Chizuru Kagura

Chizuru Kagura, whose real name is Chizuru Yata , is a character from The King of Fighters series introduced in The King of Fighters '96 as a sub-boss and the sponsor of the KOF tournament that year. Her subsequent appearances in other tournaments tend to be as a normal participant. Her official nickname is "Swift Shamaness".

Like Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, she is a member of the clan that holds one of the three sacred artifacts that originally sealed the serpent monster Orochi 1800 years ago: the Yata Mirror. Due to the rivals' aggression towards one another, Chizuru is usually the one who has to keep the trio together. They form the Sacred Treasures Team, whose endings often entail the canon events of any parties involved.

Development
At the initial stages of development, she was referred to as the "Bell Girl," but before long she received the nickname of "Yuna" then finally receive the more appropriate name that she has now. She was created in the image of anime and manga character Yoko Shiraki, from the Ashita no Joe manga series.

Personality
Unlike the other members of the Sacred Treasures, Chizuru is well-mannered individual who speaks in a calm and collected tone. Having to watch her own sister murdered in front of her, Chizuru took that trauma and focused on sealing Orochi. She'll do whatever she can to keep Orochi sealed, even going as far as using The King of Fighters tournaments to bring the other two Sacred Treasures together, even without their consent. She becomes the voice of reason to the otherwise tumultuous Kusanagi and Yagami, having stopped their petty and mutually murderous vendetta on several occassions.

However, when her powers were taken, her will to fight was taken along with it. So far, the matter of losing her powers has not personally scarred or affected her in any way, and has even advised Iori on what to do and the implications when he lost his own powers to Ash Crimson that time.

Abilities

 * Divination - As a priestess, she can foretell some future events. She can also learn a person's history with said power.
 * Mirror Image - Chizuru can create copies of herself. The copies, when created, may only move, attack and disappear. With little effort, Chizuru can make the copies attack more than once or create more than one copy. She can also switch places with one of her copies, an ability usually used to follow up on an attack from her copies with another attack of her own. It is implied that she doesn't master this ability, yet. If any of her mirror images get hit, Chizuru will receive the damage and her copy will disappear. Her sister, Maki, for comparison, is not limited in this way. Her copies act more like projectiles, if they are hit by one they will negate each other, and they are impossible to be stricken physically.
 * Reflector - By the power of the mirror, Chizuru can reflect projectiles.
 * Energy Manipulation - Chizuru can use energy to send enemies away.
 * Seal Powers - With the Yata Mirror, Chizuru can seal her enemy's special powers and abilities for a few moments.
 * Create Shadow - Chizuru can use the power of the Yata Mirror to create shadows of living or dead beings. She used this power in KOF 2003 to create Kusanagi, a shadow of Kyo, and also to create a shadow of her own sister, Maki.
 * Seal - Being of Yata heritage, Chizuru can use her powers to seal Orochi in another dimension.
 * Telepathy - Using the Yata Mirror, Chizuru can speak into other people's minds. She can also temporarily possess people for similar purposes.
 * Teleport - While Chizuru's ability to disappear and reappear in a different location isn't mentioned, Ash gains this ability after stealing her Yata Mirror, as shown in the endings of KOF 2003 and KOF XI. The distance the user can cover is very far, as shown in KOF XIII where Ash was able to teleport onto Sky Noah.


 * Motorcycle Driving - Chizuru is an avid motorcycle racer, and drives motorcycles as a hobby.
 * Management - Chizuru is a business owner and has management skills that comes along with it. This ability also allowed her to organize a tournament such as KOF.

Fighting style
Her fighting style is very soft, with moves that resemble traditional Japanese dancing. She employs her mirror images to perfection, using them to surprise and confuse her opponents. She does not use punches, instead choosing to use wide open-handed strikes. She can trap her opponent with one of her mirror images and strike him the way she sees fit, having both her image and herself causing damage to her opponent at the same time.

Music

 * Fairy - The King of Fighters '96, '98~Ultimate Match, R-1
 * Sacredness ~ Fairy - The King of Fighters 2003
 * Afro Culture (Spiritual Tribal Groove Mix) - K.O.F. Dance Trax
 * Who is Queen? - The King of Fighters All Star
 * Fairy -KOFAS ver.- - The King of Fighters All Star; Used for Hidden Wrath Chizuru
 * Fictitious or Real - The King of Fighters XV

Voice actors

 * Akiko Saito - The King of Fighters '96~2000
 * Yukiko Sugawa - The King of Fighters 2003
 * Sayaka Ōhara - The King of Fighters: World~present
 * Maki Terakado - The King of Fighters movie (Japanese voice)

Live-action actors

 * Francoise Yip - The King of Fighters movie

Appearances
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Games

 * The King of Fighters '96 - sub-boss
 * The King of Fighters '97
 * The King of Fighters '98
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match
 * The King of Fighters R-1
 * The King of Fighters: Kyo
 * The King of Fighters '99 Evolution - as a Special Striker
 * The King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise - as a Striker
 * The King of Fighters 2000 - as a Striker for Mai
 * The King of Fighters 2003 - good ending sub-boss
 * CR The King of Fighters
 * The King of Fighters XV

Mobile

 * Days of Memories (second title) - non-playable
 * Crusaders Quest
 * Tower of Saviors
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Online
 * Crash Fever
 * Kimi wa Hero
 * The King of Fighters Destiny
 * The King of Fighters: World
 * The King of Fighters All Star
 * The King of Fighters: Orochi Go
 * SNK All Star
 * Brave Frontier

Cameo
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 * SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos - cameo in Goenitz's ending
 * The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout - background in Team Psycho Soldier stage
 * The King of Fighters XI - in Team Kyo & Iori's backstory
 * The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match - background in Japan High School stage
 * The King of Fighters
 * The King of Fighters 2
 * The King of Fighters XII - in Benimaru's profile story; in-text only in winquotes
 * KOF Sky Stage - in-text only; mentioned repeatedly
 * The King of Fighters XIII - in Ash's and in Yagami Team's backstory, also in cinematics
 * The King of Fighters XIV - in Team Japan and Team Yagami endings

Etymology

 * Chizuru's surname Kagura means "Kami’s pleasure" (神楽). SNK official(CN) confirmed “楽”s pronunciation is “le” on March 11.2022  . 楽 has 2 pronunciations,one is in かいらく(快楽-kuai le-pleasure), another is in おんがく(音楽-yin yue-music).
 * Her real surname Yata means "eight" (八, ya) and "short, span" (咫, ta).

Trivia

 * Chizuru and Antonov are the only hosts to not have evil intentions for the KOF tournament.
 * The two characters also are the only sub-bosses who returns in a regular team in future KOF games.
 * However, unlike Antonov, she has used the KOF tournament for an ulterior but well-meaning motive (preventing Orochi's ressurection).


 * In Neo-Geo Freak 1998, the characters in KOF '98 have their own interviews. Here are Chizuru's response to the questions.
 * What is your aspiration in this competition? - "I'm also a fighter. I can't help but be conscious of the championship because I've participated in the tournament. However, if you get too caught up in the championship, it'll create a hole in your mind. I think I'll work hard to improve my mindset for the contest."
 * Who would you like to fight the most? - "Who would you like to fight? No one in particular, especially no one with a family."
 * Who would you like to team up with? / Who would you not like to team up with? - "Who would I team up with? Who wouldn't I team up with? Well, I don't want to join with an unreasonable person."
 * What is "KOF" for you? - "To be able to participate in the KOF tournament is "pride" to me."
 * Finally, please give a word to your fans. - "Fans, I will fight my best. Thank you for your support."


 * For years, fans have asked developers on Chizuru's absence, specifically her exclusion from The King of Fighters XIV. In an interview at Gamescom 2016, Yasuyuki Oda explained that Chizuru is only pivotal to the story if Orochi was in an antagonistic role. Since Orochi isn't in this role anymore, she is not as important for the story. Her appearance in XV obviously indicates the role of Orochi and the seal in the story (as well as the revival of some of its heralds), necessitating her presence.


 * In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, she was voted as the twenty-first favourite character with a total of 476 votes.


 * An oddity with her attacks is the fact that whenever Chizuru uses any of her afterimages, there is a chance the screen will be locked into place and will not move all the way to either corner; the way to undo this is to simply have Chizuru take damage/a hit.


 * Like both of the other two clans, the Yata clan's techniques are written in a numbered "style/method" fashion, along with the kanji for the said numbers used being alternate versions. In KOF 2003, Chizuru's San Shingi no San (Three Divine Arts No. 3) is simply a combination of her two signature DM attacks, compared to Kyo reusing one of his other SDM's and Iori's being a completely original move.


 * According to the true story of The King of Fighters '97, Chizuru, Iori and Kyo are pointed as the winners of the tournament, with the trio facing Orochi and his Heavenly Kings in the climax of the tournament. However, this could be considered an alternative ending for the game.