- "Ibuki, On The Scene!"
Ibuki (いぶき, born December 6, 1980) is a Street Fighter character, introduced in Street Fighter III: New Generation and Super Street Fighter IV.
Story
Ibuki lives in a village composed entirely of Ninja. She has been trained from childhood, yearns for the life of a normal girl of her age. It is implied in the comics she wasn't born into her village, rather she was found as a baby and taken from the evil Geki clan.
In Super Street Fighter IV, she sneaks away from her clan's training to compete in S.I.N's tournament, in order to meet "cool and handsome guys". During the tournament, she started to begun a friendship with Sakura in their rival bout after they bumped each other and asks for directions in how to find some cool boys which she knows only just for one guy in her case. After the tournament, she is late for her clan's training and tries to cover up her worst situation but it failed when she was caught by one of her clan's instructors by hitting her with three kunais much to Sarai's disappointment.
In Street Fighter V, Ibuki appears in the end of R. Mika's prologue story, in which she rejects R. Mika's offer in muscle training, stating that she can't learn anything from someone who is overly passionate and bossy. This angers R. Mika, who asks if she had listened to anything she said; Ibuki responds by saying she was shouting too much so she turned her out. This prompts Mika to tell her step outside, in which Ibuki angrily asks that she leave her alone after she beats her. Mika dubs Ibuki as arrogant, to which Ibuki replies that she isn't arrogant and has been working at Kanzuki Estate longer than Mika has. The argument between the two continues on.
Later in 2nd Impact, Ibuki was sent by her clan to procure documents from Gill's organization. These documents concerned the "G-File" project, which was responsible for creating Necro and Twelve. Gill voluntarily gave Ibuki the documents, though the project was already under way by that point.
In her ending, Ibuki and Don are laying on the grass, the former thinks about the time she was given the G-Files by Gill. Ibuki suddenly sense someone's presence and throws her kunais at the person, who turns out to be just Sarai, who blocks it with her school bag. Sarai scolds Ibuki for ruining her school bag, Ibuki apologizes.
In 3rd Strike, Ibuki tracks down Oro to fight him for her ninja graduation exam. She fights well enough to pass, and moves on to go to a university.
In her ending, Ibuki is excited to make it in Sarusuberi University after a lifetime of training. She explores the campuses, meeting new friends as well as the cool upperclassman in college who convinces her to join his club. However, much to her dismay, the club that she joins turns out to be a hard and dangerous ninja training. The upperclassman holds her at kunai-point as he warns Ibuki about her carelessness and laughs at her "love and excitement" of studying Ninjutsu, much to Ibuki's disappointment.
Appearance
Ibuki is a young girl from Japan, raised in a hidden ninja village and trained in the deadly arts of ninjutsu. She is slim and athletic, her black hair held tightly back in a topknot that drops behind, well beneath the waist. Unlike most other female ninja or kunoichi in videogames or anime, Ibuki's outfit is a more traditional type of ninja dogi, consisting of a sleeveless upper garment, baggy pants, arm guards and a mask that conceals the lower half of her face. Her footwear consists only of cloth bandages wrapped around her shins, ankles and instep. While she is a trained assassin, she also shows another side, stating that she finds her ninja clothes ugly and her daily training strange, jumping back into her civilian garb as soon as she wins a bout.
In one of her win animations, she was seen wearing a white sleeveless shirt, blue jeans and gray and black sneakers. She also carries a yellow backpack. Her school uniform is shown in SSFIV console opening, her prologue and her ending in 2nd Impact, is a light blue sleeveless shirt with a white short sleeved button shirt with a red laced ribbon on the collar, light blue skirt, white socks and black shoes.
Street Fighter Legends
UDON released a four-issue mini series in 2010 called Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki. It was written by Jim Zubkavich and drawn by artist Omar Dogan. The series synopsis is as follows:
All Ibuki wants is a normal Japanese high school experience, but her secret ninja life follows her everywhere she goes. With relentless ninja trainers, deadly Geki assassins, and a crazy karate girl named Makoto all on her case, she'll be lucky if she even makes it to lunch hour in one piece! Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki is one part ninja action, one part high school antics, and 100% non-stop excitement!
Trivia
- Ibuki has a pet tanuki named Don.
- The other ninja in Ibuki's clan include Sanjou, Enjou, Genda, Raion and Homura Yuuta. Enjou is often mistaken for Geki from the original Street Fighter.
- In her New Generation ending, Ibuki, prone on some barren plain, contemplates the words of Gill, when suddenly she is alerted to a "presence". It is immediately after this that she nearly kills one of her closest friends, Sarai. Sarai is saved from Ibuki's kunai daggers by holding her textbook over her head. This is indicative of the restless nature of a ninja, forever on guard.
- Ibuki's storyline in Super Street Fighter IV appears to be derived from her appearance in Pocket Fighter, where she sneaks away from her ninja training to look for an ice cream shop. She also encounters Sakura in her rival battle and asks for directions.
- Additionally, she seems to have begun a friendship with Sakura, based on their rival match in SSFIVand their similar background as high school fighters interested in boys (or at least a particular boy, in Sakura's case). Also, when Ibuki defeats Sakura in a round with a Super Combo Finish, she says "We should totally hang out sometime!", with her match victory quote saying "I never meet anyone cool at my school".
- Ibuki's behavior is different in her rival battle against Sakura. In Pocket Fighter, she becomes calm and angry after Sakura notices her ninja attire which she states it's her own ninja disguise. But in Super Street Fighter IV, she was happy and excited when Sakura accepts her request to find some cool boys and starting to make friends with each other during their rival bout.
- She made a cameo in Capcom Fighting Evolution, at the Japanese Street stage, sitting on a billboard behind E. Honda.
- Ibuki was originally planned to be in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (alongside Charlie and M. Bison) as a playable character, but wasn't included due to time constraints.[1]
- Ibuki appeared in Street Fighter X Tekken, making it her first playable appearance in a crossover game between Capcom and another company. Her partner is Rolento, creating the team name "Tactical Ninja".
- Additionally in Pocket Fighter, Ibuki can change into her Rolento disguise while executing her Kazumi Suzaku Super Art while throwing shurikens, kunais and a tanuki statue. A reference in how Rolento throws his grenades and his knives. Rolento will go on to be her partner in the game.
- Ibuki is the only Street Fighter III character that has a game made specifically for her in Tamaya
- Ibuki is the only character in Street Fighter who is constantly displayed with her pet in official game artwork.
- Ibuki is the only character in Street Fighter who uses non-lethal weapons in her pre and post fight sequences.
- Ibuki has had the biggest weight difference out of any canon Street Fighter fight against Gill with the difference being 644 pounds.
- Ibuki only has one 1 on 1 rival battle throughout her Street Fighter existence in terms of who faces her in their Arcade Mode.
- Ibuki has the most Target Combos in Super Street Fighter IV.
- Ibuki is the lightest character in SFIII.
- Ibuki is the only "pure" Ninjutsu character in all of her appearances.
- In concept art Ibuki had a different style of schoolgirl outfit.
Gallery
For more images of this character, see their Gallery.