Despite Being Okay For First Game, Team Ninja Censors Fuku’s Omnyo Mage Outfit In ‘Nioh 3’
In offering definitive proof that the Dead or Alive studio has long since abandoned its founding identity, Team Ninja has censored Fuku’s standard outfit, as originally worn by the mage without any issue in the series’ debut, for her return in Nioh 3.
Making the acquaintance of series protagonist William Adams in the first Nioh, the game’s fictional depiction of the historical Japanese figure Saito Fuku is presented as a retainer to the famed samurai general Akechi Mitsuhide, her station having been earned by employing her mastery of the Onmyo magic system in assistance of the Tokugawa Ieyasu’s forces during the Battle of Sekigahara.
First crossing paths with Adams in the immediate aftermath of his early victory over her familiar, the Japanese chimera Nue, and proceeding to offer him continued assistance over the course of his hunt for Edward Kelley, Fuku did not appear in Nioh 2 due to being newly born at the time of its prequel story.
However, with the issuing of Nioh 3 preview copies ahead of the game’s fast-approaching release date, the fan-favorite mage was soon discovered to make her highly-demanded return therein, having put her life on the field behind in her service of taking care of and passing down her skills to the threequel’s protagonist, Tokugawa Takechiyo.
Unfortunately, as is the case with a depressing, ever-growing amount of IPs who are fortunate to receive current-day productions, Fuku’s barely skin-showing design did not survive her nine-year sabbatical.
In her original appearance, as seen above, Fuku is depicted wearing an all-black set of Edo-period Shinto priest vestments, her arms, upper rib cage, and thighs tastefully visible through specifically cut-out fabric windows in her uniform.
But in Nioh 3, the outfit now completely covers the Omnyo mage’s upper body with its inner robe, while her legs have been hit with the usual ‘black bodysuit/leggings’ censorship treatment.
Sadly, this is far from the first time Team Ninja has applied unnecessary censorship to a previously-approved-and-non-controversial-outside-of-performative-circles character outfit.
For last year’s Ninja Gaiden 2 Black remaster of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, although they walked back a previous ‘black bodysuit’ application to its appearance, the studio still extended the demonic wrappings that comprise Rachel’s unlockable ‘Fiend’ outfit to cover more skin, particularly above her crotch and on her breasts, than its original form.
While Team Ninja has not offered any public explanation as to why they chose to cover up Fuku’s design, a prominent point of speculation suggests that Japan’s CERO ratings board, whose historically-held sensitivity to ‘sexual content’ has only gotten worse in recent years, may have played a part in her wardrobe change.
Regardless of why it was applied, that any censorship exists in Nioh 3 is an pointed mark against the world’s ongoing puritanical turn.
