Sakura Kasugano (usually simply known as Sakura) is a 16 year-old
Japanese school girl who fights in her slightly revealing school
uniform. She made her debut not in Street Fighter, but in another game
called Rival Schools, which explains her schoolgirl connections.
Sakura
has a slightly unhealthy obsession with Ryu. This is reflected in her
style, which is similar to that of a Shotokan fighter (which is Ryu, Ken
and Akuma's style of fighting). The basic Shotokan move-set compromises
of a Fireball, a Dragon Punch and a Hurricane Kick. The Street Fighter 4
Sakura is a slightly different Sakura than we are used to as she now
has a brand-new Ultra combo.
In Street Fighter 4 Sakura is
supposedly one of the weakest characters, according to the official tier
list. This, however, is only based on paper, and not on reality. She
also has a lot of depth to her, and is the type of character that needs
to be fully explored before she can be judged. Street Fighter 4 Sakura
has more than enough potential to become a top character, and in the
hands of the right player, to be a considerable threat, due to her speed
and interesting moveset, as well as her ability to pull-off some great
combos. Her moves and the way she can be played are very mixed, making
her unpredictable to play against. For example, most of her standard
moves have very high priority (meaning that they win out against another
attack). This is the kind of thing that most new-comers to the game
won't realize.
Sakura's only real weakness is against characters
that 'turtle' (i.e. protect themselves in a corner and attack via
projectiles or with special moves). Examples of the best turtle
characters are E.Honda, Blanka, Guile and Sagat. The reason that Sakura
has trouble dealing with these opponents is that her fireball is
dreadfully slow, and has even poorer range, meaning she can't often
trade blows with her opponents.
