Ayane (あやね, Ayane) is a kunoichi of the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan, and the current master of the clan's Hajin Mon Sect.
Background
Ayane was conceived when her mother Ayame, the wife of the Mugen Tenshin clan leader Shiden, was raped by her brother-in-law Raidou, the progenitor of the Mugen Tenshin Clan's troubles. Due to her impure birth, Ayane was turned into an outcast, and was known as "the cursed child" of the village.
Ayane was taken in by Genra, the then leader of the Hajin Mon sect. Ayane was unaware of the circumstances of her birth until Ayame admitted everything to her later on in her life. Driven by her anger for being made into a outcast, Ayane devoted herself to become the greatest shinobi in the clan, to prove that even she, the lowly "cursed child", could become something great.
During her teenage life, Ayane faced more hardships; she was ordered to track down and kill Kasumi after her half-sister ran-away from the clan, and she had to kill her own foster father, Genra, after the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee turned him into a super-human weapon. After overcoming her demons, Ayane became one of the most powerful fighters in her clan, inherited leadership of the Hajin Mon Sect from Genra, and became second-in-command to her older half-brother, Hayate.
Appearance
Ayane is of petite height with a slender body, and despite being the youngest girl in the Dead or Alive series, she bears the second biggest bust out of all the women, falling just 2 centimeters behind Tina Armstrong. Originally, she was designed with a round face, with a small button-nose and wide eyes. In Dead or Alive 5, her face is now oval-shaped and her eyes have been slightly narrowed, but she doesn't appear too different from her former design.
Her appearance is one of the most distinctive out of the fighters, due to her red eyes and straight purple hair, which is cut to the nape of her neck, has a front fringe, and is tied back with her favorite dark-purple bandana. In the first Dead or Alive, some of her costumes showed her with strawberry-blonde hair, although this is the only game to give her different colored hair.
Her outfits are normally purple in color and have a feminine look about them, bearing patterns and prints such as flowers and butterflies. Ayane's most iconic costume is a dark purple, strapless dress with a pink butterfly printed on the skirt, complete with matching pull-on sleeves, stockings, heeled boots, and a giant red or orange obi bow tied around her waist. Other recurring costumes for Ayane include a purple shozoku, a school uniform, and her training dummy costume.
In Ninja Gaiden, Ayane has worn a number of costumes, most noticeably a short strapless purple dress with a section cut-out down the cleavage and mid-drift. It includes a pink obi, purple boots, gray arm and leg warmers, and knife holsters tied around the thighs.
Personality
Mostly due to the way she was treated as a child, Ayane possesses a detached, cynical outlook on life, and is completely driven by the desire to prove to herself and others that she is better than those that condemned her. As a result, she turned into a determined, strong, secretive, mysterious, and deadly young woman, earning her the nickname "Female Tengu." She does have a tendency to talk down to people - mostly to Kasumi - and act antagonistically, possibly again due to her experiences growing up. It should be noted that she despises anyone or anything reminding her of the past.
However, despite her cruel behaviour, she isn’t entirely cold and heartless. She does form working relationships with those around her, and even loving, emotional attachments, such as her admiration for Hayate and her father-daughter relationship with Genra. However, these relationships are so important and meaningful to her, they seem to be her only emotional support, and her reason for living. For example, after losing Genra and Hayate becoming angry with her, making Ayane think he hated her, she tried to commit suicide. This quick decision to take her life at the thought of losing Hayate's love might be a sign of a more emotionally unstable side to Ayane. She is sharp and a very quiet most of the time.
Like most of the other shinobi in the series, she is devoted to what she believes in and follows the code of her clan with all her heart, willing to take on any task for her village, even if it means she could die doing so.
Etymology
The kanji used to spell Ayane's name (綾音) means "Design Sound". The term can be used to describe something that is built perfectly for its purpose. This could relate to Ayane as she is seen as a skilled, naturally-born kunoichi.
Fighting Capacity & weapons
Above all, Ayane is arguably fast doing spinning kicks and moving quick on her feet. She does have superior agility, being able to leap great heights in a short amount of time, and jump out of the way of hits sharply. Not only is she quick, but her attacks do twice as much damage as Kasumi's, making her a powerful foe to her oppenents. Ayane is the fastest character on the DOA team and is a deadly close-range Fighter. She fights with her double-ended weapon a tokkosho sword. Ayane is a little strong for digging her sword down, when she was about to hit yuna, shown in Dead Fantasy 1. Her sword is very strong. This sword is a blow-up type in dead fantasy 1.
She also bears great ninpo abilities, as shown in Dead Fantasy II when she destroys the solid stone tower in a great explosion, using the deadly "Art of the Raging Mountain God" technique. However, ninpo attacks like those require time to "charge up" and this leaves her open to danger, thus she needs protection from her allies for some time until she is at full power.
Relationships
Kasumi
Ayane and Kasumi are half-sisters and cousins; sharing the same biological mother, with Ayane's father also being Kasumi's paternal uncle. As children they were close friends, and despite the village's negative views of Ayane, they enjoyed playing together, even sharing the same hairstyle. However, after learning the circumstances of her birth, Ayane became jealous of Kasumi because Ayane was treated like the demon child of the village while Kasumi was treated like a princess, and had years receiving all Hayate's affection. Ayane was able to express her deep hatred toward Kasumi when she was sent to kill her for leaving the village. She also tries to keep Kasumi away from Hayate.
However, this envy and hatred may have abated now that their circumstances have changed; Ayane is now the Hajin Mon Master of the Mugen Tenshin clan and Kasumi is the runaway shinobi. This may have been why she stopped Kasumi from entering the burning DOATEC building seconds before it exploded, despite her previous mission to kill her.
Trivia
- Ayane is featured in Ninja Gaiden Black's easiest difficulty known as "Ninja Dog" mode, unlocked after the player suffers 3 consecutive deaths; after which the player has a choice to opt out and "abandon the way of the Ninja" or continue. If the player decides to opt out, Ayane will take over the mission and assist the player with special comedic feminine items.
- It is possible to kill Ayane in Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. A cutscene with Ayane will ensue when Ryu reaches the top floor of the Armory in the Hayabusa village during chapter 2. After the cutscene, Ryu will be able to pick up the bow, at which point you can aim it at Ayane and shoot her. This will result in Ayane's death and a Game Over screen.
- Ayane´s lightwing Izuna is based on her Midare-Tsubaki throw from Dead or Alive 4.
- In Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, Ayane is mentioned briefly when one of the Hayabusa village children finds a drawing of a girl with purple hair in Denroku's journel.
- Ayane's 6th outfit in Dead or Alive 2 and Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate pays homage to Millenia from Kagero: Deception II of the Deception series, another one of Tecmo's game series.
- Ayane bears an uncanny resemblance to Lilith, a female character from the fighting game created by CAPCOM, Darstalkers, they both are young girls and have purple hair and red eyes and pale skins and they are the main characters in their respective games.
- Ayane and Christie are the only females characters in the Dead or Alive series that have an unnatural color for their hair.
- The reason why Ayane, Eliot, Kasumi and Kokoro do not have listed ages in the western versions of theDead or Alive games is because they are under 18 years old. Tecmo decided to give them undefined ages to avoid the risk of a moral backlash from western audiences.
- In the Ninja Gaiden series, Ayane frequently announces herself with one of her purple iris kunai. She also seems to sometimes appear in a flurry of purple iris petals, much like Kasumi does with pink sakura petals.