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"It's hard to look bad-ass when you're using fairy powers."
—Nanase[7]

Nanase Kitsune (狐 七瀬 Kitsune Nanase?) is a powerful seventeen-year-old female martial artist and novice magic user. She likes to read, and has a tendency to go for long periods without saying much of anything, before having plenty to say. She is a strong-willed character, although her mettle was tested when she realized that she was a lesbian. She was in the closet to everyone except her close friends and her girlfriend Ellen until her mother walked in on her and Ellen kissing during the last storyline of the Sister II story arc. Mrs. Kitsune appeared to be accepting of this but, to Nanase's annoyance and anger, said it was just a phase.

During Sister II, Nanase underwent a large change in her personal appearance, cutting her hair short, to rebel against her mother. Her hair also turned black with dark red highlights after she went "Angel" and burned out her magic for an indefinite period of time. Her hair grew long again in an impossibly short amount of time, apparently as a side-effect of her being burnt-out. Nanase's hair has been cut again after she visited Tedd during Summer , though it is not as short as it was when she first cut it during Sister II it is only to her collarbone .

History

Sister 2 Nanase

Nanase's traditional appearance, before her haircut and magic burn-out.

Before comics

There are two important parts of Nanase's life from before she first appeared in comics, although it isn't clear which was first, or whether they were at about the same time.

One is the Trip to France, where she met Susan and was awakened by French Immortals.[8]

The other is her dating a large number of men during school, unable to find the right one. One of them, Gerald, commented on her date with Ellen with "You were bound to run out of men in this school eventually."[9]

Breaking up with Elliot

Nanase first appeared in the comic when Elliot took Sarah to see the ASMA Dojo. She and Elliot had a sparring match to show Sarah what the ASMA dojo was like. When the fight was over, Nanase kissed Elliot, like she did at the end of all their fights, and then realized the Elliot was using her so he could reject Sarah's feelings without having to talk to her. After Sarah ran out, Nanase confronted Elliot about the incident and slapped him for being so cowardly. Nanase then broke up with Elliot[10] because she knew he loved Sarah, and they were hardly serious in their dating (in fact, they were little more than friends with minor benefits). Justin later commented that perhaps Nanase broke up with Elliot because men were not for her, but Nanase angrily denied it.

Meeting Ellen

It feels a little unfair to Nanase, but it seems that the rest of her life is defined by her relationship with Ellen.

Near the end of Sister, Susan called Nanase so she could help fight the goo monster. When Nanase arrived Susan quickly explained what was happening; Nanase then sent her colour clones to distract the goo while she got Ellen to safety. After explaining to Ellen that she was not going to die, the goo incapacitated her for the remainder of the fight. Once the fight was over and everyone was back at Tedd’s house, Elliot elected her to talk to Ellen and make sure she was all right. After a touching heart to heart, Nanase managed to convince her that everything was all right.[11]

The next day, Nanase went to visit Justin at the comic book shop, and was shown to be a quite popular person. While there, Justin sensed that Melissa was coming, and Nanase volunteered to pretend to work there while Justin hid. After Melissa left, Nanase spent the rest of the day with Justin.

Struggles with Ellen

During the events of Night Out, Nanase sent her fairy doll to invite Ellen to go see some movies with Justin and herself; that night she went with Ellen and Justin to go pick a movie form the movie store; while there, they bumped into Susan, and the group decided to go see movies at Susan’s house. All that time, we see signs of Nanase having feelings for Ellen.[12][13][14] While at Susan’s house, Nanase decided to talk to Susan about those feelings, which she thought were because of Ellen's pheromones. Susan revealed that Ellen did not have pheromones and Nanase's feelings were real; Nanase did not take this well, and used her fairy doll form to escape to Elliot’s house.[15] After having a talk with Elliot, she returns to her body and spent the rest of the night watching movies.

During the Events of Painted Black, Nanase went with Ellen and Grace to rescue Elliot from Damien. After sneaking in her fairy form with Grace, she was forced to return when Vlad found them and attacked. She later led Ellen to The Nest and managed to find Elliot. While there, she fought with Vlad, but was defeated by his sonic shriek.[16] Nanase returned to her fairy doll form and led a team sent by Tedd’s father to the nest.

During the events of Grace’s party, Nanase planned to use her male form as an excuse to be attracted to Ellen without raising eyebrows, but after thinking it through, she realized that the plan might not work. After becoming a man, her first act was to lift a now female Justin off the ground. Once everyone had had their genders changed, Ellen ranted to Nanase about how Sarah complained. Nanase hugged Ellen to comfort her and said she would be there for her. Later Nanase confronted her feelings about Ellen to her, and by the end of the party they were officially a couple.[17]

Dating Ellen

During the events of Sister II, when Abraham came to kill Ellen, Nanase fought him to protect Ellen. She gained a new, non-sneaking spell directly due to her actions - guardian form.[18]

The use of guardian form always causes a magical burnout, which includes temporary loss of ability to use magic and often is accompanied by hair or eye color change, in Nanase case her hair turning back. Due to her being already close to burnout from other spells, her burnout was more severe than normally, expected to take months instead of usuall day.[19]

When lying in hospital, her mother caught her kissing with Ellen. She called it "just a phase" but apparently wasn't too annoyed by it.[20]

During the events of the second part of Hammerchlorians, Nanase was called by Susan after Susan had summoned a fairy doll. Nanase said it was likely running off Susan's subconscious similar to how Nanase's Fox summon did.[21]

During the events of the first part of New and Old flames, Nanase learned that Greg was closing the dojo due to lack of students, and suggested he hire a marketing consultant if he opens another dojo. Nanase was sad that she couldn't use her magic and couldn't make a comeback at the dojo when she got her magic back.

During the events of the One Way Road storyline, Nanase revealed not only a new outfit, but she also revealed her new, long hairstyle. Nanase made plans with Ellen to have another date, but they were interrupted by Gerald. Grace appeared and needed relationship advice, leading to a double date with Nanase and Ellen being proposed. Nanase tried to get out of it but, could not resist Grace's puppy dog stare. After Grace left, Nanase said she really didn't really know much about Tedd other than the fact that he was weird and her mom treated him like a sad lost puppy. The next day at Salty Crackers, Nanase complained, much to Justin's surprise, that Ellen did not care about the men that Nanase had dated. She believed that should have wanted to club all the exes and claim Nanase as hers. At home, Mrs. Kitsune asked Nanase if she would be home for dinner the following night, or if she was going on another play date with Ellen. Nanase insisted it was a real date, and that she would be going a on double date with Grace and Tedd. After her mom interrogated her about Tedd's girlfriend, Nanase said that she was very nice and a friend of hers. Mrs. Kitsune told Nanase that she had to look after her little cousin. When Nanase said she was barely older than he was, Mrs. Kitsune said that Nanase knew more about relationships than Tedd, so she must help him. When Nanase argued, Mrs. Kitsune said she would cancel pizza night if Nanase didn't promise. Nanase then said that her wisdom was his.[22]

On the night of the date, Nanase and Ellen drove up to the Verres house, but stayed in the car for a while to kiss before they picked up Grace and Tedd. While at the restaurant, Nanase apologized for picking a restaurant where one of her ex-boyfriends, Gary, worked. At the bowling alley, Nanase overheard Ellen talking about looking towards the future and not dwelling on the past. Gerald showed up to mock Nanase again, but he backed down when Tedd yelled at him while the girls stood menacingly.

During the There be Whales Here, they started solving mysteries as Meddling Teenagers.

In Family Tree, after solving a mystery, Nanase and Ellen get invited to a part by Rhea, a college student. Nanase drives Ellen to the party in a car which looks like it might be a Chrysler PT Cruiser, the same make and model that Diane will drive later in So a Date at the Mall. At the party, they find out that Diane is Rhea's adopted sister, and they meet Charlotte, who is the person who told Rhea that Ellen and Nanase might solve the mystery of the haunted locker room. The party is turned into a trap by a magical enemy (Not-Tengu) who has targeted Nanase as part of his revenge on her Aunt Noriko (Tedd's mother.) With Ellen's help, Nanase defeats not-Tengu.[23] But Diane and Charlotte now know about Nanase's and Ellen's powers.

In Playing With Dolls, Nanase find out that Tedd's basement is full of temptation.[24] She experiments with height change,[25] creates several dolls for Susan[26] and gets watches[27][28] she certainly plans to show to Ellen later.

Nanase's next appearance is in So a Date at the Mall, when she returns to Charlotte (and Rhea's) place with Diane, ostensibly to solve another mystery, but really to be with Ellen some place away from Elliot while he's on a date (or possibly keep Diane away). But the mystery pulls Nanase in after all: The mystery figure they are searching for turns out to be two griffins - Dame Tara and Andrea - and after Elliot and Ashley meet Dame Tara they join them and help them find Andrea. In the process, Nanase has been told she has royal blood,[29] has spilled the secret that Diane is Susan's sister to Elliot and Ashley and found that Cheerleadra needs to be contacted differently than Elliot.[30] And found that there is another half of their Universe.[31]

Relationships

Elliot

Nanase began dating Elliot some time before the The Goo story line; however, she left him once she realized his feelings for Sarah.[10] She didn't seem upset when leaving him, and later explained to have felt no physical attraction to him while they were dating, describing it as friends with benefits. The two of them remain friends, and trained at the Anime Style Martial Arts Dojo together until it closed.

Tedd

Nanase and Tedd are cousins, but they don't seem to be very close. She seems to have little to no interest in Tedd, and it currently appears that his feelings are mutual, as he commonly calls her his "ugly cousin".

Justin

Nanase often hangs out with Justin in the comic shop where he works. He occasionally teased her that she might be gay (something he felt he had rights to do without insulting her since he is gay), something that she (ironically) got mad about on multiple occasions prior to the Night Out story arc, when she realized that she was indeed a lesbian.

Ellen

During Ellen's battle with the Goo, Nanase was able to calm her down (because, due to Elliot's memories, Ellen remembered dating Nanase) and explain to her that she wasn't going to die.

After Ellen joined the regular cast, Nanase began to feel attracted to her, chalking it up to Ellen's permanent V5 status. After learning that Ellen had no V5 pheromones, Nanase realized that she really was a lesbian. This made her uncomfortable around Ellen until the Grace's Birthday Party arc, when she came out to her friends and confessed her feelings to Ellen. The Ellen/Nanase shippers rejoiced. The two began dating in secret to avoid the disapproval of Nanase's mother.

During the climax of the Sister II arc, Nanase attempted to protect Ellen from Abraham, ultimately learning a powerful new spell, nearly dying, and temporarily burning out her magic in the process. Shortly after Nanase woke up, the two shared a kiss. They were caught by Nanase's mother, who elected to tolerate what was happening.[20] The two now date openly.

Note that their figure is similar enough they can wear each other clothes.[32][33][34][35]

Susan

Susan was the one who revealed to Nanase that Ellen had no V5 abilities and therefore was also the person who helped her to realize her true orientation. It was later revealed during the Hammerchlorians story line that their friendship went back to the trip to France, where they worked together to kill the aberration. Susan suspected Nanase was a lesbian due to the fact that Nanase was immune to mesmerization by the aberration, but Nanase denied it until Night Out.[36]

Sarah

Nanase first met Sarah at the ASMA Dojo and, after seeing Sarah's reaction to her kissing Elliot, broke up with Elliot so he could be with Sarah.

Grace

Nanase first met Grace at Moperville North when they fought the goo. Grace saved both her and Ellen that day, which made Nanase grateful for her presence there. Later, after the Painted Black arc, Nanase and Grace were able to sympathize with each other, as they both had recently underwent personal revelations.

Mrs. Kitsune

Mrs. Kitsune is Nanase's mother. Nanase would always disguise what she was wearing from her mother by wearing large floppy clothing over the top, as her mother apparently wouldn't approve of her choice of outfits. Recently, Nanase has confessed to her about what she really wears, which made Mrs. Kitsune apparently less angry than Nanase thought she would be.[37] Mrs. Kitsune still forces Nanase's nose to the grindstone with her studies, despite apparently intending her to grow up to be a housewife. When Nanase was caught kissing Ellen, Mrs. Kitsune appeared to be accepting of her, though saying it was only a phase. Mrs. Kitsune apparently knows more than what she lets on to her daughter.[38]

It's possible Mrs. Kitsune still drops hints she don't expect the relationship to last,[39] on the other hand maybe Nanase just misestimates her reaction again.

Mrs. Kitsune things Nanase's abilities are ideal for babysitter[40] or homemaker.[41]

Akiko

Nanase has a good relationship with her sister. Akiko gave her cookies when her mother forbade it, and Nanase takes babysitting Akiko very seriously. Akiko says she wants to be a lesbian like her sister, but she is probably unaware of what that truly means, as she is only 8 years old.

Diane

Since Nanase became convinced that Diane was Susan's sister, Nanase has felt an obligation to protect her. Possibly this is magnified by guilt; Nanase treated Diane as a pest for most of the time they have known one another.

Abilities

Magic

Nanase experienced her Awakening while in France with Susan as the result of Immortal intervention, which gave her access to her magic spells. Sensei Greg described her as the most powerful fighter in the Dojo next to himself.

Anime Style Martial Arts

  • Strength and Movement: Thanks to her martial arts training, Nanase possesses unnatural strength and is capable of quick and physics-defying movement.[42][43]
  • Illusions: Nanase can disguise herself with an illusion that changes how people around her perceive her.[44] She can also make her hands and/or body glow in order to make herself look cool.[45] This, too, is part of ASMA training.[46]
Multicolor Illusion
  • Multi-Color Technique: Also known as "Mahoh no Supekutoru" (魔法のスペクトル Mahō no Supekutoru?, Magical Spectrum), a technique mastered by Nanase, which may[47] or may not[48] be an actual spell. It allows her to create illusions of herself while in battle. The illusory duplicates are intangible and disappear in a puff of smoke upon contact, existing for the sole purpose of distracting or confusing an enemy.[49] Three of them can be created each in one of the colors of red, green, or blue. Nanase herself is colored whatever the complementary color to the active color or colors is, allowing her to pretend to be one of her illusory duplicates when two of them are active.[50] Each color is associated with a particular personality:
    • Green - playful
    • Blue - "crybaby"
    • Red - violent

Spells

Nanase is currently learning more spells as she becomes more adept with magic.[51]

  • Flight: Nanase is capable of magical flight,[10] which gives her the aerial advantage when fighting.[52] Glowing is an optional part of the flight spell. At one point, she used the spell in the presence of a Physics teacher, much to said teacher's chagrin.[53] And based on Diane's comment, it probably wasn't only time she was "floating around" in school.[54]
  • Fairy Doll:
    Nanase in fairy doll form discusses the spell with Grace.
    If Nanase is familiar with a person and their location, she is able to create a miniature fairy doll of herself near them to communicate.[55] She is able to leave a trail of glitter in doll form. She retains her fighting abilities whilst in doll form; however, her physical strength is scaled down accordingly (unless she is casting Fae Punch, which is a spell isolated to the fairy dolls: it is a short-ranged projection of a standard punch, but it's HER standard strong-by-training punch, so it's tough).
Main article: Nanase's Fairy Doll
  • Visibility spell: Nanase can temporary sense how many people can see her and how many are looking.[51] Note that the spell actually isn't limited to people: Nanase suspect that it counts even animals,[56] although it's also possible it detected Magus.
  • Seeing her body when Fairy: As upgrade of fairy doll spell, Nanase can watch her real body using a crystal ball substitute.[57] She has done so using a marble, but it is unclear what constitutes a "crystal ball" under the conditions of the spell.


  • Clothing Exchange:
    A diagram explaining how the clothing exchange functions
    Nanase's Clothing Exchange spell is capable of "trading" any piece of clothing Nanase is wearing for another piece, as long as she knows where the traded clothing is located. The spell also produces a gust of wind, even indoors.[58]
  • Decoy Summon:
    An early test of directly controlling Fox
    Nanase is capable of summoning a duplicate of herself, which she has nicknamed Fox.[59] Fox's personality is based on whatever emotion Nanase was feeling when she summoned her. Nanase is also capable of controlling Fox directly, although she has said there is "a steep learning curve" to avoiding Fox speaking Nanase's thoughts aloud, or toppling down stairs. Nanase used Fox for its original purpose when fighting Abraham,[60] however it seems she found other uses as well.[61] Fox can beat Nanase in Mario Kart, which Diane and Charlotte had interesting explanations of ... unless it was just luck.[62]
  • Hair Transformation: The hair transformation spell is capable of instantly changing Nanase's hair length, color and style.[63]
  • Fae Punch: As upgrade of fairy doll spell, Nanase can project burst of kinetic energy from fairy (or something like that). In her own words: "short range, no stronger than a punch ... but they're my punches".[64]
  • Guardian Angel: Due to Nanase's acts of passion and self-sacrifice against Abraham in the Sister II arc, she gained this new spell.[65] Through it, Nanase manifests with an angel-like appearance, with large feathered wings and tail-like appendages that can deflect blows,[66] and with her whole body seemingly glowing white.[67] It is apparently very powerful, but since the only person she has used it against solo is an utterly incompetent mage it is unknown what the full extent of this form's power is. Based on Charlotte's research, the spell is variant of guardian form.
  • Fairy clothes choice Originally, the newly created fairy always wore the same outfit when it first appeared—a weird pink full body suit. Nanase has learned to choose different outfits for the first appearance.[68] It still needs to be "simple", but Tedd didn't explain what that means... while her spell book is likely to explain it in too much detail. It is noteworthy that Nanase didn't notice this upgrade despite otherwise keeping attention on her spellbook.

Quotes

"Oh... Yay... It's up to me to keep Ellen from going totally insane... Yee..."
EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-01-14
"Dammit, what do you say to the female duplicate of your ex-boyfriend who is hiding under the table and crying?"
EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-01-16
"That is not true! I do not rant wildly! If I rant, I do so with good reason! Like that time after I skipped lunch when they showed that movie on igneous rocks in chemistry class? I had every reason to rant! Why would you schedule such a boring movie right after a lunch period, and why would you show a movie about rocks in a chemistry class?! Maybe it had a point. I don’t know. I fell asleep. But still, it seemed really out of place to me. I think…"
EGS Main Story Comic for 2006-01-20
"Love makes Neanderthals of us all. At least, it is supposed to"
EGS Main Story Comic for 2011-08-16

Trivia

  • Nanase was named after the Japanese musician Nanase Aikawa (相川 七瀬 Aikawa Nanase?).[69]
    • Assuming that Nanase's given name uses the same spelling as the musician's, the Kanji actually mean "seven rapids".[70][71]
  • Nanase's surname, Kitsune, is Japanese for "fox".[72]
  • Nanase was originally intended for a different webcomic.[73][74]
  • Nanase thinks coffee is bad for her, even when sleepy on Friday morning[75]
  • Nanase has dated 4 known men before she dated Ellen (Elliot, Gerald,[76] Gary,[77] Grant[78])
  • Nanase is a Lipstick Lesbian.
  • Nanase doesn't think she would enjoy playing basketball.[4][79]

Nanase Over Time

Nanase's spells

Nanase Non Canon

References

  1. EGS legacy background #0012 ("Word")
  2. EGS Sketchbook Comic for 2002-07-03 ("Super-Happy-Gonna-Get-Hit-By-a-Hammer Filler Comic") (Elliot's and Grace's suits match their confirmed auras, Tedd's matches her all-but confirmed aura and Sarah's corresponds to a lightening of her whisper colour (which is normally a darkening of the aura colour). This leaves Nanase.)
  3. Post on original 910CMX Forum, global post ID #361020
  4. 4.0 4.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2010-09-01
  5. EGS Sketchbook Comic for 2012-01-13
  6. EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-12-03 ("Intro to South: While it may appeal to some of you, we can't have Nanase under lock and key")
  7. EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-02-18
  8. EGS Main Story Comic for 2010-05-26
  9. EGS Main Story Comic for 2011-08-02
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 EGS Main Story Comic for 2002-05-03
  11. EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-01-23
  12. EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-05-01
  13. EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-06-11
  14. EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-07-17
  15. EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-07-25
  16. EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-04-09
  17. EGS Main Story Comic for 2006-09-29
  18. EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-10-03
  19. EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-11-24
  20. 20.0 20.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2010-01-11
  21. EGS Main Story Comic for 2010-06-04
  22. EGS Main Story Comic for 2011-08-19
  23. EGS Main Story Comic for 2013-08-06
  24. EGS:NP Comic for 2014-09-05
  25. EGS:NP Comic for 2014-10-01
  26. EGS:NP Comic for 2015-01-05
  27. EGS:NP Comic for 2014-08-25
  28. EGS:NP Comic for 2014-11-12
  29. EGS Main Story Comic for 2015-11-16
  30. EGS Main Story Comic for 2016-03-09
  31. EGS Main Story Comic for 2016-03-16
  32. EGS Main Story Comic for 2010-09-06
  33. EGS Main Story Comic for 2010-09-15
  34. EGS:NP Comic for 2015-10-23
  35. EGS Main Story Comic for 2008-06-25
  36. EGS Main Story Comic for 2010-05-28
  37. EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-03-28
  38. EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-12-01 ("Secrets, Secrets And More Secrets")
  39. EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-02-29
  40. EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-03-13
  41. EGS Main Story Comic for 2007-03-13
  42. EGS Main Story Comic for 2002-04-14 ("Nanase VS Elliot")
  43. EGS Main Story Comic for 2002-04-15 ("Nanase VS Elliot, Part I")
  44. EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-03-10 ("Melissa the Menace")
  45. EGS Main Story Comic for 2011-07-20
  46. EGS Main Story Comic for 2011-07-20
  47. EGS Main Story Comic for 2013-07-23
  48. EGS Sketchbook Comic for 2010-08-19 ("[Notes on ASMA]")
  49. EGS Main Story Comic for 2002-04-16
  50. EGS Main Story Comic for 2002-11-18
  51. 51.0 51.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2007-01-31
  52. EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-04-02
  53. EGS Main Story Comic for 2005-04-19
  54. EGS Main Story Comic for 2013-06-27
  55. EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-05-02
  56. EGS Main Story Comic for 2008-06-23
  57. EGS Main Story Comic for 2007-03-22
  58. EGS Main Story Comic for 2008-06-23 ("Actually, in a World With Magic, Shrink Soda and Fairy Dolls...")
  59. EGS Main Story Comic for 2008-06-27
  60. EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-07-24
  61. EGS:NP Comic for 2014-08-06
  62. EGS Main Story Comic for 2015-07-17
  63. EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-04-14
  64. EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-09-15
  65. EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-10-03 ("One Last Spell")
  66. EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-10-14 ("Round Two")
  67. EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-10-09 ("Guardian Angel")
  68. EGS:NP Comic for 2015-01-12
  69. EGS Sketchbook Comic for 2003-02-26 ("Sketch Week #01, Part 3")
  70. 七 Wiktionary
  71. 瀬 Wiktionary
  72. 狐 Wiktionary
  73. http://webcomicbeacon.com/2008/08/22/episode-38/
  74. http://webcastbeacon.com/2008/08/22/webcomic-38-genderswap-or-transmorph-webcomics-w-dan-shive/
  75. EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-04-11
  76. EGS Main Story Comic for 2011-08-03
  77. EGS Main Story Comic for 2011-08-29
  78. EGS Main Story Comic for 2011-10-03
  79. EGS Sketchbook Comic for 2010-09-02
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