Kine

Kine is a fish. He is the aquatic Animal Friend that helps Kirby get through water stages. His name is derived from kai, a Japanese word for the sea. Kine also makes a cameo in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards as a statue while using the Stone Friends combo ability, and in Kirby Super Star Ultra as a statue when Kirby uses the Stone ability. He recently appeared in Kirby's Return to Dream Land as a Stone form; a statue of the three original Animal Friends.

Appearance and Characteristics
Kine is a large blue fish, resembling a stylized sunfish. His body is shaped like a semi-circle, with tall yellow dorsal and anal fins. He has clam-shaped pectoral fins, and a yellow clavus. His eyes stare vacantly outward at his front above his gaping, thick lipped mouth, generally held open.

Kine is laid back and relaxed, typically not showing any emotion outside a blank expression. However, he is very sensitive and can be easily brought to tears when something upsets him.

Kirby's Dream Land 2
Kine specializes in underwater travel. He is a strong swimmer and can power through even strong currents to allow Kirby to reach places no one else can. Kine allows Kirby to inhale and spit out enemies even when submerged. While paired with Kine, Kirby will hold his place within water and will not drift to the floor. Outside of water, however, he handles like the proverbial fish and can be awkward. Kirby's Copy Abilities are changed into the following, which typically fare better than other powers underwater, Especially the Burning ability, which isn't affected by water as much at other burning-based abilities:


 * Burning: Giant Fireball
 * Cutter: Sonic Wave
 * Ice: Freezing Over
 * Needle: Spiny Fish
 * Parasol: Parasol Shield
 * Spark: Light Bulb
 * Stone: Slippery Rock

Kirby's Dream Land 3
Between games, Kine was improved in terms of mobility. In addition to his strong water mobility, his size allows him to crush smaller foes when jumped upon. Kine can swim against jet streams to reach valuable items. Enemies can still be inhaled and spit out as normal when submerged as when out of the water. When carrying Gooey, his tongue attack is still used in place of suction. Kine's vertical leap reaches four blocks, one higher than Kirby manages on his own. Also, Kine's land speed was increased, making him as fast as any other character. Additionally, when Kirby or Gooey separated from the fish, he would rocket them out from his mouth. In this game, Kirby's Copy Abilities are changed into the following:


 * Burning: Flame Rings
 * Clean: Plunger
 * Cutter: Sonic Wave
 * Ice: Freezing Fish
 * Needle: Spiny Fish
 * Parasol: Parasol Topper
 * Spark: Light Bulb (unthrowable)
 * Stone: Rock Dive

There is a female fish, Mine, who is Kine's wife.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
When the player mixes the Stone and Cutter abilities, Kirby gains the mix ability Stone Friends, which lets him turn into statues of any of his past animal friends, including Kine. However, the Kine statue is useless, as it can only turn around. It will not even move (besides turning around) in or under water. This is reminiscent of the Stone ability in many Kirby games.

Kirby: Canvas Curse
Kine is drawn by Paint Roller in Paint Panic.

Kirby Mass Attack
In the Kirby Brawlball sub-game, Kine rests at the bottom of the pinball machine. He saves Kirby from falling into the sink once before disappearing, and he comes back if Kirby activates all the switches along the top of the machine.

Kine also appears in the Kirby Quest sub-game along with the other two original Animal Friends if Kirby loses a battle.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land
Sometimes, if Kirby uses Stone, he transforms into a statue of the original Animal Friends. Also, a remix of his theme from Kirby's Dream Land 2 plays in Stage 1 of Onion Ocean.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe
Kine appears in the sub game Kirby Fighters. In the Coo's Forest stage, he'll occasionally come out of doors and flop around before going back in the same door.

In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!
Kine has a few appearances in the anime Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. He has a crush on Tiff, mainly because she's near the shoreline a lot. His first appearance was in the 2nd episode, where he bumps into Kirby as Kirby is swimming towards the surface of the lake, causing him to cough up his Stone Ability. He was tricked by King Dedede into revealing the location of the Rainbow Coral Reef to him in exchange to be able to move on land. Dedede kept his promise... somewhat, as Kine was put into a giant fish tank on wheels. When Kine told Tiff that Dedede put him up to this in exchange for the location of the Rainbow Coral Reef, he found out that Dedede was going to destroy the reef to build a new castle. He was played like a fool, and so helped out when Kirby went into the sea to stop him. He also stopped Tiff and Tuff from drowning when their submarine was destroyed (by a torpedo shot from King Dedede's submarine) by creating large air bubbles. In the end, Kine still pines for his next date with Tiff. This would later turn into a running gag with the character. Kine is friends with Joe, who chases King Dedede and Escargoon away when their follies end up with them falling into the sea.

In other appearances, Kine helps Kirby in the water (or rather: out of it) normally when he was pushed or thrown into the sea. He always asks how Tiff is and when their next date will be. In the episode,, he said that he'd have preferred to be helping Tiff out instead of Kirby and Tokkori.

Trivia

 * On the pause menu of Milky Way Wishes in Kirby Super Star, there is a fish that resembles Kine in the right side.

Sprites
Kine