Iori Yagami
Encyclopedia : I : IO : IOR : Iori Yagami
| Iori Yagami | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birthplace: | Japan |
| Birthdate: | March 25 |
| Height: | 182 cm |
| Weight: | 79 kg ('95) 76 kg ('96~) |
| Blood type: | Type O |
| Hobbies: | Playing music |
| Favorite Food: | Meat |
| Measurements: | N/A |
| Favorite sport: | Everything |
| Most valuable: | nothing |
| Hates the most: | violence |
| Fighting Style: | Yagami style of ancient martial arts + Pure instinct |
| First Appearance: | KOF 95 |
| Appears in KOF: | 95 - XI |
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| Iori's second costume in The King of Maximum Impact. This marks his first costume change in the entire series.
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| Orochi Iori in Capcom vs SNK 2. This form is induced when Iori becomes saturated with the power of the Orochi and is also a separate, playable character. | |
is a video game character who made his first appearance in the Neo Geo fighting game, The King of Fighters '95. He is a main character and the rival of Kyo Kusanagi. Iori is voiced by Kunihiko Yasui. He wears an instantly recognizable outfit of a black leather Japanese jacket (slightly cut off with a crescent moon on the back), a long white under-shirt and red pants that are tied together at the knees with a red belt.
History
Legend of Yagami
In ancient times, The Yagami clan was once known as the Yasakani; at that time, they were allied with another clan named Kusanagi. In 1200 CE, with the help of the Yata clan (now known as the house of Kagura), keepers of the sacred mirror, the two clans sealed Orochi away, placing him in an eternal slumber. They accomplished this by giving Orochi eight cups of wine and when he was drunk, he was weakened with the sword of Kusanagi and sealed by the Yasakani's Magatama, their mystical and spiritual flame. He was then imprisoned within the sacred mirror of the Yata. Uniting the power of the both clans, and using the mythical crimson flames, the two blood lines managed to seal away the Orochi's power. They assigned the Clan of the Yata to look over the seal, and both clans retired to their respective villages.As time passed, the Yasakani, tired of living in the shadow of the Kusanagi, fell to the temptation of the power of Orochi and made a blood pact with him. This gave them God-like powers, but in return, they and their descendants were forever cursed. They renamed their clan the Yagami and set out to destroy the Kusanagi with their new flames, the Magatama no Orochi. The Kusanagi, aware of this treachery, declared war on the Yagami, a war that has raged ever since. Many clan members on both sides have died in it, much to the glee of the Orochi clan.
As a side-effect of the Orochi's curse, the flames of the Yagami have a bluish tint (more purple in color) that torments the wielder whenever they choose to summon their powers. The curse also causes each heir to die young; furthermore, the mother of the heir always dies in childbirth.
Rugal Saga
Iori is the current descendant of the Yagami clan. Destined to carry out their ancestor's legacy, Kyo and Iori continue the ancient feud.While Iori was training, he heard of numerous exploits by the current heir to the Kusanagi throne. One of them was the entrance of his rival Kyo into the King of Fighters tournament. Iori was interested; such as such a tournament would give him an excellent chance to kill Kyo. To accomplish this, he entered the tournament with Billy Kane and Eiji Kisaragi.
Near the end of the tournament, he arrived at the secret underground base where Kyo was fighting the host Rugal Bernstein, and recognized the presence of his Orochi blood. This made him very formidable, but as a vessel who neglected to be born with the power he could not contain it.
Orochi Saga
The next year, Iori trained strenuously, practicing nearly to unconsciousness, convinced he would triumph in the tournament. While engaged in one of his training sessions, Iori was confronted by two women. Iori recognized one of the women as a secretary for Rugal. As it turned out, both were servants of the Orochi. One of them began attacking him when he demanded that they let him pass. While he fought her, the other one told Iori that they had been observing him, and that he would be perfect as their teammate in the next King of Fighters tournament.In the course of the competition, he eventually faced the "Hero Team", composed of Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido and Goro Daimon. However, the ensuing fight was brief; Chizuru Kagura of the Yata clan quickly took his rival away to confront the threat of the impending Orochi.
Iori immediately sought out Kyo again,and found his rival fighting against Goenitz. Iori recognized the power as the same that had destroyed Rugal, realizing it had to be related to the Orochi. Iori then joined in Kyo's attack on Goenitz. With a final, double crimson blow, Kyo and Iori defeated Goenitz. As he lay dying, Goenitz told Iori that he was doomed to serve Orochi as his servant. As Iori walked away, he encountered his teammates, Mature and Vice, who revealed to him that they allowed him live in order to kill Goenitz. However, Iori began to feel ill, and his blood began to boil. His eyes got hazy, and he began coughing blood, all symptoms of an incipient "Riot of Blood". Unable to control this Orochi power, Iori killed his companions, and walked away, roaring and slashing madly.
After the two murders, Iori disappeared for a year. He suffered from multiple outbreaks of the Riot of Blood several times (resulting in a number of fatalities). Iori learned he had been entered in the next King of Fighters tournament of 1997, as a single entry. Iori was convinced that the responsible agent was Chizuru, thinking he might help her again. However, not much later, Iori once again entered the Riot of Blood, and went into a killing rampage. His mental imbalance reached extremely high levels, and since Orochi was involved in the tournament, his power grew stronger and stronger. However, he also wasn't aware of what he was doing, which allowed the other fighters to subdue him.
In the next tournament, he discovered Kyo and Chizuru in the climatic battle against the ressurected Orochi. The three pooled their power together, with Iori holding the Orochi in place long enough to deliver an final blow.
Shortly after a discovery regarding the NESTS cartel creation of numerous Kyo Kusanagi clones, Iori gained word of another King of Fighters tournament to be held, under the suspicion that the person responsible for the Kyo cloning might be here. Iori took a hidden role in the tournament, following the battles closely. He eventually discovered a hidden NESTS base, but it was long abandoned.
The whereabouts of Iori were unknown after that tournament, and is assumed he cared little about what happened in Southtown; rather, being more concerned with a potential fight against his rival. During this timeframe, Former NESTS agent Seth invited Iori to join his team for the next King of Fighters tournament, under the presumption that he would get his shot against Kyo if he entered.
NESTS Saga
Iori made it clear from the beginning of the tournament that teamwork was irrelevant, as he could take on whole teams by himself. However, near the climax of the tournament, he assisted "K' ", and Kyo to defeat Igniz, the CEO of NESTS, aboard a massive space station. He later escaped the destruction of the station before its impact with earth.Sacred Teasures Saga
In The King of Fighters 2003, Iori reluctantly teamed up again with Kyo and Chizuru Kagura at the latter's request, as it seemed that the current tournament might prove to be linked to the Orochi. After their battle with Mukai, Ash Crimson defeated Chizuru, but not before stealing her powers. Ash then made an offer of servitude to Iori, who answered with a fiery attack. Ash then disappeared while Kyo swore revenge. With the defeat of Chizuru and the imminent resurrection of Orochi on the horizon, it seemed that Iori would be forced to decide on whether he should exorcise and forfeit his Orochi powers, or risk losing his soul to Orochi.However, in The King of Fighters XI, Iori teamed up with Kyo and Shingo Yabuki in hopes of opposing Ash. At the end of the tournament, the strengthening presence of Orochi caused Iori to enter the Riot of Blood, in which he greatly injured Kyo and Shingo before Ash Crimson appeared and defeated him, stealing Iori's sacred treasure, the Yasakani no Magatama, and his power. Iori's status afterwards is unknown.
Trivia
- Curiously, his Special Leader Attack, San Shingi no Ni, or, The Trinity Two in America, is a reference to the way he held Orochi to let Kyo finish him off. The San Shingi no Ni is Iori's Leader DM in which Iori shouts "Ikuzo!", grabs his opponent, sends out a pillar of flames that starts off purple, only to fade away to a crimson hue, signifying a possible redemption for the Yagami. This attack returns in The King of Fighters XI, but the flame stays purple until it fades. This, along with Kyo's loss of his sacred technique possibly signifies the break in the bond created by the absence of Chizuru, the continuing rage of Iori and the returning rage of Kyo.
- The San Shingi no Ni was also used by Riot of the Blood Iori in both SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom and the PlayStation 2 version of The King of Fighters 2002, and stayed purple the entire time, similarly to XI. It also had much less range.
- Riot of the Blood Iori appears as a playable character in KOF 97, Capcom vs. SNK, Capcom vs. SNK Pro, Capcom vs. SNK 2, SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium, SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom, and the console version of KOF 2002.
- The MAX version of Ya Otome bears an incredible resemblance to the scene in Neon Genesis Evangelion when EVA-01 becomes "berserk". In both cases the characters slouch; there eyes are darkened; smoke emits from the open, toothily grinning mouth; and the character tears open his opponent, apparently eats them and even looks over his shoulder with one glowing eye. Since it's well known that SNK has a tendency to draw "inspiration" from anime it is quite likely that this was an intentional parallel.
- Riot of the Blood Iori appears as Benimaru's unlockable Maniac Striker in the console version of KOF 2000.
- His last name means "Eighth God" in Japanese.
- Iori's attire has not changed since 95 (not counting numerous changes to his coat's colors and sprite redrawings), but his special moves have been altered throughout the series: one DM he received in 97, lost in 99, and then regained in 2003; one special move he gained in 98, lost in 2000; one DM he had in 99 only; and one DM in 2000, which, while changed to a follow-up to his primary DM in 2001, is the only new addition to him which remained for more than three games consecutively. Besides that, there was also his HSDM in 2002, which, again, didn't return after that game.
- In the Capcom vs SNK series, there is a special intro with Iori facing off with M. Bison from Street Fighter. It was believed that M. Bison desired Iori as a "New Host."
- Iori and Kyo have similar techniques because both clans had developed together a unique martial art before they fell out. Iori has perfected a brutal variant which incorporates some mortal techniques, such as using his hands as cutting weapons, his fingers tearing through the opponent's flesh.
- Iori's flames are almost always referred to as purple, though there have been two occasions when they were blue: In the opening of The King of Fighters '95, and on the monitor displaying characters fighting in the background of Chizuru's stage in The King of Fighters '96.
- Iori's Ya Otome DM (QCF, HCB + P) is consistently referred to as Maiden Masher, which is not the same thing as the move's actual name (which should be "Eight Maidens").
- Iori's original character design was a typical drawing of Japanese manga artist Yasuhiro Nightow, known for his character designs in Trigun and Gungrave. It is also noted that Iori has the Yasuhiro design of broad, sloping shoulders; lean-build, and bangs that covers one of his eyes. This is especially noted by Iori's similarites to Trigun villain Legato Bluesummers, and Gungrave protagonist Brandon Heat.
- Another Iori (a version of Iori wearing a trenchcoat) appears as Iori's Another Striker in KOF 2000.
- When Demitri's Midnight Bliss is used on the Blood Riot form of Iori in SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom, he is transformed into alleged alter ego Miss X, final boss of the Neo-Geo Pocket Color game SNK Gals Fighters. Miss X was, in fact, Iori in a long dress and cloth mask.
- Iori's alternate outfit in KOF: Maximum Impact features him with short hair and an open shirt.
- Iori's Eight Maidens command used to be QCB, HCF + P until it was changed in KOF97 into QCF, HCB + P. In KOF97, KOF98 and KOF2002, the old command is used by his other DM, Eight Cups of Wine.
External links
References
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