About Aotabo

AOTABO


Aotabō (青田坊/倉田, Aotabō/Kurata) is called "the degenerate priest who wears the iron blue robe" and is the physically strongest yōkai in the Nura household. He is often seen with Kurotabō and the two are known as the assault officers of the Nura House. He wears a skull rosary that keeps his strength under control, removing the rosary increases his strength turning him into a Demon God (鬼神Kishin). 

Appearance

Techniques

• Gōriki Raisan (剛力礼讃) is a technique which releases the skull rosary keeping Aotabō's strength in check.
• Katsu (喝) is a spell which utilizes his rosary. It releases energy that seems to put people to sleep.

About Kurotabo

KUROTABO

Appearance

Kurotabō is a fairly tall yōkai with long blue-black hair and blue eyes with the appearance of a young bishōnen human in his early twenties. He is frequently seen dressed in black monks' robes and a conic straw hat topped by a diamond shape. He wears a white scarf around his neck and an olive-colored kesa fastened by a ring over his robes (signifying his full ordinance as a monk - probably of the Zen sect due to the ring). Apart from the standard warrior monk's shakujō that he carries, Kuratabō's long robes hide the many weapons in his arsenal. Beneath his hat, a pair of small nub-like horns protrude from either side of his forehead.

Because of his unique yōkai origins, it is unclear whether he ages naturally like yōkai of animal, nature and human type. Assumed to have been born sometime in the early Edo period, Kurotabō is anywhere between 400-300 years old.

When disguised as a human, Kurotabō ties his hair back and wears a pin-striped business suit with a blue tie. For some reason, he usually keeps his eyes closed while in human form.

During his time in the Hyaku Monogatari Clan, through which his form was corrupted by the Conquerer's Tea, Kurotabō's hair was even longer and a pair of thin spiraled horns protruded from either side of his forehead. In his first introduction as a general of the Hyaku Monogatari Clan, he wore Manchu-Qing Dynasty-styled court robes with a dragon motif. In his assassin disguise, Kurotabō dressed entirely in black, wearing gloves (though in his first appearance, they are contradictorily absent) and hiding half of his face under a black scarf. His appearance returned to its original state, and the one seen in the present day, after Sanmoto's defeat. Subsequently, since then he tends to keep one eye open and one eye closed - just like Rihan.

Personality

Befitting his status as a warrior monk, Kurotabō is generally cool, pragmatic, and no-nonsense in battle and in his everyday role as bodyguard to Rikuo. However, prior to exchanging sakazuki with Rihan and joining the Nura Clan during the Edo Period, he was focused strictly on his role as an assassin in Sanmoto Gorōzaemon's employ - shy, unquestioning, and without realizing any real purpose to his existence. Kurotabō has since loosened up, able to hold his own fairly well while indulging in Ukiyoe Town First District activities (habits likely acquired due to the influence of Rihan and Aotabō).

Regardless, he will occasionally display bouts of childish, silly behavior, especially when regarding his looks (while riding the subway, he internally -and snootily- puts down the other bodyguards for their human disguises not being nearly as good as his, as a "handsome, successful businessman"), his skills (particularly when having contests with Aotabō), and his own lingering grudge against the 8-year-old Rikuo due to having always fallen for the latter's pranks.

And despite his massive popularity and heartthrob status with yōkai females - to Aotabō's equally massive annoyance - Kurotabō's relative inexperience (and bad luck) with women of both species causes him to be mistaken for a pervert time and again.

Kurotabō may claim he "couldn't care less about humans," but he may actually care more about them than most other yōkai as he was created by the thoughts and hopes of humans. This is evident not only in his fate as protector of human children like Natsumi, but also in the way he was easily enslaved by the human Sanmoto, calling him a "wonderful" master before realizing his treachery. It is probably Sanmoto's deceit and betrayal that contributes to Kurotabō's general opinion of humans, but, on the other hand, it is that humanity-laced 'fear' which attracts him to seek out Rihan.

Nura Rise of the Yokai clan Characters

SHOEI 

AppearanceEdit

Shoei wears a maroon colored hoodie with a red cloak draped over his back which he is always seen to have the hood up with. This outfit is always coupled with a pair of long pants and sneakers. Underneath the hoodie, he wears a brown undershirt.

Shoei's facial features are also very distinctive as well. His hair has a pale white/brown tone with vivid red highlights. His face is elongated and has a wide drawn mouth, and this coupled with his eyes give him a somewhat snake like appearance. His hair always seems to cover the right side of his face.

Physically, Shoei stands at 7'4, dwarfing almost everyone in the Nura Clan. In his yokai form, he grows even taller. In addition to the size increase, his body transforms into that of a gargantuan ape, with longer, larger fingers, and a fur covered body. He also always carries his fathers mask with him, wearing it always in battle, thus we never see his face while he is in his yokai form.

Shoei always carries a traditional katana proportional to his size, making it a much larger katana than normal. When using certain techniques, the katana grows even further, turning into an elongated clever, set ablaze with Shoei's "fear."

Techniques/Abilities

Fear: Shoei's fear can be assumed to be very powerful for several reasons. One in particular instance, he was able to cut through a yokai's spatial technique, where the yokai created a separate dimension only accessible to him. This was only seen in one other instance, when Rikuo cut through the barrier surrounding Toono, possibly implying that Shoei is or has the potential to be as powerful as Rikuo.

Swordplay: Shoei has been shown to carry around a large katana with him at all times, and on several occasions, most prominently the run in with Tooryanse, has shown to be proficient in swordplay.

Member of the Kantō Great Ape Alliance - as a member and as the son of Hihi, Shoei boasts incredible strength. His human form already has more power than that of the average human (and stands at 7'4, no less), but in his yokai form, that of a giant ape, he grows another 3 ft tall, and wields godlike physical strength as a result. The most prominent example of this strength being used was when the Nura Clan's airship crashed into a river in Kyoto, and had gained enough speed from the crash to continue downstream and almost crash through the rivers edge. Shoei, however, assumed his yokai form, jumped in front of the moving ship, and stopped it through sheer force of his physical strength.

Taien, Hihi No Oodachi: using his "fear" Shoei transforms his katana into a large cleaver which is set ablaze with Shoei's fear, and boasts enough destructive power to rip through Toonryanse's alternate dimension; something only demonstrated by the main character Rikuo when escaping from Toono, a feat that pays homage to Shoei's true power.

Hihi's mask- Shoei wields the mask of his father, Hihi. it is unexplained if the mask itself provides any actual power, but Shoei wears it into battle always. It can possibly be assumed that while wearing it, he gains the "fear" and notoriety his father had as a yokai, adding to Shoei's own "fear." This can be seen in the battle against Tooryanse, when he states "Dad, I'm borrowing your power," as if the mask layers Hihi's power on top of Shoei's.

Nura Rise of the Yokai clan Characters

RIHAN NURA

Appearance 

Since he is the son of Nurarihyon, he resembles him and he too has long hair that protrudes out the back of his head. Unlike Nurarihyon, however, his hair is purely black and more wavy. Rihan also has a ponytail and his eyes are an amber like color. He is always seen wearing a kimono with green and black stripes and a white cloth draped over his shoulders and zōri.

Right before he exchanges sakazuki with Kurotabo, it is revealed that he has a human form where he retains all of his features except for one noticeable difference, his long hair no longer sticks up and instead falls down his back tied in a long ponytail. The hair on the front of his head also covers the right half of his face.

Abilities and Techniques 

• Meikyō Shisui (明鏡止水): A technique likely learned from his father. It shifts an enemy's awareness of him. Rihan's Meikyo Shisui creates an illusion of himself while he shifts his enemy's awareness and leads him to an opening. (As seen in Ch. 151 on pg.7 as he tells Kurotabou "thats my Meikyo Shisui").
• Ougi Meikyō Shisui, "Sakura" (奥義・明鏡止水"桜",Secret Technique: Soul Mirror, Deadly Water - Cherry Blossoms) is a technique which utilizes superior yōkai sake poured into a large sakazuki cup. By blowing across the liquid, blue flames are produced which burn an opponent. These flames seem to spread according to his will, and can engulf multiple victims at once; they can also quickly incinerate low-level Yōkai almost instantly. So long as the water continues to ripple, the flames will continue until the opponent is reduced to ash.
• Matoi (鬼纏): A technique he created which layers the fear of an underling over his own. He performed the technique with Kurotabō to defeat Sanmoto Gorōzaemon in the Edo period and is assumed to have performed it with Kubinashi as well.
• Healing: He inherited the ability to heal wounds and illnesses from his mother Yōhime, as seen when he heals the poisonous injury inflicted on Yamabuki Otome by the Manba Centipede.
• Expert Swordsmanship: Rihan has shown to be quite a capable swordsman, using his Meikyō Shisui to get under Kurotabō's guard and deliver barrages of fast and precise blows.
  • Nura Clan Traditional Family Technique: Flying Yōkai Yakuza Kick (奴良家一子相伝フライング妖怪ヤクザキック, Nura-ke Isshisōden Furaingu Yōkai Yakuza Kikku) is a traditional technique of the Nura family which delivers a powerful kick to an opponent. It is sometimes performed in a roundhouse manner.

Weapons 

• Nenekirimaru (祢々切丸): An exorcism blade that only harms yōkai, which was passed down from his father.

Nura Rise of the Yokai clan Characters

RIKUO NURA

Appearance

Due to having yōkai blood in his lineage, Rikuo has two forms: one in which he takes a human form, and another where his yōkai blood takes over and he becomes a full yōkai. The former is frequently called his "Day" form, whereas the latter is called his "Night" form, as originally he was only able to maintain it during darkness.

Human Form 

Rikuo's human form.

In human form, Rikuo appears as a teenage boy with brown eyes, except that his hair is brown within the top half and dark brown within the bottom half (Saori describes it as "reverse pudding"). Even though his eyesight is perfect, he always wears glasses. Often, he is seen in his school uniform worn over a red sweater with running shoes, especially in public. Otherwise, he wears only his red sweater and khaki pants instead of the black pants in his school uniform.

Within the Nura House only, he can also be seen wearing a replication of Nurarihyon's past outfit: a cloak over a black kimono with traditional Japanese sandals (zōri), only Rikuo's cloak is blue instead of red.

Yōkai Form 

Night Form

Rikuo's yōkai blood normally awakens at night time, during which he undergoes a drastic transformation. In his yōkai form, Rikuo is significantly taller compared to his human form. His eyes narrow and turn red. His hair grows long, he loses his glasses and his voice deepens.

His appearance resembles that of Nurarihyon and Rihan in that his hair is long and protrudes out the back of his head. Like Nurarihyon, the top half of his hair is white while the bottom half of his hair is black. Always, his yōkai form is seen with a blue cloak over a black kimono zōri.

Midway through transforming into his yōkai form, Rikuo temporarily retains his human form's outfit. His hair grows longer and turns black and white, although not as long as his fully transformed form. He also appears taller than his human form, but still shorter than his full yōkai form.

Techniques 

• Nura Clan Traditional Family Technique: Flying Yōkai Yakuza Kick (奴良家一子相伝フライング妖怪ヤクザキック, Nura-ke Isshisōden Furaingu Yōkai Yakuza Kikku) is a traditional technique of the Nura family which delivers a powerful kick to an opponent. It is sometimes performed in a roundhouse manner.

• Meikyō Shisui (明鏡止水,Soul Mirror, Deadly Water) is Rikuo's hatsu technique. It makes the enemy unaware of his presence, even if they were looking straight at him; this allows him shift himself towards the enemy's blind spot. If Rikuo's fear is cut, the technique is dissipated.

• Ougi Meikyō Shisui, "Sakura" (奥義・明鏡止水"桜",Secret Technique: Soul Mirror, Deadly Water - Cherry Blossoms) is a technique which utilizes superior yōkai sake poured into a large sakazuki cup. By blowing across the liquid, blue flames are produced which burn an opponent. These flames seem to spread according to his will, and can engulf multiple victims at once; they can also quickly incinerate low-level Yōkai almost instantly. So long as the water continues to ripple, the flames will continue until the opponent is reduced to ash.

• Kyōka Suigetsu (鏡花水月,'Mirror Flower, Water Moon') is Rikuo's hyoui technique. It distorts an enemy's perception of him by creating an illusion akin to an afterimage. Those under the influence of the technique can be easily outmaneuvered by the one using it.

• Matoi (鬼纏Demon(ic) Clad) is a technique also known as "demon clad". This technique is the accumulation of "fear" transferred from a Hyakki Yakō to its leader. It is only possible for a leader of part human part yōkai heritage, and it works by layering the fear of one's underlings on top of one's own. There are two known methods, and Rikuo has performed them with the following:
  • Zen - Using the Izutsu method, his fear coats Rikuo's sword with the poison of his wings. It is represented by a pair of wing-like black markings.
  • Tsurara - Under Snow: Using the Izutsu method, her fear coats Rikuo's sword in swirling patches of ice that freeze whatever they touch. It is represented by a pair of snowflake-shaped markings.
  • Itaku - Kasane Iro Shion No Kama: Using the Izutsu method, his fear envelops Rikuo's sword and changes it into a larger version of Itaku's own scythe. It is represented by a pair of whirlwind-shaped swirl markings.
  • Kurotabō - Using the Kasane method, his fear envelops Rikuo like a kimono, giving him the ability to summon countless hidden weapons. Using the Izutsu method, a horde of weapons are shot at an opponent.
  • Shouei - Kokkikurenai Daishinsou: Using the Izutsu method, his fear enlarges Rikuo's sword several times and has a large baboon claw holding the base of the blade.

Item 

• Nenekirimaru

An exorcism blade that only harms yōkai. It was handed down to Rikuo from his grandfather. It is later shattered to pieces following the Nue's rebirth.

• Takimaru

A mere wooden stick Rikuo picked up at the boundary of Tōno's forest. He used it to slice through the fear surrounding Toono Village and has worn it, along with Nenekirimaru, at his side since.

• Sakazuki Cup

A traditional liquor holder that Rikuo, in his Night form, seems to always carry with him under his clothes no matter where he goes. This is because it is a pre-requisite in order for him perform his Ougi, "Sakura"