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Wriggle Nightbug
| リグル・ナイトバグ Wriggle Nightbug ɾiɡ̃ɯᵝɾ̠ɯᵝ na̠ito̞βa̠ɡ̃ɯᵝ (♫) | |
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 Wriggle Nightbug in Imperishable Night A Bug of Light Wriggling in the DarkMore Character Titles | |
| Species |
Firefly Youkai |
| Abilities |
Manipulation of insects |
Music Themes | |
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Appearances | |
| Official Games | |
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| Print Works | |
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"They say a half-inch bug has only one-tenth an inch of soul." "That's 80% smaller." — Sakuya Izayoi and Remilia Scarlet (Imperishable Night Stage 1)
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.
Abilities
- 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 bite 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. However, while this ability makes her a fearsome opponent for most humans, Wriggle herself is almost harmless, and confronting her while she is alone (i.e. winter, when there are no or few bugs around her) would lead to an easy victory. Moreover, since the insects she controls still have their typical weaknesses, such as cold, fire, fumigation and insecticide, one can greatly weaken her capabilities by exploiting one or more of these weaknesses.
Character Design
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 (however, Hieda no Akyuu describes her as having actual wings), and baggy blue knee-length shorts.
According to Akyuu, she looks like an average human aside from the insect appendages, and 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.
Appearances
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
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
- Main article: Article and Interview: Wriggle Nightbug
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
Illustrations
Illustration of Wriggle in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red
Another illustration of Wriggle from BAiJR
Wriggle from Who's Who of Humans & Youkai - Dusk Edition
Screenshots
Wriggle in Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth
Others
Wriggle's sigil in The Grimoire of Marisa
Spell Cards
| 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 | |||
Additional Information
- 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
Official Profiles
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○リグル・ナイトバグ
蟲の中には毒をもつ蟲もいる。 |
Wriggle Nightbug
Certain insects have poison. |
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○１面ボス 闇に蠢く光の蟲 リグル・ナイトバグ 種族：妖蟲 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。
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Stage 1 Boss, A Bug of Light Wriggling in the Dark
Species: Youkai Insect 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.
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Official Sources
- 2004/04/18 Imperishable Night Demo - Stage 1 dialogue; おまけ.txt (pre-official profile)
- 2004/08/15 Imperishable Night - Stage 1 dialogue; キャラ設定.txt (official profile)
- 2005/08/11 Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red - Article and Interview: Wriggle
- 2005/12/30 Shoot the Bullet - Stage 1 Spell Card comments
- 2006/12/27 Perfect Memento in Strict Sense - A Bug of Light Wriggling in the Dark: Wriggle Nightbug
- 2008/08/22 Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth - Chapter 15
- 2009/07/28 The Grimoire of Marisa - Wriggle Nightbug's Spell Cards
- 2009/08/26 Oriental Sacred Place - Chapter 4
- 2010/12/25 Oriental Sacred Place - Chapter 12
References
 | This page is part of Project Characters, a Touhou Wiki project that aims to write proper descriptions for all official characters of Touhou Project. Please keep the character page guidelines in mind when contributing. |
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