Nazuna Hiwatashi

Nazuna Hiwatashi is one of the main characters in the BNA: Brand New Animal series. She was formerly a high school student and is the best friend of Michiru Kagemori. As the former second Ginrou, she was once the guru Déesse Louve of the Silver Wolf Order. Originally, Nazuna was a human girl with fair skin, red eyes, and long, orange hair with a red bang down her forehead. She wore a school uniform consisting of a knee-length navy skirt, white collared shirt with a light blue bow tie, white socks, and black loafers. Following her accident, Nazuna transforms into a Kitsune Beastman. Her hair turns pink, she grows long pink fox-like ears that are the same colour as her hair, and her red bang becomes dark pink. Above her nose, her fur turns pink, and below it, it turns white. While acting as Déesse Louve, Nazuna uses her shapeshifting powers to appear as a Silver Wolf Beast man. In this form, her hair is white with pink accents, her fur is pale teal, and her snout is longer compared to her kitsune form. Her cult outfit consists of a white-and-teal cloak patterned with four-pointed stars, elbow-length white gloves, and tall white boots. Her tail is pink and concealed by the cloak. Nazuna's human form has changed post-transformation. Her hair is now white and her bang is now pink. She wears a light bluish-gray hoodie, a pair of slim black sweatpants, and pink leg warmers when not acting as Déesse Louve. Before her transformation, Nazuna was dedicated to Michiru and passionate about her dream of becoming an idol. Not much dialogue was shown onscreen during flashbacks, but it can be inferred that she is a kind and positive character. Yet in comparison to Michiru, she appears to be coyer, slightly more girly and passive than Michiru, and therefore might be envious of Michiru's brimming friendliness. When Nazuna meets Michiru again for the first time after her transformation, acts distant and impersonal in order to create her 'godly' persona. At first, Nazuna pretends not to know her as part of hiding her human origins from the regular members of the Silver Wolf Order. But after finding an excuse to get Michiru alone, Nazuna reveals her true old self. She is glad to reunite with her old friend, even taking Michiru and running away from the order without telling anyone where she's going. When Michiru expresses embarrassment about being just a tanuki and not even something as exotic as a racoon while Nazuna is the Silver Wolf, Nazuna tries to reassure her friend by revealing she's not really the Silver Wolf or even a wolf, but just a fox. Nonetheless, after Michiru mentions finding a cure for their condition, and keeps insisting that Nazuna leave the Silver Wolf Order, Nazuna becomes more closed-off and hostile. It seemed that becoming a singing celebrity or a religious figurehead made her arrogant and power-hungry. However, when Michiru claimed to have no friend by the name of Déesse Louve, threw away the cult's medallion, and ran away, Nazuna remained standing still where Michiru left her even after she was gone. The camera conspicuously does not show Nazuna's face, thus hiding the extent of how Michiru's rejection impacted her. Though Nazuna remained willing to stay on friendly terms with Michiru, their friendship was no longer her first priority, and Nazuna had little regard for Michiru's feelings. She very clinically accused Michiru of pitying others to stoke her own ego, and of getting unfairly upset when others refused to have Michiru's values imposed upon them. Furthermore, Nazuna didn't seem to have a moral problem with impersonating a god. She completely rationalized the cult's mentality and believed that providing Anima City with false hope was the right thing to do. She wanted to provide hope and solace to the cultists and citizens who all felt restless about the world. Nazuna's attitude towards Michiru changes radically after Alan finally reveals the secret of Nyrvasyl Syndrome to her, as well as how he's actually been cooperating with Boris and Nazuna behind the scenes from the beginning as part of a plan to save Anima City from self-destruction. Since this plan always involved Nazuna revealing her true human origins to the city and accepting the cure for her beastman condition, it reveals that Nazuna's motivation for becoming an idol by pretending to be the Silver Wolf was always for the purpose of helping others, with her own gratification being a perk rather than the point. At first, she appears to still be unwilling to compromise her position as the cult's founder, but ultimately breaks herself free from Boris' control, finally regaining her own free will to make her own decisions. She even cheerfully tells Michiru that now she has no more secrets from her, and the two of them become close again.