30 years of Street Fighter: 30 years of Characters #16

I think it's fair to say that Sakura stole the show when she debuted in Street Fighter Zero / Alpha 2 in 1996. Young female fighters were nothing new to the genre. I had mentioned previously that Cammy was the younger variation of Chun-Li but outside of Capcom the young female fighters were already established. Girls that practiced judo, taekwondo, kung-fu, fencing and other martial arts had been featured by rival studios in other games. So what was it that made Sakura a stand out character? Why was she worth celebrating on the 30th anniversary of the franchise? Sakura and Dan Hibiki were a sort of parody to the characters in the Art of Fighting series by SNK. Specifically Sakura was a call out to Yuri Sakazaki, the little sister of Ryo Sakazaki. Sakura was meant to be a type of little sister to Ryu. A cute character that had weaker versions of the main character's attacks. Only she turned out to be more important than just a clone.

Sakura's look stood out right away. Before audiences even got a chance to play as the character we could tell there was something different about her. She was wearing a school uniform, not a martial arts costume. Characters that wore street clothing or non-traditional martial arts costumes were rare in the series. On closer inspection we could make out that her school uniform broke from tradition. Sakura wore big red punching gloves, and a long headband, just like her idol Ryu. She wore red bloomers and a red sports bra underneath her outfit to create an athletic undertone. She had a short, sporty haircut, instead of the usual long anime girl hairstyle. Her red sneakers helped ground her in the modern era and reflected her personality. Sakura was a spirited fighter yet still growing into adulthood. She perfectly captured the Street Fighter school of design. On first glance you got one idea of the type of character you were dealing with but on closer inspection every design cue told a story. She was not a typical schoolgirl, just like Ryu was not a typical karate guy.

Sakura was the next generation of Street Fighter. It was okay that she didn't wear a karate gi. It was okay if she wasn't as powerful as her heroes, this meant she had room to grow. Most important, it was okay that she was a girl from a middle-class family in Japan. The best fighters in the world came from every walk of life. They didn't have to dress like characters in a movie or comic book to be recognized as masters of the fighting arts. In fact those traditional figures had become campy. They belonged to the older school, the people that founded the Street Fighter Tournament. Sakura was the new face of the series and represented an overdue change in tone and design. I'm glad she got a chance to shine in the game series and especially manga series. I look forward to seeing this character grow and evolve over the next 30 years. As always if you enjoyed this blog and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!