Karin Kanzuki is one of my favorite characters in Street Fighter. With G and Ibuki, she is one of the characters I like writing on simply because her presence makes the game better. Despite Street Fighter V’s many flaws, her inclusion was hailed as a positive moment, and she was one of the most played characters in the game because of her highly technical and fun-to-both-play-and-watch Kanzuki-ryu style. I want to see her in Street Fighter 6. So do a lot of other people.
The question is how would she be included in the World Tour storyline? I had an answer: she was Asterisk, the information dealer who helps you in World Tour. There were so many clues that tied her to the persona: the Ace of Hearts card in Nayshall, the logo looking like the top of Karin’s head, the fact that, besides SiRN, there wasn’t another possible candidate to who it could be. It wasn’t Rashid. It wasn’t Viper. Karin was the only answer. https://manestreetblog.com/2024/01/31/the-true-identity-of-asterisk/
Leave it to the developers to throw a wrench in those gears. As it turns out, there is one other possible candidate who we did not see until the Trial at SiRN One Fateful Day mission.
This is Art, an NPC who gives you a mission to discover malfunctioning drones across Metro City. He states he’s a subcontractor for SiRN, someone who does the grunt work. As it turns out, he’s likely making his money as a certain information dealer. How do we know this? Check his watch.
That watch has Asterisk’s logo, but it gets better. When you fight him and do the unlock condition to get it, you get the High-Tech Smartwatch, which is the exact same watch with Asterisk’s logo on it.
So, the case is closed? Art is Asterisk? Potentially, yes. This could very well be the developers stating Art is the man giving you the clues to bring down JP. Except… something feels off. While Art is certainly a prime candidate to be Asterisk, and could very well be the man behind the logo, there’s one thing we need to remember: he’s not doing this for himself. He has a client.
This mystery client has not been revealed. However, there may be a hint into who Art is working for. His fighting style belongs to Cammy, meaning Cammy could be his client or otherwise someone he trained under. However, Cammy doesn’t seem to be bothered by SiRN as much as she is the remnants of Shadaloo. This tells me that, although Cammy or someone on Delta Red may be the client, I think the implication here is far more subtle – Art simply works for a blonde woman. Other NPCs seem to have fighting styles either at random or with subtle implications (like Eternity or Keiko Asano), and since Art is supposed to be a recurring character, the second part appears to be true.
Look at it this way: it would make more sense if Art was given Viper’s fighting style, since Viper is the master you find during the Trial at SiRN mission. Why was he not given Viper’s fighting style? Because there’s more to him than what he does at SiRN.
Keep in mind that Delta Red has not been seen to be using surveillance drones in their missions at all. They do the scouting themselves. Besides SiRN, Shadaloo, and Rashid, who is already ruled out as Asterisk thanks to the events in his missions, there’s one other group who has the means to not only afford Asterisk’s services, but have the means to surveil the entire world with or without his help: the Kanzuki Zaibatsu.
This begs the question why Karin would need Art’s help in the first place if she has the means to watch everyone with her Red Spider Lily satellites. The simple answer is that she can’t get up close. She could do it herself or even send her steward, Shibasaki, to do the job, but Karin herself would instantly be recognized and Shibasaki, who specializes in intelligence, has other duties to fulfill as Karin’s right hand.
The final question to consider is if Art is simply an underling for Karin, the true Asterisk, with the watch he’s wearing one of many. You have the ability to earn a replica of the watch Art is wearing, which means there is more than one watch in existence, meaning Asterisk would have a NETWORK of people working for them, which is right up Karin’s alley.
Basically, Art works for Karin, which makes sense considering Karin considers herself a work of art.
Street Fighter Game Lore Theories 