History: This character's name is Kuroko, which literally means "black child." But the kuroko are stage hands that work in traditional Japanese Noh and Kabuki theatres. Contemporary American theatre has adapted this concept, so the ingeniousness is obvious.

    There are many characters that adhere to the Grand Master schema--the archetypical fighter of great import who has mastered his or other character's fighting styles, often to the point of arrogance or a blasé attitude-- such as Edge Master in Soul Calibre, Okina in Last Blade, Gen in SF Alpha or Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat.

    But what separates Kuroko from the rest is his ambiguous presentation: no other character is so rare in a game, or so skilled to the point of being nonchalant, as Kuroko. One can think of Kuroko not only as this but as the "Trickster" of Samurai Shodown as well, due to this knowledge by experience.

This character is surrounded by mystery. He seems to know all of the characters. An observant referee, he has studied their mannerisms. He is only playable in 2 of the 6 games in the series, and in both cases only under strict cirumstances. This is the reason he is  fascinating to me...there is so much unseen potential in his abilities and that truly makes him a mystery, unlike most other "hidden" characters.
 

    This is "Potential Conceptual" Art of my own making for a fighting game series (Samurai Shodown). The newer games in the series feature a very interesting concept of "Chivalrous" and "Treacherous" versions of all the characters, so if you start to become skilled as one aspect you can try to learn a whole new set of moves as the counterpart. Most importantly, the characters take on different "attitudes" toward fighting, not quite good or evil, but rather alternate reactions. However, all the personas look exactly the same in every way except colour, so I thought they should diversify and make every persona look unique to one another....which is apparent in my interpretations I'd hope. I have rendered similar treatments to characters such as Gaira and Jubei, but none in such a senstitive capacity (e.g. watercolour form) as that of Kuroko's .
 

Ja,  watashi no Kuroko no Busuto ga suki desu ka?
 
Many years later, I decided to paint a new tribute to the original concept of Kuroko as the mysterious, Jack-of-All-Trades type of character.