Oboro (Basilisk)

Oboro (Japanese: 朧, hiragana: おぼろ, rōmaji: "Oboro") the primary heroine of the Japanese manga and anime "Basilisk".

Character Overview

As the beautiful young princess of Iga Tsubagakure, Oboro was selected to be one of ten ninja to represent her clan against the ten chosen fighters of the rival Koga Manjidani clan. Born with 'Mystic Eyes,' Oboro has the power to neutralize the techniques of any ninja that meets her gaze directly. After the death of her grandmother Ogen, Oboro ascends to take leadership of the clan, but due to her passive demeanor soon finds her authority usurped by Yakushiji Tenzen.

into their compound where the Iga can keep them under surveillance.

Although hurt and betrayed by their actions, Oboro remains loyal to her clan and is greatly torn between her duty and her feelings when the truth of the renewed conflict is finally revealed to her. Ultimately, she makes the decision to temporarily seal her eyes shut with a potion given to her by Ogen called the Seven Days of Darkness, knowing that if she saw any of her clansmen attacking Gennosuke, she might be tempted to use her powers against them instead.

Prior to the lifting of the Hattori truce, Oboro was engaged to Kouga Gennosuke in an attempt to bring a lasting peace between both clans. The two had known each other since childhood and were anxious to spend their lives with each other. In the anime, Oboro would frequently meet with Gennosuke along their clan's borders to practice a Japanese fan dance which they planned to perform for the guests at their wedding.

In the anime, she is voiced by Nana Mizuki (Japanese) and Laura Bailey (English)

Manga

Oboro in the anime is slightly more fatalistic, mature and down-to-earth than her manga incarnation. After learning of the Hattori Truce's nullification in the manga, Oboro decides that in order to show her regret to Gennosuke for her clan's actions, she will allow him to kill her and then wait for him in the afterlife. In contrast, Oboro in the anime is doubtful that Gennosuke would ever forgive her even if she allowed him to kill her, but accepted it as her fate due to the devotion she felt for him as well as the hope her sacrifice would move him to not seek any further retribution upon her clan. Oboro in the anime also tends to be somewhat more self-conscious of her shortcomings as a ninja than she is in the manga, where she's still aware of her lack of skill but angsts less about it.

Additionally, while Gennosuke and Oboro first met in the anime when they were both children; in the manga they don't properly meet until adulthood, when Danjou and Gennosuke meet with Ogen and Oboro to discuss a possible marriage between them as a way to dispel the animosity between their two clans. In both versions, Oboro is so flustered upon meeting her future fiancé that she trips and winds up spilling a tray of hot tea right on Gennosuke's head.

Alternate information

Oboro is also featured as a character in the live-action movie known as SHINOBI Heart Under Blade, being played by actress Yukie Nakama. Just like her anime and manga incarnations, she is physically weak and has rather poor kenjutsu skills. Instead of disabling other ninjas' abilities, her eyes sent a crippling pulse throughout the body of anyone who met her doujutsu, effectively mutilating them. Gradually she became less conflicted between her feelings for Gennosuke and her duty to the Iga. Following the deaths of all their comrades, during their last duel Gennosuke allows Oboro to kill him, in order to save their clans and keep their hope for peace. Later, when Tokugawa Ieyasu sent troops to destroy the Koga and Iga villages, Oboro begs him to spare them, blinding herself as a proof of her sincerity. Ieyasu accepts, thus the villages are saved.

In the original novel; Oboro is described as having a face like the sun with large, round, mesmerizing eyes. Her personality is closer to the manga than the anime and comparatively speaking; receives noticeably less attention in the novel than either the manga or anime. However, her personality is somewhat different. When she discovers Jingorou attempting to kill Gennosuke while still in Tsubagakure, she nullifies his technique and kicks him off of the veranda to the ground. She threatens to kill Jingorou herself, but before she can, Oboro hears Akeginu's scream and leaves Jingorou behind. As with the manga and anime, Oboro lacks martial ability and her only skill is her mystic eyes. Her death in the novel is the same as in both the anime and manga.

References

Fumitoro Kizaki (Director). Basilisk-Koga Ninpocho [TV-Series] GONZO/Kodansha/Japan Digital Concepts: Japan. 2005

Masaki Segawa (Manga-Ka). Basilisk-Koga Ninpocho [Manga] Kodansha: Japan. 2003-2004

Futaro Yamada (Author). Koga Ninpocho [novel] Japan. 1958

Ten Shimoyama (Director) Shinobi: Heart Under Blade (DVD) Japan. 2005