Naoe Ai

About
Naoe Ai was the previous of the Uesugi House, as well as the main administrator of its political affairs. The Uesugi was among the most powerful Houses during the 4th Warring States Period of JAPAN, governing the territories of Sado and MAZO. She held an extremely important position for the Uesugi, managing most of the political and economycal affairs of the territories the powerful House controlled at the time, as well as being the personal advisor of the Head of the clan Uesugi Kenshin.

She makes appearance during the events of Sengoku Rance. In the first battle event of Uesugi against Takeda, Ai is shown as the tactician of their army. With her perception, she is able to escort Kenshin into safety before all of the key commanders of Takeda return to aid Shingen.

Ai is the first one to notice Kenshin's affection toward Rance, as she revealed it to her immediately after her battle with the brutish warrior. While she is actually against it, she feels it's quite common for girls around Kenshin's age to fall in love, although she still cannot understand why it has to be Oda's foreigner. To make Kenshin forgets about Rance, Ai arranged some marriage meetings for Kenshin, though it doesn't end well due to Kenshin's obliviousness.

During Kensei's treachery, Ai volunteers her body to be used by Kensei's sex-hungry underlings in order to protect Kenshin. The torment ended by Rance's initiative to attack at Uesugi Castle directly, thus freeing Kenshin and Ai from their imprisonment. Following the fall of Uesugi, Ai can be recruited if Rance recruits Kenshin beforehand.

There is one gag event featuring Ai and Magic, which indicates that they seem to develop a grudge toward each other. Ai believes Magic, the next Zeth's king, and also Kenshin's rival in love, should fall in love with someone in an appropriate position instead of Rance; while Magic does think Ai as a hindrance considering she is Kenshin's personal advisor. But in the end, none of them could say anything aside from casual greetings.

If Shimazu Kazuhisa is recruited, he will begin to pursue her, where they prove to have quite a lot of chemistry with each other. If her affection is not at love by that point, she'll quit being a general and combine her unit with Kazuhisa's, but if it is she'll reject him in favor of Rance.

In the Sengoku Rance Epilogue, Ai was briefly mentioned by 3G, reporting that she found one of three divine items, the Emperor Sword, at the mountains of Sadokinzan.

Personality and Appearance
She is said to be very perceptive, considerate, and level-headed. With her contributions, the Uesugi House has been able to get through all sorts of demanding and critical situations.

Despite of her main position as the personal advisor of Kenshin, the relation between them is more like a mother and daughter, with Ai being the former. While she is aware of the fact that Kenshin is someone whom people throughout JAPAN respected for her prowess in combat, Ai does see Kenshin more as a naive child who needs protection and care.

Abilities
Ai's hobby is cooking, and she is very good at it. It appears that she developed that hobby of hers in order to satisfy Kenshin's abnormal appetite.

Trivia

 * She is inspired by the historical figure Naoe Kanetsugu, who was a famous retainer of the historical Uesugi House, and was known for his loyalty and strategic talent. On the helm of Naoe Kanetsugu is a big kanji for Ai (愛), which is how the AliceSoft character's name came to be.