- "Then show me that grand power of yours that echoes even through the Tengu world!"
- —Nyotengu to Hayabusa in Dead or Alive 6
Nyotengu (Japanese: 女天狗) is a princess of the tengu realm[2] who first appeared in a 2014 update version of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade.
History[]
Early life[]
Details of her life are unclear, other than that she apparently existed as early as the Heian Era of Japan. She was also instrumental in causing a week-long typhoon in the capital due to wanting to alleviate the heat, and apparently observed a particularly ambitious warlord known as Lord Fool. She apparently was also childhood friends with an oni named Kanna, or at least, that's what she believed.
Arrival at New Zack Island[]
She apparently landed on New Zack Island briefly, only to lose her wings due to a "mysterious power" at work on the island. Although shocked due to it technically rendering her not Nyotengu anymore, she nonetheless took the opportunity to experience a vacation among humans.
The Sixth Tournament[]
At some point, she encountered Leifang, who was training for the tournament. She offered to give Leifang some advice regarding getting stronger, should the latter beat her. Leifang ultimately did so, although Nyotengu then tauntingly gave her mixed messages on how to get stronger before promptly flying off.
She later encountered Brad Wong, who was trying to retrieve a legendary whiskey, making off with the treasure before he could get it. She then told him to fight her for it. After doing so, they shared some of the whiskey.
Next she met Ryu Hayabusa while the latter was training and, being aware of his role in taking down Bankotsubo, offered a sparring match to experience his abilities first-hand. She ultimately was defeated, with Ryu bluntly telling her to leave before teleporting away. Although put off slightly by his rudeness, she nonetheless was infatuated by him and satisfied.
She also ran into Ayane, and revealed she was the real "Female Tengu of Mount Miyama", in reference to Ayane's previous boasts, before sparring her. She also gatecrashed the Sixth tournament, with Zack deciding to have her act as the "half-time show guest star", which she agreed to.
Arrival at the Venus Islands[]
She arrived at the Venus Islands due to expressing some interest at the "lively" human presence there, and was called upon by the owner of the island. Impressed with the owner for being bold enough to address her, and expressing some interest in the Venus Islands due to it "captivating the human mind", she then beckoned the Owner to follow her. Shortly afterwards, her wings vanished again, thus rendering her human yet again. Largely undaunted, she decided to give the Venus Festival a try, thinking the vacation would generate some excitement.
Character[]
Appearance[]
- See also: Nyotengu's costumes
Despite being a female tengu of a very high age, she takes the form of a young woman who appears to be in her early to mid twenties, in stark contrast to Bankotsubo's demonic, monstrous appearance. She has pale, creamy colored skin, and a voluptuous figure, with curvy hips and a large bust. She is of above-average height for a Japanese lady, has an oval face and a small beauty mark on the left of her chin. She has light purple eyes and also seems to be wearing light purple eye-shadow. Despite lacking the trademark beak-like long nose of the tengu, some of her costumes do reference it with long-nosed masks. Like Bankotsubo, she has wings, but they're smaller, and change color depending on her outfit. In both Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 and Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation, her wings disappeared upon her arrival at New Zack Island and the Venus Islands, respectively, although the latter took slightly longer to disappear.
Her dark bluish hair is intricately done, with a "hime cut" of perfectly straight bangs and side-locks. Unusually, the rest of her side-locks are left uncut and long, and tied to the sides with topknot style bands on the tops. The rest of her hair is worn in perfectly straight cut pigtails which she wraps up. She also wears traditional Japanese hair decorations called kanzashi and a miniature hat called a tokin, although there are options to remove these. She can also simply wear her waist-length hair loose. In Dead or Alive 6, she gains a new hairstyle which is her hair tied up in a high messy bun with shorter but loosely curled sidelocks. Her hair color and style is altered in certain DLCs; in her Fairy Tail DLC, she receives uncovered hair buns with her loose hair, she wears her hair short and curled inward in her 2016 Halloween DLC, and she wears a short grey white hairstyle in her Aquaplus DLC.
Her main costume appears inspired by geisha fashion like Kokoro, except Kokoro's is more modest and modern looking; Nyotengu wears a kimono that oirans, or Japanese courtesans, used to wear. The opening is directly in the front, the main purpose of which was for the oiran's clients to have "easier access". The kimono is both flame-red and black, and the skirt and wide sleeves have intricate patterns and designs on them. The kimono is worn loose to expose more of her cleavage and she wears a white, shorter kimono underneath. Like Bankotsubo, she wears tabi and geta sandals, and carries a fan. Her fan, as is the case with Japanese mythology regarding tengus, is powerful enough to summon a strong gust, as demonstrated in Xtreme Venus Vacation, with the resulting gusts potentially being powerful enough to destroy clothing. She can also equip a tengu mask in certain outfit.
In some of her DLC outfits, her fan type is modified, such as a white rigid bathing fan (uchiwa), a violet and red metallic leaf fan for her Fighter Force outfit, Velguirie's fan for her Deception pack, and a foldable fan (sensu) for her Tamiki Wakaki outfit. In other DLC costumes, she uses an appropriate substitute in place of a fan (ie, a handheld Christmas Wreath for both her Santa's Helper and Christmas 2014 outfits, a baton for both her gym and cheerleader outfits, etc.) With the exception of her teacher outfit, she does not wear glasses in any DLC costumes that include the option. She instead wears a tengu mask if prompted.
Personality[]
Nyotengu, like Bankotsubo, has a loud and arrogant personality, but contrasts from him in also being somewhat playful and laidback. She's quite energetic and appears to enjoy fighting, especially inflicting pain on her opponents, hinting at a sadistic motivation. She's also quite suggestive and flirty, as she sensually licks her lips after a match. She's very loud and frequently yells in delight as she's attacking her opponents. She seems to despise defeat, as she acts overly dramatic and angry after a loss. Although if her opponent proved him/herself to be exceptionally skilled, she'd overlook her defeat, as evidenced by her reaction upon being defeated by Ryu and to a lesser extent with Leifang. She appears to enjoy alcoholic beverages, as evidenced when she partied with Raijin and Fujin (who implied she often gets worse when she's drunk), as well as her bonding with Brad Wong.
Her actions are very sensual and suggestive, with her dialogue including a lot of double entendres, and her attacks include a lot of subtle provocative poses on her part. This provocative posing is also demonstrated during her run-in with Ayane, where she briefly holds Ayane's waist from behind and gyrates while teasing her. Besides that she appears very confident in her fighting abilities; when taunting she will tell the opponent that she's merely toying with them or that they should not be shy of approaching her. She can also fan herself arrogantly as she expresses that she's tired of her opponent's empty boasting, and she can even laugh to herself in an arrogant and haughty fashion. She also can glide away in a relaxed state as she waves for her opponent to come over.
In Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, she is capable of befriending the other girls on the island, showing her friendly, peaceful, and playful side. She was also implied to have a slight soft-spot for humans, as she mentioned that part of the reason she went to New Zack Island was because it presented a rare opportunity for her to actually experience human aspects. Owing to her being a Tengu, she is also shown to be unfamiliar with certain human conventions, such as birthday cakes being reserved for birthdays (or special days, in her case), and also the concept of cameras. That said, she is familiar with other human conventions, such as the concept of giving a future spouse a ring. Even though she doesn't have any friends on New Zack Island in the beginning of the vacation, she can easily become immediately close or attached with the player's character by playing with her in a few Butt Battles. In Xtreme Venus Vacation, she is also shown to be something of a prankster, as during the main episodes, she briefly poses as the voice of the God's statue and later during a ghost festival posed as an undead schoolgirl. She also shows her friendly yet mischievous side in Dead or Alive 6 when she encountered Leifang and Brad Wong. Unlike Bankotsubo, who shows nothing but hatred and disgust for the human world and wants to cause chaos, it is shown in Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 that she loves and appreciates the human world, calling it a wonderful and fascinating place to live.
Etymology[]
Nyotengu, when translated into English, literally means "female tengu".
The word tengu it self translates to "heavenly dog" in English. In Japanese folklore, tengu started out as destructive demons and harbingers of war; however, over time, their image gradually softened into beings that are protective, though still dangerous, spirits of the mountains and forests.
Relationships[]
Ayane[]
Nyotengu has a tendency to annoy Ayane, although they are also able to work together. In their unique Tag Battle outro, she irritates Ayane by literally standing in front of her after the latter said no one gets in her way. In Xtreme Venus Vacation, she pranked Ayane and Kasumi (who were both rehearsing for a ghost festival) by acting like a zombified schoolgirl. She later worked with Ayane alongside Misaki for the second New Year's Card photoshoot, with Ayane, in particular, being annoyed at Nyotengu's rather revealing Daitan outfit. They also entered a minor argument about who looked the best.
In Dead or Alive 6, Ayane and Nyotengu meet formally, and the latter recalls that Ayane had mentioned that she was the "woman tengu of the Miyama." She openly flirts with Ayane, wrapping her arms around her and making a suggestive innuendo, much to the latter's confusion and irritation, before making clear that Nyotengu herself was the true "woman tengu of the Miyama".
Marie Rose[]
In Xtreme Venus Vacation, Marie Rose and Nyotengu had some degree of acquaintance, as the two alongside Honoka attempted to plan out how to celebrate the then-upcoming first anniversary of their arrival at the Venus Islands. However, similar to most of the other girls, she does get cross when Nyotengu makes remarks that implied that she viewed Marie Rose as being a child.
Ryu Hayabusa[]
Nyotengu desired to challenge Ryu Hayabusa, being interested in his fighting capabilities after hearing of his role in the death of the rogue tengu, Bankotsubo. She is capable of allying with him, as evidenced by Ryu being a tag partner of hers in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round and having a unique victory and intro. Her intro in Last Round when encountering him implies that while she has heard of him, she never actually met him. In Dead or Alive 6 she is able to meet him, and Nyotengu is satisfied when he proves his skill by defeating her.
Honoka[]
She acted as a teacher to Honoka regarding fighting styles during their stay on New Zack Island, with Honoka looking up to her as a result. In addition, the two also worked together alongside Fiona in planning out the Dancing Party of Love and the First Anniversary event, and also worked with Misaki for planning the first Rivals Festival.
Tamaki[]
Nyotengu is willing to work with Tamaki as part of assignments for the island if such is mandated, and they shared a bit of a friendly rivalry, especially regarding the Owner. The two also had a discussion regarding how similar humans and Tengu were (or rather, how similar Tamaki and Nyotengu were), although Nyotengu initially took some offense at the comparison until Tamaki clarified. They also worked together as tour guides for the island, trying to find a date spot for the Owner.
Misaki[]
She largely got along well with Misaki, although has shown some haughtiness towards her. She also likes to prank Misaki, once posing as a "frivolous god"'s voice and another time hypnotizing her into thinking she was a cat. She also voiced her opinion on how the setting up of the Venus Festival was going off to a bad start. During the pajama party, Nyotengu also played an unspecified game with Hitomi and Misaki and repeatedly beat them at it. Misaki, suspecting from her name that she was in fact a tengu and not a human, accused her of using magic to win at the game, although Nyotengu neither confirmed nor denied the accusation. When the two were invited to a night-long party at the Owner's place, Misaki decided to watch over Nyotengu after she implied she might harm the Owner with her various tengu techniques. She later worked with Nyotengu for the second New Year's Card photoshoot. They also entered a minor argument about who looked the best.
Luna[]
Nyotengu once used Luna as a test subject in her hypnosis training by having her act as a cat. However, although it had initially worked by having her briefly acting like a cat, she ultimately returned to her usual self, with Nyotengu implying that it failed to work because Luna had no inherent interest in acting like one.
Leifang[]
The two met each other in Dead Or Alive 6. Nyotengu is seen watching Leifang practicing for the tournament. She then asked Leifang if she wants to become much stronger, however she will only tell her how if Leifang can beat her. Leifang accepted her request and managed to defeat her. After the match, Nyotengu was impressed with Leifang's strength and playfully joked a bit on how to become stronger before suddenly leaving.
Brad Wong[]
The two entered a minor altercation when Nyotengu ended up making off with a chest containing legendary liquor that Brad had been searching for. Afterwards, they presumably drank the contents together, with them complimenting each other.
Fiona[]
Nyotengu alongside Honoka helped Fiona do the final touches of the dancing party, with Nyotengu showing her Tengu dance techniques, with Fiona being somewhat impressed by her dance techniques. Nyotengu also bluntly told Fiona that all the girls at the island were "partners" to the Owner, which alongside Honoka's more oblivious admission left Fiona flustered, interpreting it as meaning all the girls were candidates for marriage.
Kanna[]
Nyotengu's relationship with Kanna is complicated to say the very least. Nyotengu herself merely views Kanna as a childhood friend of hers, but Kanna has hostility to Nyotengu, viewing her as her arch-enemy at worst. Eventually, Momiji after beating the two at a match made them swear to get along from that point onward, Kanna especially, with their ultimately agreeing, although it was implied that they still had a competitive streak against each other even when technically being friends.
Tsukushi[]
Nyotengu met Tsukushi after Honoka brought her to the spa, and also supplied some of her own massaging techniques to Tsukushi, teaching her the art of giving and receiving massages. The lessons also helped Tsukushi immensely and left her grateful, as her posture from constantly drawing manga left her with aches that she attempted to alleviate via self-massages. When Tsukushi decided to immediately draw the area to "record the memory", Nyotengu, in contrast to Honoka, didn't mind her posture too much, knowing she can always supply another massage afterwards.
Elise[]
Elise brought Nyotengu into her room to ask for her age in person, being suspicious about her claim of being over a millennia old in her file. She warned her that there would be severe consequences if she lied about her age. She didn't believe Nyotengu's claim of being a tengu, although she later changed her mind after Nyotengu proved her claim by summoning a gust of wind in her room. Nyotengu, alongside Lobelia later attempted to help Elise find an outfit for her to wear.
Amy[]
Nyotengu met Amy by accident when she was looking for Helena, resulting in her stumbling on Amy's revealing swimwear that she tried on after buying it off the internet. She then dragged Amy off to the spa to "showcase her beauty magic", subjecting her to various lotions alongside Helena.
Shizuku[]
Gameplay[]
- See also: Nyotengu's command lists
Nyotengu uses a similar move set to Bankotsubo; she is slow but powerful, with the ability of flight, as well as to summon large deadly gusts of wind. However, unlike Bankotsubo, she seems to focus more heavily on aerial combos, having 2 unique stances that involve flight: Hiten-No-Mai (Dance of the Scarlet Sky), and Karasu-Tobi (Flying Crow). These stances allow her to perform powerful extra moves as well as having evasive purposes. Most of her attacks unfortunately are quite slow, and her more powerful moves require long start-ups, and have slow recovery frames. As a result, quicker, more combo-focused fighters like Kasumi can easily take advantage of her vulnerable, recovering state. Also, her attacks that have long start-ups can be easily interrupted, or a well-timed hold can push aside a slow attack.
To make up for her slow speed, she can glide away from an aggressive opponent or towards them, using her wings, and the proper use of her unique stances can confuse and break the rhythm of her opponents. She also has stronger than average holds and throws, as well as numerous air and ground throws that can be performed from both her regular and unique stances. Incorporating these throws into her combos will allow her to deal maximum damage, but often requires careful timing and execution. She possesses a plethora of moves designed to crush and evade foes too, as well as being very well suited for applying guard pressure as she has a lot of attacks that can guard break her foe and leave the momentum in her favor to easily turn the tide of battle. Her reach is also great and her mix-ups have great delay to compensate their relative slow speed.
Dead or Alive 6 has given her more to work with, adding new moves to further confuse her foe such as a mid kick after her forward mid thrust attack and another spinning guard break attack to crush her opponent's guard. She's now also able to throw off opponents from a distance with her new mid thrust flip kick and her sidestep evade from her Hiten-No-Mai air stance. She's regarded as being a solid character with the only main weakness being her speed which forces players wishing to master her to play more defensively and wait patiently for openings when dealing with opponents who surpass her speed.
Stats[]
The following are Nyotengu's official stats as listed in the games.
Game | Strike | Throw | Hold | Power | Speed | Moves |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Dead or Alive 5 Last Round |
2/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 1/5 | 3/5 |
Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3[]
Nyotengu is not very easy to befriend if she is not your starting partner, especially for Kasumi, Ayane, Kokoro, and Helena due to her 1 friendship note (not close relationship) for them at the very beginning of the vacation. While for the rest of the girls, Nyotengu's 2 friendship notes will slowly decrease to 1 if not befriended soon or interacted with. However, if she is the player's starting partner, she gets immediately close or attached to the player's character (any of the girls) by playing with her with at least 5 continuous Butt Battles.
In beach volleyball, just like Tina Armstrong in Dead or Alive Xtreme 1 and 2, Nyotengu has a lot of power to hit the ball very hard which often makes the girls fall down to their feet if they get hit by the ball. However, she is not good in terms of speed and a bit slow to recover when she falls down.
Appearances[]
Dead or Alive series[]
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade (playable, 2014)
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (playable DLC, 2014)
- Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (playable, 2015)
- Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 (playable, 2016)
- Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation (playable, 2017)
- Dead or Alive 6 (playable, 2019; DLC)
Non-Dead or Alive Appearances[]
Azur Lane[]
She appears as one of the seven Dead or Alive guest characters, as part of Xtreme Venus Vacation collaboration event, acting as an Aircraft Carrier unit. On the title screen for the first run, she cosplayed as the shipgirl Taihou.
Nioh 2[]
A particular character who resembles Dead or Alive version of Nyotengu, dubbed as Ancient Nyotengu appears as a side boss character in the final chapter DLC of the second game.
The King of Fighters All Stars[]
Nyotengu appears as a guest fighter alongside Honoka, Kasumi and Marie Rose.
The King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match Online[]
Nyotengu appears as a guest fighter alongside Honoka and Marie Rose.
Alice Gear Aegis[]
Nyotengu was added to Alice Gear Aegis in the second collaboration with Venus Vacation, to acompany Kasumi and Marie Rose.
Fighting quotes[]
Music themes[]
The following are the music themes used for Nyotengu throughout the series.
Theme | Game appearances |
---|---|
"Oiran Drive" | Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (default theme) Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (default theme) |
"Hold My Lovin'" | Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 |
Gallery[]
- See: Nyotengu gallery
Trivia[]
- Nyotengu is the oldest female character in the series, at the age of 1018, with the oldest character being Bankotsubo at the age of 1500.
- In the Japanese version of the games, she spoke with extremely antiquated Japanese, and used the Japanese feminine pronoun "warawa" in reference to herself as a demonstration of her otherworldliness. This trait was localized with her speaking with a more regal inflection. On a similar note, the Japanese version of the Xtreme games, owing to her antiquated Japanese language, has her using slightly different pronunciations via Katakana of various terms (eg, present as "Purezent"). The English localizations adapt this as her including quotes to the terms.
- On a related note, the Japanese version of Xtreme Venus Vacation has her referring to the owner with the honorific "Dono."
- In Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation, November 19 is stated to be her "Special Day" rather than her birthday, but it was eventually confirmed that this date is indeed her birthday.[3]
- She and Kanna are the only two characters to have a "Special Day" instead of a birthday. Both Special Days also coincided with gaming events: Nyotengu's falling on Xtreme Venus Vacation's day of release in the DMM version, Kanna's on the date of Tokyo Game Show 2019. Patty also initially had a Special Day, although a later update ended up changing it to an actual birthday in her case.
- Nyotengu, being his spiritual successor, shares quotes with Bankotsubo.
- She is the first female in the series to have a visible beauty mark.
- Team Ninja noted on their official Twitter account how some fans in the West were not pleased with her name, and that they acknowledged that these fans wished for her to undergo a name change for her console release in the West if deemed necessary. No change to her name was made.
- In Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, Nyotengu loses her wings as soon as she arrives on New Zack Island. The only way to get her wings back is to make her satisfied by showing her the true meaning of fun about humanity, such as hanging out with the other characters and getting to know them well.
- She also loses her wings in Xtreme Venus Vacation upon arriving at the Venus Islands. However, unlike in Xtreme 3, she does not regain her wings even after fully bonding with the owner of the island.
- In Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, she is unable to wear her hair up in her signature style, but gains the option of wearing her side-locks unadorned.
- In her promotional audio for Xtreme 3, Nyotengu refers to herself as "Miyama no Nyotengu", which translates to "the female tengu of [Mount] Miyama", which implies that she lives on Mount Miyama.
- Meanwhile, Ayane was similarly referred to as "the Miyama's woman tengu" in Dead or Alive 2. This is used as a source of humorous tension in their interactions.
- Unlike the other characters in the Japanese version of Xtreme Venus Vacation, who generally refer to the Owner with Katakana spelling, she uses the Hiragana spelling which roughly translates to "my lord".
- In Nyotengu's character description for Xtreme Venus Vacation, it claims that she is a princess of the various Tengu, although her actual bio does not mention this detail.
- Largely because of Nyotengu's Yokai status, she technically lacks a nationality. However, she is nevertheless heavily implied to have originated in Japan due to her aforementioned claim of hailing from Mount Miyama in Japan.
- Largely because of her thrown-in half-time show with Zack in her DLC story, she is technically the only one of the Dead or Alive 5 DLC characters to actually participate in the sixth DOA tournament (as Honoka ended up captured by MIST, Marie Rose spent her time trying to rescue her, and Phase 4 was largely uninvolved with the events outside of mass produced copies being used by MIST).
External links[]
References[]
[]
v · e · d | |
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Characters | Kasumi • Momiji • Hitomi • Helena Douglas • Marie Rose • Honoka • Nyotengu • Kokoro • Ayane • Misaki (DLC) • Leifang (DLC) • Zack (NPC) |
Terms | |
Games | Beach Volleyball • Blackjack • Butt Battle • Poker • Pool Hopping • Tug-of-War • Beach Flags • Rock Climbing • Roulette |
Other terms | Gift Giving • Pictorial Scenes • Pole Dancing • Stats • Swimsuits • Virtual Pictorial • Zack Dollars • Girl Mode • Owner Mode |
Locations | |
New Zack Island Casino • Hotel • Niki Beach • Pool and Poolside • Sports Shop • Tranquil Beach • Zack of All Trades | |
Archives | |
Achievements • Costumes • Downloadable Content • Item Collection Datasheet • Merchandise • Promotional Artwork and Wallpapers • Transcripts |
v · e · d | |
---|---|
Starting Characters | Kasumi • Momiji • Hitomi • Helena Douglas • Marie Rose • Honoka • Nyotengu • Kokoro • Ayane • Misaki |
Post-launch Characters | Luna • Tamaki • Fiona • Leifang • Nagisa • Kanna • Monica • Sayuri • Patty • Tsukushi • Lobelia • Nanami • Elise • Koharu • Tina Armstrong • Amy • Shandy • Yukino • Shizuku • Reika • Meg |
Minigames | Beach Volleyball • Blackjack • Butt Battle • Pool Hopping • Rock Climbing • Roulette |
Terms | Gift Giving • Pictorial Scenes • Stats • Swimsuits • Virtual Pictorial • Zack Dollars • Girl Mode • Owner Mode |
Venus Islands Locations | New Zack Island • Hotel (Owner's Room) • Casino • Nikki Beach • Pool and Poolside • Private Beach • Jungle • Bass Island • Accessory Shop |
Transcripts | Year One • Year Two • Year Three • Year Four • Year Five • Year Six • Extra Episodes |
Miscellaneous | Soundtrack • Costumes • Item Collection Datasheet • Collaborations • Merchandise (Official 4-koma Manga) • Nagisa True Colors Webmanga |