Koyuki Azumaya
| Koyuki Azumaya | |
|---|---|
| Sgt. Frog character | |
| First appearance | Manga: Chapter 55 Anime: Episode 13 |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | Snow (in MorePeachSummerSnow) |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Title | ? |
| Relatives | ? |
Koyuki Azumaya (東谷 小雪, Azumaya Koyuki) is a fictional ninja from the anime and manga series Sgt. Frog.
Overview
Koyuki is a foreign kunoichi who meets Natsumi soon after coming to her home in Japan. She finds and rescues a stranded Zeroro (Dororo) and teaches him the ways of the ninja. After becoming a ninja, Zeroro changes his name to Dororo. She trusts Natsumi to teach Koyuki to live a modern life. She often wears a bow to tie back her hair and can instantly become a ninja. She is in love with Natsumi. Her skills as a civilian and a ninja are exceptionally outstanding and her athletic ability even rivals that of Natsumi, making her one of the most physically powerful characters of the series. Despite having amazing powers and quite a hard and strict past, Koyuki is very carefree, optimistic, and eccentric for a normal Japanese girl, but believes in what is right and gets along nicely with her friends.
Episode 98 of the anime tells of Koyuki's entire past life before meeting Dororo or coming to Tokyo. Koyuki lived in a small hidden ninja village as a child and was only close to Mukuro, a fellow female ninja and Koyuki's childhood friend. Mukuro was left to name the adopted new ninja when snow started to fall down. Then, Mukuro proudly named the child "Koyuki", which means "little snow". As years past, Koyuki grew up to be an oddball in her village for her friendly and peppy attitude, while Mukuro grew up to be a quiet and no-nonsense young lady. Mukuro longed to leave her ninja customs and live in the city, where girls can roam free while she was under strict training. Then, when she finally decided to leave, Mukuro was then under the punishment of trying to leave and breaking one of the strictest rules of the ninja, but Koyuki's strong heart and friendship for Mukuro helped to overcome the punishment. One autumn day, Koyuki's dog, Zeroyasha, found the captured Zeroro on a legtrap, and Koyuki first mistook him for a kappa. Later, Koyuki showed the injured Zeroro to Mukuro, who reminds her that she won't be able to keep him, so Koyuki decides to keep it a secret between her and Mukuro, but Mukuro told the chief ninja anyway. Then, instead of banishing Zeroro, the chief welcomed him in to the village and Zeroro trained to be the skilled ninja he is today, took in the new name "Dororo" and saw the beauties of Earth's nature. One day, the chief decided to let the ninjas roam free and leave the village after seeing Koyuki and Mukuro's actions to be free. Koyuki teared after seeing Mukro leave, but then woke up and saw that the entire thing was just a dream and that she was still in the city, where she chose to live. However, when Koyuki was hanging out with Natsumi in the city, a high-schooler with a striking resemblance to Mukuro walks past them and smiles back at Koyuki. Also, in another episode of the anime, the old chief of Koyuki's village is hinted to be the leader of an acting troupe who act like ninjas for a theme park based on ancient Tokyo.
Relationships
After moving into Tokyo, Natsumi met Koyuki as a new student in her class, but gets a quite odd first impression of her when Koyuki comes to her and says that Natsumi had "city scent". However, as Natsumi discovered that Koyuki was Dororo's partner, they began to spend more time with each other, and Koyuki began to feel more than just friendship with her new friend. Natsumi seems to be unaware that Koyuki loves her, but nonetheless, Natsumi became both Koyuki's best friend and mentor to her about modern Japanese culture, as Koyuki hid in a secret ninja village throughout her life. She helps Natsumi in many situations, and vice-versa.
Koyuki and Dororo are both partners and good friends, since Koyuki's reason to come to Tokyo was to help Dororo reunite with his comrades, only to find that Dororo was most forgotten by the platoon, especially his childhood friend, Keroro. Koyuki first met Dororo (Zeroro back then) while still living in her ninja village, and there, Dororo learned the beauty of Earth and its nature, explaining his reluctant attitude towards the more Earth-threatening plans of Keroro. They live together in Koyuki's cottage in the forest (anime) and next door to the Hinata's (manga). Koyuki and Dororo have a very strong sibling-like bond, they obviously get along better with each other than Natsumi and the other platoon members.
Mukuro
Mukuro was Koyuki's childhood friend and comrade back in their ninja village, but they were almost complete opposites. Koyuki was very carefree and friendly, while Mukuro was solitary and silent most of the time. When Mukuro tried to break free from her ninja customs and run away, Koyuki saved her from the punishment with her strong heart and loyalty to her. After being separated from each other when their village was permitted to go free, Koyuki never saw her old friend again, but at episode 98 of the anime, Mukuro walks past Koyuki and Natsumi, and smiles back at her, glad that she was still happy.