Article#36 : Iku Nagae , Beautiful Scarlet Cloth
永江 衣玖(ãªãŒãˆã€€ã„ã)
[size=13]Nagae Iku ( Nagae Iku )[/h]
Age : Unknown
Species : Youkai (oarfish)
Personalities : 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.
Abilities : Able to read 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 attacks.
Occupation : Envoy of the Dragon Palace
Appearance : Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, Double Spoiler
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 clothing radiates a scarlet color in an indescribable beauty. Rumor says that if a human wears this clothing, they will be able to fly through the sky.
Iku Nagae is a messenger of the Dragon Palace, whose job is to observe the daily mood of the atmosphere. She somewhat questions why humans and youkai fight/duel as a part of their daily life.
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 tells her that the culprit is hiding in the Hakurei Shrine. She then goes back to the shrine and finds Tenshi, 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.
[size=17]Bunbunmaru Trivia[/h]
# Nagae (永江) means “
eternal river”, and Iku means è¡£ = “
clothing” , 玖 = number “9” or “
black-colored jade”. So together, her name might means "
a black jade in (scarlet) clothing at the eternal river".
# "
Iku" can also be spelled as an intransitive Japanese verb(行ã) that literally means "
going", but its phonetic version (ã„ã or イク)is better known as a phrase uttered at... “
key moments” in h-anime. Raunchy jokes commenced almost immediately.
# Her profile suggests that she is a Youkai of oarfishes. In Japanese, oarfishes are called “
RyÅ«gÅ«-no-tsukai” リュウグウノツカイ or 竜宮ã®ä½¿ã„ in Kanji), 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.
# Iku's spellcard declaration pose and some alternate special move poses closely resemble John Travolta's dancing pose from the disco movie
Saturday Night Fever, which many doujin work make fun of by linking her to disco dancing. To a lesser extent, they also resemble
Bass's lightning attack pose from the game
Megaman and Bass , as well as the start-up of super robot Great Mazinger's move, Thunder Break.
# Iku's dress resembles that of a Spanish Flamenco dancer, and her movements and poses look a bit like dancing. However, her 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.
# Her character may be an homage to
Rose , a fortune teller from the
Street Fighter video game series. Both heavily rely on premonitions for their occupations and sense an approaching "
Doomsday" at hand. Iku and Rose also make extensive use of their shawls in combat by lashing out with extreme range, using drill-bit formations around their arms, and even reflecting projectiles.
# The phrase 「キャーイクサーï¾ã€ or "
Kya—Iku-sa—n" (in half-length katakana) has become a meme relating to Iku, which originated from another meme「キャーリï½ï½°ï½»ï½°ï¾ã€ or "
Kya-Ryu-sa-n" (note: Ryuu means "
dragon") in response to dragoons in
Final Fantasy XI.
# She's often presented as the nanny or the personal teacher of Tenshi Hinanawi, due to the facts that they know themselves before
SWR, and also because Iku sent people to put Tenshi down.