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, better known as R. Mika, is the
professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
moniker of , a character in
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's ''
Street Fighter is a Media mix, Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom. Street Fighter 1, The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by List of Street Fighter video games, six other ma ...
''
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series. First appearing in ''
Street Fighter Alpha 3 ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', released as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1998 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. It is the third and final installment in the '' Street Fighter Alpha'' sub-series, which ...
'' (1998) as a wrestler trying to make a name for herself, Mika was designed by Akira "Akiman" Yasuda with the help of artist Daigo Ikeno. The character has since appeared in comics related to the ''Street Fighter'' franchise and other titles by Capcom. Mika returned in ''
Street Fighter V ''Street Fighter V'' is a 2016 fighting game developed by Capcom, Dimps and Taito and published by Capcom for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows, Windows. The major follow-up to ''Street Fighter IV'' (2008) as part of Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' ...
'' (2016) with a redesigned appearance by Toshiyuki Kamei, now a mainline wrestler with a tag team partner. Originally voiced by
Junko Takeuchi is a Japanese actress and voice actress employed by Ogipro The Next Co. Inc. & BQMAP. Taking a well-trod path by many voice actresses, she often voices young male characters, with generally very quirky and goofy personalities. One of her most ...
, as of ''Street Fighter V'' she was voiced by Bonnie Gordon and
Hiromi Igarashi is a Japanese voice actress from Sapporo, Hokkaido. She is affiliated with Mausu Promotion. Her major roles are Anzu Futaba in the Japanese idol franchise ''The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls''; Hina Takanashi, the youngest daughter in '' Listen ...
in English and Japanese respectively. R. Mika has received mixed critical reception since her introduction, with a significant focus being on her appearance and discussions on character sexualization. While several outlets were critical of her design, others noted it was suitable for her wrestling character, and in particular ''The Mary Sue'' utilized her in a discussion contrasting sexualized versus empowered in regards to the differences between her game and comic counterparts. The character was also the source of some controversy when one of her attacks in ''Street Fighter V'' was seemingly censored, with several outlets questioning the validity of the controversy.


Conception and design

Designed by Akira "Akiman" Yasuda for ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', the character's design was originally very different according to producer Norikata Funamizu, with the core concept being to implement a "tricky and technical character" to enhance the gameplay. After another developer suggested to add a female
professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...
to the game's roster, Akiman took the suggestion to heart and quickly drew a basic sketch, drawing some inspiration from an article he read in ''
Gamest was a Japanese video game magazine that specialized in covering arcade games. ''Gamest'' originated from the bi-monthly fanzine ''VG2 Newsletter'' from the early 1980s. Following the bankruptcy of publisher Shinseisha, many editors would move to A ...
'' about Japanese professional wrestler
Cutie Suzuki (born October 22, 1969, as ), better known by her ring name , is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, actress, and model who is best known for her time in JWP Joshi Puroresu, where she is a 5-time JWP Tag Team Champion. In 1990, she ...
. His initial rough draft was significantly different, lacking the heart theme and mask while giving her a spikey hairstyle inspired by the manga ''
Kimagure Orange Road is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Izumi Matsumoto. It was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine from 1984 to 1987, with the chapters collected in 18 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Shueisha. The story follows teen ...
'', later switching to
pigtail A woman with long pigtails and braids. In the context of hairstyles, the usage of the term pigtail (or twin tail or twintail) shows considerable variation. The term may refer to a single braid, but is more frequently used in the plural ("pi ...
s instead on the second draft. Artist Daigo Ikeno later helped fill in the details, giving what Akiman calls "a sense of realism" to her design. A particular goal of her gameplay was also to present a subtle difference between her and fellow ''Street Fighter'' character
Zangief Zangief (; Japanese: ), often called the , is a character in Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' series. Considered to be the first grappling-based fighting game character, he made his debut in '' Street Fighter II: The World Warrior'' (1991). In the ...
, in both positive and negative regards. R. Mika stands 168 cm tall (5 ft 6 in) and has
measurements Measurement is the quantification of attributes of an object or event, which can be used to compare with other objects or events. In other words, measurement is a process of determining how large or small a physical quantity is as compared to ...
of 97-72-93 cm (38-28-37 in). In ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' her outfit consists of a blue and white leotard extending down her thighs and arms, while her long blonde hair is in pigtails on the sides of her head. The leotard itself has various cutouts exposing her skin, namely on the shoulders, cleavage, thighs, buttocks, and a heart cutout on her upper back intended to bring attention to her backside. A white bustier covers her breasts, with a large blue heart on each of her nipples, an aspect inspired the character Michiru Saotome from
Getter Robo is a Japanese Mecha anime and manga, mecha media franchise created by Ken Ishikawa (manga artist), Ken Ishikawa and Go Nagai. An anime television series produced by Toei Animation was broadcast on Fuji TV from April 4, 1974, to May 8, 197 ...
. White frills circle her neck, wrists, and sides of her pelvis, while white laced wrestling boots extend up to her knees. A blue rounded domino mask covers her eyes, a feature inspired by
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
character Yatterman-2 in an attempt to capture what Akiman felt made that character cute. In the book ''How to Make Capcom Fighting Characters'', Akiman added that her blonde hair/blue/white color scheme combination was also inspired by another character, in this case Lisa Kusanami from
Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
's fighting game ''
Last Bronx is a 1996 3D fighting video game developed by Sega AM3 on the Sega Model 2 mainboard. It was released in Japanese and American arcades before home versions were produced in for the contemporary Sega Saturn and Windows systems in 1997. Set in ...
''. Years later, ''
Street Fighter IV is a 2008 fighting game developed by Capcom and Dimps and published by Capcom. It was the first original main entry in the series since '' Street Fighter III'' in 1997, a hiatus of eleven years. Designed for the Taito Type X2 arcade hardware, ...
'' producer Yoshinori Ono heavily petitioned the game's director for her inclusion in the title, citing her as his personal favorite character, with no success. However, she was later included in ''Street Fighter V'', with art director Toshiyuki Kamei focused on updating her outfit with a bolder design, and adding flair to signify her character transition to a headline act in professional wrestling. Describing her in a design note as a "peppy girl with some meat on her bones and a classic pro-wrestling style", they emphasized her "girlishness" and "cuteness" in contrast to the other series wrestlers, and wanted to show her bouncing around the arena as she fought. In this incarnation more skin is exposed, while her chest is now covered in white material with a heart shaped cutout extending around the top of her breasts. Akiman on his
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voiced approval for the change, stating that she was easier to see thanks to the removal of the hearts from her chest, adding in a later tweet they made her look "overdone" and describing the cutout as "very neat! The juniors at Capcom are very proper!" In addition to the changes, Mika was also given a wide variety of secondary outfits, including a version of her regular attire that exposes less skin with a white stylized "M" on her chest, a schoolgirl outfit with glasses, and a red ornate outfit modeled after a phoenix. With ''Street Fighter V'' another character named was designed to appear in several of her attacks, and alongside her in-game. An athletic Japanese woman wearing red and white wrestling boots and leotard with a bob style haircut, she was designed by Ikeno during ''Street Fighter Alpha 3''s development as Mika's tag team partner, and appeared on the cover of Capcom's "Secret File" arcade flyer for the game. When implemented into ''V'', game director Takayuki Nakayama sent an image of Japanese professional wrestler
Hikaru Shida is a Japanese professional wrestler, martial artist, actress, and model. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she is a former three-time AEW Women's World Champion, with her first reign being the longest in the title's history. She ...
to the character designer to use as a guide.


Appearances

As introduced in the 1998 video game ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', Mika Nanakawa is a Japanese woman seeking to make her debut in professional wrestling under the stage name "Rainbow Mika", inspired by her idolization of Zangief. To promote herself, she decides to travel the world and fight various martial artists. She encounters Zangief himself along the way, and after the two spar they are attacked by the criminal organization Shadloo and its leader M. Bison. The wrestlers manage to escape and go their separate ways, with Mika pondering if she'll see Zangief again while she trains. In ''Street Fighter V'', a game set after the events of her first appearance, Mika is now a full professional wrestler and works with her former tag team partner Yamato Nadeshiko. After encountering Zangief, she travels with him for some time, and after fighting off a rampaging bear together, he praises her spirit and agrees to be her wrestling partner. Later in the story, they work together alongside other ''Street Fighter'' characters to stop a revived Shadaloo. Outside of the ''Street Fighter'' series she appears as a supporting character in the 2001
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
game ''Startling Adventures: Kuusou Daibouken X 3''s third chapter, where the protagonist helps her during a wrestling match by preventing attackers from entering the ring. She is also an available character Capcom's mobile game ''Street Fighter Battle Combination''. The '' SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters'' series feature her as selectable cards, as does
GungHo Online Entertainment is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. They are primarily known for hosting the Japanese server of '' Ragnarok Online'' (developed by its listed Korean subsidiary Gravity), as well as their development of '' Ragnarok DS'' for the N ...
's mobile game ''
TEPPEN (stylized as ''TEPPƎN'') is a free-to-play digital collectible card game developed by GungHo Online Entertainment and Capcom. It released in North America and Europe on July 4, 2019 and in Asia on August 8 for Android, and iOS. The game was ...
''. In physical trading card media she appears in ''Versus TCG'', a card game based on ''Card Fighters' Clash'', and Jasco Games' ''
Universal Fighting System The ''Universal Fighting System'' (''UFS''), released in 2006 and rebranded as ''UniVersus'' in 2021, is a collectible card game published by UVS Games. Games of ''UFS'' represent a fight between two characters in hand-to-hand combat. Characte ...
''. Lastly, her outfit appears as an alternative costume for ''
Tekken is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The main games in the series follow the events ...
'' character Kuma in the crossover fighting game ''
Street Fighter X Tekken (pronounced "Street Fighter Cross Tekken") is a 2012 crossover fighting video game published by Capcom, who developed with Dimps, for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, and with QLOC for Windows. The game features characters fro ...
''. In print media, Mika is featured frequently in UDON Entertainment's ''
Street Fighter is a Media mix, Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom. Street Fighter 1, The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by List of Street Fighter video games, six other ma ...
'' comic series. First introduced in ''Street Fighter Legends: Sakura'', the titular character Sakura Kasugano is a fan of Mika, and attends a wrestling match between her and Zangief. After Mika defeats Zangief and knocks him unconscious, he later wakes up enraged and demands a rematch while she is attending fans. Mika fights him, and with Sakura's help they subdue him. In the fifth issue of ''Street Fighter II: Turbo'', a retelling of the titular game, Mika and Zangief appear alongside other fighters invited to the fighting tournament and are told to tag team against the duo of E. Honda and Sodom in the preliminaries. While playing to the crowd, she is taken by surprise when Sodom charges at her but manages to
suplex A suplex is an Offense (sports), offensive move used in Wrestling, sport wrestling as well as amateur wrestling and professional wrestling. It is a throw that involves lifting the opponents and Bridge (grappling), bridging or rolling to slam the ...
him, only to be thrown from the ring and eliminated from the tournament due to his quick recovery. In the first volume ''Super Street Fighter'', a collection of short stories, she appears as part of a wrestling committee alongside other wrestling-themed characters from the series, the group ultimately breaking into a brawl. In the second, after appearing briefly in
Dan Hibiki is a character from Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' fighting game franchise. He was created to parody Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, the two lead characters of SNK's ''Art of Fighting'' series, as Capcom saw Ryo as a ripoff of ''Street Fighter'' c ...
's story and defeating him, she is featured in her own in a match against the wrestler Hugo Andore. Hugo, however, refuses to fight due to finding her "too pretty", and his manager
Poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...
takes his place instead. Poison handcuffs Mika during the match, but is defeated when Mika instead somersaults butt-first into her midsection, knocking Poison unconscious.


Reception

Since her introduction Rainbow Mika has been met with mixed reception. ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' stated "''Street Fighter'' has never been shy with the gorgeous ladies, but they've always had full-figured back stories to go along with their full-figured backsides. Rainbow Mika on the other hand is the most blatant example of mysogynistic character design seen in the series." Todd Ciolek from
Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...
declared Mika as "the worst ''Street Fighter'' character," reasoning "every little detail about her annoyed me, from the stupid boob-hearts on her costume to the way she whomped opponents with her butt—and rubbed it after she hit the ground." At ''
Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...
'', Eric Van Allen criticized her outfit by stating that "even by ''Street Fighter'' standards, this amount of gratuitous flesh is rather ridiculous." At ''
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'', Gavin Jasper stated that while each of the wrestling characters represented a different aspect of the sport, she represented the pageantry, praising her character for it but adding "While seeing her bust out Stone Cold Stunners is good fun, the way they’ve transformed her into a sexualized rodeo clown does get kind of embarrassing at times." However, this opinion is not shared between all critics, with ''
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'' noting her "ridiculously impractical attire" and propensity to attack with her buttocks as "all for her fans, and the Japanese wrestler's moxie comes through in her boisterous, crowd-pleasing personality." Nadia Oxford of ''
USgamer Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...
'' found Mika to be an example of positive female gender representation, writing "I can say that I have nothing against, er, voluptuous women in games. Or even scantily-clad women", and that "My problem has always been women characters whom I'm expected to take seriously while they slay dragons/wander the desert/travel the frozen wastes while baring their midriff through the majority of their journey", and that she enjoys Mika's "silly" and "goofy" design. And despite his earlier criticism, in a later ''Paste'' article Eric Van Allen instead praised the character, calling her style "effective" and added "R. Mika throws caution to the wind and just goes for it, making her a fun character to play and a riveting one to watch." In a series of articles examining characters from the ''Street Fighter'' series, Becky Chambers and Amanda LaPergola of ''
The Mary Sue Daniel Abrams (born May 20, 1966) is an American media entrepreneur, television host, and author. He is currently the host of '' On Patrol: Live'' on Reelz, and ''The Dan Abrams Show: Where Politics Meets The Law'' on SiriusXM's P.O.T.U.S. cha ...
'' offered contrasting points on whether the character was sexist or not in their eyes in regards to her handling in different mediums. They noted her outfit as "ridiculously sexist", but moreso criticized her personality in the ''Street Fighter Alpha'' games, calling it "ditzy and dumb" and furthermore "irredeemably so." However, LaPergola cited her appearance in UDON's comic series, stating that while she continued to use the same out, "she is also treated as a top-notch wrestler with talent and fans that admire her for her skill in the ring. She’s not referred to as a bimbo or a sex object, just a really kick-ass fighter." She further added that an "important part of what makes a character portrayal sexist or not, is how they are treated by other characters. In this comic book, Mika is not a sexist character. Nobody treats her as one, and therefore she is not one." Maddy Myers, in her own article for ''The Mary Sue'', stated that while Mika's outfit represented "campy, posed sexuality" that often alienated players, she felt Mika as a character was more interesting than other sexualized characters in the series. Comparing her particularly to fellow ''Street Fighter'' character
Cammy , also known by the codename , is a player character, fictional character in the ''Street Fighter'' fighting game series created by Capcom. She debuted in ''Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers'' (1993). She has ...
, she pointed out that the lack of seriousness in Mika's portrayal helped her be seen as a "tongue-in-cheek goofball, albeit a ''sexy'' goofball". Mentioning that while fans of the character may focus on the visual appeal, "she’s not exactly a straightforward sex kitten, either", and projected an "unabashed femininity" that Myers found amazing and uncommon in fighting games. While she acknowledged it was often played for laughs, she enjoyed that the joke regarding Mika's femininity was not one played on the character herself, and hoped that would remain the case.


Controversy

In debut footage of ''Street Fighter V'', Mika is seen slapping her butt as part of her Critical Art attack. The decision not to show the animation in the North American version of the game was a subject of controversy, leading to a petition to restore it. According to producer Yoshinori Ono regarding not showing her butt slap, "Those changes came up internally. We decided to remove that because we want the biggest possible number of people to play, and we don’t want to have something in the game that might make someone uncomfortable." Some other shots, including the entrance animation for
Cammy , also known by the codename , is a player character, fictional character in the ''Street Fighter'' fighting game series created by Capcom. She debuted in ''Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers'' (1993). She has ...
, were also replaced. Jonathan Holmes from ''
Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017 and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. Histor ...
'' questioned the controversy over the decision by stating "While there are surely plenty of folks who adore seeing their screen filled with frilly thong shots, I imagine there may be even more players out there who'd find the sudden prioritization of arse in their fighting games to be little out of place." Chris Carter at ''Destructoid'' commented "It's still a bit weird that something this goofy was removed, especially with the design Laura has in general," and noted that a character like Necalli is "probably far more harmful" for children's eyes. In another article by ''Destructoid'', Carter stated "It's such a weird thing to me, because R. Mika's butt is still very visible, she just doesn't lightly tap it a few times per match." Likewise, ND Medina at ''
iDigitalTimes IBT Media is an American global digital news organization with over 90 million monthly readers, owned by followers of religious leader David Jang. It publishes the ''International Business Times'' and ''Medical Daily'', among others. IBT Media ...
'' expressed confusion over the change, noting that her butt was still being exposed. Her butt slap was later restored as a mod for the PC version, albeit in a different pose.


References


External links

* {{Street Fighter series, state=Expanded Characters designed by Akira Yasuda Female characters in video games Fictional Japanese people in video games Fictional professional wrestlers Street Fighter characters Video game characters introduced in 1998