Kouhime

About
Princess Kou is the renowned beauty of the Oda House. She's a gentle and compassionate young girl that took the lead of the Oda house in place of her dead brother during the events of Sengoku Rance. She's technically the emperor of JAPAN now, since the Oda House unified the country of the sengoku era, but she isn't treated like the political leader of the country and is closer to being a united republic than an empire.

She grew very attached to Rance and is like a little sister to him, specially after her brother's death. Rance has a soft spot for her and is very protective, although that's a trait that many in the Oda House share. 3G in particular is very over-protective and caring for her.

She was born in the year GI1008 and her father died during The Great Youkai War but she doesn't remember much about it since she was just a newborn at that time. By Rance IX in the year LP0006 she's 14 years old.

Personality and Appearance
Kou is a very obedient and caring girl and is loved by many in the Oda House. She's a bit naive and curious as well, but that's probably due to her age. Many tend to avoid the subject when she's asking questions about things she doesn't know and is too young to be told about. She's very polite and is usually embarassed by her brother's or Rance's carefree attitude.

She deeply loved her brother and was very concerned about his health issues. When he ultimately passed away, she was very depressed and Rance helped her to get over the depression over time and ended up seeing Rance as a new brother figure.



She's always trying to be useful in any way she can and is very efficient and perfect in everything, to the point some are impressed by her skills despite her young age. However, she's a complete failure at cooking and has even gain some fame for how awful she's at it. There's an event in which Kikkawa Kiku, an expert cook from the Mouri House, tries to teach her how to cook profficiently and the result was an utter failure that even Kiku couldn't comprehend how it happened. Nobunaga claims that her Dango could kill people, although he was mostly joking when he said this. Kiku however, who's also a ninja and an assassin, seriously said that she does have talent for poisonous food, although Kou doesn't like that skill at all.

She doesn't like war and bloodshed but chooses to go to the frontlines, despite the complaints of 3G and Katsuie. She is a good friend with Kazemaru due to their close age and the similar trauma they experience.

Abilities


While most of her short life she wasn't concerned about fighting or getting stronger, after her brother body was possesed by Dark Lord Xavier, she became a soldier leading warriors from the Oda House in the front lines. She wields a JAPANese iron war fan and commands her troops, mostly for protection and defending allies. She has a Stategy Lv1 skill, which means that with time she will become a very capable leader and tactician.

Kou is not the aggresive type in combat and is mostly focused in protecting her companions and avoid as many casualties as possible. She has a cap of 40 and her current level is 10, since she was never training until recently. In battle, she has a heavy armored samurai clothing. She has Self-defense Lv2 and a Guard Lv1 skill, making her extremely proficient in defensive battles.

She also has a Lv1 skill in poison that, while it's usually used as a joke, is probably the source of her horrendous cooking skills.

Kou in Kichikuou Rance
In Kichikuou Rance, Kou was a completely different character. She was a 22 year old woman and Nobunaga was her father, rather than her brother. One of her hand was black and remained hidden with a glove. This is supposedly due to her father, Oda Nobunaga, being a Dark Lord. She is saddened by her father's cruelty, and wish to somehow lessen the sins of her father through her own actions.

Ever since she was little, she has been having dreams with a great white whale in it. When Rance sleeps with her, he sees the same dreams too.

She has long green hair and wears a kimono.

Much of her character design/settings got picked up by Kurohime in Sengoku Rance and the Oda Nobunaga was more or less retconned into Dark Lord Xavier.

Trivia

 * Kou is probably a reference to Oichi/Ichi (お市) who is also the younger sister of infamous Oda Nobunaga (a hint about her affection for Shibata Katsuie). See Oichi.
 * Kou is also probably a reference to Gou/Ogou (江/お江), the 3rd daughter of Oichi. "Kou" is another pronunciation of the kanji "江".