A lot of my rants are simply longwinded answers to questions that I'm frequently asked. Well, this is no exception. ^_^ A lot of people want to know what it is about Chun-Li that would make me dedicate so much time and effort into making this site and keeping it running for six years. Today, I'll answer that question to the best of my ability.
Simply put, Chun-Li is my hero. Almost everybody has someone, real or fictional, that they grow up admiring. For some it's Superman or Batman, others look up to sports legends like Michael Jordon or, at the risk of seriously dating myself, Larry Bird and Kareem Abdul-Jabar (or Wilt Chamberlain ^_^). For me, it's Chun-Li.
The Look
Chun-Li is one of those rare, good-looking girls who can be both cute and sexy without being too much of either (like, say, Sakura's much more cute than sexy and Cammy's much sexier than she is cute.). Unlike many other game girls, Chun-Li also wears an outfit that doesn't beg the question "how the hell can she fight wearing THAT!?" Chun-Li's outfit is not only chic, but practical.
The Attitude
I loved her "beautiful girl who gets underestimated by her opponant and proceeds to kick his ass" motif, which was pretty original at the time considering the relative lack of kick-butt game girls before SF2. Sure, there was Samus Aran and Ms. Pac-Man, but that was about it. Others imitated, but never duplicated.
When the fighting game market became flooded with imitators riding on Chun-Li's coattails, the novelty of the "beautiful girl being underestimated by her opponant" story had begun to wear thin, so Chun-Li's character moved on without skipping a beat. However, she still retains her "catchphrase" from the old days: "I am the strongest woman in the world!"
The Story, The Hero
I was about ten years old when Street Fighter 2 was taking the world by storm, and right from the start, I was drawn to Chun-Li. "A girl? In a martial arts tournament?" What happened afterwards was nothing short of magic. It didn't take long for her to become my favorite. I loved her look, her tough-as-nails attitude that sheltered the painful secret of losing her father, and I admired her pursuit of justice.
To me, Chun-Li is an honest-to-God modern superhero. More than anything else, she wants to lead a normal life. But she wasn't born an ordinary girl. A gifted fighter and a cunning investigator, she knows that before she can live the normal life she hopes for, she must first do everything she can to make the world a little bit safer. Her father, who became a casualty of war in the neverending battle between good and evil, tried to do this, too. Even before he died, Chun-Li was an active participant in the battle, but after she discovered his fate, her fight took on a whole new meaning.
After Chun-Li destroys Shadaloo and avenges her father's death, surely now she can get back to the carefree life of a young girl she's always wanted, right? Not quite. After rescuing a kidnapped young girl, Chun-Li realizes that her crusade for justice is never over, just changing. Now she fights for the future by training young children lessons in martial arts and lessons in life. No matter what the arena looks like, Chun-Li will always fight for justice, and that's why she's my hero.
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