Kurayoshi Rino

* Anime
* Ashura
* Omega

**Kurayoshi Rino** (倉 (くら) 吉 (よし)  理 (り) 乃 (の) , *"Rino Kurayoshi"*), also known as the **Queen Bee** (女 (じょ) 王 (おう) 蜂 (ばち) , *Joōbachi*), is the representative of Gold Pleasure Group, a member of the Kengan Association and the biological daughter of Hayami Katsumasa.

## Appearance

Rino is an overall beautiful and classy-looking woman with mid-back length maroon-colored hair that is styled in curly ringlets at the tips where it two hair strands falls past her neck to her sizeable chest with bangs swept to the left side, an hourglass figure and full lips neatly painted with red lipstick.

She wears an ankle-length sleeveless dress that exposes her chest/back and high heels.

* In the manga, the top part of her dress has flower patterns all over it and she wears light-colored high heels. In Chapter 41, she was seen wearing a beaded necklace with a heart in the middle.
* Her design in the anime is much simpler where her dress is plain white and her high heels are a yale-blue color.

## Personality

Rino is an "alpha female", able to manipulate and make "alpha males" submit to her on a whim. Despite her standing as a Kengan Association member, she has a revulsion towards "unnatural deaths" (such as the deaths caused in the Kengan matches). As a result, whenever one of Rino's fighters lost just a single match, she would "order" them to quit using her power so that they wouldn't die.

## Plot

### *Kengan Ashura*

First appearing facing off against Iwami Heavy Industries in a Kengan match before the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, she watched as her new fighter Mikazuchi Rei nonchalantly defeated Hong Xiao-Hu. With Xiao-Hu refusing to quit, Rino stepped in and used her special ability to negate his ability to suppress his pain, causing him to collapse in agony.

On the day of the tournament after arriving at Ganryu Island, Rino and Rei are seen watching the matches before Rei's match with Nezu Masami in the first round where Rei instantly knocks out. After the match, Rino congratulates Rei for winning and not killing as he cuddles close to her chest.

Rino was later seen again with Mion and Otoichi as Rei prepares to fight against Kuroki Gensai. Before the fight, Rei asks for Rino's help by having her hypnotizing him, which she does so and this makes him much faster. As Rei continues fighting even as he starts to weaken, he attempts to use Lightning Flash once more, but Kuroki countered powerfully and Rei was seriously damaged in the process. As Rei uses all his strength, Kuroki retaliates by landing "a full power low strike which was thrown with perfect timing. The impact traveled through the viscera, until it reached the heart.", which marks the final blow and Rei loses consciousness, causing Rino's entire face to be covered in a shadow. As Mion and Otoichi worriedly call out to Rino from behind, she calls out Rei's name.

After the match, Rino is later seen comforting Rei and tells him that he has fought well. However, Rei denies her words and announces that he would think of a way to defeat Kuroki as he sits up, causing Rino to look at him with a cold stare look on her face as she realizes "that their parting was near."

### *Kengan Omega*

Rino was briefly seen conversing with Suoh Mihono during Imai Cosmo's match against Johnny Waters.

Later, when Himuro Ryo enquired about Mikazuchi Rei's availability for the upcoming tournament, she firmly told him she didn't want to use Rei for political purposes ever again.

During the tournament, Rino appeared in the gates after her "brother's" match against Arashiyama Jurota, feeling sorry for Masaki's condition.

## Power & Abilities

### Reproductive Instincts

Known as **Reproductive Instincts** (性本能, *Sei Hon'nō*), they give Rino the mysterious and strong power to be able to issue verbal "orders" that transcend simple persuasion and suppress the "ego instincts" of any male, forcing them into servitude; as long as they are "male", they cannot reject her. Rino's "orders" can be split into varying levels: a powerful order is essentially "brainwashing" with the recipient becoming a berserker until they die; however, this level of "order" severely reduces the recipient's rational ability which substantially decreases their ability to cope with the unexpected. As such, a weaker strength of "order" allows the recipient to retain their rationality and reasoning ability. By simply touching Hong Xiao-Hu on the forehead, Rino was able to turn off the man's opiate control making him susceptible to the pain he had been shutting out.

An anecdote of her tells: once, a drunk man with ties to the yakuza was committing acts of violence at a place she managed. However, once she arrived, she calmed the riot down without resorting to any violence with the yakuza who valued honour over everything breaking down in tears in public. This event is still told as part of the "legend" of Kurayoshi Rino.

## Etymology

* **Kurayoshi** means "warehouse, storehouse, barn, treasury, granary, cellar, magazine, godown, depository, elevator, storage place, repository, supply shed, grain elevator, stockpile, arsenal" (倉) (**kura**) and "lucky, good" (吉) (**yoshi**).
* **Rino** means "reason, logic" (理) (**ri**) and "from" (乃) (**no**).

## Notes & Trivia

* Rino's favorite food is bananas.
* Rino's power may even be capable of affecting women.
* Rino is a deceptively good businesswoman, never missing an opportunity to do business.
* Rino's intimate relationship with Mikazuchi Rei gives him the strength to win fights in the blink of an eye.
	+ It is unclear how she actually sees Rei - as a partner, as a lover, or as just a particularly useful drone in the Queen Bee's service.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Kurayoshi Rino's profile
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 201
3. ↑ Chapter 198
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 200
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Extra: Heroines
6. ↑ Extra: Summer
7. ↑ 4-koma: Suckers