yellow monkey set

“Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?”
Kizaru, “The Yellow Monkey”

Borsalino, better known by his alias “Kizaru”, is a Marine Admiral in One Piece. Not much is known about Kizaru’s own past, other than that he easily took down Arlong at one point. Kizaru is a rather relaxed man, appear completely calm in most situations, and not without good reason. His Glint-Glint Fruit powers give him power over light itself, including the ability to physically turn into light.

Kizaru is incredibly competent at fighting, despite his relaxed and rather absentminded nature. He tends to be sarcastic with his foes, taunting them as they fight. He is arguably the catalyst in Whitebeard’s death.

Stats
Weight – 100
Run Speed – 2.1
Walk Speed – 0.7
Air Speed – 1.15
Fall Speed – 1.3
Kizaru’s stats are an odd bunch. Despite his rather heavy weight, he’s quick on his feet, as well as in the air. His walk speed is ridiculously slow, however, the slowest in the game. His jumps are fairly decent, better than anyone in his size and weight class has any right to be. His model size is slightly taller than Ganondorf’s by about a head. He is around as wide, however. Kizaru is probably the tallest character, compared to the base Smash roster.

Specials
Neutral Special – Arrow of Light
Kizaru walks, and even runs, around with his hands firmly in his pockets. When he takes one of them out, you know there will be some hell to pay. For this move, Kizaru points his fingers forward in a finger gun, as light energy begins to build in his fingers. He then fires out an arrow of light, much like the one from Zelda’s Final Smash.

The main difference in this one is that the arrow is significantly smaller, about 1/3rd the size, but it has a few more properties to it. For one, Kizaru can aim the attack in any of the 8 cardinal directions by holding the button down, fairly simple. Second, the arrow can be charged, like any good Neutral Projectile. You can hold the button for up to 15 frames before its is fully charged. No charge has the attack still do a reasonable 6% damage, but when fully charged it deals 12%.

As a projectile, the arrow is ridiculously fast, fitting, since its made of light. It otherwise acts similar to Zelda’s Final Smash, both in speed and distance. It also has a piercing effect, and can travel through multiple opponents if they get in the line of fire. However, the arrow doesn’t cause any knockback, instead locking the opponents into a brief moment of stun, around 8 frames of it.

The arrow is mostly used for Kizaru’s approach game, allowing him to quickly get into opponent’s faces to deliver a really heavy hitting attack. But, as a projectile, it is still definitely worthwhile, considering its speed and damage capabilities. You cannot use the attack multiple times in a row to stun enemies, as you will need to wait a full second in order for the effect to be applicable again.

Side Special – Sacred Yata Mirror
Kizaru holds both of his hands in front of his stomach, and creates a ball of light. The ball of light then fires off into a laser, which travels in a zigzagging pattern. Once the beam of light stops, Kizaru will vanish, the beam retracting until it reaches the point it stopped, Kizaru reappearing. In other words, Kizaru travels through the beam of light.

The laser doesn’t have a specified distance to it, something we’ll get to in a moment, but in its base form it will reach around 3.5 Battlefield platforms in a relatively quick span of time. The reason the laser beam doesn’t have a set distance is due to the fact that its measured in how many bounces it makes. The beam can create up to 5 of these bounces, represented by the laser changing direction in the zigzag pattern. Kizaru can have the laser bounce off of air, by the way.

The point is, you can control how far this move will travel. The first bounce will always hit the ground, but once it does, you will be able to control it. Kizaru remains still until the move is fully completed, which allows you to hold the special attack button down in order to increase the distance. There is some limit to it, as the beams can only travel upwards (or downwards) around three Ganondorf’s high before they automatically bounce off of air.

Of course, considering the trajectory of the bounces, this doesn’t seem… particularly useful, considering the usual size of the stages. Well, Kizaru can let go of the button to make it bounce on its own, and press it again to make that bounce, etc. However, this becomes more interesting when the laser hits an opponent, or a wall.

When a laser does hit either one, it will, obviously, bounce off of them in the opposite direction. This changes it from up and down to basically whatever directions you can manage if you get lucky. All rules for the move still remain here when either is hit.  Damage wise, the laser will cause 4% damage, as well as rather mediocre knockback.

We’re not done yet. For the final bit involving the laser, if you want to prematurely end the attack, you can quickly double tap the special attack button to have Kizaru instantly travel through it. This is represented by a ball of light travelling through the laser, which has its own hitbox, dealing 10% damage and above average knockback. Unfortunately, this is rather hard to hit with, as it zooms through the laser at an incredibly fast pace, taking 1/4th of a second to complete, no matter how long the beam is.

Once Kizaru reaches the end, he will remerge at the end in a burst of light, acting as a final hitbox that deals 12% damage and above average knockback as well. The blast has decent range to it, but is nothing to really write home about. Its mostly a way to prevent opponents from taking advantage of the end animation.

Up Special – Speed of Light
Without any sort of animation at all, Kizaru vanishes in a burst of light, before reappearing a moment afterwards. This, as you might be able to tell, is like Zelda’s Up Special, but with a few key differences. For one, this attack is ridiculously fast, nearly instantaneous. It also takes a lot longer for Kizaru to reappear, approximately 22 frames pass before then.

The second major difference is that only the first part of the attack actually acts as an attack, knocking opponents back slightly with a moderately sized hitbox, considering Kizaru’s size. This deals 4% damage. When starting up the move, you can aim it in any direction, like most teleporting moves. After the invisible period has past, Kizaru will reappear three Ganondorf’s away from where he disappeared, with no active hitbox when that happens.

This is for a reason, however, as, by inputting select inputs will result in Kizaru instantly performing them out of the teleport, with half the start-up lag as the normal move. This specifically effects melee attacks, but it will be noted which moves will be affected. This is one of Kizaru’s most important moves, despite its rather simple function.

Down Special – Light Human
Kizaru lets out a dismissive chuckle, before bursting into a flash of light, transforming into a being made of light. Kizaru basically remains the same, except now made entirely out of yellow light, and with his massive coat missing. Kizaru can remain in this form for 4 seconds, as long as the button is held down, but can only move around at his dismal walking speed.

When exiting the move, Kizaru will enter some heavy end lag as he transforms back to normal, shaking his head in disappointment. This is remarkable long for end lag, but not without good reason. For one, while in this form, Kizaru is invincible to projectiles, as they go directly through him. The transformation itself has a lot of start-up lag as well, making it not useful purely for a way to dodge projectiles.

If an opponent attempts to attack Kizaru with a melee attack during this time, the Admiral will vanish, his signature “Oooh” echoing through the air, before he quickly reappears behind the opponent, and delivers a light speed kick to their back. Yes, this is basically a counter. This is remarkably quick, with Kizaru performing the kick before the sound clip even finishes playing. The kick has some heavy knockback to it, it’s actually one of Kizaru’s best melee KO moves, and also deals 14% damage.

If you quickly double tap the special attack button instead of holding it, a secondary effect will activate. Kizaru will transform into his Light Human form, before splitting off into a second one, creating a mirror copy of himself. After the copy is created, the actual Kizaru will return to normal. As the name implies, the mirror copy is the exact same as regular Kizaru, which copies him as he attacks and moves around, except it does everything in the opposite direction.

This basically gives you two Kizaru to play as, as well as giving you near absolute control of the stage. However, the copy can only exist for 10 seconds before it vanishes, meaning you’ll need to be quick in order to make full use of it. Another drawback is that, since this is a mirror copy, it can only really exist on the opposite side of Kizaru. When Kizaru passes over it, the copy will fuse back into him, which also activates the standard end lag of the move, but without Kizaru transforming back to normal. Just an incredibly prolonged upset headshake.

The copy also can’t be used as a shield, as opponents can directly pass through it without consequences. Projectiles also still pass through it as well. One way to avoid passing over the mirror copy is to use the Up Special, which the copy will mirror, and allow Kizaru to move over to the opposite side of the stage.

If the Side Special is used, the mirror copy’s laser beam will follow it exactly, even if it has nothing to bounce off of. However, if the copy’s beam does manage to hit something, and bounce in a way that doesn’t match Kizaru’s, it will still be allowed to continue, creating its own, unique path. This can create some absolute chaos on the stage. Also, if the timer for the copy finishes while its in the middle of performing the Side Special, this will pre-emptively end the move for it, causing it to enter and travel through the beam, but not appear at the end. This does not affect Kizaru, however.

Standards
Jab – Lightning Speed Kicks
Kizaru doesn’t like to use his hands, preferring to handle most things with his legs. This is demonstrated in his jab, which is a fairly standard jab by all accounts. It’s a three hit combo, the first hit being a straight kick, followed by a second thrust, and then an axe kick. The first and second hits both have great reach due to Kizaru’s long legs, and deal 4% and 5% respectively. The final hit has less range due to it being a stomp, but is still comparable. The axe kick deals 3% damage, and only slightly knocks the opponent into the air.

This is perfect for following up with the final part of the attack, the infinite jab part. This has Kizaru thrust his leg forward rapidly, becoming a flurry of kicks in a cone shaped hitbox. Each hit deals 2% damage, but the opponent will most likely be knocked out before too long. Once the infinite part ends, Kizaru performs the finisher, a roundhouse kick that is fairly fast, and deals above average knockback, as well as 5% damage.

Kizaru can rack up a lot of damage via this move, but the final hit has some considerable end lag to it, making it punishable. This move can be used out of the Up Special teleport, but it will immediately segue into the infinite part of the jab as soon as Kizaru reappears, which you can keep going by mashing, obviously, but will automatically go into the finisher after only a few hits.

Forward Tilt -Ama no Murakumo Slash
Kizaru forms a sword of light in his hand, and slashes it forward. This move functions as a combo attack, with additional inputs activating two other hits. The second hit is a downward slash, and the final hit is a thrust. The first slash is fairly standard having slightly more reach than an average sword attack. It has considerable start-up lag as well, as Kizaru has to summon the sword first, which takes a few frames, and then swing it. The swing causes 5% damage, and on its own, deals somewhat average knockback.

The second hit has a bit less forward range due to its angle, but has better upper range. This also deals decent knockback, while also causing 6% damage. Finally, the thrust attack has better range than either of them, due to Kizaru moving forward a bit while performing the attack. This deals the best knockback of the three, above average, but only causes 5% damage. The knockback on a hit will be cancelled if you follow up with another hit.

When used out of the teleport, Kizaru will instantly begin the combo without any further input. While this sounds good, the attack does have bad end lag, as Kizaru will make the sword vanish, and he cannot move again until the attack has finished, making it very punishable.


Up Tilt – Amaterasu
Kizaru raises one of his hands up, performing a peace sign. His hand then suddenly shoots out a large burst of light around it. Despite Kizaru’s hand being relatively small, the actual hitbox of the move is fairly large, taking up around the top third of Kizaru’s model, and equivalent in other directions, forming a Star of David shaped hitbox. The attack has a bit of start-up lag to it, as it takes a moment before the line activates.

When an opponent is hit by the attack, they will take 9% damage, but very little knockback. The knockback will lock the opponent into falling until they hit the ground (Or until they travel around Kizaru’s height, no edgeguarding here). Once the opponent rises, they will be a bit dazed, and have their hitboxes functionally cancelled for the next 2 seconds, being blinded by the light.

To go into it in more detail, all melee hitboxes are cancelled out for two seconds after the opponent recovers. Projectiles, however, are not cancelled out, and can still be used to damage. This status effect is signified by swirling stars around the opponent’s head, which vanish as soon as it wears off.

Down Tilt – Lightning Stomp
Kizaru raises his leg up, preparing to stomp down onto the ground. His foot lights up, and he performs the stomp, creating an AoE explosion effect around him. The explosion doesn’t activate until Kizaru’s foot hits something, giving them both very different hitboxes. First, the stomp’s hitbox, which is relatively quick, much like most of Kizaru’s set. Kizaru will stomp slightly forward, giving the attack some range to it. It deals 4% damage, and no knockback.

That’s mostly because, if an opponent is hit by it, they will instantly be comboed into the explosion effect. The explosion covers Kizaru’s entire width, as well as half a Battlefield platform on either side of him, and reaching up to around Kizaru’s knees. The explosion is relatively powerful, dealing 10% damage as well as dealing fairly decent knockback, capable of killing at 140%. The attack has some heavy end lag, as Kizaru can’t move until the explosion clears, which takes a bit.

When used out of the teleport, the stomp will activate immediately, cancelling out its hitbox, and cutting directly to the explosion’s hitbox. The lag on this version is significantly reduced, due to the cutting of the first hitbox.

Dash Attack – Double Kicks, huh?
During his dash, Kizaru lifts himself into the air, performing a spinning double kick, both of his feet lighting up. The kicks have great range to them, due to Kizaru’s long legs, but the attack will also traverse a fairly long distance as well, around 2.5 Battlefield platforms of distance before stopping. Kizaru’s legs become a spinning hitbox, which can deal multiple hits of 3% damage if the opponent gets caught into it. In total, it can cause 12% damage if the opponent is trapped for the entire time the hitbox is active.

Once Kizaru stops moving and lands back on the ground, he will perform a finishing attack, another straight kick. This is where the knockback of the attack comes from, dealing and is around equivalent with the finishing attack of his Jab. The final kick also deals 4% damage. This move can be used out of the teleport, but requires you to hold the control stick in either direction until Kizaru reappears in order to activate it.