| “ | "Wrong, fool! I'm no clone. I am a shadow spawned by the Yata Mirror." | „ |
| ~ Kusanagi, clarifying Kyo Kusanagi that he is nothing like the Kyo Clones created by NESTS. |
| “ | "Knowing I'm an imitation created by the mirror's powers, you can't afford to lose to me, right? That would mean you're no match for the real Kusanagi. Yeah, denying me to avoid defeat. It makes sense." | „ |
| ~ Kusanagi to Iori Yagami |
Kusanagi is a minor antagonist from SNK's The King of Fighters franchise. He first appeared in the non-canon game The King of Fighters 2002, and would later become a canonical villain in The King of Fighters 2003, The King of Fighters: Sky Stage and Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting.
He is canonically a shadow copy of Kyo Kusanagi created by the Yata Mirror of a brainwashed Chizuru Kagura, so that Those from the Past can buy more time to weaken the seal of Orochi.
He is commonly voiced by Mitsuo Iwata, who ironically voiced the protagonist Shotaro Kaneda from the 1988 film adaptation of Akira. But in The King of Fighters: Sky Stage and Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting: He is voiced by Masahiro Nonaka, who also voiced Kyo Kusanagi and the Kyo Clones.
Biography
The King of Fighters 2003
After Chizuru is mind controlled by Botan of Those from the Past, she uses the Yata Mirror to create Kusanagi, a clone of her ally and fellow member of the Three Sacred Treasures, Kyo Kusanagi. She uses Kusanagi to buy Those from the Past as much time as they need to weaken Orochi's seal.
Kusanagi would end up fighting against Team K', consisting of K', Maxima and Whip, and would end up being defeated, fading away in the process.
The King of Fighters: Sky Stage
After Orochi absorbed all of the souls of everyone on Earth aside from the strongest fighters, Chizuru would use the Yata Mirror as a test for the fighters to see if they are able to defeat the upcoming members of the Hakkeshu and Orochi.
In Athena's route, instead of being ordered by Chizuru, Kusanagi chose to battle against Athena on his own for unknown reasons.
In all routes, after Kusanagi is defeated, he allows the person who beat him to go on so they can fight against Orochi.
Personality
| “ | "Imitation or not, you've definitely inherited Kyo's mouth and attitude!" | „ |
| ~ Iori about Kusanagi's personality, comparing him to Kyo. |
Kusanagi, being Kyo Kusanagi's clone, shares a lot of his personality traits such as his general cocky attitude, however, Kusanagi is a lot more malicious then Kyo with a lot of Kusanagi's battle cries when using his strongest moves and his win quotes implying that he is fine with murdering his opponents.
Quotes
| “ | That's "Mister Kusanagi" to you, punk!!! | „ |
| ~ Kusanagi's Akira reference, when fighting K9999. |
| “ | You! Fight me with your bare hands!!! | „ |
| ~ Another Akira reference, when Kusanagi is fighting characters with weapons. |
Trivia
- In The King of Fighters 2002, if Kusanagi and K9999 fight, the two will quote the film Akira with Kusanagi acting as Shotaro Kaneda and K9999 acting as Tetsuo Shima. This is a reference to Kusanagi & Kaneda and K9999 & Tetsuo sharing the same voice actors.
Gallery
External Links
 Villains
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Major Villains Other Villains Non-Canon | ||