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is a
fictional character In fiction, a character is a person or being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in which case the distinction o ...
in the '' Samurai Shodown'' (''Samurai Spirits'' in Japan) series of fighting games by SNK. She is one of the series' best known and most popular characters alongside its main protagonist Haohmaru, and was introduced in the original '' Samurai Shodown'' in 1993. Nakoruru is a good-hearted, young Ainu shrine maiden who loves nature and fights evil with the help of her hawk sidekick Mamahaha. She has a younger sister named Rimururu and an aggressive, and bloodthirsty darker side alter-ego known as Rera. As one of SNK's popular mascot characters, Nakoruru has also appeared in many other games and other media.


Appearances


''Samurai Shodown'' games

Nakoruru is featured as a player character in most game entries in the '' Samurai Shodown'' series. She is also playable in various mobile spin-off titles, such as endless runner ''Samurai Shodown Slash,'' action game ''Samurai: Rougetsuki Densetsu,'' and rising simulation ''Maid by Iroha''. In the series, Nakoruru is a gentle and shy teenage girl serving
Mother Nature Mother Nature (sometimes known as Mother Earth or the Earth Mother) is a personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it, in the form of a mother or mother goddess. European concept tr ...
as a
shamanic Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spiri ...
priestess of the Ainu religion, born on
Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...
island in 1771. Despite her usually pacifistic ways, she became a Kamui warrior of her peaceful village Kamuikotan (神居古潭) after the death of her idolized father, and continues to fulfill this role throughout the series, fighting evil, often alongside the character Haohmaru. She is killed in the second game in the series, sacrificing herself to restore the balance of nature. She eventually merges her soul with
Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...
and becomes "the holy spirit who wanders through time" in a form that resembles a koro-pok-guru. In '' Samurai Shodown: Warriors Rage'', the spirit of Nakoruru is an unplayable story mode character, but its PocketStation mini game is centered around her. She also featured as a non-player character mentor to the protagonist in the spin-off game, ''Nakoruru: Ano Hito kara no Okurimono'', a 2001 visual novel adventure game which takes place between the first two games in the series. Nakoruru fights with a treasured ceremonial makiri (a type of Ainu dagger or short sword sometimes known as "Ainu kodachi") called the Chichi-ushi (チチウシ, Father Bull). Depending on the form, she is aided by either a mountain hawk-eagle named Mamahaha (ママハハ, in her "Slash" form) or a cross between
Hokkaido wolf The Hokkaido wolf (''Canis lupus hattai''), also known as the and in Russia as the Sakhalin wolf,Heptner, V. G. & Naumov, N., P. (1998''Mammals of the Soviet Union'' Vol.II Part 1a, SIRENIA AND CARNIVORA (Sea cows; Wolves and Bears) Science Pub ...
and Siberian wolf named Shikuru (シクルゥ, in her "Bust" form), also having other animal friends. Her powers include communicating with nature, fueling her blade with ki energy, ability to reflect a projectile back to its sender using her cloak, and healing wounds with the power of nature. American ninja Galford D. Weller is in love with her. The endings for ''Samurai Shodown VI'' revealed that Nakoruru and an alter-ego of Galford traveled the world together.


''The King of Fighters'' games

In ''The King of Fighters'' series, Nakoruru has appeared in a playable capacity in multiple games in the series in various non-canon roles. She also appeared as a non-playable character in '' The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout'', '' The King of Fighters 2000'' (as a Special Striker for Yuri Sakazaki), '' The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match'', and ''
The King of Fighters XIII is a 2010 fighting game developed and published by SNK Playmore. It is the thirteenth installment in the ''The King of Fighters'' series. Released on Japanese arcades, it was ported to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 globally in 2011, and an update ...
'' (in the Japan stage and in the Android/iOS versions as a tutorial instructor). Nakoruru made her canonical playable debut in '' The King of Fighters XIV'', as the leader of the "Another World Team." Nakoruru senses a new terrible evil known as Verse arriving through rifts in space and time. Nakoruru travels to the present and teams up with other characters to defeat Verse. Nakoruru returns as a playable character in ''SNK All-Star'', in which she and other characters from games set in the past awaken in the modern world and must team up with character
Kyo Kusanagi is a character in SNK's ''The King of Fighters'' series of fighting games. The character was first introduced in the 1994 video game ''The King of Fighters '94'' as the leader of the Japan team from the series' title tournament. Kyo, head to th ...
in a fight to seal away the ''King of Fighters'' series antagonist Orochi.


Other video games

Nakoruru is playable in the fighting games '' Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000'' (as an unlockable secret character), '' Capcom vs. SNK 2'', '' SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium'' (as rival of
Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
's
Morrigan Aensland is a character and protagonist in Capcom's '' Darkstalkers'' series. Having debuted in 1994's '' Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors'', she has since appeared in every game in the series and in various related media and merchandise, as well as in ...
), '' Neo Geo Battle Coliseum'', '' SNK Gals' Fighters'', and '' SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy''. She is also playable in various SNK games such as ''Neo Geo Tennis Coliseum'', ''Quiz King of Fighters'', and ''The Rhythm of Fighters.'' Nakoruru has also made collaboration event appearances in many portable and mobile games, including ''AFK Arena'', ''Dai Shingeki RPG! Sister Quest'', ''Dark Avenger X'', '' Granblue Fantasy'', ''
The King of Fighters All Star ''The King of Fighters All Star (KOFAS)'' was a beat 'em up action role-playing game developed by Netmarble Neo and published by Netmarble. It was first released in Japan on July 26, 2018, for the iOS and Android. The game is a retelling of SNK' ...
'', ''Kingdom Story: Brave Legion'', ''Kal Kal Kal All Together'', ''Kotatsu Mikuni Kansai Senki'', ''Might & Magic: Elemental Guardians'', ''The Samurai Kingdom'', '' Honor of Kings'' (''Wangzhe Rongyao''), ''Yamato Chronicle'', and ''You Are the Hero!.'' In ''Blade Smash'' she was redesigned as a ninja, while in '' Lost Saga'' she was made optionally male as well female. Nakoruru is furthermore a non-player character in the dating sims '' Days of Memories: Oedo Love Scroll'' and ''Kaze Maiu Miyako de Tsukamaete!'', and has a cameo of Rera as Nakoruru in ''Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Fuyu''. She appears in cards in ''SNK Dream Battle'' and '' SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS''. She also appears as a spirit in
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
's '' Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', where a Mii Fighter costume based on her is available as downloadable content.


Other appearances

Nakoruru appears in an anime film '' Samurai Shodown: The Motion Picture'' and in an anime OVA miniseries '' Nakoruru: Ano Hito kara no Okurimono'' (as titular lead character) and ''Samurai Spirits 2: Asura-Zanmaden'' (appearing along with Rera in both OVAs), also making a cameo in '' Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture'' (in a
cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...
of Reiko Chiba), as well as in a number of manga releases (including as a co-protagonist of Kyoichi Nanatsuki and Yuki Miyoshi's adaptation of the first ''Samurai Shodown'', which was serialized in the West in an American magazine ''Game On!''). She is also featured in several of the series' drama CDs and is a member in SNK's character image band, Band of Fighters, starring in her own character image CD. Nakoruru further shows up in
pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Gambling in Japan, Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of l ...
slot machine systems, including prominently in "Samurai Spirits" and especially "Samurai Spirits Oni (Nakoruru)". She has dozens of figurines made in her image, and even a life-size figure, also being featured in various other merchandise such as T-shirts, and in an American collectible card game ''
Universal Fighting System The ''Universal Fighting System'' (''UFS''), released in 2006 and rebranded as ''UniVersus'' in 2021, is a collectible card game published by UVS Games. Games of ''UFS'' represent a fight between two characters in hand-to-hand combat. Characte ...
''. Keeping in key with her nature-loving persona, Nakoruru was used as a mascot for SNK's environmental awareness campaigns conducted together with city administrations in Mitaka and
Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
in 1994. In 2007, SNK Playmore also created a social action program for children using Nakoruru and the ''
Fatal Fury ''Fatal Fury'', known as in Japan, is a fighting game series developed by SNK, first released on the Neo Geo system. Gameplay The original ''Fatal Fury'' is known for the two-plane system. Characters fight from two different planes. By step ...
'' star
Terry Bogard is a Player character, fictional character created by SNK as the protagonist of their ''Fatal Fury'' series. Introduced in ''Fatal Fury: King of Fighters'' in 1991, he is an American fighter who enters the worldwide "The King of Fighters" tourna ...
as their mascots. An image of praying Nakoruru was used to support the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a  9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...
relief fund-raising.


Design and gameplay

The series' creator Yasushi Adachi chose "the two flagship characters" Haohmaru and Nakoruru as the characters that best sum up the series, with Nakoruru being "a main character in the storyline who has to fight for her life and her destiny, and sacrifices herself in the end to preserve an important cause," and thus representing "some of the most important ''Samurai Shodown'' themes." The idea for the character came from a modern Japanese perception of the
indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...
Ainu people The Ainu are an Indigenous peoples, indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, such as Sakhalin, the Ku ...
of Hokkaido, being depicted as revering nature and peacefully coexisting with it. Before the ''Samurai Spirit'' project began, one of Nakoruru's creators had thought that "one day Ainu women should have a first-class appearance" in a video game as he thought they have had received too little attention and representation in modern media. Her costume design was based on Ainu clothing (in two main versions depending on the length of her skirt) and she was supposed to mix a concept of a "petite girl with a lovely appearance and personality" with an "innovative" character performance of commanding a hawk companion in battle. Although Nakoruru was not directly modeled after any particular existing character, Hilda from ''
The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun is a 1968 Japanese anime fantasy adventure film. It is the directorial feature film debut of Isao Takahata and was also worked on by Hayao Miyazaki. ''Horus'' marked the beginning of their partnership that would last for the next 50 years acro ...
'' and Kamui from ''
The Dagger of Kamui is a Japanese novel series by Tetsu Yano released by Kadokawa Shoten from 1984 to 1985. The series was adapted in 1985 into an anime film directed by Rintaro and animated by Madhouse. The screenplay was adapted by Mori Masaki, and cha ...
'' helped her conception process. The girl that appears during Nakoruru's entrances in ''Capcom vs. SNK'' is one of her childhood friends introduced in ''Nakoruru: Ano Hito kara no Okurimono'', Manari. Nakoruru was notably the first fighting game character brought back to life following her demise and one of the first who used a sidekick character in gameplay. Nakoruru is a rather petite girl that is 153 cm tall. An alternate,
palette swap Since the origin of video games in the early 1970s, the video game industry, the gamer, players, and video game culture, surrounding culture have spawned a wide range of technical and slang terms. 0–9 ...
version of her with tanned skin, different colors of hair and eyes, and a bigger chest is the Bust Nakoruru (羅刹ナコルル, ''Rasetsu Nakoruru'') or EX Nakoruru, a recurring "
Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...
" type character that eventually evolved into Rera. Popularly known as , she is a crueler and cockier version of Nakoruru, more violent about fulfilling her mission to protect nature, and her companion is Shikuru the wolf. In the 1999 anime film ''Samurai Spirits 2: Asura Zanmaden'', Rera tries to support her host in giving up fighting for a while, but eventually she understands Nakoruru in what has to be done to help Shiki. Nakoruru leaves to help Shiki, but not before Rera warns her that if she doesn't succeed, she will kill her host. Rera later appears at the end of the film telling Nakoruru to be safe on her journey. In the
fan service , fanservice or Example: A frame (numbered "25") from the English opening sequence of '' New Cutie Honey'', in which character Danbei Hayami fires a Rocket Punch as main character Honey Kisaragi lies topless and prone in the background, i ...
oriented fighting game ''SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy'', Nakoruru appears as default in a "sexy vampire" costume with a bat as her animal, while in ''The King of Fighters XIV'' she can be dressed up in a modern schoolgirl uniform of the "Kamuikotan Private High School". To compensate for Nakoruru's short weapon range, players must rely on her speed to punish their opponents' mistakes. Nakoruru's strengths lie in her air supremacy (including aerial throws) and ability to jump around the sides of the screen. She can also recover from her moves a little quicker than other characters, making it easier for her to hit-and-run during fights. To balance her out with the rest of the cast, her attack strength is slightly weaker than most fighters. Her move set usually incorporates slightly longer ranged attacks that project her or her animal companions to her foes so her attack range is not limited to her sword. Since ''Samurai Shodown II'', she can also reflect projectiles with the move "Kamui Ryusei". Mamahaha can be used by the player to attack opponents in a diagonal aerial attack, acting as Nakoruru's projectile and anti-air defense. The player may also command Nakoruru to use him as a mount for a limited time. Whilst she is in the air, players can command the pair to hover higher, drop, or use Nakoruru to attack foes; she may do so normally from Mamahaha's height or players may choose to drop her in a swirl attacking motion or use a diagonal nosedive attack. Her moves' names are written in Hokkaido Ainu. Prior to ''Samurai Shodown V Special'', Nakoruru and Rimururu have been the series' two characters notable for being immune to the Fatality-like bloody killing moves. In ''Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny'', Mamahaha does not appear in fights except in special moves. The presence of monkeys in Nakoruru's stage in the original ''Samurai Shodown'' was a mistake of the background designer Tomoaki Fukui which confused many fans as there are no monkeys on Hokkaido. There have been attempts to add Nakoruru into the series ''The King of Fighters'' already during the 1990s: a "Samurai Spirits Team" was originally scheduled to participate in ''The King of Fighters '95'' and ''
The King of Fighters '96 ''(KOF '96)'' is a fighting game released by SNK Playmore, SNK for the Neo Geo (console), Neo Geo arcade and home consoles in 1996. It is the third game in ''The King of Fighters'' series, following ''The King of Fighters '95''. Unlike its pred ...
'' as Nakoruru was intended to team up with Galford and Haohmaru.


Reception and analysis

Nakoruru has frequently been described as being among the most popular characters associated with SNK since her debut, with her popularity stemming from her design, motifs, and her Ainu heritage. Variations of the character have been introduced in the series since, which has caused many debates over which one is the most popular. The character has been well-received worldwide, becoming especially popular in Japan. According to ''The King of Fighters XIV'' producer Yasuyuki Oda, this was a surprise, as no one at SNK had expected her to be as popular as she was. Nakoruru was added to 2016's ''KOF XIV'' due to her enduring popularity. Her popularity also resulted in some people in Japan becoming more interested in the modern Ainu people. She was named the best character of 1993 by the magazine ''Gamest'', and she was also voted the most popular female character by male readers of ''Neo Geo Freak'' in 1997. Nakoruru became particularly popular among
cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...
ers, and in
doujinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created b ...
fan-works. Nakoruru's hawk, Mamahaha, was regarded as a "defining moment" of ''Samurai Shodown'', with staff citing it as an early example of a "satellite character," which they considered innovative in fighting games. Nakoruru's ties to the culture of the Ainu people were described by the book as being an example of appropriation, with Nakoruru's popularity among fans being at odds with the struggles the Ainu people face. They additionally criticized Nakoruru as an example of how the Ainu were characterized as "something permanently located in the past," as well as how she was repeatedly "fetishized" in multiple forms of media, such as doujinshi. "Christina M. Spiker, in the '' Journal of Anime and Manga Studies'', analyzed Nakoruru's role in shaping the image of the Ainu people in popular culture. She argued that Nakoruru's popularity led to the spread of misinformation about the Ainu, especially through her portrayal in the shôjo genre, which distanced her from her Ainu roots. Spiker also critiqued the character's fetishization in doujinshi productions, emphasizing that while Nakoruru introduced Ainu culture to a broader audience, her depiction reinforced harmful stereotypes."


References


External links


Nakoruru
an
Rera
at ''Samurai Shodown'' official website {{The King of Fighters characters Female characters in video games Fictional Ainu people Fictional characters from Hokkaido Fictional characters with alter egos Fictional characters with dissociative identity disorder Fictional Japanese people in video games Fictional miko Fictional swordfighters in video games Religious worker characters in video games Samurai Shodown Swordfighters in Japanese fiction Teenage characters in video games The King of Fighters characters Video game characters introduced in 1993 Video game mascots