Ayame (Tenchu)

Ayame (彩女) is a player character in the Tenchu stealth game series, first introduced in Tenchu: Stealth Assassins in 1998. Ayame is one of the series' two main characters along with Rikimaru and is featured in all Tenchu games except of Tenchu Z.

Design
Asked about what is he most proud of regarding Ayame's appearance in Tenchu 3, Mitsuo Kodama said: "I am most proud of the balance of innocence and vailance that we were able to capture in Ayame's character design. She is at an age, 22, where she is starting to emerge from her innocence and see the true world. I am also proud of how she looks in her costume and how it fits with her design. Most female characters her age would seem out of place with such a dark, heavy black costume."

Appearances
According to her backstory, Ayame was discovered by Master Shiunsai of the small Azuma school of ninjutsu (Azuma Shinobi-ryu ) in the desolate ruins of Kyoto after it was devastated by the Ōnin War. She was a young shocked girl, unable to remember anything but her name and age. Shiunsai found himself unable to neither leave or help her and so he eventually decided to take her with him and train her to become a kunoichi (female ninja). Ayame was probably the most raw-talented of Shiunsai's pupils, including his other pupils: Rikimaru and Tatsumaru. Despite her late start and her tender age and bad attitude, she was initiated into the circle of ninja when she was only 14. Ayame became known for her sharp tongue and quick, deadly techniques, with a set of skills very different from Rikimaru, as she is faster and weaker but more cunning and aggressive than him, using a unique style of acrobatic, smooth attacks.

Chronology-wise, the first game in the series is Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins, which begins just while Ayame completes her final exam. Soon after her initiation as a ninja, however, turmoil falls as her duties to Lord Gohda and duties to her heart and love, Tatsumaru, fall apart. Her character changes from a laid-back girl into a more mature, accepting woman. Her story continues in Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, as seven years have passed since Ayame has lost her master Azuma Shiunsai and the clan brother and love interest Tatsumaru. Now 21-year old, she is tough and sarcastic, killing her enemies cold-blooded without the sign of any doubt or hesitation, though she knows feelings like love, sadness and desperation. She has developed a strong relationship Lord Gohda's daughter Princess Kiku, as if she was her younger sister to Ayame after the death of Kiku's mother Lady Kei. Ayame will protect Kiku at any cost from any harm. She also respects fellow ninja Rikimaru well, fighting alongside him and willing to sacrifice herself for his sake if necessary.

One year later, in Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven, Ayame, aged 22, is the sole remaining Azuma ninja in the care of Lord Gohda after Rikimaru's disappearance, tasked to search for his body (she later paired up with the returning Rikimaru). During the events of Tenchu: Fatal Shadows, Ayame was patrolling the border of Lord Gohda's territory when she happened upon a burned ninja village. At first considered an enemy by the young survivor Rin, they later ally to discover who was behind the attack. Ayame's story continues in Tenchu: Shadow Assassins, in which Princess Kiku is killed by Rikimaru after she was used as a human shield by the series' recurring villain Onikage. In the game's extended ending Ayame is shown speaking in Onikage's voice, suggesting that this traumatic experience caused her to be possessed by him when he was killed.

Ayame is also playable in the spin-off games Tenchu: Time of the Assassins, Tenchu: Dark Secret and Shadow Assault: Tenchu, and is an only playable character in the mobile game Tenchu: Ayame's Tale.

PVC figures of Rikimaru and Ayame, sculpted after their appearances in Wrath of Heaven by Keiji Iwakure, were manufactured and released by Kotobukiya in mid-September 2003 (although categorized as action figures, these only feature movable wrist joints). In 2003, Ayame was featured in the girls of gaming special of play magazine. In 2004, Ayame was included in Activision's video game True Crime: Streets of LA as an optional "skin" for its main character Nick Kang. In 2010, she also made a cameo appearance in From Software's video game 3D Dot Game Heroes.

Reception
According to a retrospective article by CraveOnline, Rikimaru and Ayame were "like Batman with all their decoys, dog whistles, disguises, grappling hooks and other toys, an essential part of the ninja experience that had been missing from video games for far too long." Ayame and Rikimaru were included among the "gaming's most shameful shinobi" by GamesRadar in 2006, and in 2008 mentioned in the article about the gaming's top assassins as "probably the most realistic depiction of ninjas ever to appear in a videogame". In 2009, GameDaily also featured them in the article Gaming's Greatest Patriots: Team Japan. In 2010, Complex included Rikimaru and Ayane from Tenchu 3 among their favourite stealth killers in video games, rhetorically asking "When's the last time you saw a male/female duo this brutally deadly?"

According to GamesRadar, Ayame "was a cool, relatively realistic-looking heroine in an era when polygonal female protagonists were largely defined by the enormity of the crude pyramids that passed for their tits." In 2010, GamePro included Ayame in their list of top 10 video game ninja characters at ninth place ("the stealthiest assassin on our list ... she’s the perfect ninja"), applauding her for possessing "a body that matches her profession, rather than a stripper or blowup doll, say (stand up Taki and Mai Shiranui)". In 2011, UGO.com included her on the list of the "25 of the hottest (and deadliest) ninja assassin chicks".