Athena Asamiya

Athena Asamiya (麻宮 アテナ, Asamiya Atena) is a character originally from Psycho Soldier and a distant relative and modern-day counterpart of Princess Athena from Athena. She later appears as a regular fighter in The King of Fighters series; she is perhaps best known for changing her outfit and hair style for virtually every main installment.

She stars in her own ADV game Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life that was only released in Japan for the Sony PlayStation in 1999.

Athena was a highly anticipated character for the King of Fighters lineup and developers relate that they are constantly working to keep her in the series. Throughout the years, her sailor uniform outfit was a frequent request from Japanese fans that was denied due to the belief that it wouldn't translate well with the overseas audience (this kept up until recent installments). Her official nickname is The Psychic-Powered Idol. Nona, one of the series designers, reply that Athena is his favorite original character in the series.

Story
Athena is a modern day high school girl in Japan. She teamed up with her friend, Sie Kensou, to fight in the name of justice. In Psycho Soldiers, she was one of the "heroes of light" who defended the world from the Shiguma forces. Her psychic powers are believed to be transmigrated to her rather than inherited by her family. As such, she is sometimes referred to as the resurrected Athena who is gifted with esper-like powers.

Orochi Saga
In the King of Fighters series, she is a student of Kensou's Kenpo teacher, Chin Gentsai. She has spent most of her life secluded in China's mountains training. Her team participates in the tournaments as a form of training and to save the populace from an apparent future threat. Other times, they enter to disrupt any evil forces they may feel at the time. In the 1996 tournament, Chin seemed perturbed by the energy he sensed and didn't want his students to be involved with it. However, they surprise him by redoubling their enthusiasm for the event and they enter.

Their success in the tournament is shown in the following year where they receive a mountain of adoring fan letters. Athena in particular had a boost in popularity and stardom. However, Chin rejects their proposal to enter King of Fighters since he doesn't want his students to forget the purpose of their training. Determined to change his mind, Athena presents him with an inspirational letter from Kaoru Watabe. The contents in the letter helps her argument that their publicity moves people to do better things, which is essentially another way of saving people. Convinced that his students are improving, he allows them to enter once more.

In the aftermath of KOF '97, the Psycho Soldiers meet Kaoru, who now travels with them to most of their engagements and was even a striker in KOF 2000.

NESTS Saga
By this time in the series, Athena becomes a famous pop-star who is rising the charts with her concerts. She welcomes the new recruit, Bao, warmly and hopes that he does his best. Additionally, she grows concerned for Kensou once he lost his powers though she remains optimistic that they might return during the tournament on a spur-of-the-moment notice.

Her team's backstory in The King of Fighters 99 reveals that the team was there during the collapse of NESTS's base in the finals. During that time, Athena was caught underneath the falling rubble and passed out. Though he has no memory of it, Kensou saved her with a formidable latent energy. Ever since then, Bao suffered from a mysterious fatigue and illness. This same energy is later revealed to be the "Dragon's Spirit". Though she has her doubts with her master's methods, she wearily agrees to join the tournaments in this saga to treat Bao and Kensou's predicament. In the team's story in The King of Fighters 2000 she, Chin and Kaoru Watabe witness Bao's near heroic sacrifice as he takes a the NESTS satellite's energy beam to protect them, and how this leads to Kensou recovering his powers when he absorbs the rest of the energy.

Ash Saga
For the first time since the beginning of KOF, the Psycho Soldiers did not enter the tournament in KOF 2003 since Kensou and Bao went on a year long training mission with Chin to master Kensou's unreliable "Dragon's Spirit". Not wanting to miss out on her annual fix of tournament competition, Athena joined forces with Hinako Shijou and Malin to form the High School Girls team, a strange but rather successful partnership. For KOF XI, Athena reunites with Kensou after his year of training, and Momoko, one of Athena's fans with psychic capabilities.

Personality
Athena is very outgoing, polite, and friendly. A happy girl with righteous virtues and well-meaning morals, she treasures her fans and those who are helpless and strives to do her best to fight for them, though she can be a bit of a crybaby at times.

Athena often chides Kensou for slacking off in his training. She either is well aware of his crush on her, but usually chooses to ignore his romantic advances since he seems to embarrass her, or she is oblivious about his romantic interest in her.

Powers

 * Psionics - Athena is a powerful psychic, being capable of harnessing several psionic abilities.
 * Psychokinesis - Athena can move objects with her mind.
 * Psychic projectile - Athena can condense her psychic energy into the shape of a ball and fire it at her opponent.
 * Psychic energy strikes - Athena can materialize and coalesce psychic energy on her limbs, in order to strengthen her physical attacks.
 * Psychic barrier - Athena can surround her body with a resilient shield of energy. This energy barrier can also be used offensively
 * Teleportation - Athena can bend space with her mind in order to move herself, objects or other people.
 * Psychic Reflector - Athena can create a shield-like barrier that deflects projectiles.
 * Psychic Healing - Athena can channel her psychic energy in order to heal herself or others of wounds and damage. This is seen in The King of Fighters 2000 as her striker move.

Skills

 * Singing and Performing - Athena is a J-Pop star of established fame. She is an accomplished singer who has many fans, including Jhun Hoon, Momoko and Kaoru Watabe. She has found success among male and female fans alike.
 * Web Designing - Athena is good at designing and creating websites and makes a hobby out of it. In fact, she is good on everything relating to the internet and also likes to shop online.
 * Lacrosse - Athena is especially good at lacrosse.

Fighting Style
Athena was taught Kung Fu by Chin Gentsai, probably the style of Wing Chun. Her stance was loosely based on Liuhebafa. While Athena is a capable hand-to-hand fighter, she mostly relies on her psychic powers to fight. Athena is not feared for her martial arts training, but she is respected and can somewhat hold her own against some fighters. Athena's fighting style revolves mostly around simple yet effective strikes, and around speed and acrobacies, rather than strength. She uses her psychic powers to full effectiveness when in combat, improving her martial capabilities, controlling the battlefield and getting the enemy off guard with several surprise tactics.

Game Appearances

 * KOF: Maximum Impact 3 - Playable character
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum 2 - In her KoF 99 appearance
 * King of Fighters XII Definitive match - Playable character
 * Street Fighter X KOF - Playable character
 * Capcom vs SNK 3: Fighters' Spirit - DLC character

Cameo Appearances

 * Neo Geo 2: Match of the Century - In Column Stage

Similar Characters

 * Athena