Athena Asamiya

Athena Asamiya (麻宮 アテナ, Asamiya Atena) is a character originally from the former SNK's video game Psycho Soldier and a distant relative and modern-day counterpart of Princess Athena from the game Athena. She later appears in The King of Fighters series of fighting games as a female fighter character and has appeared in every one of its editions. She was also given her own RPG game Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life in 1999 released only in Japan for the Sony PlayStation. She is perhaps best known for changing her outfit and hair style for virtually every new KOF game.

Athena was a highly anticipated character for the King of Fighters lineup and developers relate that they are constantly working to keep her in the series. Among series regulars, Athena has had the most amount of unique costumes, changing between almost every installment (KOF XIII reuses the outfit she wore in XII but alters the colors to match that of XI, with her XII colors being an alternate palette). Throughout the years, her sailor uniform outfit was a frequent request from Japanese fans that was denied due to the belief that it wouldn't translate well with the overseas audience (this kept up until recent installments). Her official nickname is The Psychic-Powered Idol.

In the character popularity poll on Neo Geo Freak's website, she was voted as the tenth favorite character with a total of 1,020 votes.

Story
Athena is a modern day high school girl in Japan. She teamed up with her friend, Sie Kensou, to fight in the name of justice. In Psycho Soldiers, she was one of the "heroes of light" who defended the world from the Shiguma forces. Her psychic powers are believed to be transmigrated to her rather than inherited by her family. As such, she is sometimes referred to as the resurrected Athena who is gifted with esper-like powers.

Orochi Saga
In the King of Fighters series, she is a student of Kensou's Kenpo teacher, Chin Gentsai. She has spent most of her life secluded in China's mountains training. Her team participates in the tournaments as a form of training and to save the populace from an apparent future threat. Other times, they enter to disrupt any evil forces they may feel at the time. In the 1996 tournament, Chin seemed perturbed by the energy he sensed and didn't want his students to be involved with it. However, they surprise him by redoubling their enthusiasm for the event and they enter.

Their success in the tournament is shown in the following year where they receive a mountain of adoring fan letters. Athena in particular had a boost in popularity and stardom. However, Chin rejects their proposal to enter King of Fighters since he doesn't want his students to forget the purpose of their training. Determined to change his mind, Athena presents him with an inspirational letter from Kaoru Watabe. The contents in the letter helps her argument that their publicity moves people to do better things, which is essentially another way of saving people. Convinced that his students are improving, he allows them to enter once more.

In the aftermath of KOF '97, the Psycho Soldiers meet Kaoru, who now travels with them to most of their engagements and was even a striker in KOF 2000.

NESTS Saga
By this time in the series, Athena becomes a famous pop-star who is rising the charts with her concerts. She welcomes the new recruit, Bao, warmly and hopes that he does his best. Additionally, she grows concerned for Kensou once he lost his powers though she remains optimistic that they might return during the tournament on a spur-of-the-moment notice.

Her team's backstory in The King of Fighters 99 reveals that the team was there during the collapse of NESTS's base in the finals. During that time, Athena was caught underneath the falling rubble and passed out. Though he has no memory of it, Kensou saved her with a formidable latent energy. Ever since then, Bao suffered from a mysterious fatigue and illness. This same energy is later revealed to be the "Dragon's Spirit". Though she has her doubts with her master's methods, she wearily agrees to join the tournaments in this saga to treat Bao and Kensou's predicament. In the team's story in The King of Fighters 2000 she, Chin and Kaoru Watabe witness Bao's near heroic sacrifice as he takes a the NESTS satellite's energy beam to protect them, and how this leads to Kensou recovering his powers when he absorbs the rest of the energy.

Ash Saga
For the first time since the beginning of KOF, the Psycho Soldiers did not enter the tournament in KOF 2003 since Kensou and Bao went on a year long training mission with Chin to master Kensou's unreliable "Dragon's Spirit". Not wanting to miss out on her annual fix of tournament competition, Athena joined forces with Hinako Shijou and Malin to form the High School Girls team, a strange but rather successful partnership. For KOF XI, Athena reunites with Kensou after his year of training, and Momoko, one of Athena's fans with psychic capabilities.

Though neither Athena nor the other Psycho Soldiers have much connection with the major plot in KOF 2003 through KOF XI, it seems she is destined to soon struggle alongside Kensou and Bao against the evil and powerful Ron and his henchmen, who intend to steal the Dragon's Spirit.

Personality
Athena is very outgoing, polite, and friendly. She is a happy girl with righteous virtues and well-meaning morals. She treasures her fans and those who are helpless and strives to do her best to fight for them. She used to be a bit of a crybaby who was sometimes too scared to fight in the face of danger, but has gotten over this flaw, as it is shown that she has become much braver.

Athena often chides Kensou for slacking off in his training. She either is well aware of his crush on her but usually chooses to ignore his romantic advances since he seems to embarrass her, or she is oblivious about his romantic interest in her. Different media of the series, such as drama CDs and manga, implied that Athena had a passing fancy for Kyo, but since Kyo is dating Yuki, she respects their romantic relationship and settles for simply staying friends with both of them.

Powers

 * Psionics - Athena is a powerful psychic, being capable of harnessing several psionic abilities. She is seen as a prodigy regarding psychic power (or Psycho Power, as referred by her and her comrades), and was able to master a lifetime of psychic abilities with her young age. Contrary to Kensou, for example, who only mastered a handful of psychic techniques, Athena has a wide variety of powers and her potential is yet to be fully explored. Athena's psychic energy has a redish/pinkinsh tint, contrasting with Kensou's blue.
 * Telepathy - Athena can project her thoughts into other people's minds. She can also read another person's mind in order to check for that person's superficial thoughts. She can also probe an area and search for a specific person or train of thought. She used this ability in order to sense the little girl who as stuck in the South Town fire in KOF: Another Day. The little girl's cry for help seemed to find its way into Athena's mind, instead of Athena actively scanning the area, so it is also possible that Athena's mind has the passive ability of receiving some kind of thoughts or emotions, such as distress and danger. Athena is not seen much using her telepathy, as she sees it as a form of rude intrusion, and reserves this power only for situations where it is extremely necessary.
 * Psychokinesis - Athena can move objects with her mind, bypassing laws of physics, such as gravity. She can simply focus her mind on a nearby object and move it through the air, in any way she wants, with her willpower alone. In a combat situation, though, when her mental focus is limited and impaired, she has to charge psychic energy on the target object or person by touching it, in order to move it with her psychokinesis. The total amount of weight Athena is able to lift, throw and move is undisclosed, but she is able to throw heavy opponents with the same amount of focus as lighter enemies, and was seen holding falling debris from a church roof in KOF: Another Day. Weight doesn't seem to be an immediate limitation for her psychokinesis, in contrast of focus. When throwing her opponent with psychokinesis, she has been seen closing her eyes and focusing, before actually executing the throw. When she held the falling debris in the church in Another Day, she could do nothing else besides talking, having to ask Mai Shiranui's help to destroy the rubble and avoid a bigger accident.
 * Psychic projectile - Athena can condense her psychic energy into the shape of a ball and fire it at her opponent. She is able to mix this power with her psychokinesis, and by taking a little while to focus, can fire a stronger version of the "psycho ball". This version is called the Psychic shoot, with the psychokinetic energy embedded on it sending the opponent flying upwards if contact is made.
 * Psychic energy strikes - Athena can materialize and coalesce psychic energy on her limbs, in order to strengthen her physical attacks. This is the case with her Psycho sword aerial counter.
 * Psychic barrier - In her adventure game, Athena can surround her body with a resilient shield of energy. This energy barrier can also be used offensively, as mere the mere touch on it can cause damage. She often uses it as her Phoenix Arrow attack, curling into a ball in mid-air, surrounding herself with the barrier and flying towards the opponent.
 * Teleportation - Athena can bend space with her mind in order to move herself, objects or other people from one place to another without the need of physical movement. Her ability to teleport has two main variations. The first, the one often used in battle, is a mix of teleportation and illusion casting. She visibly moves from one place to another in a blurred, intangible state and with amazing speed, while leaving behind an illusion of herself, in order to confuse her opponent. The second variation has her creating portals and navigating through them. Her portals take the shape of red/pink spheres of different sizes that can transport herself, objects or other people to other locations. She uses this teleportation through portals in her Phoenix Fang Arrow DM, in order to attack repeatedly, to teleport herself into battle, and to teleport away her mic during one of her intros. Athena arguably abuses this power daily, as she uses it in order to change her clothes in the blink of an eye, effectively teleporting the clothes she is wearing away, and changing it with another set that she thinks better fits the situation.
 * Psychic Reflector - Athena can create a shield-like barrier that deflects projectiles. Being made of pure psychic energy, this barrier may also be used to cause damage. With more focus and effort, Athena can create a more powerful version of the barrier that takes the shape of a big energy ball that not only reflects projectiles, but also causes more damage if contact is made.
 * Psychic Healing - Athena can channel her psychic energy in order to heal herself or others of wounds and damage. This is seen in The King of Fighters 2000 as her striker move.
 * Electro-psychic Surge - Athena can focus all of her psychic powers in one powerful attack, named Shining Crystal Bit. Athena covers all of her body and the area around her with psychic power and materializes two blue balls of electro-psychic energy. These balls float around her in high speeds and will cause severe damage by electrocution if physical contact is made. Athena has to focus in order to maintain the spheres materialized, and even so, she can keep them only for a few seconds. She can, however, fuse them together into one single sphere and fire it at her opponent, breaking her hold on it.
 * Divination - Athena has some confirmed experience with fortune telling, something she practiced as a hobby in the past. It is possible that this hobby was based on some latent divination powers, with Athena possibly having the power to foresee the future. This is merely a supposition and nothing has been confirmed on this regard.

Skills

 * Singing and Performing - Athena is a J-Pop star of established fame. She is an accomplished singer who has many fans, including Jhun Hoon, Momoko and Kaoru Watabe. She has found success among male and female fans alike.
 * Web Designing - Athena is good at designing and creating websites and makes a hobby out of it. In fact, she is good on everything relating to the internet and also likes to shop online.
 * Lacrosse - Athena is especially good at lacrosse.

Fighting Style
Athena was taught Kung Fu by Chin Gentsai, probably the style of Wing Chun. Her stance was loosely based on Liuhebafa. While Athena is a capable hand-to-hand fighter, she mostly relies on her psychic powers to fight. Athena is not feared for her martial arts training, but she is respected and can somewhat hold her own against some fighters. Even though she has know-how on chinese martial arts, Athena is not exactly a seasoned veteran, and probably wouldn't be able to compete at a legit level without her powers, like Kensou did. Athena's fighting style revolves mostly around simple yet effective strikes, and around speed and acrobacies, rather than strength. She uses her psychic powers to full effectiveness when in combat, improving her martial capabilities, controlling the battlefield and getting the enemy off guard with several surprise tactics.

Music

 * Psycho Soldier "K.O.F. Version" - The King of Fighters '94, 2002, Athena On Stage
 * Senritsu no Dora - The King of Fighters '95, The King of Fighters '98, The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match (console version only), The King of Fighters R-2
 * Psycho Soldier Remix 96 - The King of Fighters '96
 * Psycho Soldier Remix 97 - The King of Fighters '97, R-1, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium
 * Shin! Senritsu no Dora - The King of Fighters '98, The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match (arcade version only)
 * Psyco Sonic Trip ~Dance at the Paddy Field~ - The King of Fighters '99
 * Will - The King of Fighters 2000
 * Psychic Guys - The King of Fighters 2001
 * You Feel for Me - The King of Fighters 2003, Athena On Stage
 * Pure ~At Good Old Days~ - The King of Fighters XI, The King of Fighters XIII (when the music is set to "Type B", console version only, shared with Chin Gentsai and Sie Kensou)
 * Purity Soldiers - The King of Fighters XIII
 * Psycho Soldier ~Super Chinese Remix~ - The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
 * Theme "Athena" - Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life
 * The Life of an Idol - Days of Memories (Koi wa Good Job!)
 * Psychic Madonna - Days of Memories (Boku to Kanojo to Koto no Koi, Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Fuyu)
 * Psycho Dancer - 100 Mega Shock!

Image Songs

 * Psycho Soldier - Psycho Soldier
 * Psycho Soldier "K.O.F. Version" - The King of Fighters 94
 * My Love ~Yuki wo Dashite~ - The King of Fighters 95, The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match (if Athena vs. Kensou is on the first turn)
 * Psycho Soldier Remix '96 - The King of Fighters '96
 * Koi wo Shiyo (Let's Fall in Love) - The King of Fighters '96
 * Koi wo Machi Kirenai - Neo Geo DJ Station
 * Psycho Soldier Remix '97 - The King of Fighters '97
 * Present Holiday - for The King of Fighters '98
 * Open Your Eyes - Neo Geo DJ Station 2
 * Kizudarake no Blue Moon - Psycho Soldier, The King of Fighters XI (PS2 port, only in the Concert Stage)
 * The Song of Fighters II - Shared image song with other King of Fighters characters

Voice Actors

 * Rushina (anonymous SNK employee) - Psycho Soldier
 * Reiko Fukui - The King of Fighters '94, Metal Slug Defense
 * Moe Nagasaki - The King of Fighters '95
 * Masae Yumi - Neo Geo CD Special
 * Tamao Sato - The King of Fighters '96, Neo Print
 * Yukina Kurisu - The King of Fighters '97, The King of Fighters: Kyo
 * Haruna Ikezawa - The King of Fighters '98 ~ XIII, Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life
 * Robyn Gryphe - KOF Maximum Impact (English voice)
 * Lily Kong - KOF Maximum Impact 2 (English voice)
 * Youwei Fong - Neo Print (Chinese voice)

Live Action Actors

 * Kei Ishibashi - Athena live drama

Game Appearances

 * Psycho Soldier
 * The King of Fighters 94
 * The King of Fighters 95
 * Neo Geo CD Special - as a guide
 * The King of Fighters 96
 * The King of Fighters 97
 * The King of Fighters: Kyo
 * The King of Fighters 98
 * The King of Fighters R-1
 * The King of Fighters R-2
 * The King of Fighters 99
 * Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life
 * SNK Gals' Fighters
 * SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millenium
 * The King of Fighters 2000
 * Capcom vs SNK 2
 * The King of Fighters 2001
 * The King of Fighters 2002
 * The King of Fighters Neowave
 * KOF: Maximum Impact
 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation A
 * The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match
 * The King of Fighters XII
 * The King of Fighters XIII
 * The King of Fighters (pachinko) - roulette character
 * Maximum Impact - roulette character
 * KOF Sky Stage
 * Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting
 * The King of Fighters XIV

Mobile Appearances

 * Athena On Stage
 * Days of Memories (first, second, fifth, seventh, and ninth titles) - non-playable
 * Neo Geo Tennis Coliseum
 * The King of Fighters Mobile
 * The King of Fighters Mobile R-2
 * The King of Millionaire
 * The King of Fighters Volleyball
 * The King of Fighters Mahjong
 * SNK Gals Fighters
 * SNK Beach Volley Gal's Attack
 * SNK Gals Island Dokidoki Puzzle Shock!
 * SNK Gals Island Jintori Puzzle Miseteagemasu
 * SNK Gals Island Techu Typing Omigotodesu
 * SNK Gals Island Senkan Battle Gekichinshichaouzo!
 * SNK Gals Island Beauty Dungeon Mimi to Kimashita!
 * Moeyo! SNK Gals Osuin Katoukai
 * The King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise - as a striker
 * The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood
 * SNK Dream Battle
 * SNK High School Collection
 * Dai Shingeki RPG! Sister Quest - collaboration event
 * Metal Slug Defense (unlockable)

Cameo Appearances

 * Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits: Bushidou Retsuden (Neo-Geo CD version only) - name is the same but written as "阿沙宮あてな".
 * Days of Memories (third and sixth title) - text-only
 * The King of Fighters 2
 * Neo Print - Photo sticker booths for SNK，Athena Asamiya is the character who was explaining on the screen

Anime Appearances

 * The King of Fighters: Another Day

Similar Characters

 * Athena

Sprites