Nakoruru
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Nakoruru-portrait.jpg
Nakoruru(Japanese: ナコルル) is a character in SNK's fighting game Samurai Shodown. She is a young girl dressed in red and white who fights with a kodachi and a hawk named Mamahaha that assists her. She also has a wolf named Shikuru who can also assist her. The original idea of her was came from the indigenous Ainu people of Hokkaido, Japan. As the Japanese perceive the Ainu as living closer to nature, Nakoruru's role in the game was of a defender of mother nature; in some material Nakoruru has been referred to as a priestess of the Ainu religion. Nakoruru has a younger sister, Rimururu.
Nakoruru is very popular with Japanese artists.
Nakoruru's alter-ego is Rera. According to SNK/SNK Playmore's official explanation, Rera is basically the darker side of Nakoruru. It is said that Nakoruru had pushed away this side, trying to live separately from the part of her life that involved the death of others and related issues. Rera isn't actually a separate person, but exists within Nakoruru. She can physically take over Nakoruru, but has only done so once. Rera is similar to Bust Nakoruru, but is not entirely the same.
Another opinion is that Rera is actually the older twin sister of Nakoruru. Due to entirely different fate, they shaped two contradictive personalities among themselves.
Nakoruru starred in a digital novel called Nakoruru: Anohito Kara no Okurimono, released for the Sega Dreamcast and Windows format in 2002, with an anime based on the game a year later. In this game and anime, Nakoruru does not wear her usual red-and-blue accented garb, but instead wears the yellow-and-blue of her alternate outfit.
Nakoruru has been voiced by Harumi Ikoma in many of the games she appeared in.