Sakura Kasugano...when she was first introduced in Street Fighter Alpha 2, she was immediately assumed to be a female Ryu clone. And for the most part, the assumptions were correct. Sakura shared a lot of Ryu's moves. She also had on the red wristbands and white headband. But was Sakura worthy of being a Street Fighter?
Yes. Sakura immediately became popular. But as Sakura's popularity increased, questions started to be asked. I'm sure you all know what questions I'm talking about...
Does Sakura like Ryu?
Would Ryu and Sakura make a good couple?
These questions wouldn't be so hard if it wasn't for one other person...
Chun Li.
For you see, there were some people who felt that the only person meant for Ryu was Chun Li. But there were others who felt it was Sakura. And thus, the Chun Li/Sakura war began...
But enough about the war. How do I feel about Sakura?
At first, she was just pretty cool to me. She was a nice alternative to Ryu. Even when she came out in Alpha 3, she was still cool, but that was about it.
Even when I started reading SF fanfiction for the first time, I was a rabid R/CL fan. Sakura was cool and all, but that was about it. It wasn't until I joined FF.net that Sakura started to become more interesting to me. When I started to write Street Fighter: New Beginnings(You can read it at FF.net), I was wondering about Sakura's obsession for Ryu. But when I made the spinoff called Attack of the Dark Cherry Blossom, something happened...
I fell in love with Sakura...
I felt sorry for Sakura's character. Her love for Ryu was so genuine and pure, and I liked her personality even more. Sakura has a good heart and is full of energy. That is part of my personality.
And now for the bio...
Sakura is a student at Tamagawa Minami High School. Her best friend, Kei Chitose, tries to keep Sakura out of trouble. But Sakura's fascination with Street Fighting never ends. Sakura continues to find people bigger then her to pick fights with. When Sakura saved Kei and herself from being raped by 3 college boys, her fate was sealed. Sakura was destined to be a Street Fighter.
Ryu is Sakura's idol. He is the only one that Sakura sees fit to train her. Although she did train a little bit under Dan, Sakura quickly denounced Saikyo and went back to Shotokan karate. She wanted to learn more about the art. And she wanted to learn from Ryu.
Her first request was cruelly denied by a cold Ryu. Ryu was going through some things, so he didn't have time to deal with "school girl games". Sakura wasn't discouraged though. She continued to pursue Ryu and managed to get somewhat closer to him.
Sakura continues to train to become stronger, and continues to chase after Ryu to make this dream come true...
A final thing to know about Sakura is that like Ryu, Sakura also has the ability to go "evil". Her evil form is known as "Dark Sakura". Like Evil Ryu, Dark Sakura is not as evil as Akuma. The storyline of Dark Sakura has not really been explained.
So here is Sakura Kasugano, Street Fighter, and Ryu-stalker for life!
First appearance: SF Alpha 2
Friends: Ryu,Karin, Kei, Hinata
Rivals: Ryu, Hinata, Karin, Ken
Enemies: Dark Sakura
First appearance of Dark Sakura: Marvel Super Heroes VS. Street Fighter.
