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Iku Nagae

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(なが) () () ()
nagae ikɯ (♫)
Iku Nagae
Iku Nagae
Beautiful Scarlet Cloth
More Character Titles
Species

Youkai (oarfish)

Abilities

Reading the atmosphere

Occupation

Envoy of the Dragon Palace

Location

Clouds over Gensokyo

Music Themes
Appearances
Official Games
Print Works

"Getting straight to the point, an earthquake is going to occur."
Iku Nagae (Scarlet Weather Rhapsody Stage 3)

Iku Nagae (永江 衣玖 Nagae Iku) is a messenger of the Dragon Palace, whose job is to observe the daily mood of the atmosphere. She sometimes questions why humans and youkai fight/duel as a part of their daily life.

General Information

Iku first appeared in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody as the penultimate boss for most scenarios. From there, she became the stage 10 target in Double Spoiler and had a background appearance in Hopeless Masquerade. With all of her appearances so far only being in spin-off games, she has yet to make an official appearance in a main game.

Personality

Iku is a laid-back youkai that never shows interest in other people. The only exception is Tenshi Hinanawi, due to her egoistic attitude and the concern she has seeing her reports, which really worries and irritates Iku. As an envoy of the Dragon Palace, she sends information from the palace to other people. It's said that she is lazy and as a result, she never takes upon the position of a leader because she only observes what other people do. [1]

Abilities

Reading the atmosphere

In her Scarlet Weather Rhapsody official profile, it is stated, "she can read the mood of a place, and adapt to it right away. She doesn't try to break the mood unless there's a very urgent reason. Flexibility is stronger than stiffness. When necessary, she vanishes completely and parries any attack." However, in the neighbourhood where her speech and conduct irritate the opponent, it's a question of whether she truly reads it. (Very much so, it can be conceived that upon reading the atmosphere, she ventures to say things that give her superior mental and emotional standing than her opponent.)

Borrowing the Dragon's power

According to Aya Shameimaru and Hatate Himekaidou, Iku (and possibly the other messengers from the Dragon Palace) can borrow a bit of the Dragon God's power.[2]
Since the Dragon is known, among other things, for its power to cause rainfall, lightning and thunderstorms, this may be what allows Iku to cause and manipulate lightning on her own.

Additionally, in one interpretation, it might well be that "reading the atmosphere" is "reading the flow of air", and the ability to manipulate it. In actuality, the reason she was able to sense earthquakes was due to looking at the condition of the scarlet clouds, and reading the portents of earthquakes.

Species

Her profile suggests that she's a youkai of oarfishes. In Japanese, oarfishes are called "Ryūgū-no-tsukai" (リュウグウノツカイor 竜宮の使い), which literally means "messenger from the Dragon's Palace". In this case, a dragon is considered as a god of water. Her shawls (and probably the long ribbons on her hat) are apparently modeled after the shape of oarfishes, which have thin, elongated bodies and red fins.

Character Design

Picture of Iku drawn by ZUN

Name

Her full name is Iku Nagae (永江 衣玖). Nagae (永江) means long/eternal () and bay/inlet (), although a more archaic meaning of e () also refers to any large body of water such as a lake or sea. Iku (衣玖) means "clothing" () and number "9" () or "black-colored jade".

Design

Her portrait in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody shows her having red eyes and short light indigo hair. She wears a white and red shirt, a long black skirt, and a black hat with a red bow and two long ribbons extending out. She also has a long, opaque, white and red hagoromo, which she wears draped on her arms. Both her hagoromo and blouse glow with scarlet color.

Story

Spin-offs

Scarlet Weather Rhapsody

During the events of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody she finds out that a strong earthquake is going to occur in Gensokyo, so she decides to warn the residents. Afterwards, Yukari Yakumo tells her that the culprit is hiding in the Hakurei Shrine. She then goes back to the shrine and finds Tenshi Hinanawi, who has just inserted a keystone to prevent the earthquake. Iku questions this and thinks of Tenshi as having been "spoiled a bit too much", so she decides to punish her.

Double Spoiler
Iku's sprite in DS

In Double Spoiler, Iku made her first shoot 'em up appearance on stage 10 as a target, where she uses a few spell cards and had Aya Shameimaru and Hatate Himekaidou take photos of her and her danmaku.

Hopeless Masquerade
Iku in HM

Iku made a background cameo appearance in Hopeless Masquerade on the Palanquin Ship and Youkai Tanuki Forest stages. She can be seen floating near Tenshi Hinanawi.

Literature

Symposium of Post-mysticism

Iku appears in the article "The Legend of the Veil Marriage Act" in Kakashi Spirit News, Hatate Himekaidou's newspaper. She made a comment about the Veil Marriage Act did by the angels.

Relationships

Tenshi Hinanawi

Iku comments to Tenshi that she was supposed to file a report before warning everyone about the earthquake, but couldn't because all of the Hinanawi clan were away from their homes. This implies that one of her duties is to file reports to the Hinanawi clan when an earthquakes about to occur (note, however, that this doesn't mean she's subservient to Tenshi's clan; just that her job requires interacting with them). It's shown in her ending that she saw how spoiled and reckless the eldest child Tenshi was, and was never happy about it. Her win quote to Tenshi implies that Iku often complained to Tenshi about how mad her father was whenever Iku reported him. To Tenshi, however, Iku was just a messenger. Tenshi's unauthorized use of a keystone finally caused Iku to take action and punish Tenshi (and for Tenshi to learn Iku's name), although having no authority over a member of the Hinanawi meant that all Iku could do in the long term was complain about it.

Suika Ibuki

Iku first encounters Suika when Suika's climbing to Heaven to see Tenshi Hinanawi, where she tested Suika before allowing Suika to move on. Suika won, surprising Iku with her power. Iku later runs into Suika while searching for Tenshi Hinanawi to file a report on earthquakes. The oni requests Iku play with her for a bit and fights Iku in a duel. Iku's extremely confused why the oni is still in Heaven, but had to get back to her job. Eventually, after a long string of being attacked by various residents of Gensokyo for no reason whatsoever and an infuriating meeting with Tenshi, the poor exhausted oarfish arrives back in heaven and runs into the oni again. Suika's story of Tenshi giving her land gets the oarfish even more exasperated at the celestial, and Suika cheerfully comforts her and pours her a drink, encouraging Iku to vent her complaints to the oni. It's unknown if they became friends after that or not.

The Cast of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody

Everyone attacked Iku either for no reason (sometimes twice) or because they suspected her of being the cause of the incidents, leaving the oarfish confused. Exceptions are the first battles with Yuyuko Saigyouji and Suika Ibuki (which were tests to see if they could enter heaven) and Sakuya Izayoi (who managed to get Iku mad by blatantly not caring about her warnings, causing Iku to attempt to block her from Heaven. This was presumably a one-time occurrence, as Iku was nice to Sakuya and hoped to try her cooking in Iku's victory quote to her. This is actually perhaps the kindest of Iku's victory quotes, with the rest being sometimes-biting advice).

Yukari Yakumo, Yuyuko Saigyouji, Suika Ibuki, and Tenshi Hinanawi are the only four characters who encounter Iku in story mode that recognize that Iku's a Dragon God messenger, implying they've seen one before.

Reisen Udongein Inaba and Komachi Onozuka don't encounter Iku in story mode and don't have particularly notable win quotes.

Oddly, Iku becomes friendly with Yukari Yakumo in Yukari's scenario when Iku learned about the keystone before Yukari. However, Yukari becomes mad at Iku in Iku's scenario when Yukari learned about the keystone before Iku (Yukari's way of informing Iku was much more vicious than Iku's way of informing Yukari).

Iku also has new victory quotes to the new characters in Touhou Hisoutensoku, but there don't seem to be any relationships of note to glean from them.

Gallery

Sprites

Illustrations

Others

Skills

Skills
Name Translated Comments Games Usage
Total: 12
龍魚の一撃 Dragon Fish's Strike SWR Default 236B/C
羽衣は水の如く Veils Like Water SWR Default 623B/C
龍魚の怒り Dragon Fish's Wrath SWR Default 22B/C
静電誘導弾 Electrostatic Guided Missile SWR Default 214B/C
龍神の一撃 Dragon God's Strike SWR Alternate 236B/C
羽衣は風の如く Veils Like Wind SWR Alternate 623B/C
龍神の怒り Dragon God's Wrath SWR Alternate 22B/C
龍神の稲光り Dragon God's Lightning Flash SWR Alternate 214B/C
龍の眼 Dragon's Eye SWR Alternate 214B/C
水得の龍魚 Able-Swimming Dragon Fish Soku Alternate 236B/C
天女の一撃 Celestial Maiden's Strike Soku Alternate 623B/C
龍神の髭 Whiskers of the Dragon God Soku Alternate 22B/C

Spell Cards

Spell Cards
Name Translated Comments Games Stage
Total: 18
電符「雷鼓弾」 Electric Sign "Thunder Drum Shot" SWR Use
魚符「龍魚ドリル」 Fish Sign "Dragonfish Drill" SWR Use
雷符「エレキテルの龍宮」 Thunder Sign "Elekiter Dragon Palace" SWR Use
光星「光龍の吐息」 Light Star "Light Dragon's Sigh" SWR Use
雷魚「雷雲魚遊泳弾」  Thunder Fish "Thundercloud Fish's Swimming Shot" SWR Use
羽衣「羽衣は空の如く」  Angel's Raiment "Veils Like Sky" SWR Use
棘符「雷雲棘魚」 Thorn Sign "Thundercloud Stickleback" SWR
SWR
GoM
Use
Story
龍魚「龍宮の使い遊泳弾」 Dragon Fish "Oarfish's Swimming Shot" SWR
DS
GoM
GoU
Use
St. 10

光珠「龍の光る眼」 Light Orb "Dragon's Gleaming Eyes" SWR
GoM
Story
雷符「神鳴り様の住処」 Thunder Sign "Residence of the Thunder God" SWR Story
雲界「玄雲海の雷庭」 Cloud Realm "The Thunder Court in the Sea of Abstruse Clouds" SWR
GoM
Story
羽衣「羽衣は時の如く」 Angel's Raiment "Veils Like Time" Soku Use
珠符「五爪龍の珠」 Orb Sign "Orb of the Five-Clawed Dragon" Soku
DS
GoU
Use
St. 10
雷符「ライトニングフィッシュ」 Thunder Sign "Lightning Fish" DS St. 10
龍宮「タイヤヒラメダンス」 Dragon Palace "Dance of Sea Breams and Flounders" DS St. 10
輝天符「迅雷のドンドコ太鼓」 Shining Heaven Sign "Thunderclap Dondoko Daiko" Co-owner with Raiko VD Nightmare Thursday - 2
緋星符「正体不明の落雷」 Scarlet Star Sign "Unidentified Lightning Strike" Co-owner with Nue VD Nightmare Thursday - 4
神緋符「雷雨の中のストーカー」 Divine Scarlet Sign "Stalker in a Thunderstorm" Co-owner with Mamizou VD Nightmare Thursday - 5

Additional Information

  • Iku's spell card declaration pose and some alternate special move poses closely resemble John Travolta's dancing pose from the disco movie Saturday Night Fever[3]as well as the start-up of super robot Great Mazinger's move, Thunder Break[4].
  • Iku's dress and hagoromo resemble that of a Spanish Flamenco dancer, and her movements and poses look a bit like dancing. However, her official profile states that it's a special dress, granting the owner the ability to fly. Maybe it's a reference to some dances, where it looks like the dancer is flying.
    • Additionally, it could reference the Noh play Hagoromo, in which a Tennyo maiden loses her hagoromo. A fisherman named Hakuryo finds it, and the Tennyo asks for him to give it back. He told her that he would give the hagoromo back if the Tennyo performed a celestial dance for him, but the Tennyo says that she needed her hagoromo to perform the dance. After the Tennyo tells Hakuryo why he should return it to her, she begins dancing, now donning her hagoromo. Slowly, she starts floating into the sky, eventually disappearing into the mists of Heaven.[5]

Fandom

Official Profiles

Scarlet Weather Rhapsody - おまけ.txt
Iku Nagae   ○美しき緋の衣

  永江 衣玖(ながえ いく)

  種族:妖怪(竜宮の使い)

   龍の世界と人間の世界の間に棲む妖怪。
   偶に、形跡や死体を人間に見つけられることがあるが、滅多に生きたままの姿を現す事はない。
   龍の言葉を理解し、重大な内容だけ人間や妖怪に伝えると言われる。

   非常に長い羽衣の縁は自ら緋色に光り、えも言われぬ美しさを持っている。
   この羽衣を人間が纏うと、空を飛べると言われている。


  住家:雲の中

   人生の大半を雲の中で泳いで暮らしている。
   特に何をするでもなく、ただ優雅に泳ぎ、龍神の様子を見守っている。
   その為、人間に害を与える事も殆ど無い。


  能力:空気を読む程度の能力

   その場の特性をすぐに把握し、すぐに馴染む事ができる。
   余程の事がない限り場を乱す行動は取らない。

   柔よく剛を制す。
   時には自分の存在を消し、全ての攻撃を受け流す。


  性格:どんな場でも主役になる事はない。面倒くさがり

   常にのんびりとしていて、相手の行動に興味がない。
   自分の主張を押し通す事は少なく、他人の行動を見守ることが多い。

Beautiful Scarlet Cloth

Iku Nagae

Species: Youkai (Oarfish)

A youkai that lives between the world of dragons and the world of humans. Sometimes humans find traces or dead bodies of her kind, but very rarely they do show their living form to humans. It is said that they can understand a dragon's words, and only the important words are relayed to human and youkai.

The edges of their long veils radiating a scarlet color are indescribably beautiful. Rumor says that if a human wears this veil, they will be able to fly through the sky.


Location: Inside clouds

She spends most of her time swimming through clouds. Doing nothing in particular, she observes the dragon god as she swims elegantly through clouds. Thus she causes almost no harm to humans.


Ability: Reading the atmosphere.

She can read the mood of a place, and adapt to it right away. She doesn't try to break the mood unless there's a very urgent reason.

Flexibility is stronger than stiffness. When necessary, she vanishes completely and parries any attack.


Personality: Never takes the lead role. Lazy.

She's always laid-back and has no interest in others' behavior. She almost never insists on her own opinion, and mostly watches what others do.

Official Sources

Official sources

See Also

References

  1. Iku's Profile in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
  2. Double Spoiler - Stage 10:
    Aya: Aagh, the danmaku won't disappear even if I shoot it with my camera. So this is some of the Dragon God's power...I think it's about time I gave my camera a power-up.
    Hatate: Seems like the messenger of the Dragon Palace gets to borrow a little of the Dragon God's power. I'm so jealous. The pen is stronger than the gun, but it still can't beat a dragon.
  3. John Travolta's pose, Iku's pose
  4. Thunder Break pose
  5. Facts about Tennyo, as well as a summary for the Noh play Hagoromo.