Rainbow Mika

Context

Rainbow Mika is a goofy, over the top, niche character in Street Fighter brawling video games.

She’s a joshi puroresu (女子プロレス) – a women’s pro wrestling scene that’s specific to Japan. The sort of wrestler who’s attractive, wears a bombastic and revealing costume, and does lots of flashy moves plus an immature and loud personality.

So yes, on second thought, it’s not that specific to Japan.

On one hand, Rainbow Mika is a shallow fan service cookie cutter character. On the other, digging into her abilities and how to model them is surprisingly complex.

Background

Powers & Abilities

Mika is one of the best wrestlers in the SF universe. It seems that only the mighty Zangief can best her.

Mika could fight Laura Matsuda, a Brazilian Jujitsu grappler, on seemingly equal footing. And she was tough enough to take a punch from former heavy weight world champion Balrog.

She can jump really high, but doesn’t have energy-based abilities like many other fighters do.

In the games, she’s a technical character with a harsh learning curve. But mastering her moves can be quite rewarding.

Fundament of effusiveness

She’s certainly not the brightest, and acts immature. But she possesses a charismatic, if flashy and over the top, presence.

She can also mesmerize both crowds and even opponents with her speeches. Mika uses that to enhance her attacks with a little crowd participation boost.

She’s also one of those attractive female characters in a thong who likes to use her butt as a weapon. This is presumably to help work the crowd.

History

Mika Nanakawa always was obsessed with pro wrestling.

After she graduated from junior high school, she started training in earnest. Well-known fighter Yoko Harmageddon mentored Mika for years.

Her gimmick to fame and fortune was a simple one. She would challenge street fighters all over the word. This would get her media attention, and prove that she’s a capable scrapper.

Street Fighter Alpha 3

This is how she met with the great Russian wrestler Zangief. They teamed up to help destroy M. Bison’s Psycho Drive. The two grapplers’ support allowed Chun Li, Guile, and Charlie Nash to succeed.

Ms. Nanakawa then returned to training.

In unknown circumstances, Mika fought the filthy rich Karin Kanzuki. Karin likely won, but she was impressed enough to offer her sponsorship if Mika managed to become a pro wrestler.

About six months after the Psycho Drive was destroyed, Ms. Nanakawa was reunited with Zangief. She very much lost their sparring match, but Mika remained upbeat. She vowed to one day become his equal and beat him in the ring.

Mika and her ring partner Nadeshiko touching bases.

Street Fighter V: Kindred Muscle Spirit

Nanakawa-san did join the pros, and Kanzuki-san did sponsor her.

Mika again ran into Zangief in London. They had a friendly sparring much so she could show how much her skills had improved. Zangief still trounced her, and advised her to find Muscle Spirit. Unfortunately, Mika had no idea what that meant.

A chance encounter with Birdie in India resulted in a brawl. Mika won, and told Birdie that he lacked Muscle Spirit. Trying to explain what Muscle Spirit was confused Mika enough that Birdie could slip away.

Another brawl nearly erupted on the Kanzuki estate, this time with Ibuki. Mika lectured her about not being muscular enough to be a real fighter, which didn’t go well. But Karin stopped these childish antics before they could actually throw down.

Street Fighter V: A Shadow Falls

Mika once again teamed up with Zangief. The pair were fighting a tag team match against Alex and Laura Matsuda. But Bison triggered worldwide blackouts, and the match had to stop (Alex likely would have won).

A near-brawl then occurred with Ibuki on the Kanzuki estate. This may have been the same incident as before, as the elements seemed presented out of chronological sequence.

In any case, Shadaloo operatives crashed that party. Karin defeated Marz one on one. Mika and Ibuki put their differences aside and fought alongside the other heroes to repel the gatecrashers.

Mika played but a minor role in the rest of the story. But she and Ibuki were part of the final effort against Shadaloo. They were one of the duos sent to take a McGuffinAn object or event that drives the plot, but whose exact nature isn’t important. from the bad guys.

Taking on Shadaloo

However, they wound up squaring off against one of the Four Kings of Shadaloo – Balrog.

Tag-teaming for Ibuki, Mika managed to take a punch and keep fighting. But he was just too strong for them – and his partner Ed then entered the fray with his Psycho Power. Ibuki used a ninja smoke bomb as distraction, and she and Mika stole the McGuffin then ran.

On the way back, the duo was ambushed by a brainwashed Abel. But Zangief came in and took him down with his signature Spinning Pile Drive. To Ibuki’s disgust, Mika proceeded to fawn over her idol’s impressive strength.

Showdown

The pair was also present during a huge battle against the F.A.N.G.-controlled Dolls of Shadaloo.

During the fight one of the Dolls, Satsuki, broke her katana when hitting Zangief. Mika once again heaped him in praise for being so tough.

Nanakawa was last seen in the crowd of street fighting heroes that watched the Shadaloo base blow up from afar.

With Ibuki.

Description

Mika has two very long blonde pig tails and blue eyes. Though she’s stated to be ethnically Japanese she’s never ever been drawn like it. She looks more like a White, blonde American cheerleader.

Her costume is a white and blue lingerie-like leotard with ruffles around the collar. She completes the outfit with white wrestling boots and stocking, a white bustier with blue hearts over the breasts, and a blue domino mask.

Mika’s costume has always been one of the most revealing ensembles among the series’ female fighters.

Her alternate costumes are similarly bright, flashy, and revealing.

By SF5 she seems both more muscular and more curvaceous. Perhaps she simply matured.

Personality

Mika has pretty much the same what-you-see-is-what-you-get persona both in and out of the ring.

She takes great pride to wow audiences with her athletic performances and beauty.

She’s obviously trained quite hard to get where she is, yet she can come of as crass and immature. She’s quite fond of opening fights with trash talk.

Mika is said to be a good sportswoman in and out of the ring. She gets along with many of the other female wrestlers from her federation.

Muscle spirit

She was brave enough to take a punch from Balrog to defend Ibuki, even though she doesn’t like her much.

Mika absolutely idolizes Zangief. He’s her role model and she is constantly wowed by his demonstrations of strength and endurance.

“I’m gonna put my Heel in your Face!”

Mika would likely be a Face (hero for people who don’t follow raslin’). But many of her moves indicate Heel (villain) behavior.

Specifically, her ring partner Nadeshiko will jump in, sometimes blindsiding her opponent and using the classic metal folding chair, to help Mika out. The two even have a team attack where they trounce the opponent together.

Obviously, this is terribly unsportsmanlike conduct. It might also be against the rules. But then again a few other Street Fighter characters use weapons.

Know your role

Furthermore, Japanese Pro Wrestling has a well-deserved reputation for being extreme.

Some matches take place on mats filled with broken glass. Razors, cheese graters, fishhooks, and other sharp objects have been used to cause “juicing” – obvious bleeding.

Japanese Pro Wrestling also places a lot less emphasis on Face versus Heel narrative conventions. Most wrestling personas are more grounded. They have their own relatable dreams, hopes, and motivations rather than fighting in a struggle between good and evil.

Many of Rainbow Mika’s seemingly dirty tricks are thus more acceptable than they would be in US pro wrestling.

Quotes

“The superstar of the ring… that’s what I wanna be !”

“I’m gonna kick your ass !”

DC Heroes RPG

Tell me more about the game stats

Rainbow Mika

Dex: 06	Str: 05	Bod: 06
Int: 03	Wil: 03	Min: 05
Inf: 06	Aur: 04	Spi: 06
Init: 019		HP: 040

Powers:

Adrenaline Surge: 04, Jumping: 03, Shouting: 03

Bonuses and Limitations:

• Adrenaline Surge only works with Strength, Jumping, Shouting, and Martial Artist.
• Adrenaline Surge also can’t be used in consecutive Phases.

Skills:

Acrobatics: 04, Martial Artist: 07, Weaponry (missile, melee): 05

Advantages:

Iron Nerves, Local Hero (Pro Wrestling), Languages (Japanese), Rich Friend (Karin Kanzuki), Schticks (Fighting Array with her partner Nadeshiko Yamoto, Improvised Weaponry, Stance Assessment) Sidekick (Nadeshiko Yamoto).

Connections:

Zangief (high), Karin Kanzuki (high), Nadeshiko Yamoto (high), Ibuki (low), Laura Matsuda (low), Dhalsim (low), Birdie (low), Presumably several other wrestlers and promoters in her federation (high)

Drawbacks:

MIAs (Zangief, training, and becoming a more famous pro wrestler).

Motivation:

Thrill of Adventure.

Occupation:

Pro Wrestler.

Wealth:

006

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Design notes

Weaponry (melee) and Improvised Weaponry Schtick (again with melee weapons) aren’t demonstrated.

But her partner has them. And more importantly they are established common tropes for wrestlers to have to these skills so it would be odd if she didn’t have those skills.

She is able to throw a microphone and hurt her opponent, so there’s that…

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Sidekick – Nadeshiko Yamato

Dex: 05	Str: 04	Bod: 05
Int: 03	Wil: 03	Min: 04
Inf: 04	Aur: 03	Spi: 05
Init: 014		HP: 020

Powers:

Adrenaline Surge: 02, Jumping: 01

Bonuses and Limitations:

• Adrenaline Surge only works with Strength, Jumping, Shouting, and Martial Artist.
• Adrenaline Surge also can’t be used in consecutive rounds.

Skills:

Acrobatics: 03, Martial Artist: 05, Weaponry (melee): 04

Advantages:

Local Hero (Pro Wrestling), Languages (Japanese), Schticks (Fighting Array with her partner Rainbow Mika, Improvised Weaponry).

Connections:

Rainbow Mika (high), Zangief (low), Karin Kanzuki (low), Presumably other wrestlers and promoters in her federation (high)

Drawbacks:

None demonstrated.

Motivation:

Thrill of Adventure.

Occupation:

Pro Wrestler.

Wealth:

004

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Design notes

Nadeshiko only has a few actual animated attacks – and all of those are to back Mika up. So by necessity these stats are highly speculative; and base don her similarities with Mika.

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“I’m gonna kick your ass!”

In the games, Mika has a distinctive move mechanic. She can taunt her opponent to add damage to certain of her normal attacks.

At first blush one would think that this would leave her wide open. But she can easily cancel out of it to most of her normal moves and supers. She can also end it prematurely by throwing her mic at her opponent – which has the potential to open up combos.

This works well against slow-moving characters. Less so against rush-down characters, or those with a projectile attack – if they can time their attack right.

The Shouting Power is a rough MEGS equivalent. She gains Hero Points by using it to work the audience, and uses those on her next attack.

If she is incapacitated or decides to do something other than attack on her next opportunity, then those points are automatically lost.

By Tom Eilers.

Source of Character: Street Fighter video games.

Helper(s): Street Fighter Fandom.

Writeup completed on the 10^th of October, 2021.