Athena Asamiya - Character Design

Character Design

In her first appearance in Psycho Soldier Athena has long pink hair and wears a black Japanese school uniform. In The King of Fighters series, Athena wears new outfits in every game, some with little changes. Her hair, however, is purple and becomes short from The King of Fighters '99 to The King of Fighters 2001. The staff from the series has been requested by fans to return her Japanese school uniform in several games, but they only made her wear it only in her introductions as they thought it would not be well received by gamers from other countries. However, by The King of Fighters XI, Athena appears with a white school uniform and in The King of Fighters XII she returns to her original Psycho Soldier outfit as the members from SNK wanted to return The King of Fighters series to its "original concept." In The King of Fighters XIII, Athena returns wearing the same clothes but with a color alteration (white shirt and blue skirt; more in line with her attire from The King of Fighters XI).

Athena has been voiced by several voice actresses since her debut in Psycho Soldier in which she was played by Rushina in the game and Kaori Shimizu for her image songs. For The King of Fighters series, Athena has been played by several actresses. Reiko Fukui voiced her in The King of Fighters '94, Moe Nagasaki in The King of Fighters '95, Tamao Satō in The King of Fighters '96 and Yukina Kurisu The King of Fighters '97 and The King of Fighters: Kyo. Since The King of Fighters '98, Athena has been voiced by Haruna Ikezawa in each game she is featured as well as the anime The King of Fighters: Another Day. For the English version from KOF: Maximum Impact, Robyn Gryphe provides Athena's voice and Lily Kong plays Athena in the sequel, while in the English version of the King of Fighters XII, Athena is voiced by Miwa Gardner.