Samurai Shodown 3/Gaira Kafuin

花諷院骸羅, Kafuin Gaira

Colors

Introduction

Gaira’s illustrious college football career came to a grinding halt when he accidentally killed someone during a game. He was expelled and sent to serve as a monk at a local Buddhist shrine in the hopes that he would learn to control his temper. He didn’t.

Gaira is the boisterous nephew of Samurai Shodown 2 veteran Nicotine Caffeine. He uses his large stature, the strength that comes with it, free guard cancels, and huge normals with surprising speed to pummel, grapple, and SHOUT his opponents into submission.

Slash Gaira could be classified as a more 'mixup' oriented incarnation, for lack of a better descriptor. He boasts an incredible anti-air grab, two threatening hitgrabs that form a high/low mixup at close range, and an all purpose high damage shoulder tackle that provides decent corner carry. This versatile toolkit lends itself to conditioning the opponent to block a certain way and hurting them for it. A lot.

Bust Gaira is all grappler, all the time, mixups be damned. His command throw is the star of the show. It cashes in hard on unjumpable setups, can combo on hit AND block, and it’s one of the best guard cancels a monk could ask for. He wants nothing more than to be in his opponent's face and hammer toss them to the ends of feudal Japan.

Stats

Damage taken	Rage rate	Rage duration	Throw startup	Deflect advantage	Deflect disadvantage modifier
95%	100%	3.5 sec	13f	+30	±0

Normal Moves

Far Slashes

5A (Properties) - Air Unblockable (Description) - A very swift hook that moves Gaira forward with each use. Not his go-to anti-air, but I suppose you could tag someone with this.

5B (Properties) - Cancellable. Deflectable. Air Unblockable (Description) - Gaira's primary poke, boasting great reach, decent speed, and decent damage. Gaira swings his beads at a slight downward angle, striking anyone caught in their path. No whiffing on crouching characters in this game, folks. While special cancellable, Gaira is sadly too far away to connect into anything. Bust can't even land a command throw afterwards. There's always 22AB though.

5C (Properties) - Deflectable. Air Unblockable (Description) - Remember when I said Far 5B had great reach? Well, so does Far 5C, hitting at right about the same max distance. Gaira takes a mighty step forward and clocks his opponent in the jaw with his mala beads. After the initial strike, Gaira takes a step back to his original position. Very good for stopping your opponent if they're carelessly running towards you, or underestimate Gaira's range.

2A (Properties) - Air Unblockable (Description) - Not much to say here. Just a basic crouching jab. Hits mid, decent speed, but doesn't move Gaira forward like his Far 5A.

2B (Properties) - Deflectable. Air Unblockable (Description) - Similar to Gaira's Far 2A, his Far 2B is a less versatile version of his Far 5B. Boasting less range and slightly more recovery, no real reason to use this over it's standing variant.

2C (Properties) - Deflectable. Air Unblockable. (Properties) - Gaira swings his beads in a horizontal path similar to Far 2B, but boasting equal range to 5B/5C, and the damage associated with heavy slashes! Getting hit by this will ruin anyone's day.

Near Slashes

n.5A (Properties) - Air Unblockable (Properties) - A standard jab. Decent speed/range, all things considered. You can use this if you think you're opponent is going to try to up back, but also if you don't want to use Gaira's other hard read AA options for whatever reason.

n.5B (Properties) - Cancellable. Deflectable. Air Unblockable (Description) - Gaira thrusts his mighty arm upward, striking the opponent in the face with a fistful of mala beads. This will absolutely blow up bad jump-ins and crossup attempts. But what makes this normal -- and Samurai Shodown 3 Gaira as a whole -- so unique, is the generous special cancel window, giving both Slash and Bust Gaira opportunities for some REAL damage.

n.5C (Properties) - Cancellable. Deflectable. Air Unblockable. (Description) - This. Normal. Gaira hoists his mala beads over his head before bringing them down with the force of a dharmapala. Now, normally getting hit by a heavy slash is enough to ruin anyone's day, but both Slash and Bust Gaira have their own options to cancel into, making this Gaira's best punish tool.

n.2A (Properties) - Air Unblockable (Description) - It's like Far 2A but if Far 2A was Near-er

n.2B (Properties) - Cancellable. Deflectable. Air Unblockable (Description) - Gaira swings his mala beads upward, taking a moment to close his eyes in prayer afterwards. Unlike Far 2B, Near 2B is cancellable and has no recoil animation on block! Though he has better normals for more general situations, be sure to take advantage of this if you ever spy the opportunity -- particularly in Bust Technique.

n.2C (Properties) - Deflectable. Air Unblockable (Description) - Boasting significantly less range than Far 2C (be careful about your proximity to the opponent!) no cancel window, and some hefty recovery, there's really no reason to use Near 2C over the other near slashes listed above.

Overheads

5BC (Properties) -

u.5BC (Properties) -

Kicks

5D (Properties) - Cancellable (First hit only). Air Unblockable (Description) - Das Boot. Decent range for a kick, and hits twice up close, once bring his knee up, the second when he sticks his leggy out. The real sauce with this move is, due to there being no recoil for it, Gaira is able to special cancel the first hit, which is ESPECIALLY good news for Ol' Bust Gaira. Trying to tag your opponent with this on wakeup is tricky though, so be wary about whiffing it.

6D (Properties) - Cancellable. Air Unblockable. (Description) - Gaira tries to scuff his opponent's shoes, but a majority of the roster are wearing geta, so it doesn't really work out for him. An interesting quirk with Gaira's kicks is, that, despite some appearances, they all hit mid. Similar to 5D, this kick is special cancellable on hit and block, allowing you to set up inescapable command grab setups when timed right. This move is also kara-cancellable, but, with it being special cancellable on hit/block already, you probably won't be kara-ing it much.

2D (Properties) - Air Unblockable. (Description) - This hits mid, so don't be alarmed when your opponent stand blocks this. Decent range, like all of Gaira's kicks, but it lacks the same special cancellable window that 5D/6D have. Because of that, you likely won't be seeing this used all that much.

3D (Properties) - Air Unblockable. (Description) - I bet you'll never guess how this kick hits. Surprise! It hits mid. Similar to 2D, between stand blocking this kick and it not having a special cancellable window, you likely won't be using this all that much as Gaira. It still functions like a sweep though and scores a knockdown on hit, so if you're fiending for that KD, go for it, I suppose.

Jumping Normals

j7/9.A (Properties) - Hits high. (Description) - If you're familiar with N.Hawk's j7/9.LP in Super Turbo, then this is the Samurai Shodown 3 equivalent. Gaira's fist is pretty much active for the entire time he's airborne, and you can even score a deep hit jump in with this. Just don't expect to beat out any O.Ken DPs with this.

j8.A (Properties) - Hits high. (Description) - If Gaira's j7/9.A is N.Hawk's diagonal jumping jab, then Gaira's neutral jump A is like, Zangief's neutral jump headbutt. But only in the sense both characters do a headbutt. Between the short range on this, and how high up Gaira hits, don't expect to use this normal all that often, if ever.

j.B (Properties) - Hits high. (Description) - Incredibly similar to Gaira's 2B/C. Gaira crouches down in midair and swings his beads in front of him horizontally. Probably he best air to air in terms of speed and hitting-directly-in-front-of-him-ness.

j7/9.C (Properties) - Hits high. (Description) - Big boy overhead swing equals big boy damage. Gaira comes crashing down on top of his opponents with the weight of an incredibly powerful 18-year old wielding giant mala beads. Can actually be a really good anti-air if the opponent jumps before Gaira and is slightly underneath him in the air. The range on this also makes it a good jump-in.

j8.C (Properties) - Hits high. (Description) - This gosh dang normal. Expect to use this normal quite a few times, because it's bonkers. It does about the same amount of damage as it's diagonal jumping heavy slash cousin, but where j8.C shines is where it hits, which is about 4 stories beneath Gaira. Seriously, if you time it right he can almost IOH with this normal for gigantic damage.

j.D (Properties) - Hits high. (Description) - Similar to Gaira's 66D, which will be be discussed later. Gaira sticks his leggy out and kicks the opponent in the face. While not nearly as active as j7/9.A, you can also score a deep hit jump in with this normal, opening the opponent up to big damage if timed correctly.

Dashing Normals

66A (Properties) - Air Unblockable (Description) - A quick, dashing headbutt. Nothing too special/exemplary about this attack, but you can use the autocorrecting properties of dash normals to run under a jumping opponent and bop them out of them air with this.

66B (Properties) - Deflectable. Hits high. Knocks down. (Description) - Gaira sprints forward and quickly strikes the opponent with an overhead bead strike, knocking them down on hit and doing decent damage.

66C (Properties) - Unblockable. Scary. (Description) - Gaira leans back and takes a moment to gather his thoughts about whether or not going for this gimmicky attack was a good idea or not, then charges forward with the shoulder tackle that got him banned from college ball. As far as 66C's go, this actually has some decent range on it, and it knocks the opponent nearly halfscreen. As with most 66C's, use very sparingly.

66D (Properties) - Hits high. Gimmicky. Restands on air hit????? (Description) - This move. You'll either love it or hate it. You'll either go for it a lot or not at all. On hit, this move will do some hefty hitstun to the opponent, leading to Big Buddhist Damage, *especially* if you manage to deep hit with it. On block, you'll probably get hit and it will hurt alot because that's Samurai Shodown 3.

Unarmed Normals

u.5S (Properties) - Air Unblockable (Description) - Just a regular ol' fashion uppercut. Decent anti-air, but to actually hit with it on the ground Gaira's gotta be pretty darn close, though it sometimes whiffs on crouching.

u.2S (Properties) - Air Unblockable (Description) - See Armed 2A

uj.S (Properties) - Hits high. (Description) - Apparently Gaira keeps all of his active frames stored in his mala beads, because this stays out nowhere near as long as j7/9.A does.

u.66S (Properties) - Air Unblockable. (Description) - See Armed 66A

Command Moves

j.2D (Properties) - Hits high. Knocks down. (Description) - Yet another Street Fighter Lite Normal! Gaira does a falling knee drop, which stays active for it's entirety, knocking down on hit. Due to the knock down it causes, you sadly can't score a deep hit off of this.

j.2C (Slash Only) (Properties) - Hits high. Knocks down. (Description) - Similar to j7/9.C, but Gaira's beads glow, and they knockdown, and it doesn't do alot of damage, so it's actually not that similar to j7/9.C, actually.

Special Moves

Universal

- 「Jishin Gan」 - 22AB (Description) -

- 「Katsu」 - 214A (Description) -

- WFT「Kenbu」 - 236236AB (Description) -

Slash

- 「Midare Uchi」 - 236AB (Description) -

- 「Kachi Age」 - 623S (Description) - (A version) - (B version) - (C version) -

- 「Tsukamuzo: Kumitenjo」 - 421A (Description) -

- 「Tsukamuzo: Ishi Atama」 - 421B (Description) -

- 「Tsukamuzo: Shiri Mekuri」 - 421C (Description) -

Bust

- 「Buchikoroshi」 - 236S (Description) - (A version) - (B version) - (C version) -

- 「Enshin Satsu: Ten」 - 2146AB (Description) -

- 「Enshin Satsu: Chi」 - 2146CD (Description) -

Strategy

both techniques press buttons and make combos happen sometimes

Slash

slash strategy

Bust

bust strategy

Combos

Universal

combos both techniques can do

Slash

slash-only combos

Bust

bust-only combos