->''An RPG big enough for a man--but you get to play it as a [[MsFanservice hot chick!]]''
-->--A line from a magazine ad for the game.

''Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja'' is a {{roguelike}} RPG for the NintendoDS published by {{Atlus}}. A young {{ninja}} named Izuna is looking for a place to find home after her clan's old master fired them, believing ninja no longer have a place in the modern world. They eventually settle on an out-of-the-way village, when Izuna's "grandboss", Gen-an, wanders into one of the local caves. In the process of rescuing him, she manages to make several gods ''very'' angry, and has to retrieve several magical orbs to help the now-cursed natives from various afflictions and bring them back to normal.

While the game has received middling reviews (praised for its quirky characters and storyline, but criticized for not utilizing the DS' features to their full potential), it gained a decent enough cult following to receive a sequel, entitled ''Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns''.

Izuna and Shino have also made cameo appearances as {{Secret Character}}s in ''RondoOfSwords'' and ''WindyXWindam'', two other games developed by Success Corp.
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!!The Izuna games contain examples of:
* ACupAngst: Shino. She's not particularly happy about her chest, especially since her own little sister beats her out in bust size.
* AnimalMotifs: Five of the gods in the first game. Shuuichi's a snake, Fuuka a bird, Kagen a bear, Suiren a fish. Utsuho's is hard to pin down, though it's been theorized that he's a frog.
* BerserkButton: Shino is ''quite'' aware of how [[ACupAngst unendowed]] she is. If anybody else attempts to remind her, she'll have them get [[{{Catchphrase}} a glimpse of Hell]].
* BestHerToBedHer: Ichika, who wants a husband who is stronger than she is. The only problem is that she's way too strong. [[spoiler: She does marry in the end, though.]]
* BigEater: Izuna.
* {{Bishonen}}: Utsuho (also a WhiteHairedPrettyBoy) and Hiyoshimaru. The second game gives us Abyss [[spoiler:as well as Mitsumoto, once [[BeautifulAllAlong his mask comes off]].]]
* BlowYouAway: The Tengu can use wind attacks to transport you to a random part of the dungeon floor. The "Reppu" talisman also utilizes wind power, but it only blows enemies into walls. Naturally, Fuuka has these powers as well, since she's the wind goddess.
* BrattyHalfPint: Himiko in the second game.
* BreakableWeapons: Anything you find can be broken if used too much.
* TheChewToy: Mitsumoto, who gets on the receiving end of a lot of Izuna's teasing. Gen-an, too, no thanks to [[YouMeddlingKids Izuna's meddling.]]
* TheChosenOne: In the second game, both Izuna and [[spoiler:Shizune]] are revealed to be the only human beings capable of allowing gods to leave the areas where they are enshrined.
* CombinationAttack: A major addition to gameplay in ''Izuna 2''. Certain combinations of characters can pull off unique and more powerful ones.
** Naturally, Mitsumoto, being TheChewToy, has a special combination with just about everybody... And all of them end with him getting hurt in the process, [[CastFromHitPoints which is reflected by having him actually lose HP]].
* ContinuingIsPainful: As expected of a roguelike, but much more forgiving than is traditional for the genre. Dying will only cost you your on-hand inventory and money, not your experience.
* CoolBigSis: Shino to Izuna [[spoiler: and Shizune]]. Corona in the second game is a HotBlooded Big Sis bordering on MamaBear when she finds out that you "bullied" her younger siblings Stella and Alte.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Grimla in the second game is the goddess of death, but isn't particularly a bad person. Abyss is the god of darkness, but he's more of a {{Jerkass}} than outright evil.
* DarkSkinnedRedHead: Corona.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: After Izuna beats the six Eastern gods in the first game, she is able to make them her party members in the second.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Takushiki is a champion of this.
* {{Expy}}: Take one look at Baldur from the second game and try not to confuse him with [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Major Armstrong]]. Shino's costume is somewhat reminiscent of [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Sheena's]], but altered to play down her lack of breasts and focus on other features.
** Izuna resembles [[{{FLCL}} Haruko Haruhara]]. She has the red suit, goggles, yellow scarf and personality.
* FlunkyBoss: All of them.
* GenkiGirl: Izuna, Shizune, Suzume.
* GogglesDoNothing: Izuna wears a set of bizarre, triangular goggles solely for the fact that Shino gave them to her, which make her look like some sort of ninja CatGirl.
* {{Gonk}}: Lord Mugen in the second game.
* GratuitousEnglish: Shizune in the second game. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that she spent many years in an (presumably) English-speaking country.
* HeelFaceTurn: The Six Gods from the original game, though only one truly counted as a villain.
* HeelRealization: After being defeated in the first game, Takushiki realizes how much of an asshole he's been.
* HeroAntagonist[=/=]PunchClockVillain: The five Gods under Takushiki in the first game, who go along with his DisproportionateRetribution plan only because they have to obey him.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: The Priest.
* HiddenEyes: Mitsumoto. However, a hidden event in Izuna 2 ends with his hood coming off. Shino does this a bit in the second game.
* HighlyVisibleNinja
* HotBlooded: Kagen, God of Fire (naturally). Izuna is a little bit HotBlooded herself.
* [[HotSpringsEpisode Hot Springs Sequence]]: Hidden in the second game.
* HulkSpeak: Baldur, western god of light.
* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: Ume. In the second game, there are at least three elderly innkeepers in the various towns, all of whom share the name Ume and look and sound exactly alike.
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne (from the first game):
--> '''Woman-Crazy NPC''': (on Izuna trying to flirt with him) All I see is a snot-nosed brat!
--> '''Izuna''': I'm not snot-nosed!
* ItemCrafting: Careful use of talismans and the Burn-In Flame will allow you to power up your weapons and armor to crazy levels. If you try to overload them, though, they'll break.
* {{Jerkass}}: Abyss in the second game.
** Takushiki in the first game. The entire conflict started because he basically [[DisproportionateRetribution threw an overblown tantrum]] and forced the other gods to go along with it. [[HeelFaceTurn He gets better]] [[HeelRealization eventually]].
* JokeCharacter: Mitsumoto. In the second game, his tag attacks are like [[StreetFighter Dan Hibiki]] took the [[DesperationAttack Otoko Michi]] [[UpToEleven Up To Eleven]].
* KickChick: Fuuka. Unlike the other characters, she can only equip shoes as weapons.
* KillItWithWater: Suiren.
* TheLadette: Ichika.
* LampshadeHanging: One of the ''Izuna 2'' [[http://www.atlus.com/izuna2/comic.html comics]] (One too many questions) is an hilarious lampshading of world map-related RPG clichés.
* LethalLavaLand
* LightIsNotGood: In the second game, half of the Western gods are associated with light (Baldur with light in general, Alte with moonlight, Stella with starlight, and Corona with sunlight), and yet not a one of them is the kind of person you could say is particularly "good". Baldur is something of a [[TheBrute Brute]], Alte and Stella are a pair of {{Jerkass}} {{Tricksters}}, and Corona has an overwhelming temper and is not likely to forgive a slight, especially if it involves her younger siblings.
* LovableSexManiac: Mitsumoto and Lord Mugen.
* MarathonLevel: TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon in the first game is 40 floors deep, culminating in a very tough battle with [[spoiler:possessed Gen-an]].
* {{Meido}}: Shizune in the second game. Once she joins the party, she becomes something of a NinjaMaid, using the same tools as everybody else.
* MsFanservice: Izuna.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Izuna defeats an angry god at the beginning of the game for punishing her grandfather for wandering into the village's cave...and then makes all of the ''other'' gods in the area put curses on the villagers in retaliation. Guess who's gotta do the cleanup once [[spoiler:her clan members]] become affected by the curse, too? Yup.
* [[{{Ninja}} Nin]][[CaptainObvious ja]]
* NintendoHard: Easier than PC Roguelikes, but still harder than anything like ''PokemonMysteryDungeon''. This was addressed in the second game with a number of additional features, the most prominent of which was allowing two player-characters to enter a dungeon at one time.
* NoFourthWall: Someone had lots of fun while writing this game.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Suiren, Goddess of Water.
** Technically, this applies to most, if not all of the gods and goddesses in the series.
* PlayingWithFire: Kagen.
** Lampshaded in the online comics for the second game: see [[http://www.atlus.com/izuna2/comic.html here]], click on Boredom, and just go through the comic. [[spoiler:Said comic also includes Mitsumoto *playing* ''Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja''. Despite being in it. Ow, my brain.]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: All the gods.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Shino and Shizune, though they're both generally nice people.
* {{Ronin}}: Ninja variant, hence the title of the series.
* {{Samurai}}: Shuuchi, God of Earth.
* ScaryScarecrows: They can even cause Fear status.
* ShoutOut: There are many, for example:
** There is an enemy, called Chibi Marimo, which, after eating a mushroom, becomes a stronger enemy called Suppaa Marimo (Super Marimo in the English version), a shout out to Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s [[SuperMarioBros mascot character]]. When the Chibi Marimo is first encountered, letting it do this will likely result in your death.
*** It can further power up to becoming a Rainbow Marimo. What are you trying to imply, Success Corp?
*** [[SuperMarioGalaxy That it's invincible.]]
* SmallNameBigEgo: Izuna.
* StraightMan: Shino.
* UndergroundMonkey
* WakeUpCallBoss: Fuuka in the first game, since her special attack will put Izuna into the "confused" status if you get near her. Unless you've properly prepared items to take her on, she easily becomes ThatOneBoss.
* WeBuyAnything
* WeaponOfChoice: One of the major differences between characters in the second game is what they can work with from choices of swords, bracers, claws, bows, boots, throwing weapons, and ''dolls''.
* YamatoNadeshiko: Ironically, the person closest to this is Anima, the ''Western'' goddess of life.
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: In the first game, you'd think you've won after defeating Takushiki, as everyone in the village whose curses you fix congratulates you for saving them. However, there's still one path in Kamiari Village that has yet to be explored after that, which leads to the final storyline dungeon.
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