Her powers over ice were used as a counter to K' own flames, and she, along with her caretakers Foxy and Diana, were assigned to eliminate K' and investigate the cloned Zero's activities. After the fall of NESTS, she settles down with Diana and Foxy and becomes a little sister of sorts to K', joining him on occasion in KOF.

---

• An Ice Person: Thanks to the experiments performed by NESTS, she has the ability to control ice. Also, she loves ice flavored treats.
• An Ice Suit: One of the few female cryomancers who doesn't have a Stripperiffic outfit, though as of XIV they seem to be taking baby steps to get her there.
• Assist Character: Originally had Diana (and Foxy in XIII) supporting some of her attacks.
• Attack Reflector: Her Counter Shell.
• Battle Intro: In XV:
  "Avert your eyes for a second and you're ice! She's a snow bunny with a mean frostbite! Kula Diamond!
  Kula: "I'm going all out."
• Berserk Button:
  • Never treat her like a child or refer to her as a NESTS-created weapon.
  • Never violate a commitment to her, and don't even lie about making the vow in the first place. She ends up feuding and deserting Team K' in favor of Team Krohnen (which, it should be noted, consists of two people she doesn't even like because of how they put Foxy's life in danger) because of it.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Her personality becomes The Stoic during her "Freeze Execution" SDM, where she fills the entire air around her with ice, signified by the entire background becoming light blue. It's also a full-screen attack that in certain games triggers if the first hit connects. Eventually she grows out of this, as later games have her lose the Creepy Monotone.
• Break the Cutie: After Foxy was stabbed by K9999, she realized the true nature of the organization she served. It also happened a year earlier with the "death" of her robot companion Candy. Since breaking off from NESTS, she became more of a Cheerful Child, as her appearance in Maximum Impact 2 indicates.
• Breath Weapon: Her icy Diamond Breath.
• The Bus Came Back: Not her, but one of her specials. In Maximum Impact 2 she was given a new special move where she creates a snowman out of thin air and drops it on the opponent's head. It isn't until XV, 16 years later, where this move finally reappears in a 2D-style, mainline KOF game.
• Calling Your Attacks: Ever since losing her stoic attitude and becoming more cheerful, she's learned to do this to some of her more mundane attacks. "WAN IN-CHI~!!! SULAIDA SYUTO~!!!"
• Children Are Innocent: Deep down, she's an innocent, naive girl with little knowledge of the outside world.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Iori. Iori is a from a clan that made a blood pact with the ancient being called Orochi to gain revenge against the clan that Kyo is from after being manipulated by the Hakkeshu, Kula on the other hand is a NESTS experiment that was created for the Anti-K project. Iori is both The Stoic and Ax-Crazy, but Kula is very Childish and cheerful. And while they both teamed up with their rivals to fight against a greater threat, Iori still sees Kyo as his eternal rival, but Kula eventually sees K' as a big brother figure.
• Code Name: The Anti-K'.
• Creepy Child: Her upbringing as an assassin hasn't completely been wiped clean. Luckily, this doesn't rear its head often.
• Dance Battler: To an extent. A few of her attacks resemble graceful movements that you'd see coming from a ballerina, and several moves (and in XI and Maximum Impact 2 onward, her running animation) are pulled straight from a figure-skating routine.
• Distaff Counterpart: Introduced in 2000 to complement K'.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: She sports these in 2001, after plummeting into the sea during the Hero Team ending... and right before K' rescues her.
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: Her alternate outfit in Days of Memories involves this.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Her hair turns light blue when she activates her cryokinetic powers. Some of her attacks suggest that this trope may actually be Elemental Hair Composition instead, as her hair seems to actually become ice, or at least take on some of its properties.
• Emotionless Girl: Most of which was during her debut in 2000, which can count as Early-Installment Weirdness on her part.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: Her neutral stance is accompanied by sparkling gusts of chilled air that swirl around her.
• Eyelid Pull Taunt:
  • The pre-fight exchanges in XIII heavily feature Kula performing these.
  • Done in a close-up of her face before her Climax super in XIV and XV. Likewise, it's also back as her taunt in the latter.
• Face Doodling:
  • It's implied that she does this to Nagase in her MI2 ending.
  • Her profile states that she enjoyed doing this to Candy.
• Feud Episode: Prior to the events of XV, she had gotten into a fight with K' and ran away from home as a result, eventually being snatched up by Krohnen and Ángel. In her intro with K', she makes it clear that she's still angry with him and won't come back until he apologizes.
• Fire/Ice Duo: With K’, She controls Ice while K’ controls fire.
• Flanderization: A lot of Kula's characterization post-NESTS saga has honed in on her stunted maturity and Sweet Tooth obsession.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Sanguine of the quartet of characters wielding Power Limiters and with ties to NESTS, being a rather ditzy and impulsive Genki Girl who mostly competes for her own childish desires.
• Genki Girl: She became this after being rescued and taken in by K' and Maxima.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Just like K', she wears a very nice leather ensemble.
• Hero Secret Service: Coming to her aid during Freeze Execution are none other than the other members of her personal Amazon Brigade: Foxy, Diana, and (depending on the iteration) Candy.
• Hidden Buxom: She looks fairly petite regularly, but Days of Memories and certain other shots in endings that have her make it clear that she's larger than expected from first glance.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The tiny girl to Maxima, and K' to a lesser extent.
• Hurricane Kick: Ray Spin, which has a follow-up that lets her fire a shard of ice at the opponent or perform a sliding kick that knocks them down.
• Identical Stranger: To Isolde, justified by the fact that they were both in the Anti-K' Project. Needless to say, the resemblance causes Nameless (Isolde's boyfriend) to momentarily hesitate before fighting Kula in 2002: UM.
• Irony: Hates fire, yet one of her usual companions is K'... a man with pyrokinetic abilities. Naturally, Kyo feels the need to point out this glaring contradiction to her in XIII. Kula even lampshades this herself in her win quote against Iori in XIII, noting how odd it is that Iori's flames bother her, but not K's flames.
• Leitmotif: Ice Place in 2000, Diamond Dust 2002UM. Ice Place returns in XIV for fights between herself and Ángel. The former also played in her XV reveal trailer.
• Little Miss Badass: Ties with Chris as the second-youngest playable character in the series at a mere 14 years old. Only Bao (12 years old) is younger. Doesn't stop her from, you know... destroying a Kill Sat in the Earth's orbit all by herself.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: She more or less takes after Foxy in this respect, seeing as they both have hair that extends beyond their shoulders.
• Male Gaze: Let's just say her suit is rather form-fitting, and more than a few moves and ending shots let you know it.
• Nice Mean And In Between: The in between to K's mean and Maxima's nice. Kula can be friendly, outgoing and cheerful, but she has a bit of a bratty streak to her. It's not uncommon for her to completely lack patience, or to throw a fit if something doesn't go her way. Thankfully for her teammates, it's easy enough to calm her down, just offer her ice cream.
• Not Blood Siblings: She and her "sister," Candy Diamond.
• Opposite-Sex Clone: Possibly. SNK was never clear on what a clone was in KOF and if Kula was a "built-from-the-ground-up" clone in the vein of K9999 or a normal human injected with DNA.
  • If her Maximum Impact 2 profile is to be taken into account, it's surgical implantation, much like K'.
• Optional Boss: In 2000, for breaching various point totals dependent on your team throughout Arcade mode. Notably, she freezes over the entire stage she's fought on and will trigger an extra scene in the ending if she's beaten.
• Personality Powers: Her stint as an Emotionless Girl matched up well with her ice powers. At least in her debut, anyway.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: Her hair is normally a chestnut brown color, but changes to light blue when powered up.
• Power Limiter: Maybe. She wears yellow gloves similar to the ones K' and K9999 possess, which were made specifically to prevent Kyo's DNA from going out of control.
• Prehensile Hair: It's unknown if her hair actually turns into ice when powered up or if it simply takes on the properties of ice, but her crouching C attack suggests that she can at least use her hair as a weapon.
• Punny Name: "Kula" sounds rather similar to "cooler", doesn't it? Rather fitting for someone who's cryokinetic powers can make the surroundings, well... cooler in temperature.
• Purple Is Powerful: Most of her attire is dark purple (or reddish purple since XIV) and she's canonically one of the strongest characters in the series given her feat at the end of 2000.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Doesn't reflect upon her disposition, though. They're blue in some of the promotional illustrations created for 2000.
• The Rival: Like Iori who is Kyo’s rival, Kula is one to K’.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: She's got reddish-brown eyes in most artworks, most of all in her recent outing in XV.
• Rollerblade Good: While running, Kula creates skates out of ice underneath her shoes (so they're like rollerblade Heelys?), which ties into why some of her moves resemble ballet/ice dancing. They also double as effective weapons.
• Shoryuken: Crow's Bite, which she shares with K' alongside her One Inch command normal.
• Skill Gate Characters: Next to Iori and Terry, Kula is typically one of the easiest and most well-rounded characters on the roster. While she lacks a traditional projectile to zone with, she does have plenty of tools in her moveset that grant her solid combo potential and play a very footsies-oriented game on top of that. She's also one of the few characters in XV's roster alongside Vanessa that has more than two special cancelable standing normals^note  Typically in KOF, most far standing normals are only really good for poking as they're otherwise not special cancelable at all. Starting in XV, however, most of the roster has been given at least one ranged special cancelable normal that they can use either as a whiff punish or to kara (whiff) cancel with and play mind games with their opponent., being both of her light attacks and her standing Strong Punch, all of which have excellent range compared to most normals in XV. Her damage output is also not too bad and as of XV, she even has a very threatening okizeme game with her Falling Snowman special, which she can place in advance to keep the opponents on their toes.
• Snow Means Death: Not intentionally, but the fact that she can drop a friggin' snowman on your head and crush you with it says something.
• Sweet Tooth: Ironically, her favorite food is candy, particularly lollipops, which she can be seen licking in some of her intros and promotional artwork. This is how various characters bribe her into doing certain tasks, such as signing up her team for KOF. Yuri even goes as far as to assume that Kula would be likely to fall into Chronic Backstabbing Disorder for nearly anyone if sweets were on the line. Krohnen and Ángel even resort to bribing her with ice cream to get her to stop whining while she was travelling with them prior to the XV tournament.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: To the surprise of no one, Kula and Angel dislike each other, yet the two end up forming two-thirds of Team Krohnen in XV.
• Theme Pairing: Expect to see her paired up with K' (fellow NESTS refugees, Kyo "clones," fire and ice)... a lot. There hasn't been much evidence in-universe, but Kula is one of the few people that K' is actually friendly towards (per se). Her intro dialog with K' in XIII suggests that he does care for her and is concerned about her well-being. Of course, he tries to sound mean when he's expressing his concern.
• Third-Person Person: At times, she'll start a sentence with her name instead of "I," most likely due to a combination of the experiments and her mental immaturity. She only started doing this around Maximum Impact 2. The first signs of it in the main series were in XI and XIII. She dabbles in it a bit in the English dub of XIII, as well as a scant amount of dialogue in the English localization.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Lollipops and ice cream sundaes, fittingly.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Implied in her backstory; Kula was genetically engineered to be one of NESTS' assassins, after all. If you subscribe to the theory that Kula really is K''s Opposite-Sex Clone, then it's likely that, outside of sweets, Diana and Foxy's maternal doting, and her friendship with Candy, killing literally is all she knew.
• Younger Than They Look: Kula doesn't look much younger than most of the teenage female cast, yet is only meant to be 14. It's to the point that she's considered part of the kid cast alongside the likes of Bao and Chris.

Tales of Ash Saga

Elisabeth Blanctorche

Will of Light

"Only when you lose your pride do you face true defeat. Understood?"

Debut: The King of Fighters XI (2005)

Origin: France

Fighting style: Blanctorche-style Savate

Voiced by: ^note Kayoko Ōshima (XI-XIII), Shizuka Itō (KOF: World-current) Sally Koshinaka (XII, English)

Playable in: ^note XI, XII, XIII, XV

A former associate of Ash Crimson who is out to prevent whatever he's planning, and the heir to the Blanctorche family. She uses light-based attacks and fights with a riding crop. Hates to be called "Betty," a trait which Ash loves to exploit.

---

• Accidental Misnaming: Ash keeps calling her Betty, which she hates. Of course, Ash just won't listen. He even calls her this in his last words.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Her hair is dark blue, but personality-wise she fits in here well.
• Attack Reflector: Her Etincelles can do this if timed properly, though it only applies to the EX version. XV now gives her a proper example.
• Battle Intro: In XV:
  "Don't forget to bow in her presence! Those who forget their manners may be subject to a beating! Elisabeth Blanctorche!"
  Elisabeth: "To a fair fight, with pride on the line."
• Bifauxnen: More noticable in XIII, where her uniform is dashing enough to rival Oscar François de Jarjayes.
• Big Good: Since her debut, she is this for the Tales of Ash Saga, as she helps the heroes stop both Ash and Those from the Past.
• Blue Is Heroic: Her outfit in XII/XIII and XV is an entirely blue ensemble and, of course, she's certainly more heroic than her adoptive younger brother.
• Brainwash Residue: In XIII, Ash sacrifices his existence to prevent the entire Ash Saga from happening. None of the other characters remember him, except for Elisabeth, due to having his Tragic Keepsake.
• Broken Bird: She's extremely cynical and with a sharp wit, and whenever she has to fight younger girls in XIII, Elisabeth will always remark on how innocent and gentle they are, unlike herself.
• Classy Cravat: A staple of her noble image, she's worn one for each of her mainline appearances.
• Cleavage Window: Her outfit in XI has this.
• Cool Big Sis: An adoptive one, to Ash.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Serves as one for Kula.
  • Whereas Kula is a young pre-teen stated to be at least 14 years old, Elisabeth is a grown woman in her late 20's that, in addition to being as powerful as Kula, is also much more experienced than she is with her powers.
  • Speaking of which, most of Kula's moveset is predominantly cryokinetic while Elisabeth controls hard light. Interestingly enough, in KOF XV, her powers take the form of auroras, which are commonly seen in arctic environments.
  • Their dynamic with their respective protagonists is also inverted; K' serving as an Aloof Older Brother figure to Kula while Elisabeth is a very protective Cool Big Sis towards Ash. It's especially apparent in their interactions - K' being a rather harsh tsundere towards Kula while Elisabeth is overtly protective of Ash, chasing him around much like a doting mother would chase their problem kid around.
  • Kula's hair is only blue whenever she uses her powers, having strawberry blonde hair otherwise. Elisabeth's on the other hand is natural, with her eyes even matching her hair.
  • While Kula was introduced as a sub-boss in her KOF 2000 debut, Elisabeth on the other hand is a regular character on the roster, having Duo Lon (who used to be on the Hero team in 2003) and Benimaru (another Hero Team staple) flanking her in XI. Though both characters' endings in their debut games are significant to their respective plotlines - Kula destroying the Zero Cannon while Elisabeth's team is the one that canonically wins the XI tournament.
• Counter-Attack: Her Étoile Filante Neo MAX in XIII. If you don't want to spend the meter for that, there's also her Reverie-Geler (formerly Platinum Mirage in XI). In XV, she can also use it to counter projectiles in addition to any incoming attacks.
  • Her entire gameplan as of XV effectively serves as one to Zoners - namely Ash and Athena, as she has very strong specials that allow her to throw their projectiles back at them or nullify them outright, she can counter projectiles with her normal counter-attack (which no other character in the roster can do) and appear right behind them if timed properly, and her own projectile lingers on the screen for a bit before it dissipates, as opposed to stopping until it hits the opponent.
• Curtains Match the Window: Just like Leona, oddly enough.
• Dash Attack: "Coup de Vent" has Elisabeth dash forward with an upwards slash of light. It can also combo into itself based on the strength of the button (EX > Heavy > Light).
• Deuteragonist: Of the Tales of Ash saga, serving as the Hero Antagonist to Ash's Villain Protagonist.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The last that is seen of her and Ash in XV is during their team's Stinger, where the two are relaxing in the very same field they were pictured in during their childhood.
• Energy Ball: "Étincelle" sends a ball of light forward, at different distances depending on the strength. Unlike many other projectiles, Étincelle only has a hitbox after it reaches its destination, meaning Elisabeth can't just throw it at people like it's a Hadoken. This serves as one of Elisabeth's key tools for controlling the mid-range.
• Energy Bow: Her Climax Super in XV has her annihilating the opponent with one a la Claudio Serafino. And not one to be outdone, it's made out of auroras.
• Everyone Looks Sexier if French: 1. She's French. 2. Her XI outfit (complete with a boob window that was put on full display in her XI ending); 3. The kinky implications of being whipped by her riding crop.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows: As of XV, because of the updated 3D engine of the game, this is how Elisabeth's light effects are rendered instead of the purely white lights they used to be. In a way it's also somewhat symbolic of her story arc reaching a positive outcome with the revival of Ash.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: Between Athena's Psycho Powers and Elisabeth's ictokinesis, XIII is guaranteed to give you a seizure. Not so much in XV, where her light powers now take on the appearance of auroras, fortunately.
• Flash Step: Reverie-Prier and Souhatier, introduced in XII, are textbook examples.
• Friendly Rivalry: As of XV, this appears to be the case with Ash, since the two are now on the same team as opposed to fighting against each other.
  Ash: It's really been a while, hasn't it? Really takes me back.
  Elisabeth: Indeed, it has been some time...
• Heartbroken Badass: A rare platonic example regarding Ash. She gets better, fortunately.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Says this to Shermie during the French Natives ending in XV, seeing as she, Shermie, and King are all wearing very classy and eye-catching dresses that are sure to win over any guy they so desire. Unlike most examples of this trope, Elisabeth does genuinely mean it, as Ash is by most accounts the little brother she never had.
• Idiot Hair: Curiously she gains one ahoge in XII and consequently XIII and XV.
• I Will Find You: As of XIV she has resolved to find a way to bring Ash back to the new world he created. She succeeded, with the two now fighting together in XV.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Has this with Ash. In some flashbacks, she is seen as a young teenager and Ash is a boy no older than 8.
• Iron Lady: In both senses, what with her being the most esteemed fighter in the series thus far and having endured a lot of tragedy in her life.
• Irony: She's very close friends with Ash and the two are now on amicable terms as of XV, yet Elisabeth's gameplan in XV is the very antithesis of Ash's, being well-equipped to deal with zoners like a hot knife slicing through butter.
• Lady of War: Fights like one, especially with that riding crop. It's completely gone as of XV, though.
• Last Of Her Kind: Thanks to a fire burning down her mansion to the ground (and many of her clansmen along with it), she is now the sole remaining Blanctorche. She currently lives with her butler, Jacques, near the remains of her family's home.
• Light 'em Up: Overkilled by her Noble Brass (L)DM and Étoile Filante Neo MAX. It's a good thing for you that she's a heroine. XV makes it look like she's using auroras as part of her skillset!
• Light Is Good: She's a heroine with light powers.
• Man Behind the Man: Elisabeth Manipulated the events of XIV and hired Kukri as a way to bring Ash back.
• Meaningful Name: "Blanctorche" roughly translates to "white torch". She has light powers. It checks out.
• Morality Pet and Only Friend: For Ash. All of his plotting was done to keep her safe.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: She can sometimes sense Ash's presence and uses it to keep tabs on him.
• No, I Am Behind You: Platinum Mirage, depending on the button used when Elisabeth is attacked. She can also do this as part of her Counter-Attack in XV, after it's timed to a projectile.
• The Not-Love Interest: In light of everything the story divulges about her and Ash's childhood and relationship, one could easily peg Elisabeth as this.
• Not So Stoic: Her team's XIII ending is a tragic example, while the one mentioned above in He Is Not My Boyfriend is a funnier example.
• Of Corsets Sexy: Her XV outfit features one, adding a bit of sex appeal to her more restrained XIII outfit, without going the full boob window route of her XI outfit.
• Ojou: She's something of a Type-2, but more serious and cold than stuck-up.
• Older Than She Looks: While this is no longer the case in the present day, during her childhood she only looked approximately 2-4 years older than Ash when in reality she’s 11 years older than him.
• Onee-sama: She once fondly played this role to Ash until her house burned down, separating the two for a long period of time. She's now wholly devoted to defeating him.
  • Most likely, she still thinks of him as a brother, which is why she cries when he vanishes into nothingness. She's also very quick to correct Shermie's assumption that he's a potential flame to her during the French Natives ending.
• Pillar of Light: "Grand Rafale" begins with an upward strike, creating a big column of light on impact.
• Practically Different Generations: Adoptive variant. She's 27 years old while her younger adopted brother, Ash, is 16.
• Purple Is Powerful: Her XV redesign has some more shades of purple to it. Naturally, being able to control light makes her among the stronger characters in the series, as well as being wealthy enough to be escorted by a butler (who is also the only family she has left).
• The Rival: Like Iori and Kula who are rivals to Kyo and K’ respectively Elisabeth is one to Ash and they were once Childhood Friends. As of XV, it's now more of a Friendly Rivalry instead.
• Shoryuken: Coup de Vent.
• Spell My Name With An S: XII and XIII spell her last name as "Branctorche".
  • This applies to her first name as well, which started out as "Elizabeth" but then became "Elisabeth" in her other appearances.^note Like with Marco Rodriguez -> Rodrigues, this might have been to better reflect her nationality, as the 'z' spelling is typically english whereas the french usually uses the 's' spelling.
• Staff of Authority: Elisabeth is a French noble who fights with a riding crop. She seems to have dropped it as of XV, however.
• Statuesque Stunner: She stands at a healthy 174cm (5'8") tall, just a hair shorter than King and a hair taller than Shermie, who are also French.
• The Stoic: She always has a calm tone, though she also gets a Not So Stoic moment when Ash sacrifices himself to stop Saiki.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Her true colors, as seen in flashbacks and her team's ending in XIII.
• Tamer and Chaster: Her debut appearance in XI had a slight touch of fanservice in her design, Elisabeth had a massive cleavage, coupled with her buxom being among the biggest within the cast, and her signature crop whip, resulting in a sexually charged wealthy lady so to speak; however, Betty’s following appearances seemly attempt to maker her more of a straight laced wealthy lady instead, without the overt sex appeal, to note: in XII she lost her cleavage window, and in XV she loses the crop whip, thereby making Elisabeth void of intentional fanservice cues on her design ever since.
• Tragic Keepsake: Ash's headband.
• True Blue Femininity: She wears an all-blue ensemble (with some bits of purple in XV) and is a Lady of War with the manners to back it up... enough said.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: XIII sheds a lot of light on her and Ash's childhood.
• Whip of Dominance: She is a stern and haughty French noblewoman who fought with a riding crop in XI and had some sexually charged overtones in her moves. This was toned down ss her character got Tamer and Chaster, in XII and XIII she still carries the riding crop but doesn't use it, and by XV it's completely gone.

Shun'ei Saga

Isla

Dreaming Brilliance

"Let's whoop 'em good, Amanda!"

Debut: The King of Fighters XV (2022)

Origin: Chile

Fighting style: Floating hands

Voiced by: Lynn

Playable in: ^note XV

Shun'ei's new rival introduced in The King of Fighters XV, having the same type of power he has — floating phantom hands which she has nicknamed "Amanda". Growing up in an orphanage in South America where she was shunned and neglected, Isla turned to graffiti art to express herself and slowly gained popularity through social media. She is recruited by Dolores and Heidern to enter the tournament, with the incentive that she'll not only be able to earn money for the orphanage and the other children there, but that she'll finally learn the secret of her power through meeting Shun'ei.

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• Adult Hater: She doesn't get along with adults at all. She hates her parents for abandoning her, hates her orphanage for abusing her, barely gets along with her adult teammates, and hates Shun'ei for having positive adults in his life. She gets better by the end of it.
• Art Attacker: She incorporates spray-paint and graffiti skills into her toolkit, like tossing out paint cans as projectiles. And then there's her Climax special which ends in a big colorful explosion of paint.
• Berserk Button: The fact that Shun'ei also has Giant Hands of Doom like she does irks her to no end. She later admits it's because she's incredibly jealous of how they're both Amplified Specters, but he has adults who truly care about him like Tung while she had to live in an Orphanage of Fear that abused her.
• Battle Intro: In XV:
  "Her dreams are painted all over the streets. Every battle to her is a canvas for her art. Isla and Amanda!
  Isla: "I'm gonna paint you up good!"
• Character Development: When she's first recruited by Heidern, Isla is jagged and abrasive, not taking orders well and walking around like she runs the place. However, towards the end of her team's story, she becomes more invested in fighting for what is right and working together for the good of more than just herself. During her ending she's completely changed, being nice to everyone around her and wanting to get to know Shun'ei better, connecting over their shared individuality as Amplified Specters.
• Companion Cube: Has an interesting case with "Amanda", to the point of treating her own phantom hands like a person.
• Confusion Fu: The sheer number of options Isla has makes her mix-up game very strong. Her ability to quickly reposition in the air throws off a lot of her opponent's ability to react to her approaches and options after knock downs.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Elisabeth, naturally.
  • Elisabeth is a very wealthy and poised Lady of War with the ettiquete that one can expect from someone of such high status. Isla on the other hand is a street urchin that grew up dirt poor and is very crass and profane, owing to her very harsh background and distrust of adults.
  • Speaking of which, Elisabeth is a grown woman that is well-mannered around everyone she meets. Isla, by contrast is a teenager that is reasonable enough around most people, but pair her with an adult or especially Shun'ei and that sensibility goes right out the window.
  • Both of them have contrasting Dark and Troubled Pasts. Elisabeth having lost her parents in a fire when she was younger while Isla was flat-out abandoned by her parents.
    • Whereas Elisabeth's playstyle is a direct contrast to Ash's (especially in KOF XV, where she is a very strong anti-zoning character that can give Ash quite a hard time), Isla's is a parallel to Shun'ei's. Both her and Shun'ei have excellent air mobility for rushdown characters and they're both among the easier characters for new players to pick from.
  • While Elisabeth is the closest thing Ash has to a Morality Pet (if not family outright), Isla pretty much hates Shun'ei (at least initially) the very second she lays eyes on him. Furthermore, the way both protagonists see their rivals is also rather similar, with Ash mostly ignoring Elisabeth's pleas to come home while Shun'ei barely acknowledges Isla's existence.
• Cool Mask: Wears a respirator during her intro and has it hanging from her neck. Re Verse inherits this when she separates from Isla.
• Dance Battler: She lets her purple hands do most of the work while she dances around the opponent.
• Dash Attack:
  • For regular specials, she has "Piercing C"; Isla flies forward with a kick, and the heavy version can follow up with several options depending on her input.
    • Light punch results in an overhead swipe that knocks her opponent down.
    • Light kick results in a low sweep.
    • Heavy punch results in her performing a hop that puts her in the air. She can then follow up with all of her aerial options like specials, giving her a lot of mix-up potential.
    • Heavy kick results in her halting the attack altogether.
  • Her super special, "Back to Back", has her perform a much stronger dash kick if she's airborne, making for a powerful combo ender.
• Diving Kick: "Piercing A/B" has Isla dive down with a kick. The angle of the move changes depending on whether it's light or heavy.
• Double Jump: Through her special move, "Drips"; Isla gets a boost from Amanda that lets her hop either forward, backward, and vertical depending on the button used. She can then follow up with aerials and specials, granting a lot of mixup and rushdown potential.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: She's certainly a lot better at it than Shun'ei because she's more of a rebel graffiti artist than Shun'ei being more of a Chuunibyou.
• Friend to All Children: She cares deeply for the other kids at her orphanage, and her In-Universe interview states that she wants to donate any prize money to them, but in way that the orphanage staff won't try to grift.
• Giant Hands of Doom: Unlike Shun'ei, Isla has her spectral hands activated at all times. She uses them to perform all of her punch attacks, while kicks are done on her own.
• Hide Your Otherness: Learned to do this of her own accord in order to fit in. She pulled it off until the day the staff members at her orphanage destroyed her paintings.
• I Call It "Vera": She calls her Giant Hands of Doom "Amanda".
• I Just Want to Have Friends: What motivates her to take a detour to China in her team's ending, in order to meet Shun'ei outside of the ring, having grown past her resentment towards him and taking an interest in their connection.
• Improbable Weapon User: Spray cans. "Fill In" lets her toss them out as projectiles to control ground space. She also uses one during her Climax SDM to spray the opponent in the face, and then uses another one that she Rider Kicks into their face.
• Interspecies Friendship: She and Amanda, the pair of spectral floating hands, are quite chummy with each other. They hi-five after winning a match, and Amanda partakes in Isla's taunting of the oppoenent with all sorts of finger gestures. This all adds up to the two having strong synergy in battle, with Amanda giving Isla's fighting style a boost in power and mobility.
• Jerkass to One: Isla is pretty rough around the edges, but is mostly at least neutral to anyone that isn't out to hurt her. The sole exception to this is Shun'ei, who she's incredibly jealous of. She gets better.
• Jerkass Realization: After losing control of Amanda, Isla comes to the conclusion that she had no reason to be antagonistic towards Shun'ei. Especially after he saves her life when Otoma=Raga tries to drag her into the Crucible of Souls.
• Kick Chick: Played With: She keeps her hands inside her pockets when she fights and only uses kicks for her physical attacks. That said, she does have punch attacks, however, her punches instead use the magic purple hands that she summons.
• Lady Swears-a-Lot: While not the worst example in the series (that honor would go to Kukri), Isla is pretty foul-mouthed for someone her age.
• Leader Wannabe: She acts like the boss of two adults, one of them being a military commander. This is likely due to her resentment of adults in general.
• Leitmotif: "Time for revolution It's our generation", a hip-hop tune straight out of the likes of Jet Set Radio or The World Ends with You, which played during her character trailer. It's also meant to sort of just represent her and her rebellious tone. While it's technically the theme of her team in general, it specifically is tailored to Isla's personality far more than either Heidern or Dolores.
• Meaningful Name: "Isla" means "island" in Spanish, and given that she grew up an orphan for much of her life and yearns for friendship by the end, it's quite fitting.
• Mirror Character: To Ash, oddly enough.
  • Both of them are technically orphans, since the identity of their respective parents remains a mystery. But while Ash at least had the Blanctorche Family taking care of him, Isla… wasn't as lucky.
  • Their respective fighting styles are largely kick-focused; Ash's style taking inspiration from Savate (as his kicks are noticeably longer-reaching than his punches), while Isla attacks the opponent herself with kicks, as Amanda is mapped to her punch buttons.
  • At their absolute best, both of them are gold-hearted jerkasses with an attitude problem. Ash being incredibly condescending and sophisticated with his insults while Isla is very crass and foul-mouthed.
  • Both of them have somewhat similar, but also contrasting movesets to some of the other main characters: Ash's flames being a distinctive wax-like green with the reason behind it being a Riddle for the Ages while Isla is an Amplified Specter like Shun'ei, albeit with an extra pair of hands that are seemingly sentient compared to Shun'ei's being an extension of himself.
• Mundane Utility: Of a sort, being that Amanda is shown to have some degree of sentience. She takes a picture that Isla holds during the Post-Credits Scene for the Rival Team's ending from an angle that'd be impossible otherwise for anyone else to pull off.
• Nonconformist Dyed Hair: Her hair has blue streaks, enhancing her rebelliousness.
• Orphanage of Fear: Revealed to be the environment she grew up in. One she ended up escaping with the usage of Amanda.
• Power Incontinence: Loses control of Amanda after the finals, resulting in the advent of the game's sub-boss: Re Verse.
• The Power of Hate: Deep down, Isla is fueled by hate towards her parents for abandoning her, the orphanage staff for rejecting her freedom of expression, and the world overall for seemingly rejecting her. Unfortunately, this hate is also what fuels Amanda, and is what ultimately results in the birth of Re Verse.
• Purple Is Powerful: Not unlike Iori, Amanda's glowing hands are purple. Isla though is of the Unskilled, but Strong variety based on her attacks and animations.
• The Resenter: She hates Shun'ei out of jealousy over the fact that he has a happy life with a foster family and a best friend in Tung and Meitenkun, while she grew up with nothing but a roof over her head and was abused by the staff members at her orphanage.
• The Rival: To Shun'ei. Unlike the other rivalries, Shun'ei is not as invested in it as she.
• Ship Tease:
  • Implied to have feelings for Shun'ei in the Team Rival ending.
  • Also Ash to a lesser extent if their special intro in Story Mode and win quote in VS Battle to him is anything to go by.
    Isla: You're a real piece of work. ...Wanna trade numbers?
• Shoryuken: Her "Scribe" special, where she performs a leaping somersault kick. The EX version can be followed up by her aerial specials.
• Slide Attack: "Designs", done with down-foward plus Heavy Kick. It lets her surprise opponents with a long-ranged low attack.
• Spicy Latina: She's a Hot-Blooded Chilean that's also easy on the eyes.
• Sweet Tooth: Her favorite food is chilenitos, a Chilean dessert. She also goes out for ice cream with Yuri and Athena in their special edit ending.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Heidern and Dolores, due to her hatred of adults. Played somewhat using her relationship with Shun'ei, as she does have a special edit team with him and Rock (as relative newcomers to the KOF tournaments).
• Theme Naming: All of her move names (e.g., "Drips", "Fill-in", "Cloud", etc.) are actual terms used in tagging/graffiti. And given her penchant for street art, it's very appropriate for her and clever on SNK's part.
• Tomboy: Unsurprising given how she carries herself.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: One of the special edit teams she has pairs her with Athena and Yuri, who offer to bring her out to shop for clothes. Not only does Isla relish the chance to spend time with girls her age, she also discards her usual streetwear for more casual clothes in their shared ending.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: By the end of XV's story, she lets go of her resentment towards Shun'ei and her teammates, becoming much friendlier, if still a bit rough around the edges.
• Trauma Button: She can get easily triggered if she feels that someone's trying to control her, particularly adults. This stems from the abusive upbringing she had at her orphanage. She gets easily aggravated by Heidern and Dolores's directives because of this.
• Unknown Rival: Isla is very much this to Shun'ei at the start of XV. She hates his guts, he barely knows she exists...
• Unskilled, but Strong: Isla doesn't have much in the way of true martial arts training like many other fighters, but more than makes up for it through her own athleticism and the power granted by Amanda.

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