Elena (Street Fighter)

Elena (Japanese: エレナ) is a character in Capcom's Street Fighter fighting game series who made her first appearance in Street Fighter III: New Generation in 1997, originally voiced by Kaoru Fujino. A woman with close direct ties to nature, she is the daughter of a Kenyan tribal leader who travels the world to make friends while attending school abroad. Since her debut she has since appeared in various other media such as comics and manga, and was later included in Street Fighter IV's third upgrade, Ultra Street Fighter IV. Designed by Akira "Akiman" Yasuda with an emphasis on her beauty, Elena has been cited as one of the first black female fighting game characters and the first character in the Street Fighter series from Africa (and the only character with that distinction until the introduction of Menat), fighting solely with leg based attacks using Capoeira.

Elena was mostly well received, heavily praised for her beauty and the fluidity of her motion. She has additionally been called one of the series' strongest designs by sources such as Paste magazine. However, the simplicity of her in-game storylines has faced criticism, and her character design was called out as a cultural stereotype even in light of other series characters. Her light skin and straight hair, among other features, were noted as reflecting European standards of beauty rather than African ones.