BIO:

A Karate practitioner for most of his life, Takuma became rivals with Ryuhaku Todoh and Lee Gakusuo, Lee Pai Long's father when he was young. Takuma also knew Jeff Bogard and seems to have a history with Saisyu Kusanagi. He once fought a famous match with Gakusuo which ended in a draw. In honor of each other's strength, Gakusuo was named "The Ultimate Tiger" and Takuma was known as "The Invincible Dragon". Through his many years of fighting experience, Takuma invented Kyokugenryu Karate. 

Takuma eventually married an American woman named Ronnet, and they had two children, Ryo and Yuri, who were born four years apart. Shortly after Yuri's birth, they moved near Southtown to raise their family and to spread the prestige of the Sakazaki martial arts. Takuma trained his son Ryo to be his heir as Kyokugenryu Master. He also accepted Robert into his dojo after Robert showed earnest interest in the style, but didn't teach Yuri until she was older. When Ryo was 10, Ronnet died in a tragic car accident. Takuma sensed that the car accident was not just a coincidence and left his home to investigate the matter, leaving Ryo at home to take care of Yuri.

While investigating the potential "murder" of his wife (during the events of Art of Fighting), Takuma fought through a few thugs to confront the man responsible for crime in the area, Geese Howard. Takuma demanded that Geese put an end to his tyranny and Geese answered with threats against Takuma's children. To protect the safety of his family, he was forced to work for Geese. In order to preserve his honor, Takuma wore a tengu mask and reated another persona for himself: "Mr. Karate". For years, Takuma worked for Geese and became feared as an indomitable and undefeated hitman.

While Geese was out on business, Mr. Big was in charge. In order to keep Takuma under control, Mr. Big ordered a few of his henchmen to kidnap Yuri. After Yuri was kidnapped, Ryo and Robert took to the streets of Southtown in search of her and Takuma. After Mr. Big was defeated, he called for Mr. Karate to deal with Ryo and Robert. After a fierce battle, Ryo defeated Mr. Karate, not knowing his true identity. Ryo threatened to kill Mr. Karate if he didn't tell him where his family members were. Thankfully, Yuri stopped Ryo from killing their father, and they were happily reunited.

In Art of Fighting 2, Takuma wanted to redeem himself as a master of Kyokugenryu Karate, and decided to enter the tournament without his Mr. Karate persona. After the tournament, Takuma's injuries from fighting took its toll and he decided to hand over the responsibility of the dojo to his children. After AOF2, he retired from the fighting circuit for a while.

In The King of Fighters timeline, Takuma was the leader of the Art of Fighting Team and entered the first two tournaments with Ryo and Robert. The Kyokugen dojo was struggling and they entered the tournament to win prize money to help the situation. In 1996, Takuma retired and brought in Yuri as his replacement. In 1999, he saw his opportunity to return since four members were allowed on a team. In 2000, Takuma welcomed King to the team, sensing that she and Ryo have a "special" relationship of some sort.

Unfortunately, Takuma couldn't use the Garcia fortune or prize money to rebuild the family dojo... as a world financial crisis had taken its toll. He entered the team into the 2001 tournament to once again win the prize money. At the end of King of Fighters 2003, Takuma was attacked by an unseen assailant. It was rumored that the attacker was either Yamazaki or Eiji Kisaragi. In KOF XI, Takuma collapsed due to malnutrition, liver problems, and other health issues. In his "weak state," he requests that King enter the tournament in his place, and also hints to her that he wished for a grandchild someday, promoting her apparent "feelings" for Ryo. Thankfully, Takuma made a healthy recovery and returned in KOF XIII with Robert and Ryo.
 
                                               
 
                                               
   

                                                       
    

Page Updated:  Dec. 29th, 2022
Takuma can easily be dubbed "just another guy in a karate uniform".... So if we're talking about originality in the fighting game universe, Takuma doesn't have much of it. Nearly all of his moves are shared by other fighting game characters and his generic white karate Gi is respectfully "traditional," but can also be called boring. On the other hand, Takuma's alter-ego, Mr. Karate, does have a badass Tengu mask, which certainly adds a few points to his design. And thankfully, he has developed some pretty kickass karate moves over the years. In case you don't know, Ryo is also known as "Mr. Karate" in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum... but Takuma is the original Mr. Karate. Takuma's reappearance in KOF XIII is very well done for the most part. His new animations add in some more visible personality, but he retains a lot of his old school moves. I particularly love his KOF XIII walking-forward animation... so cocky! lol.
	Fighting  Style  /  Moveset
	Personality  /  Charisma
	Outfit(s)  /  Appearance
	Effectiveness  in  series
	Overall Score

 

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