Jiro's least favourite game characters: Inage Natsu.

 

It's once again time for something completely different. I was coming up with ideas for blog posts when I got to chatting with some fellow fans of Action Taimanin and RPGX. It was then that I had the idea to cover one of my least favourite game characters of all time, one that caused me a great deal of hurt and pain, Inage Natsu. 

So, who is Inage Natsu? Well, Inage is an old, retired Taimanin that runs a sweet shop within Gosha called Inageya. During her youth, she had been very active in her role as a Taimanin before her retirement. In the present timelines, she is known as a nice old lady as she takes her job at Inageya rather seriously. She is also often looked at for advice being consulted by even clan elders. She is a Soul Art user and one such technique she wields is Rejuvenation. This ability allows her to restore her youthful prime for a limited time. Throughout the various visual novels, she is referenced in several and even makes a brief appearance off-screen in Taimanin Zero. In Zero, she teaches Asagi a technique that practically saves her life.

She sounds great, so why do I not like her at all? Well, the first reason is simple. The Bedroom Arts, part of her Soul Art capabilities brings flashbacks of Taimanin Asagi 3 and specifically, what happened to Kosuke. In that game, bedroom arts are what led to Kosuke being turned into a meatball.  

The second reason and most prominent is how she corrupted and misguided one of my favourite characters to be introduced in RPGX, poor Hebiko. Yes, it was Hebiko that went to Inage for training, but she did so only because she had a crush on Kotaro Fuuma and wanted to be with him. Meanwhile, the cruel temptress hag, whilst teaching Hebiko the bedroom arts, suggests that the poor girl get lots of practice and take a lot of men. As a massive fan of Hebiko to the extent that I had her as my desktop background and even wanted to learn how to draw so that I could draw her, that whole scene broke my heart. Even worse is what the scene lead to... Poor, poor Hebiko... 

My entire world was shattered to the point that I cried an awful lot after the fact. Seeing the events play out was hurtful and not pleasant in the slightest. Every time I have had to see Inage since then, I have gotten visibly angry and just want the character off my screen. I even had to give my honest reactions to the management office of RPGX, I was so upset. I normally never do such a thing, but I loved Hebiko that much. I do not and will never accept those scenes as canon, no matter how much they are pushed.

In my mind, she is a corrupting force much like the demons, corrupting innocent Taimanin from within the confines of Gosha. She also called Asagi a dead fish, big no no. Asagi is much better than her in every feasible way. 

Is my dislike of Inage Natsu overblown? Perhaps, but it is the way I feel after having suffered through RPGX. The only time I wish to see her now is when she gets put in her place either by Asagi or by death itself.