| Shingo Yabuki | Story | Move List | Gallery | Quotes | Trivia |
"Is he finally worthy of the Kusanagi mantle? A future master of the blazing fire in his heart! SHINGO YABUKI." - The King of Fighters XV
Shingo Yabuki (
Development[]
The developers at the time wanted a character to add levity to the dark storyline of '97, which lead to Shingo's creation. His design and personality are influenced by common anime tropes such as school rivalries.[4]
The creators of the series explain that Shingo is designed to be the comic foil to KOF main character Kyo Kusanagi. While Kyo was a hero, Shingo is meant to be a "simple and plain, everyday guy". To follow this character persona, he was also meant to be marketed on a lesser scale of importance as part of his introduction to the series. But in spite of their intention to promote him simply and plainly, he was splashed all over the place with his silhouette appearing in pre-promotion campaigns in magazines, which lead to Shingo being a hyped-up character.[5]
Personality[]
He is one of the more lighthearted and silly characters in the series, a "goof". He considers every fighter his friend, making them consider him to be a "weird, but good" kid. Shingo admires Kyo like an idol, and often dedicates his victories to him. He dreams of being able to wield flames like Kyo, which is stressed to the point of comic relief throughout the series.
However, he has his own moments of cockiness, sometimes thinking of himself surpassing Kyo, to which the latter will remind him brutally of reality. Still, while Kyo doesn't take Shingo seriously at first or thinks of him as an eyesore at worst, he begins trusting him and seeing him more than as a student or an errand boy. This becomes more apparent when Saisyu starts training him formally, and getting moderately involved in the affairs of the Kusanagi and the 3 Sacred Treasures, through Chizuru's intervention. Through this, Shingo tends to regardless have mediation skills in being a middle-ground between other characters with major conflict, such as Kyo and Iori during the Tales of Ash saga.
Powers[]
- Pyrokinesis (temporarily) - Shortly during his time-displacement on stopping a recently Orochi-corrupted Magai, Shingo temporarily awakened his own fire, albeit blue colored still a small portion, and currently can only be utilized to boost his physical attacks in The King of Fighters Side Story: The Origin of Flame - Shingo Travels Through Time! Let's Go!. This power is meant to temporarily purify half of Magai Yasakani from the Orochi's curse. Flames also appear randomly during Shingo's various attacks in KOF XV, although these flames are red rather than blue.
Skills[]
- Indomitable Spirit - Shingo is highly optimistic and will overcome inadequacy through hard work. However, because he isn't a member of the Kusanagi bloodline, he does not have the ability to intentionally create fire out of thin air. Despite knowing he lacks the ability to create his own flames, he continues training and sees Kyo as his inspiration to improve, with very few things able to douse his spirits.
- Quick Hand - Shingo can quickly jot down notes of any ability he sees.
- Quick Recall - Shingo is able to quickly re-perform techniques he's seen only once by referring to his notebook. Through constant training, he starts to rely less on his notebook and begin memorizing techniques internally.
Fighting Style[]
He replicates several of Kyo's moves without flames. He isn't perfect though, as he always takes out his handbook if he seems to forget a move.
Despite his lack of ability, he has a certain level of strength in his skills that causes critical hits. During KOF '97 and '98, this was a feature unique to him that will make any of his special moves randomly struck the enemy in a hit stun longer than normal, making Shingo able to follow up with another attack.
He also "messes up" certain moves — such as the 101 Shiki Mikansei: Oboro Guruma, Shingo Kinsei Ore Mu Shiki and Shingo Kinsei Oreshiki: Rouka Guruma — where he falls or collapses during or after their executions. Even then, he seems to lately be able to match-up with the other non-flame-based techniques of the Kusanagi style, albeit still without the flames.
Music[]
| Song Title | Game Appearances | Track | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The King of Fighters series | |||
| Still Green |
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| KD-0079 |
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| Inner Shade |
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| Invincible Flame |
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| Tears |
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| Joyrider |
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| New Order |
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| Asia Sangokudomei (Triple Alliance of Asia) |
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| Still Green -KOF XV ver. |
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Image Song[]
- The Song of Fighters II - Shared image song with other King of Fighters characters
Appearances[]
Voice Actor[]
Japanese[]
Etymology[]
- The name Shingo means "real, genuine" (真) (shin) and "I, me" (吾) (go).
- Shingo's surname Yabuki means "arrow" (矢) (ya) and "blow, breathe, puff, emit, smoke" (吹) (fuki/buki).
Trivia[]
- Most of Shingo's animations are shared with Saisyu Kusanagi, as both use the more basic principles of the Kusanagi style. Saisyu even tutors Shingo himself at some point to further hone the style.
- In The King of Fighters 2003, Shingo can randomly produce a small flame spark when performing his 115 Shiki: Dokugami Mikansei (Unfinished Method 115: Poison Bite) attack. However, it is reveled in the Japan Team ending that he somehow did "produce" a fire of sorts.
- In Neo-Geo Freak 1998, the characters in KOF '98 have their own interviews. Here are Shingo's response to the questions.[6]
- What is your aspiration in this competition? - "Ahem! My aspiration is to fight fiercely while assuring myself of the many skills that Kusanagi-san has learned one by one! It may be fast, but it will be satisfying if it's a game without regret so that what I learned so far is not in vain."
- Who would you like to fight the most? - "Well ~~ Well, maybe Kusanagi-san. It seems you're cheeky, but..."
- Who would you like to team up with? / Who would you not like to team up with? - "Well, I don't know many fighters, so I don't want to feel bad when teaming up... Kusanagi-san, in the end. I can't fight well, but if I have the opportunity to see his fights up close, I wonder if it's good. And those who I don't want to team with is Iori! The enemy of Kusanagi is my enemy too!"
- What is "KOF" for you? - "The electricity of life that I found in destiny … Is it too big? Hehehe, but without KOF, I wouldn't be here now … Wouldn't it be good if life changed in good or bad way?"
- Finally, please give a word to your fans. - "Fan? Is there something …? Well, good. Then Ahem! I Report Yabuki! He is a student of Kusanagi! I took part in KOF to get a step closer to Kusanagi-san one more time! Thank you for your support, I'll be strong!"
- Shingo is one of the few KOF characters who has never changed his voice actors since debut.
- The other characters in the series with the same voice actors since their first appearance are King, Benimaru Nikaido, Choi Bounge, Kula Diamond, Whip, Ash Crimson, Maxima and Oswald.
- Shingo and Alice Garnet Nakata are the only characters of the series who are fans of other characters (in this case, the idols are protagonists of their respective series).
- Both the characters also try to imitate his idols in their fighting styles.
- Other similar characters from Capcom are Sakura Kasugano and Sean Matsuda from the Street Fighter series.
- Due to being voiced by Takehito Koyasu, who would later on earn fame for being the voice of Dio Brando in the anime adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, some memes put elements and famous quotes of Dio into Shingo.
- A similar occurrence happens to Nameless and his voice actor, Daisuke Ono, the voice of Jotaro Kujo, in the same anime aforementioned.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Shingo's Profile from The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Shingo's Profile from The King of Fighters 2001
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Shingo's Profile from The King of Fighters 2000
- ↑ The King of Fighters ’97 Global Match Out Tomorrow on PS4, PS Vita Yasuyuki Oda and Hideaki Asanaka interview.
- ↑ Official character profile from KOF anniversary website.
- ↑ Neo Geo Freak 1998-08 archive The King of Fighters '98 character interviews.
