Ash Crimson

Ash Crimson is the protagonist of the Tales of Ash, the third story arc of The King of Fighters series, with his first appearance being in The King of Fighters 2003 as the leader of the Hero Team of the saga (in quotes because of his intentions in the tournament). His official nickname is "Sneering Firelight"  or "The Sneering Blaze" and, in KOF XV, is "Mocking Firelight".

Development
Ash was designed with the intent of creating an "attractive evil character" with little changes done to him since conception. During the initial planning stage for Ash, developers wanted to create a protagonist that has never been done for the franchise. Following this idea, they decided to create a feminine-looking and unheroic character to contrast the impact from the previous protagonists.

Falcoon adds that the main goal for Ash was to make him an ambiguous hero that purposely makes players "feel bad" for cheering for him. Ash's character design was not made by Falcoon — some of the development sketches for Ash's final design look closer to Nona's style. However, Falcoon did add extra details to Ash while illustrating him to better fit his character. KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation "A" earned its title for three reasons: arcade, arrange, and Ash. In a later interview, Falcoon relates that he asked permission from the 2D team to borrow Ash for the game.

Personality
Ash is a cunning, self righteous and flamboyant individual. Confident in his own powers, he doesn't take things too seriously and considers things that are of no interest bothersome. Even when faced with serious situations, he is calm and somewhat blasé. He isn't one who considers working with others, but instead uses others to achieve his goals. He tends to flaunt the superiority of his halfhearted effort and speaks in a playful and condescending manner, which often irritates the characters he is speaking to.

He views Elisabeth as his older sister figure, and notes that she is "too serious". He feels that Duo Lon and Shen Woo are his good friends, although he appeared to them with mysterious intentions. He also has a habit of calling people pet names such as "Betty" for Elisabeth, and "Ozzy" for Oswald.

His personality seems to slightly change when actively using the power of the Yasakani jewel. Usually calm and composed, when using his Fructidor move, Ash will laugh maniacally while making his opponent burn with the purple flames of the Yasakani. This behaviour is similar to Iori, and it may be interpreted as Orochi's taint affecting his mind.

Abilities

 * Pyrokinesis - Ash can create and control special green flames that look like melted wax. The origin of this flame is still unknown.
 * Create Fire - Ash can create fire from thin air.
 * Fire Projectile - Ash can create projectiles made of fire.
 * Fire Attacks - Ash can increase damage of his punches and kicks with fire.
 * Fire Aura - Ash can create fire around his body.
 * Power Absorption - Ash can steal powers from anybody he chooses. He decided to target the Three Sacred Treasures. He managed to steal two of three treasures leaving Kyo as the next power to acquire. He could possibly kill people during this process, but he left Chizuru and Iori alive. This was demonstrated when he absorbed Saiki's powers, in turn destroying Saiki's original body.
 * Yata Mirror (formerly) - The following are powers shown by Ash when he acquired Chizuru Kagura's Yata Mirror:
 * Seal Powers (formerly) - Ash can keep enemies from using their powers for a while.
 * Teletransport (formerly) - Ash can disappear and reappear somewhere.
 * Yasakani Jewel (formerly) - The following are powers shown by Ash when he acquired from Iori Yagami's Yasakani Jewel, which was later regained by Iori after Ash's disappearance:
 * Create Fire (formerly) - Ash can create red/purple fire. It is unknown if possessing the Jewel also allows its possessor to become subject to the Riot of the Blood, but it could be assumed that Ash is immune to the Riot of the Blood due to not having Orochi blood.

Fighting style
Ash fights using an acrobatic style combined with fire abilities to give a graceful fighting style. His fighting style in general is similar to the French martial art of Savate.

Despite his physique, he is extremely powerful. He is a good character for people who like to zone and poke their opponents, but he also has many other tools at the player's disposal that can be used to rush down efficiently, all while keeping the pressure on them. In KOF XIII, he also employs Iori's and Chizuru's powers into his moveset.

Music

 * Splendid Evil - The King of Fighters 2003
 * Joker - The King of Fighters XI, XIII (when the music is set to "Type B", console version only)
 * The Second Joker - The King of Fighters XIII
 * Slushy Road - The King of Fighters XV
 * Fructidor - Days of Memories

Voice Actors

 * Sōnosuke Nagashiro - since his debut
 * Duke Clement - The King of Fighters: Another Day (English voice)

Appearances
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Games

 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation "A"
 * The King of Fighters XII
 * The King of Fighters XIII - Edit entry/mid-boss
 * ''The King of Fighters XV

Mobile

 * Days of Memories (second, fourth, and seventh titles) - non-playable
 * The King of Reversi
 * Moeyo! KOF Daiundokai
 * SNK Dream Battle
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Online
 * The King of Fighters: World
 * The King of Fighters All Star
 * Kimi wa Hero

Cameos

 * The King of Fighters XIV - in Team Official Invitation's ending, and in Verse's winquote vs. Iori
 * The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout - background
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2 - background cameo, Kula Diamond's Normal Outfit-Variaton E

Anime
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 * The King of Fighters: Another Day

Similar characters

 * Saiki
 * Evil Ash

Trivia

 * In KOF 2003, Ash quotes Robert Browning's poem "The Year's at the Spring". The same poem appears again in KOF XIII.


 * Ash's birthday, February 14, falls on Valentine's Day (in the Northern Hemisphere).


 * It’s possible that SNK got inspiration of Ash’s character design and fighting style from Capcom's Street Fighter characters Ken Masters and Remy, respectively. Ash shares the same color scheme as Ken; having blonde hair, wearing red clothes, and even sharing the same birthday (February 14th). Remy, who’s character design was inspired by Iori Yagami, utilizes a similar fighting style as Ash, as well as being a charge character, flamboyant and is also a French native.


 * Ash is the only protagonist of the KOF series who never won a 'KOF'' tournament, being in a team or not.


 * Most of Ash's moves refer to the French Revolution; they are named after months of the French Republican Calendar.


 * Ash shares his height and weight with his ancestor and Vice.


 * Ash had control of his own powers until the events of KOF XIII, when he began to be controlled by his ancestor after stealing their powers. With exception of this event, he and Kyo Kusanagi are the only heroes/protagonists with control of their own powers.


 * Ash is the first and only protagonist to not make a playable return in the start of the following story arc, due to Ash erasing himself and his ancestor from existence in the previous story arc.


 * Ash, Elisabeth Blanctorche and Oswald are the only characters introducted in the Ash Saga to appear in the following story arc (and in the future games of the series) as playable characters.


 * Ash and K' are the only protagonists with unknown nationalities.
 * However, Ash was raised in France and most likely has French citizenship, whereas K's nationally remains unknown.


 * Ash is one of the few KOF characters who has never changed his voice actors since debut.
 * The other characters in the series with the same voice actors since their first appearance are King, Benimaru Nikaido, Choi Bounge, Kula Diamond, Whip, Maxima and Oswald.
 * Ash is the only former protagonist of KOF who has never changed his voice actor since his debut.