Yuffie Kisaragi

Yuffie Kisaragi
(ユフィ・キサラギ, Yufi Kisaragi?) Alternate names: Mystery Ninja, Treasure Princess
Portraits
Enemy appearances	Boss
Other appearances	Opera Omnia Theatrhythm Record Keeper All other appearances
Biographical information
Home	Wutai
Age	9-15 (Before Crisis, Crisis Core) 16 (Final Fantasy VII) 18 (Advent Children) 19 (Dirge of Cerberus) (born November 20, 1991)
Occupation	Materia Hunter, Ninja
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Female
Height	160 cm (5'2"[rounded down])
Eye color	Dark Brown
Blood type	A
Gameplay details
Type	Optional player character
Ultimate Limit Break	All Creation
Weapon	Shuriken
Ultimate weapon	Conformer
Type	Non-player character
Type	Non-player character
Behind the scenes information
Designer	Tetsuya Nomura
Japanese voice actor	Yumi Kakazu Kino Sakai (Reunion)
English voice actor	Christy Carlson Romano (Kingdom Hearts, Advent Children) Mae Whitman (Kingdom Hearts II, Dirge of Cerberus, Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind) Suzie Yeung (Final Fantasy VII Remake) Brandilyn Cheah (Reunion)

Cunning and sly, she may look like a common thief, but Yuffie is a very skilled and powerful ninja...

Description

Yuffie Kisaragi is a recurring character in the Final Fantasy VII series. She is an optional playable character in Final Fantasy VII, the main protagonist of an additional episode introduced in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, and has appearances in other titles. Yuffie is a Ninja and a Thief, wielding a large shuriken as her weapon of choice.

Yuffie is a materia hunter, originally encountered in various forests on the planet. As a mischievous and cunning ninja, she desires to restore her homeland Wutai to the glorious nation it was before being conquered by the Shinra Electric Power Company. She initially helps the party only out of her own self-interest, before befriending them and becoming a valued member. Despite her obnoxious personality, Yuffie is friendly, helpful, optimistic and willing to help the party in their battles.

In Final Fantasy VII, Yuffie is one of two optional characters along with Vincent Valentine. She can be discovered in various forests on the world map after the events at the Mythril Mine, encountered as the Mystery Ninja, but has little impact on the main storyline. She wields shurikens in battle for ranged attacks, and her Limits usually involve her hitting multiple enemies at once.

History

Before Final Fantasy VII

Early life

Yuffie was born in Wutai Village in November 20, 1991, one year prior to the onset of the Wutai War, to her father Godo Kisaragi and her mother Kasumi Kisaragi. The war dominated her youth, lasting from 1992 to 0001, Yuffie grew up on stories of Wutai's honor and mystique before Shinra's arrival. Her mother died of an illness when she was young.

Meeting Zack and the Turks

Yuffie in Crisis Core.

In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, a 9-year-old Yuffie approached Zack Fair when he participated in the invasion of Fort Tamblin, proclaiming herself as "Wutai's Greatest Warrior". Zack played along with her antics and she ran off. After losing the war to Shinra, Yuffie's father and the leader of Wutai, Godo Kisaragi, turned their hometown into a tourist attraction. Yuffie resented this, and began to think about restoring Wutai to its former glory.

Some time after the war, Godo was given a list of SOLDIER email addresses and locations of rare treasure by an unidentified blond man (appearing to be Lazard Deusericus or Rufus Shinra), but did nothing with the information. Yuffie stole it from her father and sent Zack emails about rare treasure, intending to ambush him at the end of each mission and either steal from him, or seize the treasure for herself. She failed on both counts when Zack either did not fall for her ruses, or the treasure she found was not up to her standards. As Yuffie continued to taunt Zack through emails, the locations she led him became increasingly dangerous, Yuffie getting her information from an anti-Shinra group based in Wutai. On the final mission, Yuffie stole Zack's Bahamut Fury materia and escaped. She mailed it back to him a few days later, not understanding how to use it.

During Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, Yuffie encountered the player Turks in Wutai, where Avalanche had set up a stronghold in the pagoda. Pursued by Avalanche, the player Turk saved her and she began scheming to steal their materia moments after learning what materia even was. Yuffie followed the player Turk into the Avalanche base and stole the bomb detonators planted in the pagoda, and the player Turk chased her to get them back. Yuffie accidentally pressed the detonator switch, and cooperated with the Turk to escape out of necessity. After returning to Tseng, the Turks' leader, Yuffie realized the player Turk was with Shinra and fled.

Original continuity

Meteorfall

The party meets Yuffie.

Cloud Strife's party ran into a Mystery Ninja in a forest, who attacked them but was soundly defeated. After demanding a second round and being turned down, Yuffie joined Cloud's party, with plans to steal from them.

In "The Stowaway Strategy", Under Junon, Yuffie talked with Red XIII after Cloud was unanimously voted to infiltrate Junon. In "Dangerous Voyage", Yuffie disguised herself as a crew member on the Shinra cargo ship, but suffered from seasickness, and did not want to investigate Sephiroth's appearance on the ship. In Costa del Sol, Yuffie worked part-time at the Materia shop only to steal the shop's wares overnight. When Barret Wallace told the party the fate of Corel in "Barret's Past", Yuffie did not hesitate to voice her lack of sympathy for him, blaming him for trusting Shinra. After their newly hijacked plane was shot down by Shinra, Yuffie suggested they head "west" toward Wutai without giving further elaboration.

Elena and Yuffie being captured by Don Corneo.

In "Homecoming of a Miserable Daughter", when the party entered Wutai, Yuffie's plan came to fruition. She stole their materia and led them astray, but Shinra soldiers' attack caught her off-guard as she let slip that she had played a trick on Cloud's party, before running off. The party followed her to Wutai Village, and found her talking to her father, scolding him for his fear of the Shinra, following which he expressed shame.

When the party caught up with Yuffie in her house, she broke into tears at how Wutai had become a resort town following the war. Though she promised to return their materia, this turned out to be another trick as she trapped Cloud's party in a cage. During her escape Yuffie was captured by Don Corneo, who deliberated which of his captives, Yuffie or Elena of the Turks, should become his next "bride". Cloud's party, along with the Turks Reno and Rude, rescued both, and the Turks agreed not to attack the party as a gesture of goodwill. Yuffie returned the materia she had stolen to the party, and rejoined them.

Yuffie returned to Wutai's Five Story Pagoda, defeating Wutai's guardians on each floor before confronting her father, Godo, on the top. Despite their familial bond, Godo asked her to treat the battle as if she was trying to kill him, otherwise he would kill her. When Yuffie was victorious, the two exchanged compliments and Godo gave Yuffie the Leviathan materia, following which an argument broke out. Yuffie spoke out against following customs, and against the surrender to Shinra, calling it shameful that Wutai had become a resort town. The two came to an understanding, as Godo imparted that both her hunt for materia, and his decision not to seek further conflict, were just different ways they were working for the good of Wutai. Godo urged Yuffie to go with the party, trusting their determination and strength, and believing her journey with them would help strengthen Wutai, but also covertly encouraged her to ask for their materia once the quest was over.

When the group stayed in Gold Saucer while the ropeway was under repair, Yuffie was one of the possible date options for Cloud. During their date, Yuffie kissed Cloud, and was angry at his unresponsiveness. After Tifa Lockhart and Barret were imprisoned in Junon and Sapphire Weapon attacked the city causing enough commotion for the two to escape, Yuffie disguised herself as a news reporter and assisted Cait Sith and Barret in their escape.

After Cloud remembered his true past, he began to suffer from motion sickness when aboard the party's airship, the Highwind, and empathized with Yuffie who felt similarly. When Cloud spoke to Yuffie before descending to the Northern Cave for the final showdown against Sephiroth, she tried to make Cloud sign a contract that would relinquish the party's materia to her after Sephiroth was dealt with. Cloud refused, saying he gets airsick whenever he reads while flying. Following Sephiroth's final defeat in the depths of the Northern Cave, Yuffie and Vincent were absent, having gone to Midgar to help evacuate the citizens and Shinra personnel before Meteor hit. After placing an injured Rufus Shinra aboard a helicopter, Yuffie warned Vincent to be careful in his search of the Mako Cannon. She later saved him as the building collapsed from a lightning strike.

Post crisis

In On the Way to a Smile, following Meteorfall, the group returned to the City of the Ancients to pay their respects to Aerith. They parted ways, with the majority of the group's destructive materia being given to Yuffie in name, but being kept "for safe custody" by Cloud.

Returning to Wutai with the expectation she would be treated as a hero for saving the world from Sephiroth, Yuffie discovered her home town in ruin. Forgetting about fame, she offered her healing materia to help those wounded after the lifestream had passed through Wutai during Meteorfall.

After a while a strange epidemic arose and, believing Yuffie to be the carrier, her father locked her within the family dojo to both quarantine her and protect her from the townsfolk. Freed by Yuri, a childhood friend, the pair left Wutai to investigate the materia caves for a cure for the "Midgar Disease". Calling via cellphone but unable to find an answer on whether one existed from Cloud or Tifa, Yuffie and Yuri explored the newly opened caves from when the lifestream erupted from the earth.

While finding no materia within the caves, the pair encountered many monsters. A stray fireball released a black liquid from the ground, which appeared sentient, and chased Yuffie and Yuri out of the cave, where it infected Yuri with Geostigma. Encountering Nanaki (Red XIII), who was traveling the world, Yuri revealed he had visited Midgar before Yuffie's arrival and that he believed he was the one to infect Wutai with the "Midgar Disease".

Returning to Wutai to discover the township had begun quarantine the infected in a newly built hut at the town's outskirts. Two weeks later, with the number of infected increasing in spite of the quarantine, it was theorized the disease was not communicable. Yuri hypothesized only those who had already been sick or injured, and were thinking they were "going to die", were infected, admitting that he himself had thought he was going to die when he became infected in the cave. The township was made aware of the black water Yuffie and Yuri had encountered and warned the populace of the possibility of infected water.

One year later, the number of "quarantine" huts had increased to two and the following year Yuffie embarked to investigate the materia cave to the north. When passing though Corel she ran into Cid Highwind and Nanaki while Cid was testing his new oil-fueled airship. After Cid inadvertently left Nanaki and returned to Rocket Town, he and Yuffie continued on to the northern materia cave in search of a materia that might cure Geostigma.

Geostigma crisis

Yuffie in Advent Children.

In 0010, the events of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, when Cloud's cellphone was lost in the lake in City of the Ancients, Yuffie's voice recording played among others. She mentioned the children from Wutai have gone missing, and told Cloud to call her if he knows why.

Yuffie accompanied Tifa, Barret, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Cid, and Vincent, during the battle in Edge. She arrived via Cid's new airship, the Shera, still showing signs of motion sickness after parachuting down. She helped defeat Bahamut SIN, and brought Cloud's materia collection from the Midgar ruins aboard the airship.

Yuffie, Tifa, Red XIII and Cait Sith watch as Cloud battles Bahamut SIN.

During the bonus feature Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII, Yuffie sent a "Closed for Business" sign to Barret through the Strife Delivery Service as a way to get Cloud take a day off. She called Vincent who in response asked Cloud to relay a message to her: she has no right to call his phone.

Deepground conflict

Yuffie in Dirge of Cerberus.

In 0011, the events of Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, Yuffie was part of the World Regenesis Organization, in charge of the espionage and intelligence gathering. She fought against Deepground, and rescued Vincent from Rosso the Crimson in the Shinra Mansion, where the bloodthirsty Tsviets were about to kill him, and took him back to the WRO Headquarters.

Onboard the Shera, she suffered from motion sickness, and led the troops from the airships to the ground for the Battle of Midgar to shut down a generator inside the Shinra Building. Yuffie and Vincent went into Deepground to kill Weiss, but were stopped by Nero, who sucked Yuffie into darkness, kidnapping her. Vincent went in to save her, since Nero's darkness did not affect him. Yuffie and other Avalanche members helped Vincent destroy Omega and she was seen last in Seventh Heaven, asking if Tifa had heard from Cloud, most likely concerning Vincent's whereabouts.

Remake continuity

Yuffie comes to Midgar to infiltrate Shinra and nab their "Ultimate Materia".

Yuffie came to Midgar under orders from the new Wutai government to work with Avalanche steal a rumored ultimate materia from Shinra, arriving to the city just after the Mako reactor 5 bombing, shocked to the supposed megalopolis' state while traveling the derserted monster-infested slums while creeped out by strange men dressed in long dark cloaks. She arrived to the inhabited area of the slums by following posters of moogles posted by Avalanche to guide her, reaching a local Avalanche division, led by Zhijie and ran by Nayo, Billy Bob, and Polk.

Yuffie learned her partner Sonon Kusakabe was not there though he had arrived days ago, and decided to scout out the area while waiting for him to return. She learned to play Fort Condor, a tabletop tower defense game that had gained popularity recently, and took on Chadley's VR mission. She found a Wutai supporter called Old Snapper who advertised the Happy Turtle bar with an unusual ad campaign; Yuffie took part and scored a materia for her reward. She impressed Wymer, the local neighborhood watch leader, by venturing into the abandoned factory in the area despite the monsters that lurked within.

Finally meeting up with Sonon, the two teamed up in their plan to infiltrate the Shinra Building and make way to Scarlet's weapons research facility in the basement. Sonon was a former student of Yuffie's father, the former leader of Wutai, Godo, who was currently imprisoned while a new government had taken over. Yuffie did not want to hear about her father, but Sonon still respected his old master, and so agreed to follow Yuffie's lead even if he was her senior. Yuffie was pleased with her status as "boss", and the mission was underway.

They realized that their goals differed quite a bit from the aims of the Avalanche cell that had agreed to help them; while Yuffie and Sonon felt but hatred for Midgar and Shinra both, the Avalanche members sought to liberate the city from Shinra. Yuffie considered it impossible to separate the two, the city being entirely Shinra's creation. Yuffie and Sonon also learned of the infamous "splinter cell" of Avalanche that also took residence in the slums, which was behind the recent attacks on Midgar's mako reactors. Yuffie thought the splinter cell had the right idea on how to properly attack both city and Shinra at the same time, and secretly thought they should have partnered with them instead.

When Nayo took them to meet their contact who would provide them with fake ID cards to get into the Shinra Building, they were accosted by Don Corneo's lackeys looking for "bridal candidates" to recommend to the Trio back in Wall Market. They took a liking to Nayo, infuriating Yuffie when being overlooked for "being a kid". They beat the lackeys up who departed after hearing that they had secured an excellent candidate already.

Yuffie's fake Shinra employee ID card.

Nayo, Yuffie, and Sonon met up with a contact in a warehouse who gave them Shinra ID cards. Zhijie had gotten into trouble, however, Shinra having arrested him and escorting him out to the factory in the outskirts. Yuffie and Sonon followed them and saved Zhijie while battling a Shinra mecha built to resemble a centipede. Zhijie said that he had learned Shinra was going to destroy the Sector 7 slums and Yuffie asked him to inform the "splinter cell" as well. They returned to find the "clinic" ransacked, the locals shocked that an Avalanche hideout had been uncovered in their midst. Yuffie and Sonon made their way to the train station where the last train heading to topside was about to depart, as the train schedule had become erratic after the recent bombing on Mako Reactor 5. To their relief, they spotted Nayo, Billy Bob, Polk, and Zhijie in the crowd, also leaving the slums.

The train was packed and Yuffie suffered from motion sickness while nervous over the ID scan. The fake IDs Avalanche had provided for the two worked and they passed on unobstructed. Sonon told Yuffie about his younger sister Melphie, who died near the end of the Wutai War when a Shinra combat drone went haywire. Melphie had tried getting people to safety when it began indiscriminately attacking bystanders. Yuffie realized Sonon was trying to act as a surrogate elder brother toward her, and rejected being compared to his sister.

Scarlet apprehends Yuffie and Sonon via hologram.

Making their way into the Shinra Building, which was swarmed by reporters, Yuffie and Sonon used their guises as Shinra employees to find a vacant elevator. Scarlet, the head of Shinra's weapons development, stepped into the lift with them. Realizing Yuffie and Sonon were Wutaians, she derided their society. Rather than raise the alarm and have them captured, she sent them to her research department for use as test subjects against her latest mechas. Sonon was enraged he had missed an opportunity for revenge, blaming Scarlet for Melphie's death. Yuffie calmed him down, reassuring they would get another chance. The duo made their way through the facility, destroying Shinra's weapons and stealing every bit of materia they could get their hands on, but could not find any "ultimate materia". Scarlet followed their progress through security cameras, puzzled over what they were after, before confronting the two "in person" via a hologram and soon after, in her personal war machine.

After being defeated, Scarlet remained unfazed, disappointed that her creation had not fared as well as she had hoped but recognizing what needed to be improved in its design. Sonon went ahead while Yuffie stayed to interrogate Scarlet, who claimed Shinra did not have any "ultimate materia" as such projects had been postponed in favor of a more immediate project: the dropping of Sector 7 plate. Yuffie did not at first realize the magnitude of this, but when she heard Sonon was in trouble she rushed to help him and relayed the news, she learned that "dropping the plate" meant Shinra was going to destroy 1/8th of the metropolis, killing countless of their own citizens. Scarlet deployed Deepground on Yuffie and Sonon and released Nero the Sable to pursue them to see what would happen. She also trapped them in a Combat Simulator with maximum pain level, but the two made their way out by destroying the projector.

A dying Sonon tells Yuffie to flee.

Yuffie and Sonon came upon a sight of carnage where Nero had killed his fellow Deepground SOLDIERs before turning his focus on the intruders. Yuffie tried to keep her cool even though unnerved by their assailant's mysterious hold over the abyss. The Shinra scientists set to monitor Nero lost control of him, but Yuffie and Sonon prevailed and started making their way out. When Nero reformed himself and came after them again, Sonon noticed and flashed back to when Melphie died. He gave up his life to make sure Yuffie got away, who realized Sonon had saved her to make up for the time he was unable to save his sister. Outside, Yuffie saw Sector 7 plummet to the ground before breaking down in a mess of tears.

Yuffie left Midgar on a chocobo. Not wanting to give up on her mission of fighting Shinra, stealing their materia, and restoring Wutai's glory, she planned to have new companions join her. Yuffie travels from town to town before reaching Junon, where she is hired by Rhonda and accepts a job to assassinate Rufus Shinra during his inauguration as the new president of Shinra.

Yuffie takes a boat to sail off to a path to reach Upper Junon when she is attacked by the Terror of the Deep and nearly drowned as Prisicilla gets Cloud and the others to help her while Mr. Dolphin takes her to shore. Though Cloud was about to give her CPR at the behest of the townspeople, Yuffie comes to and assumes he was a pervert while getting defensive. But Yuffie changes her tune upon recognizing Tifa and Barret, meeting the group the following day to suggest a team up while informing them of her mission. Infiltartion the inaguration as a camerawoman, Yuffie takes to the rooftop and proceeds to launch her shuriken as Rufus as he offered Cloud's group a reprieve since they have a common enemy in Sephiroth. But the assassination is foiled when Heidegger sees the shuriken and is grazed getting Rufus out of harm's way. Yuffie manages to elude Shinra soldiers by disguising herself as one of the Sephiroth-clones bording the Shinra-8, only to be locked with them before they are mutated into Necrotic Entities. She escaped being shot by Captain Titov, going incognito on Costa del Sol before helping Cloud's group when Hojo nearly captured them. Soon after, after a bit of bluffing, Yuffie joins Cloud's group.

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Characteristics

Appearance

Original art by Tetsuya Nomura (top) and render of original attire for Advent Children (bottom).

Yuffie is the youngest member of the party and usually depicted as the shortest. She has short black hair (occasionally depicted as brown) and dark brown eyes. Throughout all of her outfits, she wears a white headband, sometimes with a second black band tied over it. Her outfits are variations on a sleeveless top, a pair of shorts (sometimes with a belted hip-pack resting on her right hip), and large boots, with some ninja armor and weaponry. Her weapon of choice is the large 4-Point Shuriken, though she also has a pair of kunai knives tied to the ends of the headband to hang down her back.

Yuffie's main attire, seen in Final Fantasy VII, comprises a green, sleeveless turtleneck jumper that bares her midriff, and a pair of tan shorts with no belt and an unbuttoned/unzipped fly. Over her left arm she wears a protective gauntlet that originates from a single pauldron over her shoulder, presumably meant to also act as a shield. The gauntlet is held in place via a strap tied across her chest and around her back. Ninja-mail mesh covers part of her right arm and left leg, and an additional piece of armor covers the rest of the thigh. She wears a smaller wrist-covering gauntlet on her right arm, orange fingerless gloves, and orange sneakers with white leg warmers.

Yuffie in Dirge of Cerberus.

Throughout her appearances in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, she always wears a different outfit, most variations on her main attire. In Before Crisis and Crisis Core, the younger Yuffie wears two different green and yellow sleeveless vests with hoods; in Before Crisis, she also wears orange shorts, while her shorts are covered by the vest in Crisis Core. In Advent Children, she wears a black tank-top with a white Hawaiian flowered design underneath a sleeveless dark-gray vest, and in place of her gauntlets is a black cloth that starts below her left elbow and covers her left hand. In Dirge of Cerberus, she wears a blue and black strapless top, with shoulder straps and a black and yellow belt looped from underneath her shirt and over her shoulder that hikes the shirt further up her stomach, orange denim short-shorts with a yellow belt tied with a cord, and braced black boots.

Yuffie also wears disguises. One of these is a moogle hood depicted in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and Dirge of Cerberus, a tattered white and brown cloak with a hood with a red pompom and nose and buttons for eyes that covers much of her visage. She also disguised herself as a reporter in Final Fantasy VII.

Portrait in Final Fantasy VII.

Concept art from Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-.

Concept art from Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-.

Promotional image from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

Render of Yuffie in moogle cloak from Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII.

Portrait in Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Render in Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Moogle costume render in Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Personality

Menu portrait artwork for Final Fantasy VII.

Yuffie is mischievous, cocky, and rebellious, acting brash and aggressive. In the beginning, she only cares for the prospect of obtaining materia and earning money, to the point of double-crossing them and others to steal it. However, she is not averse to heroics, and later becomes a reliable ally and caring friend. Yuffie is brash and cocky, bestowing honorific titles onto herself, such as "the single white rose of Wutai", and provoking her opponents with insulting nicknames. She is usually bright and cheerful, adopting a playful attitude, though she struggles with motion sickness, both seasickness and airship sickness. During these times Yuffie seeks solace to suffer her affliction alone, though seems to enjoy encouragement and sympathy from Cloud who is likewise prone to motion sickness.

Yuffie's motivation for materia hunting stems from a desire to restore Wutai to its former glory. She had been raised on stories of Wutai's greatness prior to Shinra's arrival, and greatly resented how it had since become a tourist town. She was consumed by this goal, and by her hatred of Shinra, having no sympathy for anyone who trusted them. When she confronted her father with this, he initially chastised her lack of maturity; when she proved her strength by defeating Wutai's guardians, he reconciled with her and imparted his wish to do right by Wutai, but warned that a desire for strength merely begets a dangerous cycle. Following this, Yuffie adopted the larger cause of helping the planet, growing into heroism and becoming a reliable friend to Cloud and his party. She retained her desire for materia, however, asking the party to sign it to her once the quest was finished.

Despite her devotion to her hometown, Yuffie had little respect for its customs and traditions, and disliked following them. She disrespected authority figures, be they Godo, Shinra (including friendly individuals such as Zack), or the Avalanche party leader. She later softened her stance, and did not show hostility to the party later on; she even briefly appeared to have a crush on Cloud, though it manifested only in the optional date scene. Yuffie later followed Vincent around and attempted to phone him numerous times, much to his annoyance.

In Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Yuffie's personality is more fleshed out. Unlike her original self, she is not selfish, and genuinely shows respect for others, in her own way. She sees the struggles that the people of Midgar go through due to Shinra's actions, sympathizing with them. She also and recognizes that the members of Avalanche HQ are good people that can be trusted, different from the ones she encountered before. She'll often gift people Da-chao beans as a way to greet or express gratitude. Despite this, Yuffie still retains her cocky attitude, showing high self-esteem and acting flamboyant whenever she has the opportunity, to the point of being childish, much to the dismay of her partner and subordinate, Sonon Kusakabe.

Abilities

Yuffie wields her weapon of choice, a large shuriken, as a boomerang, throwing it at a target for it to return to her hand. Her limit break abilities are various techniques tied to her shuriken, including powerful melee attacks and ranged magic attacks, though they also include the ability to heal her comrades. Yuffie also has great agility and stealth.

Yuffie's most powerful asset is her cunning and her skills at deception. She has fooled many people, including Cloud's party, on numerous occasions to allow her to steal their materia. In particular, when stealing Cloud's party's materia in Wutai, she stayed one step ahead of them and had a trick up her sleeve each time they came close to catching her. She was only caught off-guard by external factors in the form of Shinra and Corneo, and stopped after willingly giving the materia up. She uses disguises as part of her deception, disguising herself as a reporter and with a moogle cloak.

Gameplay

Final Fantasy VII

Main article: Yuffie (Final Fantasy VII party member)

In Final Fantasy VII, Yuffie is an optional playable party member who must be recruited. She is first fought as a random encounter in a forest location on the world map. She can be encountered and recruited at any time, including when Tifa or Cid are party leaders (her dialogue changes slightly). Yuffie is the only party member to be fought against, but her battle stats and abilities do not match up with those she has when she is a party member. After defeating her, the player must give her all the correct dialogue responses to recruit her. The player must answer, in order:

1. Not interested
2. ……petrified
3. Wait a second!
4. ……That's right
5. ……Let's hurry on.

Yuffie's Limit Break Gauntlet.

As a party member, she wields shurikens which are long range, using them in Limits, which normally damage all enemies. Her stats are below average, though she has the highest Luck stat. Her ultimate weapon, the Conformer, deals more damage based on the level of the enemy, making it the most reliable ultimate weapon. She joins the party with the Throw Materia.

Yuffie is a date option for Cloud. She is the second most difficult character to date, only ahead of Barret, as her starting hidden date value is 10, compared to Tifa's 30 and Aeris's 50. By visiting Wutai after recruiting Yuffie, an extensive two-part sidequest can be accessed.

The Yuffie warping glitch lets the player skip to different points in the game. The glitch only works in the PC versions.

Field model.

Yuffie with a parachute backpack.

Yuffie as a reporter.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Main article: Yuffie Kisaragi (VII Remake party member)

Battle render.

Yuffie is the main playable character in "Episode INTERmission", and can synergize her abilities with her partner, Sonon Kusakabe. Yuffie can attack both close- and long-range with her weapons, and change the element of her attack with Elemental Ninjutsu. With Throw, her main mechanic, she can throw her weapon to stick to the target and attack passively while she can act elsewhere. She can also throw and retrieve her weapon right away to close distance to an enemy and deal damage by double-tapping , in a maneuver reminiscent of Noctis's Warp-strike from Final Fantasy XV.

Yuffie and Sonon team up.

Yuffie has balanced stats between physical and magic damage. This means she can not only switch between melee and ranged damage, but can easily be built towards any damage-dealing role. Paired with Sonon, who is much more durable, Yuffie can make use of powerful synergized versions of her attacks. This includes her limit break, Bloodbath. Yuffie's other capabilities include allowing her to steal from enemies while dealing damage.

Throughout "Episode INTERmission", Yuffie can get Ramuh as a summon, and play the Fort Condor and Shinra Box Buster minigames.

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis

For gameplay purposes, Yuffie is considered to be a character from Final Fantasy VII. She is recruited during Chapter 5, "The Wide Wide World", in the FFVII story arc. Her scenario parallels the original game, but with some variations. Yuffie was initially attacked by a pack of monsters around the Chocobo Farm when the party at the time spots her. They defeat the pack, but Yuffie attacks them upon being discovered. She is then subdued, at which point her original recruitment sequence (above) takes place. The remainder of the party has their doubts, but Yuffie soon challenges the party once more and, again humbled, finally agrees to join the party.

Yuffie was originally introduced as an NPC in the Crisis Core arc, and later returned as a boss in the New Year's 2024 campaign before Chapter 5 debuted. Gameplay-wise, Yuffie equips shuriken as her main weapons and has access to Bloodfest and Clear Tranquil as her innate Limit Breaks.

Non-playable appearances

Model in Crisis Core Reunion.

Yuffie appears briefly in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- beginning in chapter 1. Later, she appears in a series of missions under the M8: Zack, the Materia Hunter series, beginning with M8-4-1: Suspicious Mail 1. In her missions, Yuffie sends a mail to Zack, and at the start and end of each mission, dialogue plays.

Musical themes

"Descendant of Shinobi"

Yuffie's theme is "Descendant of Shinobi", which plays after the party defeats her in battle and during many other scenes involving her. It is set in G major. This theme appears in a vocal form on the Final Fantasy Song Book "Mahoroba" album. The PlayStation 4 version had a glitch that plays a wrong music track when the player recruits Yuffie that involves entering the one-time world map fields. Instead of playing her theme, the game plays the last field music the player heard.

The theme "Stolen Materia" is a variation of Yuffie's character theme set in E minor and is often used in association with her, generally whenever she is behaving in a sneaky or untrustworthy manner. It first plays when the party arrives in the Wutai area, again when they realize that much of their materia has been stolen, after Yuffie locks two party members in a cage in her house, and when she and Godo scheme to steal the party's materia at the top of the pagoda.

In Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, during "Episode INTERmission", "Descendant of Shinobi" continues to be Yuffie's main theme, which plays at the start of Chapter 1, "Wutai's Finest". The beginning of Wutai's theme also plays briefly during some parts. An arrangement of this theme, called "Descendant of Shinobi - Battle Edit", plays during battles at the start of Chapter 1, as well some fights in the Shinra Combat Simulator. The leitmotif of "Descendant of Shinobi" also plays through the game in various other themes.

Other appearances

Guest appearances

Artwork of Yuffie in Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia.

Main article: Yuffie Kisaragi other appearances

Yuffie has appeared in the following games in the Final Fantasy series:

• Final Fantasy VII G-Bike as a support character.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy in a cameo.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia as a playable character.
• Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call as a playable character.
• Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
• Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade as summonable Legend.
• Final Fantasy Artniks as a series of cards.
• Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character.
• Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.
• Triple Triad as a card.

Yuffie is depicted in the Ninja job, making use of her limit breaks from Final Fantasy VII and her shuriken weapons. Though the use of ninja abilities and her own limit breaks are common throughout her appearances, her role in other appearances changes slightly: in Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, she serves more of a utility role in being able to cleanse debuffs from the party and reapply them to the enemy, whereas in Final Fantasy Record Keeper, her role is oriented around dealing high damage per second.

Yuffie in Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia.

Yuffie in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call.

Yuffie in Final Fantasy Record Keeper.

Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances

Yuffie in Kingdom Hearts.

Main article: Yuffie Kisaragi non-Final Fantasy appearances

Yuffie has had key guest appearances in the following non-Final Fantasy games:

• Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring as a playable character.
• Kingdom Hearts series as a supporting character.
• Itadaki Street series as a playable character.

Yuffie is a recurring character in the Kingdom Hearts series, beginning with the first entry. She is a member of a team including Aerith Gainsborough, Squall Leonhart (named "Leon" in the series), and Cid Highwind.

Merchandise

Yuffie has appeared in several action figures for Play Arts and others, as well as a themed parfait at Artnia Cafe. Its flavor was Matcha green tea and is topped with a chocolate shuriken.

Play Arts Kai for Final Fantasy VII.

Play Arts Kai for FFVIIR Episode INTERmission.

Coca-Cola figure.

Trading Arts Mini.

Behind the scenes

Concept and design

Early concept art of Yuffie with a different color scheme (top) and sketches (bottom).

Yuffie was first conceptualized as a 25-year-old ex-SOLDIER turned bounty hunter, seeking Cloud and Sephiroth while having a bounty on her own head. Wanted posters showing her stats would be found around the world, and Yuffie's age and physical appearance, as well as her stats, abilities, and level, would change when the party acquired her depending on which poster was last inspected.

Yuffie's page in Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega.

Yuffie's job class was originally listed as "Ninja (Assassin)". Her choice of weapon turned out to be an oversized shuriken because out of all the weapons that the ninja job could wield in the Final Fantasy series before Final Fantasy VII, the shuriken was especially powerful.

For Final Fantasy VII Remake Episode Intermission, director and character designer Tetsuya Nomura was most particular about Yuffie looking younger than the main game cast, as she is only 16. Her moogle-themed disguise was chosen because she was dressed similarly in Dirge of Cerberus. Though Yuffie has sported various outfits since the original, Nomura avoids changing her silhouette and aims to match her signature elements, such as shorts, as close to the original as possible.

Concept art by Tetsuya Nomura for Final Fantasy VII.

Concept art by Tetsuya Nomura for Final Fantasy VII.

Concept art of menu portrait by Tetsuya Nomura for Final Fantasy VII.

Concept art by Tetsuya Nomura for Final Fantasy VII Remake Episode Intermission.

Character development

Key art of Yuffie for the original release (top) and Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (bottom).

Both Yuffie and Vincent were going to be cut from the game due to lack of time, though Tetsuya Nomura and Yoshinori Kitase vetoed it, and they became optional characters as a result. Many cutscenes were created for Yuffie because the event planner in charge of them, Jun Akiyama, had a strong attachment to her character. Her appearing in a battle and the scene with her afterwards were his ideas, and the scope expanded as development moved along.

As well as having a different background, the Wutai sidequest in "Homecoming of a Miserable Daughter" became substantially different from the original idea. The original sidequest would have involved Shinra taxing Wutai goods highly, straining their economy. Yuffie would have stolen the party's money to try and help, but the town would reject the funds. A Shinra spy in Wutai, Sera, would have spread pro-Shinra propaganda, and planned to blow up the "Ten Face Mountain" to level Wutai and build a mako reactor in the ruins. Cloud and his allies would have to climb the mountain and stop her. Her mother's name would have been Kasumi Kisaragi and she would have died while Yuffie was still young.

Originally, Yuffie was planned to be available any time after passing Kalm. In the game files for Final Fantasy VII, she still has a spoken line in the Marshes scene involving a slain Midgar Zolom, which cannot normally be seen.

Yuffie becomes a full-fledged party member in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Her bonus character status lent more freedom to expand on her backstory. By including her in Midgar in Episode INTERmission, the developers were able to show her feelings towards Shinra's atrocities, seeing that she usually hides behind a cheery personality.

Voice

Yuffie is voiced by Yumi Kakazu in Japanese. She is the longest-running voice actor of a Final Fantasy character, having played Yuffie since her first voiced appearance in 1998 for the PlayStation version of Ehrgeiz, and being the only voice actor from the game to reprise their role in Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

She is voiced by Christy Carlson Romano in the English versions of Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, by Mae Whitman in Kingdom Hearts II, Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, and Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind, and by Suzie Yeung in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Gallery

Main article: Yuffie Kisaragi gallery

Etymology

[view · edit · purge]Kisaragi (如月) is the Japanese name for the month of February.

Yuffie is one of the few characters with a true Japanese name (Kisaragi) across all Final Fantasy games.

In French, her name is Youffie.

When fought as an opponent Yuffie is known as the Mystery Ninja. [view · edit · purge]A ninja was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan who specialized in unorthodox warfare. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, and open combat in certain situations.

References

Video games

• Square Co., Ltd. (1997). Final Fantasy VII [Game]. Square Co., Ltd.. PlayStation.
• Square Enix (2004). Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- [Game]. Square Enix. NTT DoCoMo FOMA 900i Series.
• Square Enix (2008). Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation Portable.
• Square Enix, Monolith Soft (2006). Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation 2.
• Square Enix (2021). Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation 5.

Movies and television

• Tetsuya Nomura, Takeshi Nozue (Director) (2005). Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children [Film]. Square Enix.

Bibliography

• Studio BentStuff (2005). Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega [Book]. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-8936-6678-9.
• (2008). Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- Signature Series Guide [Book]. BradyGames. ISBN 978-0744008357.
• Studio BentStuff (2009). Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition [Book]. SE-Mook. ISBN 978-4-7575-2560-3.
• Kazushige Nojima, Melissa Tanaka (translator) (2018). Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile [Book]. Yen Press. ISBN 978-1-9753-8235-3.

Websites

• Chang, Stephanie (2021, May 25). "Director Tetsuya Nomura discusses bringing Yuffie to life in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade". From PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on 25 May, 2021.