- Homura
It was a tough battle for first place, and I am thankful my personal favorite character made the top of this list as number 1! Considering I made a 25+ minute video about her though, I have quite a lot to write about her.
Homura was originally a Good Shinobi, and about to enter her first year of school when a certain event happened that changed her life forever. Because she faced a ton of pressure from her folks, she spent a ton of time with her tutor, grew to like him, and even confessed to him…just to find out he was an assassin sent to kill her family. However, when she cried, he took pleasure in watching her suffer. Something in her snapped and she damn near destroyed the man, basically having a rage equal to that of Wolverine minus the claws. Despite this impressive feat, she broke a number of rules and showed how unstable she was, and could not attend a Good Shinobi school. This caused her parents to disown her as well, leaving her only a sword she couldn’t even draw yet.
Fortunately, help arrived in the form of Suzune, who took her off the streets and into Hebijo, where she could be accepted, even though Homura beat the snot out of one of their members. From then on, she fought her way to the top, becoming the leader of the students and one of the Elites to boot. Because of her position and the event, she didn’t really see her team as true friends. There were occasions where she might have tried to help them have fun, or even comfort Mirai, but it was more of a job than anything else. This was proven true when Haruka started hanging out with Hibari, and Yomi befriended Ikaruga. Due to her trust issues, and the fact that her team seemed to be getting too friendly with the enemy, even going so far as to accept Hibari onto the team, Homura took action. In order to settle the matter, Dogen and Suzune agreed on a team of Homura, Hikage, and Mirai against Haruka, Yomi, and Hibari.
During the fight with Haruka, Homura overwhelmed Haruka to the point that Haruka just gave up. Yet it was through this hard fought battle that Homura realized she was mostly wrong about everything too. Rather than just leaving it to the power of friendship, as other series do, both Haruka and Homura agree that power and trust are just as important, convincing Homura to finally care more about her team. She was so dedicated to her friends that when she found out Dogen had planned to use them to summon up a monster called Orochi, she cut him in half without a second thought. And she even cut up Orochi from the inside while fighting her friends, whose minds were growing more and more corrupted by the demon.
But despite her victory, there was still something wrong: what the hell were they gonna do now? And this is the part of Homura’s character I especially found interesting, as she struggles with what to do, knowing she helped ruin any plans her teammates had for the future. In fact, she was willing to keep going on solo so long as they were happy. Though of course, they don’t want to leave, and even their teacher and Hanzo propose something besides fighting other schools: Yoma slaying, to prevent things like Orochi from popping up ever again. And it’s a prospect Homura is all too happy to pick up, satisfying all her needs. Yet it’s also interesting, because by doing this in Shinovi Versus, she effectively unites her team with Hanzo, Gessen, and a rebuilt Hebijo to dedicate their lives to eradicating the Yoma. Asuka might have helped in creating peace between the schools, but it was Homura who helped unite them.
Unfortunately, Homura does suffer from some problems in Estival Versus. Mainly that she is barely in the game, loses to Yumi and Renka, along with Jasmine, and not much else. Now some may say that due to the nature of the game bringing back fallen shinobi, she wouldn’t have much to do. Except in Shinovi Versus, in order to stop Dogen, who used a technique to survive Homura’s blow in Burst, there was a shinobi girl who initially hated Homura but did die for her sake. The only thing Estival Versus helped gleam is that she is respectful in the face of defeat, accepting the fact that she failed and has to become stronger…unless it involves Asuka. And that’s only because Homura does like Asuka a lot, the two becoming friends since Burst and pushing each other to the absolute limit. She doesn’t want that rivalry to end, and to no longer be the strongest friend Asuka knows wounds her pride quite a bit.
What I like the most about Homura is how relatable the story was, at least in terms of the basic plotline and not being attacked constantly. Her story is ultimately about finding a purpose after she loses everything in her life because of a mistake. I kinda had that in my life, being expelled from high school, and feeling like the world didn’t want me. It was only thanks to a certain school that I could not just gain my life back but make it even better than before, be filled with a power I only dreamed of getting. And I’m sure we all have some kind of similar moment in our lives too.
Her sheer willpower is stronger than any flame any of the girls can muster up, and that’s why I love this character so much. She is the reason I care so much about Senran Kagura. Sure, the character suffered a bit in Estival Versus, but there is no denying that for both me and Operation Rainfall, Homura is the best character in the Senran Kagura franchise.
And that’s our list! We do hope you enjoyed our thoughts on who are the best girls! But I imagine you may think a bit differently, so who are your favorite characters? Be sure to list them down below, and share your love of Senran Kagura as we slowly make our way to the release of Peach Beach Splash, and hopefully the next true Senran Kagura game as well!
This is Jonathan Falu/The Smartest Moron of Operation Rainfall, and thank you for reading!
Also, don’t forget to check out my video down below for a chance of winning a free Steam copy of Senran Kagura: Estival Versus. All you have to do is comment on the video what you thought about the list, like the video, and subscribe to the official Operation Rainfall YouTube channel. And while you’re at it, go ahead and check out my channel The Smartest Moron while you’re at it. You’ll be glad you did.
