All three were definitely in the top ten best characters, I think, though my opinion means utter shit at this point, haha, considering some of my bottom 10 characters made it farther than half of what I considered the best. That said, I don't think there are better characters than these three to be in the finals, maybe some more creative characters, but over all I think these three at least break even with the rest of the best. I'm definitely satisfied with the them, though I was about to give up for a while there, up until this point 'generic' was winning over 'creative' quite often.
Kruor: He's bloody, nasty, and pretty much MK to the extreme. That's obviously one of his strongest points, but I find his special moves to be fairly well thought out compared to the simplistic, nearly meaningless fragments that many other entries presented. That's what I like about him. There's not much to him than that though. His story, while having great background info, never develops into anything particularly interesting... It's like a series of events about an object as opposed to a character.
Ekimaru: Has a great ending, I think, and his story is passably done. He is well rounded, being good in all areas but not standing out as fantastic in any particular area. One thing though, he really lacks originality. His story mirrors Setsuka from SC veeery closely. I'm not saying it was copied, but the fact that there were so many similarities to a character who I consider to have an unoriginal story in the first place is not a good thing. The only real difference between their backstories is fire, which serves the same purpose as Setsuka's heritage in her backstory, to alienate the character and lead them to a 'master' who shows them real affection, then dies, which initiates the character's journey. Originality matters the most, in my opinion, so while Ekimaru may be good in every other way, I can't vote for him.
Casilde: First thing: Fantastic costume design. Creative, beautiful, etc... She actually shares some similarities with my own entry, European heritage, dance background, demon possession, transformation, and so on... But she manages to accomplish one thing mine didn't; fitting in to MK well enough to hide the fact that she's a total outsider. I also like that the ending clearly points to a future for the character. She may not be a main character ever, but there is a clear place for her in the future. Nitara comparisons be damned, I think this character is quite original in MK. Frankly, I don't see any big negatives in Casilde. She is acceptable in all areas, just like Ekimaru and Kruor, but does not lack in story and originality like they do.
My vote: Casilde +3
Kruor: 1.5
Ekimaru: 1.5
