Hentai Character Spotlight - Sutra from Twin Angels

CHARACTER: Sutra (スートラ)

CHARACTER DESIGNER: Rin Shin (りん しん)
J-TITLE: 淫獣聖戦XX (eps 1, 2, 3, 4)
TITLE: Twin Angels (vols 3 & 4)
SEIYUU: Nagasawa Tomoko (永沢知子)
VOICE ACTRESS: Sonny Dey

ORIGINAL RELEASE: Jun 1997 thru Sept 1997
MY RATING: GODDESS

INTRODUCTION
I would imagine that the most difficult challenge in any hentai title is the creation of compelling and distinctively memorable characters. Challenges include: (i) creating an enchanting visual design while delicately balancing design complexity with "animate-ability", (ii) developing personalities and mannerisms that distinguish the characters and suit their appearance, (iii) finding talented, convincing, and fitting seiyuu to voice them, and (iv) providing gripping encounters and settings to allow the characters' sexualities to come alive. Not to discredit doujinshi artists, many of whom create magnificently detailed works, but most have it relatively easy from this standpoint since the characters they feature have already been designed and voiced in the official anime being parodied. By playing off of the reader's emotional attachment to these preexisting characters, many doujinshi artists never have to face the difficult challenge of creating and developing new ones.

One thing that greatly upsets me is when incredibly well-conceived original characters go unrecognized. Therefore, to bring much deserved attention to (and hopefully rekindle interest in) such characters, I present to you the first Hentai Character Spotlight.

THE "QUEEN OF SEDUCTION"

Sutra serves as a beautiful seductress in the Kijyu Demon Clan under the command of her master Tokihira. Augmented by her unique magical and sexual powers, her high level of combat agility and skilled swordplay firmly establish her as an especially versatile and powerful antagonist. Sutra is always in the company of her similarly-skilled male companion Kama with whom she enjoys a sensual and reciprocative sexual relationship.

The origin of her name (along with that of her companion) is from the Kama Sutra, an ancient Indian text on human sexuality. When disguised as a school student, though, she goes by the pseudonym Fujikado Miyako, with Miyako having the Japanese meaning "Beautiful Night Child"... a rather appropriate name given her exotic beauty, ebony skin, and demonic heritage.

CHARACTER DESIGN
Character designer Rin Shin went above and beyond the call of duty when he designed this lovely temptress. Her bewitching visual design is eye candy in its purest, most concentrated form... a downright fascinating display of harmonious colors and revealing attire. With ground-long silver ponytailed hair that contrasts wonderfully with her dark skin, she sports a simple red bra top that is thin enough to accentuate the perpetual hardness of her bright-pink nipples concealed underneath and small enough to highlight her otherwise bare upper torso. She wears a long orange/yellow sarong around her waist over which hangs a dual red pubic veil. Sutra's bright golden eyes match her golden accessories: a choker, bracelets around each wrist, anklets, and two hairbands. The only asymmetric aspects of her attire are the lack of a gold upper armband on her left arm and the manner in which the front of her sarong hangs from her left to her right. A red upside down question mark tattoo adorning her forehead symbolizes her unworldly descent.

Two aspects of Sutra's visual design, however, really stand out as being quite unique in the world of hentai. (i) Her lengthy twin payots (sidelocks) are looped around back and tied into the hairband that forms her ponytail, thereby creating a distinctive hair style that very few characters in anime possess. (ii) Although hentai characters forgoing panties is not uncommon, Sutra does so in an extremely sly manner, utilizing her sarong and veils to give the false appearance that she is fully clothed. As demon_kama (blog visitor and fellow Sutra enthusiast) points out, this allows her to effectively "go from zero to sex in less than a second," thereby allowing her to quickly employ skills that require immediate vaginal access. For example, the animation to the right shows how Sutra flaunts her nudity while dancing, shaking her hips to flip her veils up, thereby offering brief glimpses of her exposed vagina to her entranced seductees. Note that Sutra also goes panty-less when undercover as schoolgirl Miyako.

PECULIAR SWORD-FIGHTING TECHNIQUE
Favoring speed and adeptness over power, Sutra takes advantage of her superior dancing skills during combat, elegantly dodging and countering her opponents moves. Her one-handed sword features a spiraled handle with what appears to be a yellow belled geisha ball embedded in its tip. She uses the sword not only for combat but also for self pleasure by repeatedly inserting the tip of the handle (and hence the geisha ball) inside her. Note that the ball can apparently be removed, as evident during one sexual encounter in which she almost succeeds in inserting it into Mai's vagina.

The most intriguing aspect of her combat style, though, is the unorthodox manner in which she uses her sword in combat: she holds it by the bladed end while striking with the handle. Given the fact that she uses the handle as a masturbatory aid, I suspect her unique sword-holding style is intended to symbolize how she sees the handle as a physical extension of her own sexuality. By attacking with that which gives her pleasure, perhaps this is just her way of imbuing traditional combat with a degree of sensuality.

BEREFT OF ORGASM
Although Sutra is no stranger to sexual pleasure, perhaps the most bizarre fact about her portrayal is that not once is she shown reaching orgasm. For a character so prominently featured in eight sex scenes spanning four episodes to never show her o-face is simply unheard of in hentai. Note also how, on more than one occasion, Sutra appears to be completely lost in sexual passion one moment, only to immediately regain full composure moments later as she engages in combat. Does she have such a commanding control over her own sexuality and become so benumbed to pleasure over her years as a seductress that she can no longer reach the extreme height of orgasmic pleasure?

KINDRED DARK-SKINNED SPIRITS
Given the relative rarity of dark-skinned leading ladies in hentai, I suspect most fans are familiar with Angel Blade's Nailkaizer, a character highly regarded by many as the embodiment of hentai and who I feel is character designer Masami Obari's finest work. However, four years prior to Nailkaizer's domination, Sutra had already established herself as a truly compelling dark-skinned enchantress thanks to her prominent leading role in four episodes of the Twin Angels series. Based upon their number of similarities listed below, it would not surprise me if Obari-san's Nailkaizer was partially inspired by Shin-san's Sutra. Note especially how a number of these traits are uncommon in the hentai genre.

DESIGN - Their designs both involve dark skin, long silver hair, and panty-less attire. Nailkaizer's proportions and exotic avant-garde outfit that completely exposes her breasts and privates make Sutra's attire seem rather modest in comparison.

ROLE - Both characters serve as completely self-confident and sultry antagonists with loads of screen time spanning four or more episodes.

UNDERCOVER AGENTS - Both characters disguise their true identities as members of a local school... Sutra as gentle-speaking third-year student Miyako and Nailkaizer as professor Houjou.

LOYAL SERVANTS - Both Sutra and Nailkaizer loyally serve masters who ultimately see them as nothing more than instruments to achieve their own goals. Although Sutra's master Tokihira acknowledges her skills, he flat out calls her an "instrument" and issues commands that she obeys without question or hesitation. Compare this with Phantom Lady who, although she does share a physical relationship with Nailkaizer and claims that she loves her like a daughter, ultimately betrays and attempts to sacrifice her while trying to kill the protagonists... much to Nailkaizer's dismayed acquiescence (and upsetting departure from the series).

ROOFTOP MASTURBATION - Leave it to Sutra and Nailkaizer to be the only characters I know of to so audaciously showcase their assertive sexuality to the entire world by masturbating in plain sight on a rooftop... granted,with differing motivations. Sutra's rooftop masturbation scene serves to advance the plot by enhancing the surrounding area's sexual aura so as to open a large vaginal-shaped portal connecting the human and demon worlds. In contrast, Nailkaizer's scene simply involves her fawning over Angel Blade's inner strength from afar, masturbating solely out of need for sexual release which resultsin perhaps the most artistic animated ejaculation ever conceived.

SEXUAL COMBAT SKILLS - Immediately following its extension from her vagina, Nailkaizer's electrified penis is capable of incapacitating all nearby opponents in a bright flash of energy. Sutra, in addition to being able to transform herself into alluring guises of others, can employ multiple illusions of herself having sex that prompt intense stimulation in her opponents, confusing them so she can easily go in for the kill.

SEXUAL VERSATILITY - Sutra and Nailkaizer enjoy playing both dominant and submissive roles in their various sexual encounters. Whereas Nailkaizer only has sexual engagements with other females, Sutra is bisexual and capable of seducing both males and females alike.

CONSERVATIVE FUTANARI - Given the fact that Angel Blade's opening scene shows Nailkaizer flying through the air with three penises, she employs her skills as a futanari relatively sparingly. Sutra, on the other hand, is never shown as a futanari in the official Twin Angels anime. However, a published collection of fan comics does briefly portray her as one in a three page sequence that culminates in her ejaculating on Mai's face.

SWORDPLAY - Both are skilled in one-handed swordplay.

AIR GLIDING - Nailkaizer uses her wings to glide through the air whereas Sutra's superhuman abilities allow her to leap in high and far strides.

ANTICLIMACTIC SERIES DEPARTURES Although I am not a fan of long, drawn-out "dramatic" death scenes in any medium, I absolutely abhor the other extreme in which characters are simply abandoned anticlimactically when they still have so much more potential to enthrall the viewer. Nailkaizer's introspective depiction in the sequel Angel Blade Punish, with nightmarish flashbacks to her past and a solemn forlorn attitude that intriguingly contrasts with her previously confident and sexually outgoing personality in the original series, hints at what could have been an absolutely fascinating and dramatic character development for a hentai series. However, after being saved from Phantom Lady's betrayal, Nailkaizer is unaccountably never seen again (aside from in a brief angelic vision), leaving so many questions unanswered. Sutra's equally anticlimactic fate is described in the following section.

ALL GOOD THINGS...
SPOILER ALERT! Highlight the following text to reveal:
[With Sutra and Kama having established themselves as near-invincible antagonists in every direct confrontation, the "heroes" resort to a cowardly tactic in an attempt to slay them indirectly. While scouting for protagonists Ai and Mai, Kama and Sutra repeatedly leap high above the surrounding area, unaware that the "heroes" have magically enchanted a seemingly harmless bamboo grove. As they glide over the grove, an unseen force suddenly pulls Kama downwards, impaling him on a bamboo stalk that the "heroes" have sharpened to razor-tip points. In her first (and sadly last) act of selflessness, Sutra cries out for her beloved compatriot and descends, only to get ensnared herself. Completely helpless, she looks down in horror as the magical aura pulls her down bare-vagina-first onto another bamboo stalk. Her bloodcurdling scream amidst her full-body impalement, followed eerily by complete silence, is absolutely bone-chilling, and the gruesomely graphic frame pan that follows leaves little to the imagination... a most unbefitting end to one of the most beautiful and erotic animated characters ever conceived.]

A VICTIM OF CONTENT EDITING
A number of scenes in the third volume of the VHS and Region 1 DVD releases in which Sutra seduces Onimaru in his human form were edited to remove content deemed objectionable by Central Park Media. As one who despises all forms of content editing, I decided to purchase the original unedited Japanese R2 DVD to see Sutra in all her seductive glory. Although there was not as much "new" Sutra content as I had originally hoped for, it was most enjoyable, and I can go to my grave happy. ^_^

NONEXISTANT FAN FOLLOWING
When Twin Angels was released in 1997, the internet was still in its infancy and did not have the multitude of information, dedicated fan sites, image boards, and other mechanisms to share fandom that is so prevalent today. As a result, there are but a paltry handful of Sutra fan drawings out there. Sutra does play a role, albeit minor, in the collection of Twin Angels fancomics published by Anthology Comics in 2006. The fan artists do a wonderful job faithfully recreating her design.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Having bridged the gap between the hentai world and the real world by seducing this enthralled viewer, Sutra will forever remain one of my favorite hentai characters of all time and is easily Rin Shin's pièce de résistance.

Absolutely breathtaking visual design remains consistently detailed through all four of her episodes.

Extremely strong and confident personification of sexual desire and lust... To her, sex is no more significant than breathing air.

A classic evil villainess with highly adept combat and dancing skills.

An intentional covert lack of panties by design is a fascinating concept that more hentai character designers need to embrace.

No known personal motivations to support character depth or development. Never rises above the "blindly follow orders" servant role.

Number of sexual encounters: 8, Number or orgasms: Zero. Also, her stiffly animated breasts suffer from the same non-dynamic portrayal as those of all other females in Twin Angels... Where's Satoshi Urushihara when you need him?!

SPOILER!: [Suffers a humiliating, empty, and solitary death that completely dismisses her true abilities.]

Surprisingly omitted from Rin Shin's Character Illustrations Artbook, an extensive collection of his various character designs.

(I must say that it took FOREVER to splice together the two large full-body shots of Sutra I put together for this essay due to the show's annoying corner shadowing effect... but it was worth it!) Given how far the internet has advanced in the past twelve years and the vastly greater number of fan artists and doujinshi circles in existence today, I cannot help but wonder: If Twin Angels had been released in modern times, would fans have been more enthralled with Sutra's character? Would Sutra-themed fan art and doujinshi be prevalent? I sincerely hope this essay spawns more appreciation for this enchanting and sultry vixen of years long past. To those of you familiar with Sutra, do you agree or disagree with my various points in this essay? To those of you who never saw Twin Angels, did my essay prompt you to watch it, and if so, what did you think of her? If any visiting artists would care to do her character design justice with some fan art, I'd consider offering my doujinshi translation and/or editing services in return...