Nene

Nene (ねね) essentially replaces Kunoichi in Samurai Warriors 2 but has different techniques to separate herself from her. She is Hideyoshi's wife. She's symbolized by the words "protect" (護) and "charity" (慈).

Role in Games

 * "I like your style."
 * Zhu Rong; Warriors Orochi

Samurai Warriors
Nene is a maternal and cheerful woman who considers every character to be her child. Her three closest "children" are Kiyomasa Kato, Masanori Fukushima, and Mitsunari Ishida. She dearly loves Hideyoshi but isn't too fond of his cheating habits. She helps her husband conquer Japan and keeps him from seeing his courtesan, Chacha. She fights until Hideyoshi unites the land and makes a meal for her family.

In her dream stage, she goes out in the midst of Sekigahara to protect her husband's dream of a happy world. She delivers "spankings" to the naughty children on the Western and Eastern armies. Kobayakawa and Okuni help her out. When she wins the battle, Nene scolds both armies for not playing nice with one another.

Warriors Orochi
In Warriors Orochi, Nene leads her small but independent army of ninja. Using various covert abilities, she routinely defies Orochi. Though she gains the support of various ninja characters, excluding Goemon, her forces are defeated by Zhang Liao and Dong Zhuo. Determined to keep an eye on her new "children", she decides to join Wei.

Kessen
Though she doesn't make an onscreen appearance, Nene is mentioned during cutscenes in Kessen III. Nobunaga mentions her whenever he spots Hideyoshi acting unfaithful to her.

Development
Wanting to give Hideyoshi a personal support character, Nene was included by the staff. The director wanted to also explore her historical trait of treating Mitsunari as her child. Although Kunoichi was removed from the cast, he still wanted to include a female ninja so Nene was adapted for the position. Designers were originally looking to add "the cute mom" of the cast. She started as a darker character but changed when the staff wanted another heroine character. To some of the staff members, she is the good older sister type who always has a smile on her face. Her ninja techniques were made to add variety.

Voice Actors

 * Erin Agostino - Samurai Warriors 2 (English)
 * Wakana Yamazaki - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)

Quotes

 * "I'll show you what I can do!"
 * "Time for punishment!"
 * "You're going to get a spanking, you little brat!""
 * "This is great. I have both Japan and Nene. And that's everything I ever wanted."
 * "Darling, I knew you felt that way. That's why I fired all your courtesans."
 * (Hideyoshi spits out his food all over Mitsunari)
 * Nene and Hideyoshi; Samurai Warriors 2


 * "I want to be near you and make sure you're safe."
 * "Aw, that's sweet. So you're not just... keeping an eye on me?"
 * "Darling, do you think I'm here just because I'd kill you if I caught you with another woman? Don't be silly! I'd only break your arms and legs, that's all!"
 * Nene and Hideyoshi; Samurai Warriors 2 Empires


 * "Did I just do that all by myself?!"

Ground Attacks

 * undefined, (undefined): connects her blades together and sends them spinning out in front of her. Pressing the button once more splits the blades apart and they individually come back to her.
 * ,undefined,(undefined): knocks her foe up with her blades, spins upward to slice them up, and finishes by throwing a bomb down for her enemy's landing.
 * ,,undefined,(undefined): a spinning kick that dizzies, flips upside down, connects her blades together, and kicks them so they circle around her.
 * ,,,undefined,(undefined): slashing forward a few times then throws her weapons like boomerangs.
 * ,,,,undefined: (Xtreme Legends only) slashes with her dagger and creates two replicas of herself.
 * ,,,,,,,:left and right slashes and alternating kicks that ends with a spinning handstand.
 * , : Like all nimble ninja type characters, she can double jump.
 * ,undefined: jumps down making a shockwave
 * ,: throws her daggers downward
 * stays in one spot and throws her connected blades in a designated direction. In her True Musou version, she'll finish the attack with a few swipes. In her level 3 version, three copies of her will mimic her. If she's on a horse, energy blasts will appear instead.


 * R1 +, , : Performs a few hand signals and creates a number of mirror images of herself that ghost her movements. The maximum number of copies she can make is three.
 * R1 + undefined, (undefined), (undefined): Nene spins and transforms into an enemy officer. The more button presses will increase the likelihood of turning into a nearby unique officer. If she turns into a unique officer, she'll gain her enemy's moveset but will not be able to do their R1 abilities. The effect wears off after a certain period of time or when she's hit by a powerful attack.

Warriors Orochi
Same attacks excluding her C5 and Level 3 Musou. Her R1 attacks have also changed:
 * R1: Slashes and makes replicas of herself.
 * Direction + R1: Nene lunges forward, grabs an enemy, and piledrives them into the ground.

Personal Info
Kodai In was a kind and maternal woman. Those around her praised her elegance and wisdom though she was known to have been on bad terms with Hideyoshi's concubines (Yodo-dono in particular). She may have been good friends with Maeda Matsu, Maeda Toshiie's wife. She didn't always agree with her husband's actions as she openly chastised his fickle nature regarding Kobayakawa Hideaki's hastily dismissed adoption. She took pity on him and acted as his surrogate mother. Other people who thought her as their mother were Fukushima Masanori and Kato Kiyomasa.

Her marriage to Hideyoshi is believed to have been one made through convenience since neither started with mass wealth or high status. Though they apparently loved one another, their marriage was pretty rocky. The main clue to suggest as much was through a letter written by Oda Nobunaga. He was uncharacteristically polite and intimate, wishing to encourage her to remain steadfast. In the letter, he wrote:

"...It has been quite sometime since I last saw you, but your beauty grows day by day. Tokichiro (Hideyoshi) complains about you constantly and it is outrageous. While that "bald rat" (Hideyoshi) flusters to find another good woman, you remain lofty and elegant. Do not be envious. Show Hideyoshi this letter..."

Despite any difficulties they may have experienced, she shared her husband's pride when they rose from rags to riches. Unlike her husband, she did not get to enjoy her family's power since Hideyoshi pushed her into the background. His fascination with Yodo-dono is believed to be the cause.

Though she never converted to Christianity, she cared for the Jesuits in Japan. Luís Fróis wrote that she acted with the presence of a pagan's wife and referred to her as "Queen".

Other Names
Nene (寧々) is suggested to be Kodai In's given name before she became a nun. In contemporary times, it is written in hiragana for simplicity. Several sources also argue that her name was usually shortened as Ne, O-ne, or Nei. "Ne" or "O-Ne" can be spelled as 「おね」 or 「祢」. "Nei" is written as 「寧」, 「寧子」, 「子為」 or 「ねい」. She also had a name privately given to her by Hideyoshi when they got married.

When she rose in higher political status, records state that she became Kita no Mandokuro (北政所). It remains unclear if she was called this name during her lifetime.

Life and Death
Nene was the second daughter of Sugihara Sadatoshi, a warrior in Owari who was also Hideaki's real father. When her aunt married into the Asano family, Nene was adopted by Asano Nagakatsu. In 1561, Asahi, Hideyoshi's real mother, successfully convinced Nagakatsu to marry their children together. Since Hideyoshi came from poverty, he relied on Nene's somewhat higher status to support him. Lacking a male heir, Hideyoshi was additionally adopted as Nagakatsu's son. His other adopted sons include Kiyomasa and Masanori. Nene was unable to conceive children so Hideyoshi frequently visited concubines.

In 1568, Nene started to live in Gifu Castle. Six years later, after Hideyoshi gained 120,000 koku at Nagahama, he moved his mother and Nene to another location. After he claimed Mitsuhide's life at Yamazaki, Nene moved with her husband to Osaka Castle. As the newly assigned kanpaku's wife, she was given the supervision of negotiating hostages with the local feudal lords. When Hideyoshi was donned as Taiko, Nene was donned the first lady by Emperor Go-Yozei on May 14, 1588. During Hideyoshi's Korean campaign, Nene assisted her husband by giving advise how to transfer supplies from Japan to Korea. She communicated to him by letters.

Following Hideyoshi's death, Nene gave the eastern ward of Osaka Castle to Tokugawa Ieyasu and relocated herself to the imperial palace. She overlooked many financial decisions and created services for Hōkō-ji. It is rumored that she also disliked Yodo-dono handling her husband's fortune and took a pro-Tokugawa stance. She separated herself from the concubine and went into hermitage. Others argue that the women were actually good friends and distanced from one another to insure the Toyotomi's future. It is speculated that the latter scenario is closer to the truth, as many female relatives of the Western army were said to be taken under Nene's care following the Battle of Sekigahara.

In 1603, Nene attended Hideyori and Senhime's wedding. She came with a bald head as she intended to become a nun. Two years later, she chose Kōdai-ji as her final resting place and moved there permanently. The Tokugawa shogunate gave her government protection in 1615. The shrine is the place where she passed away peacefully nine years later. Her exact age when she died is unclear as she could have been 76, 77, or 83 years old.