History Characters / NinjaGaiden

* BadassAdorable: She may look cute, small and young, but she's extremely deadly and capable.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Ryu's portrayal in the modern trilogy's first two entries give the impression of a robotic man, devoid of any emotion even in the face of great loss or tragedy, making him come across as a FlatCharacter. ''Ninja Gaiden III''/''Razor's Edge'' rectified this by adding more humanizing traits to Ryu, letting him express a different range of emotions like anger, sorrow, and even compassion.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Ryu's portrayal in the modern trilogy's first two entries give the impression of a practically robotic man, devoid of any emotion even in the face of great loss or tragedy, making him come across as a FlatCharacter. ''Ninja Gaiden III''/''Razor's Edge'' rectified this by adding more humanizing traits to Ryu, letting him express a different range of emotions like anger, sorrow, and even compassion.

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Subverted - Ryu did train intensively to reach the level of Master Ninja, [[spoiler:but his clan ''is'' in fact descended from the same Dragon Dieties that birthed the Fiends, which gives him power above other ninjas; this also explains why Doku nearly succeeded in turning him into one]]. Plus, he can wield a massive battle axe/[[DropTheHammer hammer]], a [[{{BFS}} great sword]] explicitly said to be 100 pounds in weight, and a [[SinisterScythe gigantic scythe]] stolen from a Greater Fiend twice his height.

* ShipTease: With Ryu throughout ''Ninja Gaiden 3''. The game pushes the single mother tease with Mizuki through Canna’s innocent idea of wanting Ryu to be her father. Mizuki is apologetic at first for Canna’s remark but as the story goes on, Mizuki finds herself closer to Ryu, growing to be just like Canna who sees Ryu as her safe heaven in all the turmoil they get put through. In the end, however, nothing comes out of it and Ryu moves on, as always.
* StandardFemaleGrabArea: Borderline parodied if it weren't over with so quickly. She gets dragged away by one villain because she's got a gun to her back and is fearing for Canna's life. When another villain appears grabbing her by the upper arm, she swats the hand away the second she sees her daughter safe.

%%* BetaCouple: With Yaiba.

* LoveMakesYouEvil: Subverted. When Mizuki wonders if his EvilPlan was because he loved Saya, Cliff simply laughs at the notion]] and explicitly says it's due to being a GreenEyedMonster to Theodore.

* ShipTease: With Ryu throughout ''Ninja Gaiden 3''. The game pushes the single mother tease with Mizuki through Canna’s innocent idea of wanting Ryu to be her father, Mizuki is apologetic at first for Canna’s remark but as the story goes Mizuki finds herself closer to Ryu, growing to be just like Canna who sees Ryu as her safe heaven in all the turmoil they found themselves in; however, in the end nothing comes out of that and Ryu moves on, as always.

* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Purple everywhere!
* DeadpanSnarker: Shows this trait when Ryu is not around in ''Sigma II'' and ''Razor's Edge''
-->'''Ayane''': "No shit."

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Ryu's portrayal in the modern trilogy's first two entries give the impression of a practically robotic man, devoid of any emotion even in the face of great loss or tragedy, making him come across as a FlatCharacter. ''Ninja Gaiden III''/''Razor's Edge'' changed this by adding more humanizing traits to Ryu and letting him express a different range of emotions depending on the situation -- including anger, sorrow, and even compassion.

* {{BFS}}: With the exception of ''Ninja Gaiden III''/''Razor's Edge'', one per game in the modern trilogy - "Dabilahro", "Dark Dragon Blade", "Emma's Fang" and "Unlabored Flawlessness"

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: To Murai. Both are evil, large and imposing ninjas who lead their own clans, but the similarities end there. Murai is a self-centered man who craves absolute power for himself and betrays anyone and everyone without a second thought to achieve his goals, even his own family. Genshin, on the other hand, concerns himself with securing the survival of his people even if it means living in servitude of evil. Unlike the treacherous Murai, Genshin is always honest and honorable to a fault, even warning Ryu about what he intends to do beforehand so to give his enemy a chance to prepare, and never desires to rule over all.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: To Murai. Both are evil, large and imposing ninjas who lead their own clans, but the similarities end there. Murai is a self-centered man who craves absolute power for himself and betrays anyone and everyone without a second thought to achieve his goals, even his own family. Genshin, on the other hand, concerns himself with securing the survival of his people even if it means living in servitude of evil. Unlike the treacherous Murai, Genshin is always honest and honorable to a fault, even warning Ryu about what he intends to do beforehand so to give his enemy a chance to prepare.

* NobleDemon: Genshin is an amoral man who willingly allies himself with the most horrid and despicable creatures in existence, but however misguided his methods are, he does so out of sincere desire to safeguard his ninja clan's future rather than for his own selfish pursuits. He also adheres to a strict code of honor and never turns back on his word once given, even if it means placing himself at a disadvantage.

* NobleDemon: Genshin is an amoral man who willingly allies himself with the most horrid and despicable creatures in existence, but however misguided his methods are, he does so out of sincere desire to safeguard his ninja clan's future rather than for his own selfishness. He also adheres to a strict code of honor and never turns back on his word once given, even if it means placing himself at a disadvantage.

* NobleDemon: Genshin is an amoral man who willingly allies himself with some of the most despicable creatures in existence, but however misguided his methods are, he does so out of sincere desire to safeguard his ninja clan's future rather than for his own selfishness. He also adheres to a strict code of honor and never turns back on his word once given, even if it means placing himself at a disadvantage.

* {{Ninja}}: Holds the rank of Master Ninja and clan overlord status

* ShipTease: With Ryu during ''Ninja Gaiden 2'', such as him cautioning her against following him to the Underworld when he knows he can't protect her at all times, and they share a hug at the end of the game.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Despite being at death's door, Genshin accepts his defeat gracefully, acknowledging Ryu's victory.

* {{BFS}}: [[spoiler:The Dark Dragon Blade]]
* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: [[spoiler:With the Dark Dragon Blade in his hands, the evil energies emanating from the blade turns Murai's body demonic]].
* EvilUncle: [[spoiler:Is the true BigBad of the Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden''; whether he was EvilAllAlong is never known, though the implication of going rogue and forming a ninja clan is all the more telling that it might be true]].
* LargeAndInCharge: From what little players get to see of Murai, he appears the tallest and most muscular of the bunch; naturally, he ''is'' in charge of his own clan.

* CelibateHero:
** Within the modern trilogy, Rachel and Sonia are obviously interested in him, yet Ryu shows no affectionate response towards any of them. It might be a case of respecting {{Continuity}} and Ryu will eventually fall in love with Irene Lew later, [[spoiler:especially since "Sonia" is Irene's alias]], or it's an entirely new {{Continuity}} and Ryu won't fall for anyone since there's some FlipFlopOfGod regarding the present games being {{Prequel}}s for the original trilogy or a completely [[AlternateUniverse new setting]] with no relation to previous titles.
** Worth noting is most of the flip-flopping came from Itagaki: now that he has no relation to the series and Yosuke Hayashi has given some {{Continuity nod}}s to the original trilogy, Irene might avert this with Ryu.

* AdamAndEvePlot: He wants to do a twisted version of this with Canna.

* AdamAndEvePlot: Implied on what he wants to do with [[spoiler:Canna]]
* EvilutionaryBiologist: [[spoiler:Comes with the territory when you're a high-ranking member of the Lords of Alchemy]].
* GreenEyedMonster: [[spoiler:It's implied Cliff's motivation stems from his jealousy of his seemingly perfect brother Theodore, whom everyone admired]].
* MadScientist: {{Lampshaded}} by his eccentric personality and inventions, [[spoiler:except he really is EvilAllAlong, having caused the "accident" that killed Canna's parents, resurrecting Theodore to life as the Regent of the Mask and turning Canna into the Goddess, making him the actual BigBad of ''Ninja Gaiden III'' over Ashtear Higgins]].
* IncestSubtext: [[spoiler:After he turns Canna into the Goddess and he begins to go OneWingedAngel himself, he states he will be the Adam to her Eve]].
* LoveMakesYouEvil: {{Lampshaded}}; [[spoiler:when Mizuki wonders if his EvilPlan was because he loved Saya, [[SubvertedTrope Cliff simply laughs at the notion]] and explicitly says it's due to being a GreenEyedMonster to Theodore]].
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: [[spoiler:How he killed Canna's parents]]
%%* TheManBehindTheMan

* NoSell: [[spoiler:If players use Ryu to shoot an arrow at him during a certain point in their fight in Day 7, Cliff permanently destroys the bow, leaving Ryu no long-ranged weapon for the rest of the game]].
* WalkingSpoiler: With the amount of spoiler tags being used, this is a given.

* YellowLightningBlueLightning: Blue

* CoolSword: Blade of The Archfiend

* YouDontLookLikeYou: As a result of being reimagined as Sonia in the modern ''Ninja Gaiden II'', this version of Irene looks nothing like the modestly dressed woman from the old trilogy.

* TheDragon: For the Dark Disciple

* WalkingSpoiler: All the events in ''Ninja Gaiden'' are tied directly to him

* {{Dogged Nice G|uy}}irl: A RareFemaleExample - Rachel appears to have taken quite a liking to Ryu, but he promptly seems to refuse, and going by the series' {{Continuity}}, [[HopelessSuitor this isn't remotely going anywhere with him]].

* ChickMagnet: In addition to being canonically married to Irene, Ryu has caught the eye of Rachel, Mizuki and arguably Kasumi. In ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive6'', Nyotengu also expresses attraction to him.

* ActionGirlfriend: Irene and Ryu were already an item in ''The Ancient Ship of Doom'', and she has her moments in it.

* {{Chickification}}: Hit her hard in the OVA; in fact, she's not even a FauxActionGirl, but a DamselInDistress from start to finish.
* ContinuityNod: Just the fact that [[spoiler:Sonia was confirmed to be Irene's alias]] in ''Dead or Alive'' served to effectively tie the modern installments as occurring before the NES trilogy, as Itagaki in his last days at Tecmo was heavily contradicting the series' {{Continuity}}.

* FanServicePack, HotterAndSexier: Pretty much each of Irene's measurements are "upgraded" when Team Ninja modeled her in 3D for ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions''.
** YouDontLookLikeYou: As a result of being years in the shadows, leading towards NotAsYouKnowThem; just to hit the point home, [[spoiler:Sonia in the modern ''Ninja Gaiden II''? Irene and Sonia are one and the same]].

* HappilyMarried: With Ryu as of ''Dead or Alive'', but modern installments have made this as ambiguous as possible, yet stating they're still together.
* InformedAttribute: The fact Irene runs her "husband's" antique shop is only seen in a brief passage for the first ''Dead or Alive'' official guide that Tecmo released back then. This is solely supported by the [=OVA=] as Irene never truly appeared in ''Dead or Alive'' until ''Dimensions'', and players don't see her taking care of the shop in it either.

* ActionGirlfriend: Invoked, ranging from raiding the "Daedalus" aircraft carrier with a [[{{BFG}} bazooka]] to a GunshipRescue after Ryu defeats Volf.

* ShipTease: Sonia is the only girl in the modern games whom Ryu shows a degree of affection and care - he was worried about her wandering in the Underworld when he knows he can't protect her at all times, and they share a hug at the end of the game.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Sonia, a CIA agent tasked to work with Ryu, who frequently straddles FauxActionGirl and DistressedDamsel in the modern series replaces Irene Lew, another CIA agent with similar status situations in the NES trilogy. [[spoiler:''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'' makes no effort to reveal Sonia is one of Irene's ''aliases'']].

* TomboyishPonytail: Her default hair style
* TrueBlueFemininity: She leans toward this more than counterpart (the prominent blue cape in her SpyCatsuit, her iconic blue kimono and another, more traditional female kimono).
* [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse What Happened To The New Costume?]]: In ''Sigma II'', Kasumi wears a variation of her traditional blue ''Dead or Alive'' outfit; even though players only get to see the back side, many really liked it and were eager to see it properly. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear in ''Razor's Edge''. It finally became playable as her "Digital Deluxe" bonus costume in ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive6''.

* ShipTease: Despite Irene Lew already being firmly re-established by Team Ninja, ''Ninja Gaiden 3'' really tries to push the single mother tease with Mizuki through Canna’s innocent idea of wanting Ryu to be her father, Mizuki is apologetic at first for Canna’s remark but as the story goes Mizuki finds herself closer to Ryu, growing to be just like Canna who sees Ryu as her safe heaven in all the turmoil they found themselves in; however, in the end nothing comes out of that and Ryu moves on, as always.

* TamerAndChaster: The most modestly dressed Ninja Gaiden heroine by far, there’s zero fanservice on Mizuki’s part, the most skin she ever shows is her bare arms later in the game, when she gives her jacket to Canna.

* WallOfWeapons: Can be seen in Muramasa's shop in the Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden''

* HappilyMarried: With Irene as of ''Dead or Alive''; later games attempt to make it ambiguous by only going as far as to state they're still together.

* AttemptedRape: Ayane's first mission in ''Razor's Edge'' begins with a terrorist breaking into her massage parlor and trying to undo her towel. [[BullyingADragon No points for guessing what happens to him next]].[[FridgeBrilliance Makes sense]] due to how [[ChildByRape she was conceived]].

* AttemptedRape: Her first mission in ''Razor's Edge'' begins with a terrorist breaking into her massage parlor while she's dressed with a towel, who proceeds to undo it. [[BullyingADragon No guesses as to what happens next]].[[FridgeBrilliance Makes sense]] due to how [[ChildByRape she was conceived]].
* BadassAdorable: She may look cute, small and young, but she's extremely strong.