~*~ King of Fighters ~*~
The King of Fighters or KOF for short, is a fighting game series by SNK that debuted in 1994. It combined elements from two of its existing fighting game series (Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting) and reintroduced characters from games predating the Neo-Geo (such as Ikari Warriors and Psycho Soldier) along with several new, charismatic characters that would find their world in the KOF series. Unique among fighter franchises, The King of Fighters released a sequel each year and named each game for its year of release.
With a few exceptions, each chapter in the main King of Fighters series constitutes an episode in an ongoing storyline. To date, the storyline comprises of three plot arcs, each consisting of a roughly three-episode story. Thus far, each arc precedes a non-canonical "dream match" chapter used to bring back old characters--regardless of whether they have officially died or gone missing in the main plot--and systems without affecting the storyline. KOF '94, the first KOF game, uniquely stands as a canonical game and probably as a dream match at the same time.
In each plot arc, the series introduces a new hero and companions around whom the main plot revolves. In KOF '94, Kyo Kusanagi appeared as the hero of the Orochi Saga. For the NESTS Saga, KOF '99 replaced Kyo with the conflicted and mysterious K'. The current storyline, begun in KOF 2003, involves an anti-hero--or possibly a villain--named Ash Crimson. In each episode, the rest of the teams have their own subplots which weave together to give a more complete perspective on the overall plot.
To learn more about this series feel free to check the sites in the link section in the Extras.
~*~ K' ~*~
K' was a normal human being before the cloning operation, though nothing is known of his life at that time. As a child, K' was taken away by the NESTS agents, as the experiment subject for the prototype. He would be infused with Kusanagi power, and then the NESTS cartel would prove how feasible it was to inject the immense Kusanagi power in a human being. They succeeded, but only in part. While K' inherited the inmense Kusanagi flames, his weak body is unable to sustain so much power. Thus, K's creators decide to place a special glove on his hand so K' can wield the power with no problem at all. Since K' was to become Krizalid, but was an incomplete clone, was just named with his incomplete name: K'. NESTS also altered K's memory, and the only thing K' remembers of his past life is a little girl that kept calling him "brother" and cried out for him. But this memory only exists in dreams now.
After activation, K' was ordered by Krizalid to join Maxima and team up with Benimaru Nikaido and Shingo Yabuki in order to enter the King of Fighters tournament and collect battle data from the fighters of the competition in order to activate the Kyo Kusanagi clones around the world. The new Hero Team meets Krizalid in a sewer as arranged for one last battle, and K' determined to use of this opportunity to take the man down. However, he turned out to be very outclassed, and it took intervention from Kyo Kusanagi to end Krizalid. None-too-pleased to meet the man who, in a sense, has made him into who he now is, K' challenges Kyo to a fight. Before the battle ends, steel blast doors separate the two, and after defying the NESTS cartel once more, the Hero Team narrowly escapes the assaulting Ikari extermination squad.
~*~ Kula Diamond ~*~
Kula Diamond's origins (birthplace, parents, early life, etc.) are shrouded in obscurity. What is known, however, is that she was taken in by the NESTS cartel at a very young age, as one of the primary subjects of the Kyo Kusanagi cloning process, which started with K' and Krizalid.
During the Krizalid project, NESTS aimed to create a perfect Kyo Kusanagi clone. K' was the project's imperfect prototype; he needed a red gauntlet in order to control the Kusanagi flames inside his body. Krizalid was a near-perfect clone. NESTS was taken aback when K' rebelled and defeated Krizalid, so the group targeted K' for extermination. To this end, NESTS worked to complete the Anti-K' subject, which turned out to be Kula Diamond. This Anti-K' possessed the same design as K', with DNA altered so that its wielder used ice powers instead.
Despite the fact that their subject was a mindless puppet with no sign of emotions (aside from being an innocent young girl), the NESTS cartel was not willing to repeat the same mistake they made with K'. Therefore, NESTS created an android called Candy Diamond, who would monitor Kula's behavior and assure that Kula would accomplish her missions, providing assistance in battle if she was needed. NESTS also assigned two of their top agents (Diana and Foxy) to supervise Kula from the sidelines, and to prevent any sort of betrayal by Kula herself. As time passed by, however, Kula slowly developed a feeling of friendship towards Candy, Diana, and Foxy, contrary to the purpose she was created for.
~*~ K' & Kula Diamond ~*~
During the tournament held in the year 2000, K' and Maxima dedicate themselves to run from both the Ikari Warriors (hunting them as fugitive criminals) and the NESTS cartel (hunting them as traitors). K' decides to deal with pursuers by cleaning up his image in KoF 2000. Vanessa and a Mexican wrestler called Ramon offer to team up with them and though K' does not trust them in the least, he grudgingly accepts their assistance anyway. As the Hero Team arrives in Southtown for their final fight in the tournament, and upon arriving in an empty warehouse, K' senses an intruder and tells Maxima to lead the other two out.
Once alone, he is confronted by a young woman dressed much like he is. She calls herself the " Anti-K' " and that she has the mission to eliminate him. The two fight, and K' discovers that their attacks and similar fighting styles are essentially cancelling each other out. His power and stamina fading, K' manages one last powerful blast of fire. But to his surprise, once the smoke clears up the young woman is still standing - badly burnt, but smiling kindly. She introduces herself as Kula Diamond, and explains that she is under orders to stop Zero, a megalomaniac NESTS agent who intends to use the Zero Cannon to destroy his superiors.
The two of them wouldn't meet again until a whole year later, after the end of the KOF2001 tournament that brought the destruction of the NESTS cartel. At the end of the final fight that has K' standing against Igniz, the ambitious leader of NESTS who intends to rule the world, Igniz manages to set off a self-destruct sequence that causes the space station to crash into Earth. During the seemingly fatal fall, Kula Diamond (also on board) releases all of her ice powers at this time, allowing them to endure the passage through the atmosphere. After escaping from the space station which crashed into the ocean, K' swims towards land, and encounters Kula along the way, entirely exhausted. They decide to set aside their old differences and help each other to safety. K' even fends off K9999 and Angel (who were teamming up for the tournament with Kula and Foxy), who have come to eliminate the errant former NESTS agents (both K' and Kula).
After the fall of NESTS, K' and Maxima had continued to live out their lives in a vagabond manner. Whip returned to the Ikari Warriors, and Kula remained with her guardians from NESTS, Diana and Foxy. Until the tournament of KOFXI (released at 2006 but supposed to take place in 2004) when both Kula and K' fought together as a team showing that the previous rivalty between the two of them has passed the point of killing each other and that even other relationships like friendship or love may have grow between them.
~*~ This Fanlist ~*~
Both K' and Kula are my favourite characters from the KOF series and I would have love to manage their respective fanlistings, however they were already taken and a friend (Ayne) suggested me to check for a fanlist for their relationship. Because despite being from a game centered in fights both characters hold a long common story that simply yelled for a relationship.
May it be the rivalry settled between them due NESTS orders to Kula and their powers (Fire and Ice), or the friendship that may have growth between them since the fall of NESTS, or maybe a romantic love or simply a sibling like fraternity due their similar pasts. It's practically impossible to picture both characters and think that there is not a relationship between them and the inexistence of a fanlist dedicated to it was something I couldn't tolerate.
The fanlist's name is "Antithesis Theme", the reason behind the name is quite simple, one of the things one notices the most in fighting games is always the BSO, with the time the old system of one song for each place of fight was changed to one song for each character in the game. These songs are usually played in the character's endings or in their "natural fighting place". As stated before Kula Diamond was created as the Anti-K', therefore K' may be considered as the Anti-Kula, both together are like a juxtaposition of contrasts (fire and ice, man and woman, and so on), creating a feeling of balance which is in essence what the word "antithesis" means. Put both ideas together and you have the "Antithesis Theme" which could be perfectly the name of a song dedicated to their relationship.
This fanlist is managged by Mei Asakura a Spanish Computer Programming student of 22 years old, because of this English is not my first language so if something doesn't make sense or is wrote incorrectly please let me know :)
