Kusanagi

Kusanagi is a character from The King of Fighters series of fighting games developed by SNK Playmore. He was first introduced in The King of Fighters 2002 as a hidden character. He looks like Kyo Kusanagi in his early days, but as an "evil" version. He is voiced by Mitsuo Iwata.

Story
He was believed, by many fans, to have been originally created as a NESTS experiment, because he has a special intro with K9999. During this intro, K9999 yells "Kusanagi!" and he acknowledges him as if they both knew each other. This introduction is, in fact, a homage to Akira, because K9999 and Kusanagi have the same voice actors as Tetsuo and Kaneda, respectively. However, his actual backstory is revealed in KoF 2003, which says that he is the product of Chizuru Kagura's magic, used to test the strength for the tournament's contestants. His evil appearance is possibly due to the fact that he was created by Chizuru while under the control of Those From The Past members Mukai (the leader of the KOF 2003 operation) and Botan (the puppeteer who had Chizuru under her control). However, contrary to this, a piece of official art for King of Fighters 2002 shows Kusanagi's flames burning off the flesh on his arm revealing robotic musculature, suggesting he was in fact originally intended to be one of NESTS' Kyo clones.

Also, in KOF: Another Day, episode 3, the Ikari team briefly mentions a Kyo clone walking around the vicinities of South Town. While there's no evidence to this fact, some fans consider the "Kyo clone" that Heidern mentioned to be Kusanagi (although it is actually them mistaking the actual Kyo for an escaped NESTS copy).

Personality
Kusanagi lives only to fight and wants to find a strong fighter for him to test his skills. Also, in KOF 2002, he has a special intro with some characters that use weapons in battle, like Choi Bounge, Chang Koehan, Billy Kane and Whip, being "Temae! Sude de shoubu shiagare!" (You! (bastard!) Fight me with your bare hands!) This is also another Akira reference.

Powers

 * Pyrokinesis - He has control over fire.
 * Create Fire - Kusanagi can create fire from thin air.
 * Fire Attacks - Kusanagi can deliver attacks of fire.
 * Fire Projectiles - Kusanagi can fire a projectile of fire through the ground.
 * Pillar of Fire - Kusanagi can create a powerful pillar made of fire.
 * Fire Body - Kusanagi can put his own body on fire, without burning himself.

Fighting Style
He mimicks Kyo's early fighting style, having no original techniques of himself.

Music

 * Esaka - The King of Fighters 2002, 2003

Game Appearances

 * The King of Fighters 2002
 * The King of Fighters 2003

Similar Characters

 * Kyo Kusanagi
 * Kyo-1
 * Kyo-2