Chizuru Kagura

Overview

Chizuru is a descendant of one of the three clans that sealed Orochi two millenia ago, and holds the Sacred Treasure known as the Yata Mirror. Her Yata Mirror allows her to create temporary copies of herself.

She debuted in King of Fighters '96 as an unplayable midboss. She organized the tournament in an attempt to bring together Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, the other two holders of the Sacred Treasures. Goenitz uses this opportunity to ambush the trio, but is defeated. In King of Fighters '97 she is "officially" part of the Women Fighters Team, but the player must use a team of her, Kyo, and Iori to receive the canon ending. She successfully reapplies Orochi's seal after he is restrained by Orochi Iori and weakened by Kyo.

In King of Fighters '98 she is still a part of the Women Fighters Team, and her personal theme song ( Fairy) is used as the overall team theme.

She is absent for the entire NESTS saga (as it does not involve Orochi) but returns in King of Fighters 2003 as both a secret playable character and as one half of the "good ending" sub-boss battle. Chizuru hosts this tournament, first creating a copy of Kyo known as "Kusanagi" and then, along with an image of her sister Maki, battling the champions herself. After this, it is revealed that she was merely being used as a puppet by Botan of Those From the Past. If Chizuru, Kyo, and Iori are used to defeat Mukai, their team ending shows Ash Crimson stealing her Yata Mirror. Because of this, she is unable to participate in King of Fighters XI or XIII. She regains her Mirror when Ash is erased from existence at the end of KOF XIII.

Fighting Style

Chizuru relies heavily on the powers of her Sacred Treasure. Most of her special moves have two variations: one where a mirror image attacks, and another where a mirror image is left behind as Chizuru attacks. For the sake of balance, Chizuru's mirror images contain "hurtboxes," meaning that she takes damage if they are hit by an attack. The '96 boss version of Chizuru, as well as Maki Kagura, cannot take damage from their illusions.

Her most iconic Desperation Move is Reigi no Ishizue. She rushes forward with a small flash; if she hits the opponent, their command normals, specials, and DMs will be locked for a certain period of time. As a reference to story events, Ash Crimson gains a move named "Germinal" with identical properties after KOF 2003.