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Wriggle Nightbug

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リグル・ナイトバグ
(♫)
Wriggle Nightbug
Wriggle Nightbug
Wriggle Nightbug in Imperishable Night
A Bug of Light Wriggling in the Dark
More Character Titles
Species

Firefly Youkai

Abilities

Manipulation of insects

Music Themes
Appearances
Official Games
Print Works

Wriggle Nightbug (リグル・ナイトバグ Riguru Naitobagu) is a firefly with the ability to control other insects. She likes using her ability to direct concerted performances for her own amusement, as well as to attack humans who underestimate her significance or the importance of insects in general.

General Information

Wriggle first appeared as the first stage boss and midboss of Imperishable Night. She's classified as a firefly youkai, which is explained as having more survivability because humans are less likely to kill them. However, like other insects, she is weak to fire, cold, fumigation, and insect repellent. As an insect, she forgets about information that's no longer needed. She normally sticks around bushes, clumps of grass, and other places insects normally thrive.

Personality

Wriggle is quick to anger, and seems to take it personally when someone offends insects in any way. She is concerned about the decrease in the amount of insects lately, especially due to insecticide.

Occupation

At one point, Wriggle was in charge of an insect delivery service. However, during the span of time between Aya Shameimaru's article and her interview, she stopped, and forgot all about it.

Ability

Ability to control insects

Wriggle possesses the ability to freely manipulate insects of most varieties, where it's unclear if this power is limited to only certain insects. She is seen manipulating various types of fireflies, as well as moths (which her spell card calls "butterflies"). While individual bugs may be quite weak, this ability can be used to call on entire swarms of them, including poisonous insects like deadly hornets; when she gets serious, she's also able to summon a swarm of harvest mites, insects so small that they are invisible to the naked eye and are the most dangerous bugs, that can byte without detection and infect humans with fatal diseases. In Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, Hieda no Akyuu also describes her as being able to control caterpillars, spiders, crickets, and other insects, so it is likely the type of insect doesn't matter. Because she often uses this ability to surround herself with bugs, many humans find it unpleasant to confront her.

Character Design

Artwork of Wriggle in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense.

Name

Her full name is Wriggle Nightbug (リグル・ナイトバグ). "Wriggle" comes from the English word, which is commonly used to refer to bugs moving along the ground. "Nightbug" is a portmanteau of "night" and "bug"; the meaning is clear, as she is a firefly.

Design

Wriggle has blue eyes, teal hair, and bug-like antennae. She wears a white shirt with stylized short sleeves, a black cape with red lining, which is shaped to resemble insect wings, and baggy blue knee-length shorts.

According to Hieda no Akyuu, her childlike appearance is a testament to the fact that insect youkai are no longer equal to oni and tengu in terms of inspiring fear.

Story

Games

Imperishable Night

During the events of Imperishable Night, Wriggle attacks the player characters, thinking they'd be easy targets. However, the pair fights Wriggle off without breaking a sweat.

Spin-offs

Shoot the Bullet
Wriggle in HM

In Shoot the Bullet, Aya Shameimaru encountered Wriggle on stage 1 and took photos of her danmaku.

Hopeless Masquerade

Wriggle made a background cameo appearance in Hopeless Masquerade on the Hall of Dreams' Great Mausoleum and Youkai Tanuki Forest stage. She is seen floating and cheering.

Literature

Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red

In Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, Wriggle used her manipulation of insects in order to start an "Insects' News Service," which would send large numbers of bugs to make announcements and deliver messages for clients if they supplied plans and a specific time in advance. Wriggle organized the service with the intent of improving the social status of bugs, but soon got tired of it and stopped providing it.

When interviewed later, Wriggle does not remember the service, because insects discard information that is no longer in use.

Gallery

Additional Information

  • Wriggle's cape and infamous kick appear to reference sentai heroes such as Kamen Rider, who has an insect motif (a trait shared by many of his successors).
  • According to an interview with ZUN, Wriggle could have made an appearance in Touhou Hisoutensoku, however, she was eliminated from consideration due to time constraints.[1]

Fandom

  • Wriggle's appearance and name are both quite androgynous compared to other characters, so it used to be a point of some contention whether Wriggle was a male or female character before the release of full version; her wearing shorts certainly didn't help either.
    • The full version's official profile declared that Wriggle is, in fact, female. However, with lack of male presence in the series she is sometimes portrayed as male in R-rated fan material, with both writer and readers being fully aware that she is officially a girl. Additionally, she is often made fun of in fan comics by being depicted as a transvestite – either as a girl dressing like a boy or vice-versa.
  • Due to insects being near the very bottom of the food chain, Wriggle is sometimes portrayed as "food" in some fan comics. In particular, she is portrayed as food for Yamame Kurodani (a spider youkai), or for Mystia Lorelei (a [[Night Sparrow), who in turn is food for Yuyuko Saigyouji (a glutton).
  • Due to her species, she is sometimes associated with creepiness, as people often have insectophobia ("fear of insects").
  • In fan works, she is often seen with other lower level, childish characters such as Cirno, Rumia, and Mystia.
  • She is occasionally called or labelled as "G" (short for gokiburi, or cockroach). Another common nickname for Wriggle is "Wrigglin" (りぐるん Rigurun), similar in style to "Yukarin" for Yukari Yakumo.
  • Pairings of her with Yuuka Kazami are common. This could be because bugs pollinate flowers; they have similar hairstyles, or maybe ANGELTYPE is to blame. The pairings' dynamic is either loving or S&M-based with Yuuka being the S and bullying her. A few fan materials occasionally use a mother/daughter relationship, but this isn't too common, though she's rarely shown to be a mother figure for "Team 9" (a nickname for the Cirno, Rumia, Mystia and Wriggle group)
  • In Imperishable Night, the player can go up to the top of the screen and focus to collect items without being at full power (the Magic Team doesn't even have to focus to do this). Inexperienced players are sometimes caught off guard in the middle of stage 1 while trying to collect point items, and lose a life when Wriggle makes her entrance from the top of the screen, colliding with the player. This sudden fly-in from Wriggle is sometimes referred to as the "Wriggle Kick" in the fandom, and is parodied in fanart and fangames such as Touhou Soccer and Touhoumon.
  • In the multiplayer game League of Legends, there's an item called "Wriggle's Lantern," which is named after Wriggle Nightbug.[2]
  • On Pixiv, June 4 appears to be designated Wriggle day.[Ref. Needed]

Spell Cards

Spellcards
Name Translated Comments Games Stage
Total: 11
蛍符「地上の流星」 Firefly Sign "Meteors on Earth" IN
GoM
St. 1: H
蛍符「地上の彗星」 Firefly Sign "Comets on Earth" IN St. 1: L
灯符「ファイアフライフェノメノン」 Lamp Sign "Firefly Phenomenon" IN St. 1: E/N/H/L
蠢符「リトルバグ」 Wriggle Sign "Little Bug" IN St. 1: E
蠢符「リトルバグストーム」 Wriggle Sign "Little Bug Storm" IN
GoM
St. 1: N
蠢符「ナイトバグストーム」 Wriggle Sign "Night Bug Storm" IN St. 1: H
蠢符「ナイトバグトルネード」 Wriggle Sign "Nightbug Tornado" IN St. 1: L
隠蟲「永夜蟄居」 Hidden Bug "Endless Night Seclusion" IN
GoM
St. 1: N/H/L
「季節外れのバタフライストーム」 "Unseasonal Butterfly Storm" IN LW
蛍符「地上の恒星」 Firefly Sign "Fixed Stars on Earth" StB St. 1
蝶符「バタフライストーム」 Butterfly Sign "Butterfly Storm" StB St. 1

Official Profiles

Imperishable Night Demo - おまけ.txt
Wriggle Nightbug IN  ○リグル・ナイトバグ


  一面ボス。妖怪蛍。
  蟲を操る程度の能力を持つ。

  蟲の中には毒をもつ蟲もいる。
  恙虫なんか大量に操られたら、人間は手も足も出ない。実は強いかも。

Wriggle Nightbug


First stage boss. A youkai firefly.
She possesses ability to manipulate insects

Certain insects have poison.
If she controls something like a horde of harvest mites, humans can do nothing against her. May be stronger than you think.

Imperishable Night - キャラ設定.txt
Wriggle Nightbug IN  ○1面ボス 闇に蠢く光の蟲

  リグル・ナイトバグ
  Wriggle Nightbug

  種族:妖蟲
  能力:蟲を操る程度の能力

  1面ボスである。

  彼女の周りには多くの虫が集まる。蛍は大量に集まっても明滅のタイミングがピッタリ揃うが、これは実は彼女の様な命令中枢が中に居るからである。

  たかが虫、と思っていると大量の虫に襲われ、ひとたまりも無い。特に彼女を怒らせ本気を出させてしまうと、大量の恙虫を召喚され、人間は高熱を出して死ぬ。


  寒さと殺虫剤に弱い。

Stage 1 Boss, a Bug of Light Wriggling in the Dark


Wriggle Nightbug

Species: Youkai Insect
Abilities: Manipulate insects

Stage 1 Boss.

Insects gather around her. Fireflies can perform their flashing with timed synchronization even in huge swarms, but that is actually because there is a commander like her within them.

Those who carelessly regard her as a mere insect will be easy victims to the swarm of insects. When Wriggle is upset and serious, she summons a swarm of harvest mites which can cause deadly fever to humans.


She can't stand cold or insecticide.

Official Sources

Official sources

References

  1. Nae Radio (September, 2009). "Interview on Nae Radio (September 2009)". Retrieved 2 September, 2011. Check date values in: |accessdate=, |date= (help)
  2. http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Wriggle's_Lantern