Voice actor and fellow Street Fighter fan Shockdingo tweeted out a clip of his most recent video project and mentioned Ibuki’s involvement Gill and the G File. We had a brief back and forth, and he stated that he believed that Ibuki was working for a client. If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know my belief is that Ibuki is getting the G File for her ninja clan that wants to convert Ibuki into a super soldier, and Ibuki knows to some extent that the Glade is malevolent.
These ideas seem to contradict each other. If Shockdingo is right, the Glade of Ninjas are simply doing their job and sending their best ninja to retrieve an item for a client. There isn’t anything shady going on – it’s simply a business deal. If I’m right, the Glade is sending their best ninja as a test of her abilities before her eventual transformation into a brainwashed cyborg.
However, there’s a third option: we’re both right. How would this work out?
It’s possible that the Glade IS working for a client that wants the G File for their own purposes. However, the Glade would use this legitimate deal as a cover to monitor Ibuki’s growth as a fighter. If we are to believe Udon’s Street Fighter World Warrior Encyclopedia, then we know that Ibuki was successful, “but it left an unsettling feeling in her heart.” The G File itself is a mysterious document that could potentially bring certain doom to the Street Fighter universe, but with the added layer of a deeply personal stake, Ibuki could very well be the most important character regarding the story of Street Fighter.
And she’s not even on the base roster of 6!
Yes, we’re focusing on Ken being framed for something big and hiding from bad actors, but Ibuki needs to be there with him considering her life would also be in danger. From what I can see, what happened to Ken is only the tip of the iceberg. Ibuki is the base.
However, it’s not just Ibuki we need to watch. Gill and G will take some part in Street Fighter 6 as well (as well as JP and Bison, because Capcom isn’t gonna let Bison stay dead). It appears that Ibuki, Gill, and G form a personality triangle that will drive 6’s story, especially in its later seasons, and what each one ends up doing will affect the other two. Ibuki seems to be the catalyst for most of the other characters to get involved in the main story. However, there is one character in particular who is something of a wild card and could really shake things up, and despite what Rose and the story is telling us, it isn’t G.
It’s the potential client that Ibuki could be working for.
As it turns out, if the Glade is working for someone who wants the G File, then that person will be the true game-changer here. This is a person who has more mysterious intentions than any of the boss characters. Someone who has the power to destroy the world at will. Someone who fights the potential of darkness every day.
Someone who was foreshadowed to become a monster.
In Part 2 of the side reader Queen’s Resort, Karin has an internal monologue:
“It would be so easy for the Kanzuki family to become another Shadaloo, she thought. And that is exactly why I must stay strong. I must stay the course.
It is all too natural for leaders to fall prey to their desires. Power begets power, wealth begets wealth. Soon enough, the difference between good and evil becomes a moot point, and leaders become power-craving monsters, just as Shadaloo has become.
If I lose my way, and power consumes me, the influence the Kanzuki family wields will only ever serve nefarious ends, Karin thought to herself. I cannot allow that to happen.” https://game.capcom.com/cfn/sfv/column/130364?lang=en
So, did Karin lose her way? Is she becoming the threat that G is now? I’ve stated in the past that there are hints that this could be the case:
The Gilded Eyes of Evil
What A Little Birdie Told Me
The Gilded Eyes of Evil delve into the idea of a similar cosmetic link between several characters: their golden eyes. Gold and yellow seem to be the sinister colors in Street Fighter, and Karin happens to have golden eyes. What A Little Birdie Told Me goes more in-depth on how Karin could become a primary villain through the perspective of Birdie.
However, there is one fact that holds true even if you don’t believe that Karin will turn evil: she has a direct connection to Ibuki. She hired the ninja girl personally.
Karin mentions that she had reached out to the Glade of Ninjas to hire an attendant for her party, and states that the Glade itself recommended her for the job.
However, this is a deception on Karin’s part! In the very next scene, as seen above, Karin tips her hand. Read the underlined part:
She outright states she doesn’t employ ninjas from outside of her family at all, with the exception of Ibuki, a good friend of Sakura’s. Karin wasn’t hiring a random ninja from the Glade for a dinner party.
She specifically wanted Ibuki!
Ibuki was an attendant for one reason alone: it was a way for Karin to watch her. In other words, Karin had her eye on Ibuki the entire time. She knew all along that Ibuki was the best ninja the Glade had. Ibuki’s connection with Sakura gave Karin the ability to reach out.
Becoming more familiar with Ibuki through the assault on Shadaloo would also give Karin everything she needed to further her own goals, and it’s pretty clear who Karin has her eye on now.
This is alluded to in Karin’s win quote to Gill in SFV:
“The Organization… The writings… We need to see if it’s a new threat we face.”
Karin knows of the Illuminati, and with her knowledge of their writings, there is no mistake: she knows about the G File.
With this one quote, we can safely assume that Karin will be a key figure in Street Fighter 6. However, even though she didn’t appear in the games herself, she played just as big a role in Street Fighter III.
If Ibuki was working for a client rather than the Glade, then it was Karin who sent her to retrieve the G File, and solidifies the connection between Karin and G. In other words, Karin wanted to know more about G, the newest villain of Street Fighter…
And G could be the one who turns Karin into the real villain.
Street Fighter Game Lore Theories 