Okoi (Okoi, お胡夷) is a member of the Kouga Manjidani clan and one of the ten ninjas selected by Danjou to participate in the war against the Iga. She is the younger sister of fellow Kouga ninja Saemon Kisaragi.
Appearance
Okoi is a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair which she keeps tied up with a ponytail. Despite being a tomboy she dresses in a more revealing manner than the other kunoichi, wearing a hip length, purple sleeveless kimono, a red sash tied around her waist and shortened pale hakama that resemble Daisy Dukes. She also has quite a well-endowed frame and very large lips, which are very prominent in the manga version.
Biography
Before the War
In an anime only scene Okoi is seen crouched in the woods with a spear, hunting a boar with Gyoubu. She is interrupted by Jousuke, who attempts to grab her from behind while she is bending over. She screams, scaring the boar away in the process. Angered she screams at him and he tries to escape. He rolls down a hill to where Saemon and Shougen are fishing, making a huge splash and letting the fish get away. Okoi appears with Gyoubu, who jokingly suggests they should eat Jousuke for dinner instead of the boar. Jousuke unwisely joked that if Okoi ate something as fatty as himself than her hips would become too big; at which point Okoi soundly thrashed him.
Trip to Iga
Okoi is first seen with Saemon, who informs her of Gennosuke and Jousuke staying at Iga. Okoi is annoyed she didn't get a chance to go, as she wanted to see the inside of Iga. Okoi takes a large bite out of a fish and complains about how boring it is, due to not being able to train her ninja skills or speak to her teatime friend Juubei. Saemon asks when she became friends with Juubei but she ignores him and complains about how Gyoubu can't go boar hunting either. She suggests Saemon should go boar hunting too but he refuses, saying he prefers fishing. She jokes that he could be the bait, which causes the pair to burst out laughing. Saemon then asks Okoi to go to Iga and check on Genosuke, which she agrees to immediately. He goes with her to the woods and she waves goodbye before heading off to Iga.
As she headed through the trees she spotted a suspicious ninja spying on her village from a treetop. When she demanded he identify himself, the ninja retreated with Okoi in hot pursuit through the branches and then along the ground. Okoi was just about to apprehend him when the ninja tricked her into falling off the edge of a sudden cliff. Okoi managed to save herself by throwing a weighted chain around a rock projection but lost sight of her quarry. The suspicious ninja was actually Kyohachiro Hattori; the adopted son of Hattori Hanzo the 4th who had been charged with observing the duel between Kouga and Iga.
Okoi later stops for a drink at a river, unaware she is being watched from the bushes. A group of five Iga ninja ambush her, surrounding her on all sides while Tenzen asks if she is Okoi of Kouga. He tells her they are from Iga and they had just left Kouga, where they were attacked when trying to deliver the message of Gennosuke staying in Iga. Okoi grins and tells them they underestimated the Kouga and asks if Gennosuke is safe. Tenzen tells her she wouldn't believe what they told her and that she should accompany them to Iga to see for herself. Okoi declines the offer, leaping backwards into the trees saying she would return to Kouga to find out what really happened. Nenki quickly gives chase as Tenzen, Koshirou, Hotarubi and Rousai watch from the ground. Nenki uses his hair to swing on the branches as he chases, allowing him to catch up with her quickly. In desperation she turns and throws several Kunai at him, cheering when they seem to hit him. However at that instant he throws his staff at her, which collides into her stomach. She looks up to see he caught the Kunai in his hair, which he throws back at her. Just then she falls through the trees, the Kunai narrowly missing her, and hits the ground hard. Tenzen appears in time to stop Nenki from killing her, saying they should take her back to Iga to interrogate her.
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Personality
Tomboyish and energetic, Okoi represents the popular concept of the kunoichi while Akeginu and Kagerou both embody the more historically traditional version. Although a capable fighter, Okoi is not opposed to using her ample assets to lure men into a state of false security if she has to. She is also a very sociable person, making friends easily and it is said not even Gennosuke would get mad at her. Despite her friendly nature she does sometimes get angry and is shown to rough people up if the situation calls for it, such as when Jousuke ruined her hunting trip.
Abilities
Blood Absorption: Upon physical contact with an enemy Okoi is able to adhere her skin onto her opponent's and then absorb their blood into herself; leaving her enemies as dried up husks. Upon completion, Okoi must then vomit out the excess blood before she can use the technique again. The reason why she dresses in a revealing way is to allow her to gain more contact with an opponent, with more contact meaning faster blood absorption.
Knife User: Okoi's primary weapon is a knife, which she can use rather effectively as shown when she fights with Nenki and breaks his Bo staff. She is also shown using Kunai, a type of throwing knife.
Relationships
Saemon
Okoi has a very deep bond with her brother and is one of the few people capable of making him smile.
Gyoubu
In the anime Okoi has a strong friendship with Gyoubu, who is normally a rather unapproachable man. The pair sometimes go on hunting trips together to catch wild boar in the surrounding forests.
Jousuke
Jousuke, as he does with most women, continually attempts to flirt with Okoi. This, coupled with his jokes about her hip size, often irritates Okoi and can lead to Jousuke taking a beating.
Trivia
- In the manga, Okoi's personality stayed quite the same but her relationship with the other members of her clan is not expanded beyond Saemon; leaving most of her character to be underdeveloped in comparison to the other Kouga.
- Okoi was not included in the film Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, a film based on the same source material as Basilisk.