Athena Asamiya (麻宮 アテナ) is a character originally from Psycho Soldier and a distant relative and modern-day counterpart of Princess Athena from Athena. She later appears as a regular fighter in The King of Fighters series; she is perhaps best known for changing her outfit and hair style for virtually every main installment. She stars in her own ADV game Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life that was only released in Japan for the original Sony PlayStation in 1999. Her official nickname is The Psychic Powered Idol or Eternal Psychic Idol (永遠のサイキックアイドル)[1]
Athena was a highly anticipated character for the King of Fighters lineup, and the developers relate that they are constantly working to keep her in the series. 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 The King of Fighters XI, where Athena finally had her sailor uniform, and her classic Psycho Soldier outfit was used in The King of Fighters XII.
Appearance[]
Personality[]
Athena is very outgoing, polite, and friendly. 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, though she can be a bit of a crybaby at times.
Athena often chides Sie Kensou for slacking off in his training. She is either 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.
She greatly enjoys being a pop idol and participating in the King of Fighters tournaments. For instance, Chin Gentsai didn’t particularly want to participate in KOF ‘96, but it was Athena who persuaded him. She also enjoys interacting with her fans. She has changed her costume in response to fan letters and during KOF 2000, dabbled in making her own homepage.
Abilities[]
Psionics - Athena is a powerful psychic, being capable of harnessing several psionic abilities.
Psychokinesis - Athena can move objects with her mind.
Psychic projectile - Athena can condense her psychic energy into the shape of a ball and fire it at her opponent.
Psychic energy strikes - Athena can materialize and coalesce psychic energy on her limbs in order to strengthen her physical attacks.
Psychic barrier - Athena can surround her body with a resilient shield of energy. This energy barrier can also be used offensively
Teleportation - Athena can bend space with her mind in order to move herself, objects or other people.
Psychic Reflector - Athena can create a shield-like barrier that deflects projectiles.
Psychic Healing - Athena can channel her psychic energy in order to heal herself or others of wounds and damage. This has been seen multiple times, such as in The King of Fighters 2000 as her striker move, or Athena: Awakening From the Ordinary Life, where she heals Rika.
Singing and Performing - Athena is a J-Pop star of established fame. She is an accomplished singer who has many fans, including Jhun, Momoko and Kaoru. She has found success among male and female fans alike.
Information Technology - Athena is stated to be particular well-versed in all matters of the internet. She is also an avid online shopper and is stated to be constantly on the lookout for bargains and have bought numerous items online, a detail stressed in XV.
Website Designing - Athena is good at designing and creating websites and makes a hobby out of it. Her aforementioned line of expertise pertains to the front-end aspect of websites.
Divination - Athena is knowledgeable in tarots, astrology and fortunetelling.
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. Athena's fighting style revolves mostly around simple yet effective strikes, and around speed and acrobatics, rather than strength. She uses her psychic powers to full effectiveness when in combat, improving her martial capabilities, controlling the battlefield and catching the enemy off guard with several surprise tactics.
Psycho Soldier "K.O.F. Version" - The King of Fighters '94, 2002, Athena On Stage
Senritsu no Dora (Trembling of the Gong) - The King of Fighters '95, '98, '98 Ultimate Match (console version only), 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 (New! Trembling of the Gong) - The King of Fighters '98, '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, EX, EX2
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
Tachi bou ke -Instrumental- - The King of Fighters XIV
Tachi bou ke - The King of Fighters XIV (as Kensou's opponent)
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!
Psycho Soldier ~SNK Heroines Edit~ - SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy
The King of Fighters All Star: '96 Version Artwork.
The King of Fighters All Star: '97 Version Artwork.
The King of Fighters All Star: '98 Version Artwork.
The King of Fighters All Star: '99 Version Artwork.
The King of Fighters All Star: '00 Version Artwork.
The King of Fighters All Star: '03 version artwork.
The King of Fighters All Star: XIII Version (Special Signature) Artwork.
The King of Fighters - All Star: Wonderland Athena artwork.
The King of Fighters All Star: XV Version Artwork.
The King of Fighters All Star: Festival Athena Artwork.
Etymology[]
The name Athena comes from a Greek goddess associated with wisdom, handicraft and warfare.
Coincidentally, her voice actress since KOF '98, Haruna Ikezawa, was born in Athens, Greece's capital city, named after and originally dedicated to the goddess Athena.
Athena's surname Asamiya means "hemp, flax" (麻) (asa) and "temple, shrine, palace" (宮) (miya).
Trivia[]
Nona, one of the series' designers, replies that Athena is his favorite original character in the series.
In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, she was voted as the eighth favourite character with a total of 1,139 votes.[3] 833 votes from the male fans and 306 votes from the female fans.[4] 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.
Athena's birthday, March 14, falls on White Day, a common celebration in Japan and neighbouring countries that is a counterpart to Valentine's Day.
Of all the playable KOF characters, Athena has the most changes of outfits and hair styles, switching her clothes in each mainline game she participates in. She is the only female character of the series to do this.