Eiji Kisaragi

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Eiji Kisaragi
Game series	Art of Fighting series King of Fighters series
First game	Art of Fighting
Voice actor(s)	Yoshinori Shima
In-Universe Information
Birthplace	Japan
Blood type	B
Fighting style	Kisaragi Ryu Ninpo
Likes	Practicing new techniques, preserved food (and any other food that keeps well)
Dislikes	Kyokugenryu Karate and its practitioners

Eiji Kisaragi (如月 影二, Kisaragi Eiji^?) is a character in both the Art of Fighting and King of Fighters series. He is the decedent of Zantetsu from another fighting game series the Last Blade series

In both The King of Fighters XI and the manga of The King of Fighters: Kyo, Eiji is portrayed as only semi-serious, and is often the butt of other characters' jokes.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Art of Fighting 1.2 The King of Fighters 2 Personality 3 Trivia 4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Art of Fighting

Eiji is an assassin ninja from the feared and respected Kisaragi clan. He had been taught the killing arts of the Kisaragi since childhood, and he also became an expert in psychokinetic transportation, as a descendant of Zantetsu he also uses the Nagare(流）and Kage(影) twin ninja daggers. His school is the sworn enemy of both the Sakazaki clan and Kyokugenryu Karate. Eiji is a mercenary, willing to kill for anyone so long as they pay well. However though he was a villain in AOF2, there was no indication he was ever a member of Mr. Big's syndicate.

As with all of the characters from the previous two games except Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, Eiji does not appear in Art Of Fighting 3. However Jin Fuha is looking for him.

[edit] The King of Fighters

In The King of Fighters '95 Eiji decided to end the rivalry between his and the Sakazaki families by killing the Sakasaki Family (Ryo, Yuri and Takuma). Having traveled to Southtown to perform this task, he found no one in their dojo, instead there he learned of the King of Fighters tournament, in which the Sakazaki clan was participating. After hearing rumours spread town wide that Billy Kane, Geese Howard's former personal bodyguard was looking for some team-mates for his team for the next tournament. Eiji saw in this a perfect opportunity to fulfill his desire and joined Kane's team for the tournament.

Eiji's team failed to reach the finals of the 1995 tournament and he was unable to get a 'clear shot' at the Sakazaki family. While about to escape and go search for them on his own, Iori Yagami appeared in front of Eiji and Billy Kane and brutally beat them, nearly killing them both.

Eiji did not appear as a playable, or story, character in King of Fighters game again until The King of Fighters XI. He did not even appear in KOF 1998, which included almost everyone from 94' to 97' in a 'dream team' style line-up. This has been explained by stating that while trying to join the tournaments in the ten years between appearances, he was repeatedly rejected due to his extremly violent actions.

Eiji returned in The King of Fighters XI continuing his vendetta against Kyokugenryu practitioners and the Sakazaki family in particular, and now seeking additional vengence against Iori, Kasumi Todoh (another rival of Kyokugenryu Karate, but not to the extreme of Eiji), and Malin (who appears to have some hostility towards Yuri Sakazaki due to her remarks about Malin's fighting style). It is unclear if Eiji wanted to enter to kill the Sakazaki family or Iori in this tournament.

[edit] Personality

Eiji is a ruthless assassin, incapable of remorse or emotional attachment as he fights, human life appears to mean nothing to him. He is skilled at fighting multiple enemies at once. Eiji, possible due to so few appearances has been fleshed out very little other than his hatred/rivalry of the Sakazaki family and his more recent vengeance against Iori, his past has yet to be revealed.

Many Western players believed Eiji to be secretly in love with popular character Mai Shiranui because the US version of his Art Of Fighting 2 ending implies such a thing (despite the series being set 15 years before the Fatal Fury series) the Japanese version does not imply such a thing.

[edit] Trivia

• SNK originally considered having Eiji fight with poison tipped needles hidden in the hair of his bangs. On KOF 10th, this is even joked about, with a designer humorously expressing his content that they did not follow through on that idea.
• Eiji has appeared in several background cameos in every game after KOF '95. In KOF '96, he appears in Chizuru's stage. In KOF '97, he appears in China. In KOF '98, he appears in U.S.A.. In '98, 2002 and NeoWave, he even appears in the battlefield, in Billy's intro scenes against Iori (he always appears unnoticed to Billy, in these cases)..
• Eiji appears as Lin's Another Striker in KOF 2000.
• According to the KOF: Kyo manga, Kyo's mother, Shizuka Kusanagi, finds Eiji interesting and the two appear to be friendly, even, despite meeting when Eiji was infiltrating the Kusanagi home for information about the Kusanagi and Yagami blood feud. She's so calm and polite in his presence, not even blinking at his words, that she makes quite the impression on him and even manages to make him sit down with her for tea and wait until Saisyu comes back home.
• It is speculated that Eiji was the one that attacked Takuma Sakazaki in the end of KOF 2003.

[edit] External links

• The King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website

Art of Fighting

Characters
Eiji Kisaragi - Geese Howard - Kasumi Todoh - King - Mr. Big - Mr. Karate - Robert Garcia - Ryo Sakazaki - Ryuhaku Todoh - Yuri Sakazaki - Jack Turner - Lee Pai Long - Jin Fuha - Mickey Rogers - John Crawley - Karman Cole - Roddy Birts - Lenny Creston - Wang Koh San - Wyler