Iori Yagami

Iori Yagami (八神 庵 Yagami Iori) is a video game character who made his first appearance in the Neo Geo fighting game, The King of Fighters '95. He is the rival of Kyo Kusanagi. Iori has always been voiced by Kunihiko Yasui since his debut.

Iori is very popular with fangirls and female gamers. In particular his rivalry with Kyo has been much fodder for the slash community.

Legend of the Yagami

Iori is the latest descendant of the Yagami clan. The Yagami clan was once known as the Hasshaku or Yasakani clan (there is debate as to which is correct), who were once strong friends of the Kusanagi clan. Both clans had long ago, with the help of the Yata clan, keepers of the sacred mirror, sealed Orochi away 880 years ago on the day before the ritual sacrifice of the 8 virgins of the Kushinada occurred (by giving Orochi 8 wine cups to get him drunk, then weakening him with the sword of Kusanagi and the Yasakani's Magatama (martial art), then sealing him with the sacred mirror of the Yata clan). As time passed by, the Yasakani, tired of living in the shadow of the Kusanagi clan, eventually fell to the call of Orochi and made a blood pact, giving them increased power in exchange for a blood curse, thus turning their flames into a tainted purple, and renaming the clan to Yagami. The Kusanagi became aware of this treachery, and both clans have been at odds ever since.

Because of the blood curse on the Yagami clan, wielding the purple flames of Orochi causes intense pain to the wielder. Also, each of the clan's heirs tends to die at a young age, and the mother of the clan heirs always dies in childbirth.

Descendant of the Yagami

Iori was born on March 25, 1976. His mother died giving birth to him. His father is believed to have literally beaten into him the belief that the Kusanagi clan—particularly, the current heir, Kyo—were their sworn enemies. It is assumed (but never told) that the sole reason Iori hates Kyo so much is because of the pain his existence has caused him to go through. This hatred boils down after Episode IV (KOF '97), when they must both unite with the latest descendant of the Yata clan, Chizuru Kagura, to defeat Orochi.

Personality, Behavior and Events

Iori is characterized by his crimson red hair, which comes down in front of his face in bangs. He wears a black leather Japanese school-punk jacket (slightly cut off with a crescent moon on the back), with what seems to be a long women's dress shirt and red bondage pants, tied together at the knees with a red belt. In the King of Fighters tournaments, everyone dislikes Iori for his lack of manners or caring, although some people see him as a worthy opponent nonetheless (such as Terry Bogard). Choi Bounge and Chang Koehan like Iori, but this feeling isn't returned at all. Kim Kaphwan sees him as pure evil.

After the time spent within his father's grasp, Iori separated himself (under his orders) to search for Kyo, although it seems he never returned to him (this in spite of his father continually sending him support—he expects Iori to kill Kyo). At this time he partnered with Billy Kane and Eiji Kisaragi, all of them who had a grudge against separate teams in the competition. Iori puts them in the hospital at the end of KoF '95 from the sheer rage of not having being able to reach Kyo to defeat him.

In The King of Fighters '96, he is approached by Vice and Mature, the secretaries of the now-dead Rugal Bernstein, to join the tournament once more, and he accepts—not knowing they are agents of the Orochi. As the tournament comes to a close, Iori had to join forces with Chizuru and Kyo to defeat Orochi's highest priest, Leopold Goenitz. Afterwards, Goenitz awakens Iori's Orochi blood as a "parting gift"—which became grounds for Iori killing Vice and Mature unwillingly due to being possessed by the Riot of the Blood (Chi No Bousou), as Goenitz takes his own life by just tossing a Yonokaze (Night Wind) on himself.

The curse of the Orochi blood eventually overtakes him in The King of Fighters '97 before Orochi wakes up from his nearly millennia-long sleep, and Orochi later even tries to use him as a tool in an attempt to kill Kyo. Iori, however, is incredibly determined—he goes against Orochi and holds him, allowing Kyo to finish him off—and, during a brief time of his fighting against Orochi, his flames turn red—a hint that Iori may eventually overcome the curse on his blood.

Iori is a paradox—he is (or was from '95 to '97) willing to kill everyone in his way to kill Kyo, but he hates violence. This hints at him probably having been much more docile as a child, with his rage for Kyo slowly building along with the beatings he likely got from his father.

After '97, it seems that Iori's hatred for Kyo begins to die down, and he merely sees him as a worthy opponent (who refuses to fight him half of the time, really). When Kyo goes missing, Iori actually searches for him—no-one is sure if he is out to fight him or to make sure he is all right and alive—because Kyo can only die at Iori's hands, after all.

In The King of Fighters 2000, after K' manages to defeat Zero and Kula Diamond fires the beam onto the NESTS HQ in Southtown, Kyo and Iori work together to make sure NESTS is gone—for good. Of course, they fight again afterwards.

In The King of Fighters 2001, Iori teams up with Vanessa and her squad, as he is required to join a team to face Kyo in the King of Fighters tournament. It is not clear if the two teams ever fought. It is believed that he helped Kyo—who was helping K'—to defeat Igniz. It is known that he makes short work of his teammates afterwards, apparently because they got tired with his lack of care for their existence. It is unknown whether Vanessa, Seth and Ramon lived through that.

In The King of Fighters 2003, Iori reluctantly teams up with Kyo and Chizuru at the latter's request, as it seems that the current tournament may prove to be linked to the Orochi. As the seal of the Orochi began to falter (thanks to a mysterious priest named Mukai, the real final boss of KOF 2003) and at the same time, Ash Crimson stripping Chizuru's soul of her treasure, Iori seems to understand that this is no time for a personal grudge. Curiously, his Leader DM, The Trinity Two, is a reference to the way he held Orochi to let Kyo finish him off—red flames and everything. The Trinity Two is Iori's Leader DM in which Iori shouts "Ikuze!!!", grabs you, places you in a pillar of flame that starts out purple and ends crimson red in the end.