Kurow Kirishima (霧嶋 九郎 Kirishima Kurō) is a fighting game character and the primary villain in Project Justice, the second game in the Rival Schools series, but this is not revealed until later in the story.
Biography
Kurow, the "Assassin of Darkness"; "Vatsu", the "Fist of Falsehood"
He makes various appearances throughout different stories early on in the game's story mode, either as himself or as "Vatsu", a doppelgänger of series hero Batsu. His actions include either attacking various groups of students with his lackeys - either his older sister Yurika, Momo, or a brainwashed Daigo - or having them do his dirty work for him.
Story
Project Justice
At a certain point, Kurow unveils himself as the mastermind behind the recent upheaval among the schools. He explains that he was sent by the "reverse society" in which the Imawano family was a part of to assassinate Batsu, Raizo, Kyosuke and Hyo. To make matters worse, he had a different agenda from that of the organization that "has been using him all along": to do what Hyo has failed to do, which is to rule over Japan. In short, he's an assassin gone mad.
Kurow appears as a Justice High student in the Justice High arc who feigns his innocence on others. He was responsible for attacking Raizo Imawano as a main catalyst and manages to defeat Hyo Imawano before brainwashing the latter. He later makes an alliance between Momo Karuizawa from Gorin and his older sister, Yurika Kirishima from Seijyun to become the Darkside Student Congress.
He is also responsible for brainwashing Daigo Kazama using with his flute while the latter was having a training trip to make him return to Gedo High to order all the gangs within Gedo High to attack on local schools. As they are trying to keep their true colours, Kurow finally disguises as Batsu to attack on local schools while Momo pretends from being attacked by him as a result of Shoma being argue with Natsu from her actions. Kurow later attacks Akira at Seijyun in his Batsu disguise to make sure Akira will blame the real Batsu for attacking her. He later attacks Hinata after he defeats them and injuring Hayato and other Taiyo students. He was later defeated by the real Batsu in his heavily trained state who calls him a faker. He warns Batsu that their was fight was just a beginning before escaping.
When being confronted by the group of students selected by the player, he eventually removes his Vatsu disguise to reveal himself along with Momo and Yurika are from the Darkside Student Congress. Unfortunately, Yurika change allegiances and joins in Akira's side to fight him after she reveals that she was trying to stop him from continuing his mission by the "reverse society" of assassinating the Imawano clans and his plan to rule over Japan which Kurow angrily brands his older sister as a traitor to his cause and later Momo when he was defeated by a group of Gorin students after the latter reveals her true colours and betrays Shoma for her own schemes.
After being defeated by the group of students selected by the player, he attempts to send a supposedly brainwashed Hyo after the players, only for Hyo to reveal that his brainwashing attempt early in the game was completely futile, effectively insulting Kurow. The two engage in battle, only for Kurow to suffer a bloody defeat from Hyo. The sequence following the final fight in story mode reveals Kurow is hospitalized after he suffers a bloody defeat by Hyo before being possessed by his father, Mugen Imawano, but he escapes after a few days as several claw marks are seen in his hospital bed implying that Kurow uses his claws on both of his hands to escape the hospital. His whereabouts after escaping the hospital remain unknown to this day.
Alternate story
A bonus storyline available in Project Justice, the Darkside Student Congress, tells an alternate story in which Kurow's plans to take over the various schools succeeds. The ending for this story has him at the head of Justice High School, shown with the various characters of the series as his brainwashed servants, including his older sister, Yurika.
Not all of the characters appear in the ending, as Kurow's mission to exterminate the Imawano clan was a success; therefore, aside from Hyo, it can be assumed that Kyosuke and Raizo are also dead in this ending (there's an exception in Batsu's case, since he actually appears in Kurow's ending, brainwashed like the others, hinting that Kurow is unaware that he's part of the Imawano family and the fact that Raizo is his father).
Arsenal, fighting style, and combat strategy
As Batsu's fake version, Vatsu, he basically combines his own fighting techniques with some of Batsu's.
Special Moves
Both as Himself and "Vatsu"
- Dark Ancient Dance (Japanese: 闇神楽 Yamikagura) - Kurow does a scratch-like swipe that can be done up to three times. As himself, the swipes become claw slashes, and this move can be made to aim high or low, depending on the punch button pressed for this move's button combination.
- Six Organ Stab (Japanese: 六腑突き Roppu Zuki) - Kurow does a dashing semi-uppercut aimed towards the opponent's midsection. It can be charged to deal more hits. As himself, this can be chained into a Burning Vigor Attack that will be explained later in this section of the article.
- Demon's Vehicle (Japanese: 夜叉車 Yasha Guruma) - Kurow encases himself in a black orb and flies towards the opponent, dealing damage by means of vacuum-like slashes. This is also usable in the air, and can be made to go up or down while going forward.
As "Vatsu"
- Guts Bullet (Japanese: 気合弾 Kiaidan -- Energy Focus Blast) - Exactly the same as Batsu's Guts Bullet. See Batsu's article for more details.
As Himself
- Space Splitter (Japanese: 空間裂き Kuukan Saki) - Kurow slashes the air, leaving a trail of clawmarks for a few seconds that can damage the opponent on contact. It can slash high or low, depending on the punch button pressed for this move's button combination. The low version is good for stopping dash-in opponents; while the high version is a good anti-air counter.
- Dark Run (Japanese: 闇駆け Yamikake) - Kurow stands on one leg. If attacked while in this stance, he will teleport behind the opponent, and is effective even against Party-Up techniques from the opponent. It, however, is not effective against crouching attacks and multiple-hit attacks.
Burning Vigor Attacks
As "Vatsu"
- Pitch-Black Guts Bullet (Japanese: 暗黒気合弾 Ankoku Kiaidan -- Pitch-black Energy Focus Blast) - Exactly the same as Batsu's Super Guts Bullet.
- Pitch-Black Dark Ancient Dance (Japanese: 暗黒闇神楽 Ankoku Yamikagura) - Powered version of the Dark Ancient Dance. Kurow does five swipes and finishes with a reverse flip-kick. This attack's range is deceptively long, and only the last hit can be successfully Tardy Countered.
As Himself
- Forbidden Power Drain (Japanese: 禁忌 力吸い Kinki Chirasui) - This can be done only if chained from the Six Organ Stab. Kurow saps his impaled opponent of health to restore some of his own.
- Kirishima-Style Vacuum Dark Storm (霧嶋流 真空闇嵐 Kirishima-ryuu Shinkuu Anran) - A vortex of wind arises a step in front of Kurow. If the player has another level of Guts, he can make Kurow summon another while the first one is still active. Good against jump-in opponents. Used once, this also makes a good launcher.
- Kirishima-Style Berserker's Cleaving Ripper (Japanese: 霧嶋流 狂獣裂破 Kirishima-ryuu Kyoujuu Reppa) - Kurow dashes across the screen, leaving a trail of spinning clawmarks. Landing opponents will have a very hard time blocking this attack, and if all hits of this attack connect, this attack does massive damage. If blocked, however, the opponent will end up directly behind Kurow. If the player is not fast enough, the opponent can take advantage of the recovery to counterattack.
Team-Up Techniques
- Pitch-Black Double Guts Bullet (Japanese: 暗黒Ｗ気合弾 Ankoku Double Kiaidan -- Pitch-Black Double Energy Focus Blast) - Used by Kurow as Vatsu. Exactly the same as Batsu's Double Guts Bullet Team-Up assist.
- Kirishima-Style Cruciform Killer (Japanese: 霧嶋流 十文字殺法 Kirishima-ryuu Juumonji Sappou) - Used by Kurow as himself. The active character sends the opponent high into the air, where Kurow does a barrage of blows to the latter. From the ground, Kurow and the active character then slash the still airborne opponent, leaving a pair of clawmarks that intersect where the opponent is.
Party-Up Techniques
- As Vatsu, he does the Final Symphony; but as himself, he does the Kirishima-style Linear Consecutive Killer, which is exclusive to him.
Trivia
- Other than the fact that Kurow has a sister, the existence and whereabouts of their parents remain unknown up to this day.
- Kurow's home life is also unknown, other than the fact that he lives alone in the school's dormitory.
- Aside from brainwashing people and disguising as somebody else, he also feigns innocence.
- He does not have a part-time job; in the first place, he's too preoccupied in scheming. Second, he has the same thought as Hyo--part-time jobs to both of them are "poor, mundane things".
- The Kanji for his last name is written in an uncommon way (霧嶋), compared to Yurika's (霧島), which is the standard way of writing Kirishima, which literally means "foggy island".
- Kurow's alias "Vatsu" does not have a Japanese name, instead being rendered as "???".
- He is one of two characters to have two Party-Up techniques; one of which is exclusive to him. The other one is Akira.
- He is the only character can brainwash others by using his flute. The first one being Hyo.
- He is voiced by Bin Shimada.
References
Game and Character Information
Nguyen, John. Project Justice FAQ/Move List by Puar. GameFAQs.com. Published 2001. Last accessed 14 March 2010.
Tsai, Peter. FAQ/Movelist for Project Justice (Moero! Justice Gakuen) for Dreamcast/Arcade. Version 1.07. GameFAQs.com. Published 17 July 2002; last updated 13 March 2003. Last accessed 14 March 2010.
Cheshire, Sophie. Project Justice: FAQ/Move List by falsehead. Final version. GameFAQs.com. Published 5 November 2001; final update 7 December 2002. Last accessed 14 March 2010.
Batsu, the Doctor of Punishment. Shiritsu Justice Gakuen/Rival Schools series: Character Stories FAQ. Version 1.5 (final). GameFAQs.com. Last accessed 14 March 2010.
NeoChaosX. List of characters in the Rival Schools series. Wikipedia (English). Created 20 August 2007; last updated 30 March 2010. Last accessed 1 April 2010.
Translations
Kanji translations made possible through the Kanji Romaji Hiragana Convert website.
Maruyama, Chiemi. English-Kanji-Japanese/Japanese-Kanji-English Dictionary. Pasig City, Philippines: Persian Gulf Publication, 2002. ISBN 978-971-8796-37.
Nakao, Seigo. Random House Japanese-English/English-Japanese Dictionary. United States: Ballantine Books, 1995. ISBN 0-345-40548-X.