Nene

Nene (ねね) essentially replaces Kunoichi in Samurai Warriors 2 but has different techniques to separate herself from her. She is Hideyoshi's wife. She's symbolized by the words "protect" (護) and "charity" (慈).

Samurai Warriors
Nene is a maternal and cheerful woman who considers every character to be her child. Her three closest "children" are Kiyomasa Kato, Masanori Fukushima, and Mitsunari Ishida. She dearly loves Hideyoshi but isn't too fond of his cheating habits. She helps her husband conquer Japan and keeps him from seeing his courtesan, Chacha. She fights until Hideyoshi unites the land and makes a meal for her family.

In her dream stage, she goes out in the midst of Sekigahara to protect her husband's dream of a happy world. She delivers "spankings" to the naughty children on the Western and Eastern armies. Kobayakawa and Okuni help her out. When she wins the battle, Nene scolds both armies for not playing nice with one another.

Warriors Orochi
In Warriors Orochi, Nene leads her small but independent army of ninja. Using various covert abilities, she routinely defies Orochi. Though she gains the support of various ninja characters, excluding Goemon, her forces are defeated by Zhang Liao and Dong Zhuo. Determined to keep an eye on her new "children", she decides to join Wei.

Kessen
Though she doesn't make an onscreen appearance, Nene is mentioned during cutscenes in Kessen III. Nobunaga mentions her whenever he spots Hideyoshi acting unfaithful to her.

Development
Wanting to give Hideyoshi a personal support character, Nene was included by the staff. The director wanted to also explore her historical trait of treating Mitsunari as her child. Although Kunoichi was removed from the cast, he still wanted to include a female ninja so Nene was adapted for the position. Designers were originally looking to add "the cute mom" of the cast. She started as a darker character but changed when the staff wanted another heroine character. To some of the staff members, she is the good older sister type who always has a smile on her face. Her ninja techniques were made to add variety.

Voice Actors

 * Erin Agostino - Samurai Warriors 2 (English)
 * Wakana Yamazaki - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)

Quotes

 * "I'll show you what I can do!"
 * "Time for punishment!"
 * "You're going to get a spanking, you little brat!""
 * "This is great. I have both Japan and Nene. And that's everything I ever wanted."
 * "Darling, I knew you felt that way. That's why I fired all your courtesans."
 * (Hideyoshi spits out his food all over Mitsunari)
 * Nene and Hideyoshi; Samurai Warriors 2


 * "I want to be near you and make sure you're safe."
 * "Aw, that's sweet. So you're not just... keeping an eye on me?"
 * "Darling, do you think I'm here just because I'd kill you if I caught you with another woman? Don't be silly! I'd only break your arms and legs, that's all!"
 * Nene and Hideyoshi; SW2 Empires

Ground Attacks

 * undefined, (undefined): connects her blades together and sends them spinning out in front of her. Pressing the button once more splits the blades apart and they individually come back to her.
 * ,undefined,(undefined): knocks her foe up with her blades, spins upward to slice them up, and finishes by throwing a bomb down for her enemy's landing.
 * ,,undefined: a spinning kick that dizzies.
 * ,,,undefined,(undefined): flips upside down, connects her blades together, and kicks them so they circle around her.
 * ,,,,undefined: (Xtreme Legends only) slashes with her dagger and creates two replicas of herself.
 * ,,,,,,,:left and right slashes and alternating kicks that ends with a spinning handstand.
 * , : Like all nimble ninja type characters, she can double jump.
 * ,undefined: jumps down making a shockwave
 * ,: throws her daggers downward
 * stays in one spot and throws her connected blades in a designated direction. In her True Musou version, she'll finish the attack with a few swipes. In her level 3 version, three copies of her will mimic her. If she's on a horse, energy blasts will appear instead.


 * R1 +, , : Performs a few hand signals and creates a number of mirror images of herself that ghost her movements. The maximum number of copies she can make is three.
 * R1 + undefined, (undefined), (undefined): Nene spins and transforms into an enemy officer. The more button presses will increase the likelihood of turning into a nearby unique officer. If she turns into a unique officer, she'll gain her enemy's moveset but will not be able to do their R1 abilities. The effect wears off after a certain period of time or when she's hit by a powerful attack.

Warriors Orochi
Same attacks excluding her C5 and Level 3 Musou. Her R1 attacks have also changed:
 * R1: Slashes and makes replicas of herself.
 * Direction + R1: Nene lunges forward, grabs an enemy, and piledrives them into the ground.

Personal Info
Kotaiin was a kind and maternal woman. Those around her praised her elegance and wisdom though she was known to have been on bad terms with Hideyoshi's concubines (Yodo-dono in particular). She may have been good friends with Maeda Matsu, Maeda Toshiie's wife. She didn't always agree with her husband's actions as she openly chastised his fickle nature regarding Kobayakawa Hideaki's hastily dismissed adoption. She took pity on him and acted as his surrogate mother. Other people who thought her as their mother were Fukushima Masanori and Kato Kiyomasa.

Her marriage to Hideyoshi is believed to have been one made through convenience since neither started with mass wealth or high status. Though they apparently loved one another, their marriage was pretty rocky. The main clue to suggest as much was through a letter written by Oda Nobunaga. He was uncharacteristically polite and intimate, wishing to encourage her to remain steadfast. In the letter, he wrote:

"...It has been quite sometime since I last saw you, but your beauty grows day by day. Tokichiro (Hideyoshi) complains about you constantly and it is outrageous. While that "bald rat" (Hideyoshi) flusters to find another good woman, you remain lofty and elegant. Do not be envious. Show Hideyoshi this letter..."

Despite any difficulties they may have experienced, she shared her husband's pride when they rose from rags to riches. Unlike her husband, she did not get to enjoy her family's power since Hideyoshi pushed her into the background. His fascination with Yodo-dono is believed to be the cause. Though she never converted to Christianity, she cared for the Jesuits in Japan. Luís Fróis wrote that she acted with the presence of a pagan's wife and referred to her as "Queen".

Other Names
Nene (寧々) is suggested to be Koatiin's given name before she became a nun. In contemporary times, it is written in hiragana for simplicity. Several sources also argue that her name was usually shortened as Ne, O-ne, or Nei. "Ne" or "O-Ne" can be spelled as 「おね」 or 「祢」. "Nei" is written as 「寧」, 「寧子」, 「子為」 or 「ねい」. She also had a name privately given to her by Hideyoshi when they got married.

When she rose in higher political status, records state that she became Kita no Mandokuro (北政所). It remains unclear if she was called this name during her lifetime.