Nue Houjuu
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl
Nue Houjuu's usual outfit. It features a black skirt and red ribbons.
The White Night's Unidentified Youkai
Nue's Fantasy Rebirth outfit. It was fashioned at Kourindou based on information in the journal.
Possessed By a Red Panda Spirit?!
Nue's terrifying jet-black phantom thief outfit. Once she has you in her special rifle's sights, there's no escape!
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl
Nue Houjuu's usual outfit. It features a black skirt and red ribbons.
Voice Lines
Voice Sets
From Space?
VA: Kurosawa Tomoyo
Mysterious Youkai
VA: Takahashi Rie
Terrifying Shrill Cry
VA: Uchida Maaya
Character Information
Temperament: Tasogare
Tasogare (a Touhou LW original) refers to the dim hours of the evening when people are indistinguishable from one another. This is an apt temperament for Nue, who is an unidentified youkai. Her temperament has also lost its identity and may show different characteristics on other occasions. She is strong against Star Essence, which prefers irregularity, but weak against Sun Essence, as it reveals true identities. She is strong against Water Phase and Fire Phase, as they flow and change, but weak against Earth Phase and Metal Phase, since they don't change as much.
Ability/Backstory: Capable of making objects unidentifiable
The ability of Nue Houjuu as a nue youkai. The Seeds of Unknown Form may be a physical manifestation of this ability. Due to their strange nature, the youkai known as nue are arguably one of the most famous of all youkai. They have different appearances depending on who sees them, and their cry is said to resemble that of a scaly thrush (However, it is unknown whether the appearance and the cry belong to the same youkai.) There is also a famous story about the slaying of a nue. When an object is unidentifiable, its true nature will be misidentified as something else, which you could say is the true nature of all youkai. Other countries have similar legends of monsters with the characteristics of multiple beasts, such as the chimera and the manticore. Countless other monsters are exaggerated or synthesized from real animals, including qilin, dragons, phoenixes, and other auspicious beasts. When people see something unfamiliar or frightening, they tend to panic and cannot observe it calmly. They end up perceiving preliminary observations and confusing misinformation as facts. This misinformation is mixed with gossip, which promotes further exaggeration and additions. Similarities in shape, nature, and behavior are all integrated together. This is one aspect of the mechanism of lore that produces oddly shaped and strange youkai. Nue was one of the youkai that lived in the Underworld. However, it is not clear whether she was exterminated and sealed down there like other Underworld youkai, moved there from somewhere else like the oni, or stayed there on a whim. It is also unclear whether she is the same entity as any of the nue youkai spoken of in folklore and legend. It is not easy to trace her past. She's truly an unidentified youkai.
Attacks
Indefinite Sasarindou
Nue Houjuu's Spread Shot (a Touhou LW original). It is an attack using oddly shaped blue wings. It is not known why these wings are so strangely shaped, but they appear to look like arrowheads or the crest of the Minamoto clan. A legendary creature, nue, is famous for the tale of its defeat by Minamoto no Yorimasa, who shot two arrows, Suiha and Hyouha, with a bow named Raishoudou. It was recorded that Minamoto no Yoshiie used the sound of a released bowstring, called a meigen ritual, to exorcise a disease afflicting the emperor. This led to the request for Minamoto no Yorimasa to exorcise the nue youkai. If the disease exorcised by Yoshiie was also a nue, and if the bow he used in the ritual was the same type as Yorimasa's, this would mean that a total of three arrows were shot at this nue.
Bullets
- Oddly Shaped Arrowhead
- Oddly Shaped Sasarindou
- Hyouha Arrowhead
- Suiha Arrowhead
- Wavering Sasarindou
- Exorcising Kabura Arrow
Unknown Swallowtail Butterfly
Nue Houjuu's Focus Shot (a Touhou LW original). In this attack, she uses her odd red wings. It is not known why these wings are so strangely shaped, but they resemble arrow feathers as well as a swallowtail butterfly crest. The Raishoudou bow and the two arrows, Suiha and Hyouha, used to defeat the nue, are said to have been handed down from Minamoto no Yorimitsu to Yorimasa. Shoukajo, the daughter of Yuuki You (a master of archery in China), gave Yorimitsu the bow and the two arrows in a dream. The Raishoudou is said to be a bow made by Manjushri with the corpse of a monstrous snake from Mount Wutai. Suiha and Hyouha are sacred arrows refined by the two eyes of Manjushri and fletched with black heron and mountain bird feathers, respectively. With such immense spiritual power, they were finally able to defeat the nue's unidentifiable nature.
Bullets
- Strange Arrow Feathers
- Strange Swallowtail Butterfly
- Mountain Bird's Arrow Feathers
- Black Heron's Arrow Feathers
- Wavering Swallowtail Butterfly
- Raishoudou's Bowstring
Nue Sign: Bullet Chimera
Nue Houjuu's Spell Card. In this attack, she shoots out light in an odd pattern. A chimera is an organism composed of cells with more than one distinct genotype. The nue youkai may be chimeras of some sort since they are said to look like a collection of various animal forms.
Bullets
- Monkey Face Gene
- Synthetic Laser
- Tiger Feet Gene
- Composite Laser
- Snake Tail Gene
- Combined Laser
Nightmare of Heiankyou
Nue Houjuu's Spell Card. In this attack, she shoots large lasers to strike an area in a grid pattern. According to a certain sage, this attack manipulates the boundary between continuum and particles. Heian period records often describe youkai appearing in the Kyoto area and the extermination of youkai by warriors. Also, the Heian period lasted for an exceptionally long time of 390 years. This period saw the rise of the samurai class that was formed to quell civil unrest. Therefore, the era can be seen as a period in which peace was maintained through military force. Could there be a connection between these two facts...?
Bullets
- QianXun Laser
- GenKun Laser
- Go Board Laser
- Night of Contagion
- Night of Youkai Bird Screeches
- Night of the Unidentified Beast
Who Goes There?
Nue Houjuu's Last Word (a Touhou LW original). Unidentified bullets that can change their appearance into anything. It is an unknown life form. Did it come here from outer space or was it sealed in polar ice? But it is not the real threat. You need to fear the doubt that makes you think someone is possessed by it.
Bullets
- Planetary Substance
- Alien Substance
- Extraterrestrial Substance
- Strange Wings
- Oddly Shaped Wings
- Shadow Trident
Skills
Skill: Abyssal Water
Everyone fears the water's dark depths. Someone is hiding, something is lurking.
Skill: Fire in the Sky
An unknown light from the heavens. Will it bring wisdom or conflict?
Skill: Unidentified Seed
These mysterious seeds remove the characteristics but retain the actions of what they are planted into. They appear in a form that makes sense to the observer.
