Takuma Sakazaki

Takuma Sakazaki
Series	Art of Fighting/The King of Fighters
First Appearance	Art of Fighting (1993)
Species	Human

Takuma Sakazaki is a playable character in the Art of Fighting and King of Fighters series.

Profile

During his younger days, he became rivals with Ryuhaku Todoh and Lee Gakusuo, Lee Pai Long's father. He once fought in a match with Gakusuo, but they could not decide on a final victor and it ended in a draw. In honor of one another's strength, Gakusuo was dubbed "The Ultimate Tiger" and Takuma was known as "The Invincible Dragon." He was also acquaintances with Jeff Bogard, and seems to have a history with Saisyu Kusanagi. His experiences with his various opponents led Takuma to eventually invent Kyokugenryu Karate.

As time passed, Takuma married an American woman named Ronnet. Both Takuma and Ronnet became parents of Ryo and Yuri, who were born respectively four years apart. The Sakazakis moved to America to raise their family and to spread the prestige of their family martial arts.

Takuma trained Ryo exclusively at the beginning, as he felt Yuri was too young and he wanted Ryo to be his proper heir as Kyokugenryu Master. He accepted Robert Garcia into the dojo after seeing his earnest interest in the style. When Ryo was 10, Ronnet was killed in a car accident. Sensing that he and she were most likely targeted by someone, Takuma leaves his home to investigate the manner and leaves Ryo to take care of Yuri.

Takuma eventually fought his way through lackeys and stooges to confront the man responsible for crime in Southtown, Geese Howard. He demanded that he put an end to the tyranny and Geese replied with threats against Takuma's children. To protect the safety of his remaining family, he was forced to work for Geese. In order to preserve his honor, Takuma donned a tengu mask and formed another persona: "Mr. Karate". During his years of labor, he became feared as the indomitable and undefeated hitman for Geese.

While Geese was out on business, Mr. Big was in charge. In order to keep Takuma firmly under his control, Mr. Big had Yuri kidnapped. Unfortunately, that move caused Ryo and Robert to tear up Southtown in search of her and Takuma. When Mr. Big was defeated, he called for Mr. Karate to deal with the two youths. He fought with Ryo and, after a fierce battle, Ryo became the victor. Not knowing Mr. Karate's true identity, Ryo threatened to kill him if he didn't tell him where Takuma and Yuri were. Yuri stopped Ryo from killing their father, and they had a joyous reunion.

To redeem himself as a master of Kyokugenryu Karate, he decides to enter the King of Fighters tournament without his Mr. Karate persona. In his ending for Art of Fighting 2, Takuma's injuries from fighting takes its toll and he hands responsibility of the dojo to his children. He implies that he'll probably have to retire from the fighting circuit for awhile.