Imu

**Imu**(忌夢) is a playable character from the Senran Kagura video game series. She makes her debut in *Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus*.A third-year at Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy and Miyabi's best friend. She was hospitalized for one year following the same event that afflicted Miyabi, after which she retired from shinobi life to support her best friend's recovery.Since everything she does is for Miyabi, she's working together with her to reconstruct the Hebijo facility. In combat, she can manipulate the length and thickness of the pole she uses as a weapon.

## Profile

### **Appearance**

Imu is a somewhat short girl with dark green eyes and light brow hair, with two bun-things on the sides. She has the standard complexion of the series.

She wears a outfit with a somewhat military style: Medium green boots with a black cross pattern, stockings going to slightly above her knees, a plated white skirt with a red line on the down part of the body. On the upper part she wears a green coat with black lines and crosses, black collar and shoulder pads.

She wears a green beret and glasses.

### **Personality**

Imu is a somewhat naive but nice girl, and a bit of an "otaku", as she is the first of the two to enounce typical anime "values". She only yearns to be with Miyabi and to do activities with Miyabi, to the point of joining her when she goes to hunt a Yoma, or to win the Shinobi Exam to enter the Hebijo Elites' group. She is to the point of sacrifying herself for Miyabi, as a meat shield.

She is a bit "annoying" to Murasaki, her younger sister, by trying to make her get out from her chamber. That doesn't mean she doesn't care for her.

But she is also as determined if not a bit more than Miyabi to destroy Yomas: In EV, while Miyabi's bravery was perturbated, broken by the eventuality of seeing her mom again and her defeats, Imu took the Shinobi Bon Dance seriously when Sayuri announced that it will open the road to the title of Kagura. She was even frustrated by the lack of energy and motivation of the team.

## Background

Imu was Miyabi's best friend: they passed most of their time together as children, and particuliarly liked playing Shinobi. One night, they decided to play Shinobi for real, so they stole their fathers' weapons and wandered in the forest. A yoma found them, and decided to take them as a meal. It's when fleeing from the menace that Miyabi's mother decided to arrest the yoma to protect them, but it killed her anyway. Miyabi found herself full of sorrow and was mourning her mother since that day, and it's also that day they both sweared to take revenge on every Yomas. Miyabi's father, knowing about the event, prepared them until they were in age to become actual shinobies.

Unlike Murasaki, Imu never manifested any form relating to the Root of Calamity inherited by some members of the family.

Meanwhile, during High School years, she was particularly harrassed by Hikage, who, among other things, changed her regular glasses into sunglasses with a permanent marker, swapped her wash cloth with deep fried tofu and put a real mouse in place of her computer mouse. She hates her and even wanted to take revenge. The revenge took place but it changed pretty much nothing.

One year, Miyabi and Imu finally entered Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy. Miyabi was directly focused to become part of the Elites. Imu proposed to party for finally becoming shinobies, but she got an fighting exam instead by Miyabi, plus her that told to Imu that if she isn't able to gain more strengh, she doesn't want to see her again. In order to be with Miyabi, Imu passed the exam, but it still wasn't enough for her.

One day, both Imu and Miyabi are selected as Elites to be part of an expedition with a team and a Kagura. The target: a team of "good" shinobies, led by a Kagura, and which includes Ryouki, that was hunting a Yoma. The goal was to ambush and eliminate them.

The mission is a total disaster: During the ambush, the Yoma the "good" team was searching cowardly made use of the mayhem of the fight between the two teams to kill easily both of them all while they were occupied. Miyabi and Imu were the only survivors. Imu could only assist powerless to the murder of her foes and allies by a monster, and a Miyabi going berserk and killing that same monster, and losing her mind to fall into a coma afterwards. She rested with her at the hospital during the whole coma, which came with amnesia.

Like Murphy's laws say, a disaster never comes alone: The death of Ryouki and the confusion behind the event led to her sisters Ryouna and Ryoubi, quitting Gessen a while after they joined to join Hebijo. Their amazing skills as a Fodder (Ryouna) and a Support (Ryoubi) oppened them easily the path to the Elites. They were accepted as the last team was nearly totally killed by the Yoma event. If Imu and Miyabi would see them as comrades at least, or friends, the two sisters didn't have the same ideas behind their heads: there is a revenge for them to take, and the reason they joined Hebijo was for that. It is personal. Knowing the protective role and behavior of Imu towards Miyabi, Imu was their prime target. When the D-Day and the H-Hour finally arrived, Murasaki took a bullet from Ryoubi's K98k, while trying to defend her, knocking her out, enough to seems like it killed her. Imu brutally exploded of sorrow and finally used the Root of Calamity with which she defeated both Ryouna and Ryoubi. Rin narrowly intervened to stop the hostilities, put the event involving Ryouki's death in sunlight, and calmed Imu. Murasaki has luckily survived the ~8mm Mauser bullet she took.

Now that the Yoma event is made clear, and that the Sisters gave up their plan of revenge on Miyabi, Imu has forgiven them, and they are officially part of the New Hebijo team.

## Creation & Development

In the *Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus Shinobi Syllabus* the producer states that when Miyabi was being created, Imu was created as a steady support character for her. She was designed with a fox motif in mind, her face maintaining a masculine appearance that only knows its feminine side when addressing Miyabi. She's cute and lovable, like a puppy. And her name means "loathsome dream" which is very important to the narrative of Shinovi Versus.

## Trivia

* Imu's name means "Loathsome Dream".
* Imu shares the same birthday as Sakyou and Ukyou.
* Imu speaks in combat with a funny and not very serious way.