Karin Kanzuki

Hair: Blonde Eyes: Hazel Height: 160 cm Weight: 59 kg Measurements: 83cm, 57cm, 85cm Blood Type: B Fighting Style: Kanzuki-ryuu Esoteric Arts

Karin is the daughter of Daigenjuro Kanzuki and his wife Nadeshiko Kanzuki; their butler is Ishizaki‎, and Shibazaki is the family steward. Karin's father Daigenjuro is a rather strict man as he constantly pushes his daughter into becoming a better heir to the Kanzuki family fortune, as he wanted a son.

The wealthy Kanzuki family's mottos are "All you need is victory" (also interpreted as "Be the winner in everything") and, alternately, "The worst we'll ever be is the best" (a bonus short in the Street Fighter III: Ryu Final manga takes this further with "Victorious, therefore Supreme! Supreme, she is Karin Kanzuki!"). Her family's private estate covers 200 miles of land, and not only has its own geographical features but its own climate. The Kanzukis are even wealthier than the Masters, so rich that they have their own satellite called "Red Spider-Lily". Karin was given a son's upbringing because her father always wanted a male heir to his conglomerate.

Additionally, Karin was given several tests by her father to complete or else she would be disqualified from inheriting the family fortune. Her first test was when she was nine years old, where she was taken to the woods with meager food and water; she had to come home safely or else she'd be disowned (her father struggled two weeks to accomplish this when he was her age, but Karin polished the trial off in four days). Another test, based solely on her gender, was that if she didn't charm at minimum 5,000 of the world's gentlemen she cannot inherit the family fortune (she passed this test too, and her mother Nadeshiko is said to have charmed 50,046 gentlemen, including her husband, to see if Nadeshiko would qualify to be Daikenjuro's wife). Yet another test required her to stop a stampede of fifty wild bulls, single-handedly stopping a running of the bulls at age fourteen. Karin subdued fifty bulls in all, beating her father's record by one.

Personality: As new head of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, she is proper and polite at all times, but her haughty demeanor has been replaced, to a degree, by a new respect towards her opponents, and an interest in new and unique fighting styles; while still capable of making unflattering comments towards them if they don't meet her expectations, she seems to have lived up to her previous realization that it is the challenge, not the victory, that is important. By this time, her friendship with Sakura is confirmed, although their rivalry is very much present still. It is shown in the character stories of some characters that she is truly interested in fighting and usually greet people with a fight, even when they didn't really want it, like Ibuki or Dhalsim.

Appearance: She stylizes her blonde hair into long, oversized Victorian Europe-style ringlets, with two small forelocks and braids encircling her head, and occasionally wears a blue bow in the back. Karin wears a business suit-esque outfit but has still a resemblance to the original in palette and design. She wears a red long sleeve jacket with a blue frill shirt and white frill folded sleeves underneath and a white ascot tie at the center of her collar, a red frill skirt, and black tights.

Fighting Style:

Karin has a wide array of strikes, throws and potent reversals, and she prides herself on being able to handle any opponent she faces. She prefers to keep her opponents guessing by varying the speed of her attacks, and also makes them second-guess their own choice of moves for fear of her powerful counterattacks.

She is well versed in various forms of Bushido, military arts, and "combative sports". This was probably mistranslated from a term that meant "combat sports", which includes various events (e.g. Japanese pro wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts groups). The sum of all her accomplishments in the field of martial arts is equivalent to 100 dan and 8 kyu (the Japanese ranking system for martial arts, among other things).

If asked about these characters, Karin will express her opinions on them.

Sakura: Karin and Sakura are good friends and good rivals. Sakura first defeated Karin, making Karin lose her long winning streak. Shortly after, Karin defeated Sakura, but learned that there were more important things in a fight than winning. Since then, the two have become close friends akin to Ryu and Ken, regularly sparring with her and remaining in constant contact with each other. In Street Fighter V, after hearing Sakura's concerns about her life's path, Karin helps arrange a meeting between Sakura and Ryu, having known about Sakura's feelings for him.

Ken: Karin is good friends with Ken and his family. Karin holds Ken in high regard, due to his superior fighting ability, especially after losing to him during the events of Street Fighter Alpha 3. Ken told her that there’s more to a fight than just winning, and that the fight itself is more important. In Street Fighter V they're shown to be on good terms, as Karin invited Ken to her party and Ken decided to go even though it was his only day off. They take part in the takedown of Shadaloo.

Ryu: Although Ryu hasn't interacted with Karin much, she respects Ryu due to his fighting ability, just like with Ken. In A Shadow Falls, Karin showed slight annoyance when Ken returned without Ryu, but was delighted when he showed up after defeating Necalli. She also seems to keep tabs on his location as she was able to send Laura to Ryu when she wanted to fight a strong opponent, and then managed to contact Ryu in Sakura's character story.

Birdie: Birdie and Karin first met while Birdie was attempting to escape from Shadaloo. After she defeated him, and he told her why he escaped, she hired him as a bodyguard.

Guy: Karin first confronted him in Street Fighter Alpha 3 to test out his skills. After being defeated, she sent him to Shadaloo with the intention of defeating M. Bison.

R. Mika: They first met also in Street Fighter Alpha 3, in which Karin underestimated her. Karin soon became Mika's sponsor and has remained so to this day. In Street Fighter V, she, along with others, helped take down Shadaloo.

Dhalsim: After missing the opportunity to fight Oro, she fights Dhalsim instead. They later team up to destroy Shadaloo.

Oro: Karin seeks to fight Oro, due to his status as a legendary martial artist and hearing he fought her grandpa for 3 days straight.

Zangief: Karin saved Zangief from Shadaloo's henchmen and asked for a match in return. They soon got together, along with others, to destroy Shadaloo.

Ibuki: Ibuki came to Karin's party after Sakura couldn't come, filling Sakura's place. They greet each other and have a match. Being impressed by her skills, Karin hires Ibuki for a short time, so her and Birdie are on the same payroll. They join the others in the plan to destroy Shadaloo. An interesting note is that Capcom purposely made Karin and Ibuki's story outfits to match each other, even having similar alternate color pallettes (one of Ibuki's alternates being Karin's default and vise versa). Karin is highly tolerant of Ibuki, putting up with her more childish antics without ever losing her temper, something seen in Shadowfalls. Karin even tells Ibuki to get to the escape helicopter first before anyone else. Ibuki in return is somewhat weirded out by Karin and her personality. However Ibuki is shown to be very loyal to Karin and may be her second most loyal worker as Ibuki was willing to accompany Karin when she declared war and also stayed by Karin's side for most of Shadow Falls.

Rashid: At first, she thought he was an intruder and a guest "without manners" who wanted the pieces for himself. However, after Rashid gained her trust, they became friends and allies in the battle against Shadaloo.

Chun-Li: Karin and Chun-Li are good friends. In a win quote against her, Karin states that some of her moves were inspired by Chun-Li. Chun-Li takes part in Karin's plan to destroy Shadaloo and take down M. Bison.

Cammy: Karin shares a mutual respect for Cammy. She also recognizes Cammy as one of the top ranked fighters in the world. In a win quote against her, Karin acknowledges Cammy's abilities, stating that there is a magnificent "snap" to every one of her strikes. In Street Fighter V, Cammy was one of many fighters Karin has contacted to stop Shadaloo. Later on when the Kanzuki Estate was being infiltrated by Decapre and März, she and Cammy worked together to fight them off.

Zeku: Employed him in his Street Fighter V story mode.