The Evolution Championship Series has announced the official title lineups for EVO 2026 and EVO Japan 2026. EVO 2026 will run from June 26 to 28 at Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall in Las Vegas, Nevada, and EVO Japan 2026 from May 1 to 3 at Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo, Japan.

EVO 2026

2XKO (first appearance at EVO)

BlazBlue: Central Fiction (third appearance at EVO)

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (second appearance at EVO)

Guilty Gear: Strive (fifth appearance at EVO)

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (third appearance at EVO)

Invincible VS (first appearance at EVO)

Rivals of Aether II (second appearance at EVO)

Street Fighter 6 (fourth appearance at EVO)

Tekken 8 (third appearance at EVO)

Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes (third appearance at EVO)

Vampire Savior: The Legend of Vampire (first appearance at EVO)

Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage (first appearance at EVO)

EVO Japan 2026

2XKO (first appearance at EVO Japan)

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (first appearance at EVO Japan)

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (third appearance at EVO Japan)

Guilty Gear: Strive (fifth appearance at EVO Japan)

Hokuto no Ken (first appearance at EVO Japan)

The King of Fighters XV (fourth appearance at EVO Japan)

Melty Blood: Type Lumina (second appearance at EVO Japan)

Street Fighter 6 (third appearance at EVO Japan)

Tekken 8 (third appearance at EVO Japan)

Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes (second appearance at EVO Japan)

Vampire Savior: The Legend of Vampire (first appearance at EVO Japan)

Orie is a personal favorite of mine, and the only character I’ve managed to play through the Arcade and Chronicle mode for thusfar. She’d be my go-to character were it not for the delays in her better combos. That said, I think she, like any great fighting game character, strongly conveys who she is through her playstyle, appearance, and backstory.

Orie to me represents in some ways the Christian ideal of a woman, both physically resembling a nun, and comitting herself wholeheartedly to the fight against evil in the name of those she loves, all while carrying herself with a level of grace and poise beyond any other. In combat her fencing style is delicate and agile, yet precise and deadly. To top it all of, she offers her opponents mercy in her victory lines (where most characters would brag or insult), and shows genuine remorse in her victory animations, kneeling beside her enemy in their last moments.

Her accompanying stand/persona/(whatever they actually call it) shows her inner feelings, however. Thanatos’s attacks are crushing and overwhelming, with a sense of uncontrollability to them (being more easily punished and physically harder to input). Thanatos being the god of death represents not only a very on the nose Persona 3 (and P4 Arena) reference, but also her true motivating factor, not her love for her conrades at Lich Kreis (the demon-slaying church for which she works), nor her religion, but a desire for revenge and a willingness to deceive and destroy those in her way to achieve that end (seen in her interactions with Hyde in arcade mode: Hyde tells her to get to safety, believing her to be nothing more than his unassuming classmate, but Orie dismantles him without so much as an explanation). Her booming cry of “RESTO IN PEACU!” during her finishing move is both a genuine prayer for the soul of her opponent, and the closest she can come to uttering a warcry on the field of battle. To master Orie as a fighting game character is to embrace these two sides. To accept one’s vulnerability with a calm and measured gracefulness, until the exact right opportunity, when, with a hushed self-assuring “ikimasu”, the single poke of a rapier escalates into a flurry of passionate strikes, erupting in the wild spinning of a greatsword.

If you main Orie you (at least 1):

Hate sex, except maybe with Orie

Believe in some religious or moral code

Have a strong sense of justice

Take time to open up to others

Carry a hidden fire in your heart

See yourself as on a mission in life

Love footsies

Actually just love to flip around trolling other players

Legitimately enjoy Slice of Life anime