Seong Mi-na

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Seong Mi-na
Game series	Soul series
First game	Soul Edge
Voice actor(s) (English)	Molly Lin (Soul Calibur II) Erika Weinstein (Soul Calibur III)
Voice actor(s) (Japanese)	Hekiru Shiina (Soul Edge) Yuko Miyamura (Soul Edge: Version II) Houko Kuwashima (later games)
In-Universe Information
Age	23
Birthplace	Jirisan, Korea
Birthdate	November 3, 1568
Blood type	A
Weapon	Zhanmadao (Halberd)
Weapon name	Scarlet Thunder
Fighting style	Seong Style longsword + Ling-Sheng Su Style Rod
Family	Father, Seong Han-myeong Mother and brother, taken by sickness

Seong Mi-na (Chinese: 成美那 Hangul: 성 미나 Seong Mina, Japanese: ソン・ミナ Son Mina) is a fictional Korean character designed for the Soul Series of fighting games. Mi-na made her first appearance in Soul Edge and has returned for Soul Calibur, console ports of Soul Calibur II, and Soul Calibur III. Prior to Soul Calibur III, her name was written as either Seung Mina or Seung Mi Na.

1 Biography
2 Weapons
3 Stages
4 Character analysis
5 Trivia
6 Series' appearances
7 External links

[edit] Biography

Growing up in the famous Korean Seong Dojang headed by her father, Seong Han-myeong, Mi-na had always been surrounded by weapons, many of which she learned to use quite well, even surpassing her father with the guan dao. However, her looks led the local boys to tease her and call her nothing more than a girl, an image supported by her father who wanted her to settle down and marry a suitor, preferably Hwang Seong-gyeong, whom Han-myeong had personally wanted to adopt into the family. Facing increasing incursions from Japanese raiders, a coast guard was quickly formed and led by Lee Sun Shin, her father's childhood friend, with Mi-na desperate to join in the ranks; but she was barred from joining on account of her gender. Overhearing rumours of Soul Edge, deemed the "Sword of Salvation", while eavesdropping on a private conversation between her father and Hwang, she decided that if she would not be able to prove herself in the coastal defence, she could just as easily prove herself by finding the fabled sword for her country. This prompted her to pack her belongings and run away from home, not knowing that Hwang had already been sent out on his own official quest for the weapon.

During her search, she did meet up with Hwang, and upon receiving news of an impending Japanese invasion of Korea, he cut his quest short and returned home, dragging Mi-na home with him. Not long after her return, Mi-na ran away again. Her frustration with rigorous training, combined with her father's eagerness to marry her to Hwang and a proposal from one of her father's wealthy trainees, sent her over the edge and out the door. Mi-na resumed her quest for the Soul Edge, but gained a valuable lesson along the way. She heard of a female warrior named Ivy, who was also searching for the Soul Edge. But upon meeting Ivy, she was told that Soul Edge was inherently demonic and that Mi-na would be better suited at home because she was only a weak little girl. Quick to anger, she challenged Ivy to a fight, but, overwhelmed and confused by Ivy's unusual snake sword, she suffered a humiliating defeat. Questioning her own strength, Mi-na met a middle-aged, alcoholic man with a beaten bo staff who jeered her and told her not to challenge people so hastily. But true to form, she attacked him and never landed a single hit, as he caught her guan dao with his bare hands. She asked if she could train under him, and he reluctantly agreed; despite his chronic alcoholism, his ability with the bo staff taught her much during her training. After a year of training, he mysteriously disappeared while out to buy more alcohol, and her only trace of him was a goodbye note telling her there was nothing more he could teach her, signed by a one 'Kong Xiuqiang', who was, in reality, Chai Xianghua's long-lost father and an exiled student of the Ling-Sheng Su Temple. From this experience, Mi-na learned to never underestimate the strength of an opponent, and she continued training for two years until she was ready to resume her quest for the Soul Edge. Eventually, however, she was dragged home once again by Hwang.

Four years later, Mi-na saw a student of her father, Hong Yun-seong, angry after being rejected by Hwang when he challenged him to a battle. She felt sorry for the brooding young man and handed him a Seong family heirloom, the dao 'White Storm' that, according to legend, possessed the ability to reflect the innermost thoughts of those who wielded the blade. That night, Yun-seong had packed his belongings and run away from the dojo in pursuit of Soul Edge, taking the dao with him. Since Mi-na had lent the heirloom to him, she felt obligated to retrieve it, and decided to leave the dojang to find him. Seong Han-myeong did not want her to go, but he knew in his heart that if he protested, she would simply run away again, and he gave her his blessing to retrieve the weapon. By the time he considered that she would, in fact, try to seek and destroy the Soul Edge on her journey, it was too late, and she was long gone.

Seong Mi-na traveled throughout Ming, continuing her search for Yun-seung. In one city, she got involved in a fight. After defeating a brawny man, one of the onlookers casually remarked that her style largely resembled the fabled Ling-Sheng Su Style. When she thought about it, the man who had taught her how to use her weapon had never given a name for the style. This fighting art was a solid part of her now, but she didn't know where it originated from. Mi-na became interested and decided to visit this temple famous for its martial arts.

She went to the said temple and found that it was destroyed a few years ago. However, she found out that an old master of the said style was still alive. She decided to visit the old man living in some mountains in the Himalayas. She arrived and saw Edge Master, who was also Kilik's master. When she first challenged him to a fight, he refused. But in the end, he agreed. Seong Mi-na suffered a total defeat. The old man then invited her to stay with him to train. During breaks, she told him of stories of her travels. He seemed vaguely interested, but he jumped at the information that Mi-na was also looking for Soul Edge. He told her the sword was evil. She did not believe him at first, but she knew that a man like him would not lie.

After a few months of training, Mi-na made up her mind to go after Yun-seong again, to tell him that the sword was evil. After saying goodbye to her new master, she thought that next time, she would bring Yun-seong along. She concluded that it would be so much fun.

[edit] Weapons

-- Scarlet Thunder

An heirloom of the Seong family passed down through many generations. Seong Mi-na first played with this long blade as a toddler, and despite its weight has always been able to wield it easily. Since then it has become her weapon of choice and accompanies her on every journey.

[edit] Stages

-- The Old Temple (SE)

An old temple in the footing of the Chii Mountain, at the southern edge of the Korean peninsula. It has been constructed in the 4th century, but was rebuilt several times already. It has a stage in its front, which has been used by Seong dojo students for training.

-- Maze of the Dead (SC)

Built before the birth of Christ, according to the legend, the underground city of Cappadocia in Turkey is still shrouded in mystery. Several centuries after Cappadocia was established, a reigning monarch converted a similar underground temple into an extravagant palace. This temple stands above a deep chasm, claimed from ancient times to be a gateway to Hades. The interior of the temple contains a section that was converted into a palace. In addition, a cave exists beyond the palace, followed by more unexplored regions. No one knows for sure what exists down there. The palace itself is in ruins now, thanks to those who turned it into a rock quarry of sorts. However, the lower underground area remains intact. Since the treasure seeking thieves who venture into the lower ruins never come back alive, no one but the most foolhardy enter this place now.

-- Hwangseo Palace - Phoenix Court (SC2)

This imperial villa is located in the outskirts of the capital of Lee Dynasty Korea, Hanyang. The Phoenix Court of Hwangseo Palace is renowned for its impressive decorations. The platform is often used for matches in the Imperial presence. Therefore, this place is the dream and goal for those who study martial arts. Seven years previous, Hwang Seong-gyeong, the leader of Lee Sun Shin's coast guard, was given the order to search for Soul Edge. He was likely chosen for this quest due to his performance on this very platform, where many naval officers and even the Choson King Sonjo watched Hwang's matches. During the Japanese invasion, all the warriors who proved their skills in this place fought valiantly to stop the onslaught, and were feared by the Japanese army.

-- Ling Sheng-Su Temple Ruin (SC3)

Ling-Sheng Su Temple Ruin

The Ling-Sheng Su Temple, famous in the world of martial arts, is located deep within the Chinese mainland. A few years ago, this historic temple was suddenly destroyed. The influence of the Evil Seed, released by the Soul Edge in a land far to the west, drove the monks of the temple insane, and they tore each other apart with their well-honed combat skills. In this way, the proud Ling-Sheng Su temple vanished. The people who will live here dare not to approach this area, perhaps due to the abominable energies spread by the cursed sword. Seong Mi-na came here seeking deeper knowledge of the fighting techniques she had learned from her wandering master.

[edit] Character analysis

In Soul Edge/Blade, Seong Mi-na is around mid-tier. She works similar to Siegfried, but she has better and effective tools at close combat. She is quicker than Siegfried, but her basic moves are slow to execute and feels quite sluggish, making them not too useful at close. Her kick commands, on the other side, are more effectives and shares some traits to those of Hwang. Her combo system is her most strong tool, since she can take out large amounts of damage without knocking down her enemy.

In Soul Calibur, most of Seong Mi-na's moveset is shared with Kilik, though Mina has more variety and speed in her attacks, and less hitting strength. Seong Mi-na's throw range is terrible, and leaves her widely open if not timed correctly. Because of her poor attack strength, combination attacks, strings and juggles are a major part on her gamestyle, and most of the more complicated strings require correctly timed attacks to work, making Seong Mi-na not a good choice for beginners.

In Soul Calibur II, Mi-na is considered to be a mid-tier character. Similar to most of the long-range characters, most of her strongest moves are at mid-range. Her strengths include having the fastest launcher in the game--a tie with Taki and Yoshimitsu--and very good damage potential through combos. She also features a great ability in spacing opponents, and plenty of effective low attacks and low attack throws. While her speed is certainly faster in footwork and attacking than that of Kilik - whose style was heavily based on hers - it is still comparably middle-of-the-road. One of the reasons she is not used as often as Kilik is the fact that the two movesets compared against each other heavily indicate that Namco may have worked more on perfecting Kilik's moveset than her own; he often features longer combo strings and wider options. However, she still manages to have some exclusives of her own, the majority of which can be quite useful, and is roughly on the same level as her clone character, though her options have not been as intricately explored.

In Soul Calibur III, Seong Mi-na basically plays the same as in SC2; unlike Kilik, who has changed quite a bit. She and Kilik still share many identical moves, since both practice the Ling Sheng-Shu arts, e.g. the (A+B)-attacks. The modifications of Seong Mi-na in SC3 are few: her speed is faster(than Kilik, at least), and she has become more versatile and designated more effective close-range attacks, something a middle/long range fighter like her needs to survive, making her fighting style a bit more well-rounded. Since she is relatively quick and has a good short and mid range game, Seong Mi-na can be considered a good counter character, or 'turtler'; she is still around the mid-tier area.

[edit] Trivia

It is worth noting that her weapons generally resemble types of guan dao or naginata, rather than the fictional/legendary Japanese polearm, Zanbatō.
In Soul Calibur III, Seong Mi-na's weapons and fighting style are available under the discipline Soul of Seong Mi-na to characters created under the Gladiator class.
Seong Mi-na's nickname in both Soul Edge and Soul Calibur is "Heart & Soul Girl".
Seong Mi-na's Destined Battle in Soul Calibur is Hwang. In both Soul Calibur II and Soul Calibur III her Destined Battle is Yun-seong.