Shen Woo

Shen Woo (Pinyin: 神・武, Shén Wǔ, Divine Martial; Japanese: シェン・ウー, Shen Ū) is a character from The King of Fighters series who makes his first playable appearance in The King of Fighters 2003. His official nickname is Shanghai's God of War.

He is voiced by Kōji Suidzu in Japanese.

Story
Shen Woo was raised in Shanghai, where he created his own brutal style of street boxing. He soon came to be very feared, and grew to enjoy the thrill of the fight. Eventually, he came to know the enigmatic fighter Ash, who entered Shen, himself, and Duo Lon as the "Hero team" into the KOF 2003 tournament. Despite he and Duo Lon having suspicions of Ash's agenda, Shen couldn't care less as he was too eager to find and face stronger opponents.

At the end of The King of Fighters XI, Ash decides to settle his teammates' agendas. Oswald joined the tournament looking for a drug known as the "Dragon Pills", an illegal and off-the-market drug. Ash explains that the provider for this drug will not sell it but will consider giving it to Oswald if he defeats their adversary, Shen. Since Shen is looking for a strong opponent to fight and Oswald needs the "Dragon Pills", Ash decides to pit his two teammates against each other.

Surviving his fight with Oswald, Duo Lon later meets up with him to find out Ash's whereabouts. Though Shen knows nothing, he isn't too happy with the idea of being used twice by a person he doesn't really know. With the excuse that he can fight stronger opponents if he decides to find out more about Ash, they team up and head to the one who seems to know anything about their former teammate: Elisabeth Blanctorche. In their team's ending, both he and Duo Lon respectively give Elisabeth time to mourn over Ash's "death".

Personality
Shen Woo has a wild, rowdy personality and is always on the lookout for a good fight. Despite his reckless nature, abrasive attitude and insatiable thirst for battle, Shen also harbors in him a sense of loyalty and acknowledges the value of friendship, signified by his relationship with the mysterious Ash Crimson and Hizoku assassin Duo Lon. Despite those seemingly redeeming qualities, he is still seen as an intimidating or unappealing character for most people. As a result, only a few people can get past his rough exterior and actually manage to befriend him or earn his respect, something that he pokes fun at himself with when he was criticized by Duo Lon during the formation of the "Elisabeth Team", after Shen angrily ranted out on Elisabeth for being 30 minutes late on their meeting during the events of KoF XIII. He also strongly dislikes the idea of being used by someone or being betrayed, and he wastes no time in getting even with those who have wronged him, usually solving those problems with his fists and some street ingenuity. When rumors circulated that he was assassinated by that same Triad group, only to prove that rumor false by trashing the birthday party of that Triad gang boss's birthday by plowing through the restaurant with a hijacked truck and beating him and his disoriented henchmen into a bloody pulp, and sought to get even with his former partner Ash after he was manipulated twice by him, although he seems to let go of the grudge should he win the fight, as seen in his victory quote, and casually offers to get him back up to get some food.

Powers

 * Superhuman Strength - Shen Woo has superhuman strength in his fists, being able to cause a lot of damage with his punches using his full power.
 * Deflect Projectiles - His punches can deflect projectiles.
 * Pump Up - He can duplicate damage caused by his punches using chi energy.

Fighting Style
Shen Woo developed his own, devastating street-fighting boxing style best described as "violent". His fighting style is characterized with simple yet incredibly powerful punches that constitute the vast majority of his moves. He is capable of delivering punches so powerful, they are capable of deflecting projectiles, both ballistic and energy-based, and enough to bring fighters much larger than him, like Chang, Goro, Maxima, Mukai or Raiden on their knees. On a pinch, Shen is also capable of pumping himself up with his inner chi, which significantly boosts his already remarkable levels of strength.

Music

 * Splendid Evil - The King of Fighters 2003
 * Joker - The King of Fighters XI
 * Queen - The King of Fighters XIII (when the music is set to "Type B", console version only, shared with Elisabeth Blanctorche and Duo Lon)
 * Each Promise - The King of Fighters XIII

Game Appearances

 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * The King of Fighters XII
 * The King of Fighters XIII

Cameo Appearances

 * Days of Memories (fourth title) - cameo with Ash
 * The King of Fighters '94: Rebout - background cameo
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2 - backgroung cameo, Iori Yagami's Another Outfit-Variation E
 * KOF Maximum Impact Regulation "A" - in Xiao Lon's original story

Trivia

 * In on'yomi, Shen Woo's name would be read as "Shin Bu".

Gallery
Shen Woo