Kuki Sanban (better known by her codename, Numbuh 3) is one of the four deuteragonists of the 2002 Cartoon Network series, Codename: Kids Next Door. She is a cheerful, dorky, happy-go-lucky 10-year-old Japanese girl who serves as the Diversionary Tactician and Medical Specialist of Sector V. She is also in charge of caring for the hamsters responsible for powering the treehouse, and is the youngest operative. She is one of the two female members of Sector V (alongside Numbuh 5) and the only Asian-American of the team.
She is voiced by Lauren Tom.
Her Good Ranking[]
What Makes Her Admirable?[]
- In general, she is a kind and caring person.
- She's in charge of caring for the hamsters that are responsible for powering the Sector V Treehouse.
- In "Operation: O.F.F.I.C.E.", she insisted on Numbuh 4 helping to save the employees' daughters from being sent to Pluto by Mr. Boss.
- She arrived with the rest of Sector V to free a brainwashed Nigel from Lizzie's Boyfriend Helmet in "Operation: L.I.Z.Z.I.E."
- She and Hoagie adopted Bradley in "Operation: C.A.M.P."
- In "Operation: R.A.I.N.B.O.W.S.", she saved the Rainbow Monkeys captured by Mr. Mogul and Simon.
- In "Operation: F.A.S.T.-F.O.O.D.", she sabotaged Burger Frenzy, a fast-food restaurant opened by Chester that sells burgers made of children to be eaten by families of sharks.
- In "Operation: F.U.T.U.R.E.", she destroyed Margie's time machine, effectively erasing the dystopian future she had created where the world is solely inhabited by girls.
- In "Operation: B.U.T.T.", she helped stop The Delightful Children from putting a picture of Numbuh 1's butt in the school yearbook.
- She helped stop the Teen Ninjas from ruining Fanny's slumber party in "Operation: S.L.U.M.B.E.R."
- In "Operation: P.I.N.K.E.Y.E.", she arrived with the rest of Sector V to help Numbuh 2 rescue Joe Balooka and the kids infected with pinkeye.
- In "Operation: C.A.K.E.D.-T.H.R.E.E.", she took care of the chicks after they hatched.
- In "Operation: H.O.S.P.I.T.A.L.", she helped Numbuh 2 perform emergency surgery on Bradley to save his life after he was hit by a car.
- She helped stop Mr. Fizz in Codename: Kids Next Door – Operation: S.O.D.A.
- In "Operation: S.A.T.U.R.N.", she empathized with RAMON-4's backstory and accepted it for who it was, an action that stopped the other Rainbow Monkeys from attacking Numbuh 1 and causes RAMON-4 to send the Rainbow Monkeys it had captured back to Earth (and by extension their owners).
- She helped stop the villains in Codename: Kids Next Door – Operation: V.I.D.E.O.G.A.M.E., saving the fireflies from being turned into toothpaste by Knightbrace, and re-powering the treehouse when its power went out.
- She helped the rest of Sector V get the last box of Rainbow Munchies from the Supervillain Supermarket and Deli in "Operation: M.U.N.C.H.I.E.S.," and they later joined forces with the villains (with whom they formed a truce "until breakfast [was] finished") get the last box of Rainbow Munchies back from Knightbrace before he could destroy it.
- She helped free Billy Hocslawger from his closet at his mother's request in "Operation: C.L.O.S.E.T."
- She, the rest of Sector V, and the Elfa Strike Squad teamed up to save Christmas from the DCFDTL and the Faculty 4 in "Operation: N.A.U.G.H.T.Y."
- In "Operation: H.O.M.E.", she and Numbuh 5, upon discovering that Nurse Claiborne had been grinding Rainbow Monkey dolls in order to make Rainbow Munchies cereal, put an end it and forced her to stitch up every doll she had destroyed one-by-one.
- In Operation: Z.E.R.O., she, along with Numbuh 4, volunteered to head back to the treehouse to retrieve the device needed for Numbuh 2 to be able to create new Age-o-tonic Birthday Suits to combat the effects of Grandfather's Senior Citi-Zombification. And later helped the rest of Sector V to drop the Moonbase on top of Grandfather to keep him from getting to the Book of KND after he had discovered Numbuh 0 had it all along in his pocket.
- In "Operation: P.A.R.T.Y.", she helped get get teens out of the Delightful Children's mansion that they had unknowingly invited before Father returned from the spa.
- While she did briefly become a villain in "Operation: N.A.U.G.H.T.Y." and "Operation: H.O.T.S.T.U.F.F.", she didn't commit the actions she did in either episodes out of free will, so this isn't a corrupting factor.
- She and the rest of Sector V held off Father to buy Nigel enough time to get the items needed to complete the scavenger hunt at the Rainbow Monkey Let's Learn About The Lavatory Amusement Park in Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S., and later said goodbye to their leader when he left Sector V to join the Galactic Kids Next Door.
- Even though people like Monty Uno/Numbuh 0 and Nigel Uno/Numbuh 1 have technically done greater admirable deeds, they had more resources than Kuki. So it isn't fair to compare her to them.
What Makes Her Inconsistent?[]
- She has too many wrathful moments to qualify as NPG or PG, with many of them having her literally burst into flames, and some of them even bordering on berserker-like anger.
- While she is nowhere near as bad as Numbuh 4, she, like most of the rest of Sector V, has her moments of being a jerk and committing selfish acts only to feel little to no remorse. Such as she and the rest of Sector V selling Numbuh 13 out to the villains in "Operation: M.A.C.A.R.O.N.I.", dragging Numbuh 4 to the Rainbow Monkey Fair-and-Share Fair in spite of being aware he hated them in "Operation: H.U.G.S.", and joining the rest of Sector V in mocking the Toiletnator in "Operation: C.A.N.Y.O.N.", when the Toiletnator did nothing truly heinous to warrant such humiliation in said episode nor any prior episode.
Trivia[]
- She and Wallabee Beetles are currently the only Codename: Kids Next Door heroes to be Inconsistently Admirable.
- Years after the end of the original series, Mr. Warburton tried to pitch the idea of a spin-off series following Nigel Uno as part of the Galactic Kids Next Door, but the show was never picked up. Had the series been greenlit however, it's unknown if Kuki's status as Inconsistently Admirable would've been affected or not given the likelihood of her and the rest of Sector V returning.
External Links[]
- Kuki Sanban on the Heroes Wiki
- Kuki Sanban on the Codename: Kids Next Door Wiki
- Kuki Sanban on the Love Exalted Wiki
