Waifu Wednesday: Ekoro (Gal*Gun Double Peace)

Waifu Wednesday

With Gal*Gun Double Peace finally hitting Nintendo Switch tomorrow, it seems like an ideal time to celebrate a character who has become something of a mascot for developer Inti Creates — and for us here at Rice Digital, for that matter. We do love our Gal*Gun, we do.

Ekoro first showed up briefly in the PlayStation 3 version of the original Gal*Gun in 2012 — an appearance that she reprised in Gal*Gun Returns in 2021 — but her first real starring role was in Gal*Gun Double Peace when it first released for PlayStation 4 and Vita in 2015. Yep, remember when we could play games like this on PlayStation platforms? It wasn’t so long ago.

Who is Ekoro?

Ekoro in Gal*Gun Double Peace

Ekoro is, at the time of Gal*Gun Double Peace unfolding, a third-year student at the Angel Academy, and one of the catalysts for the events that unfold over the course of the game as a whole. She’s the kouhai of Patako, the troublesome angel who caused the problems in the original Gal*Gun and Gal*Gun Returns, and despite being seemingly sweet and innocent (helped enormously by Yui Horie’s vocal portrayal of her) has definite tsundere tendencies.

In true Gal*Gun tradition, Ekoro messes up considerably by shooting protagonist Houdai with an angel’s arrow 32 times more powerful than it’s supposed to be. This makes him irresistible to women for a single day, but has an unfortunate side-effect: if he fails to find true love by the end of that day, he will be forever alone. The pressure’s on, particularly as Houdai is a hormonal teenager seemingly just starting to notice the appeal of some of his closest female friends.

Why we love Ekoro

Kurona and Ekoro

Personally speaking, Yui “Nepgear” Horie is more than enough reason for anyone to love Ekoro, but I realise that seiyuu love is an inherently subjective thing, and as such you might need a little more convincing.

Besides her angelic voice, much of Ekoro’s appeal comes from her inherent fallibility. A recurring theme of the Gal*Gun series is that nobody — not even an angel — is perfect, and Ekoro is a prime example of this. In fact, pretty much every angel in the Gal*Gun series is a prime example of this, making one wonder exactly what is going on up in heaven to make the heavenly host quite so oblivious to… everything.

Anyway, despite the fact that she makes mistakes — including the fairly serious one that kicks everything off — she’s willing to own up and do the respectable, responsible thing. She sticks by Houdai’s side over the course of his day from HELL and does her best to help him out — though in the process, there are quite a few occasions where her halo “slips” (metaphorically speaking) and she lets some distinctly “human” characteristics come to the fore of her personality.

Notably, she has a habit of poking fun at Houdai for being “creepy” — itself perhaps a gentle acknowledgement of the broader attitudes towards (and misunderstanding of) popular fanservice-heavy media such as Gal*Gun — but it’s noteworthy that she never crosses a line into being malicious. Her relationship with Kurona in particular is more akin to that of a frustrated sibling than those who are, theoretically, on opposing sides of the “divine”.

Why you’ll love Ekoro

Ekoro

Ekoro is fiercely loyal and absolutely devoted to the people she cares about. In Gal*Gun Returns, we see how devoted she is to her beloved senpai Patako, and in Gal*Gun Double Peace she is absolutely committed to helping Houdai — even if she can’t resist the odd snarky comment. She’s invested in his happiness and keen to push him forwards — not just because she feels guilt for her mistake, but because she genuinely wants to see him happy, whoever he might end up with.

And, of course, if you follow through with the right choices on the Angel and Devil route of Gal*Gun Double Peace, there are some strong suggestions that Ekoro’s feelings towards her senpai Patako are a little stronger than your typical kouhai-senpai relationship. And who doesn’t love a little bit of implied yuri among the divine?

Gal*Gun Double Peace is out for Nintendo Switch on March 17, 2022. Preorder the digital version on the Nintendo eShop, or preorder the physical Horny Trinity Edition here. The PlayStation 4 version and Steam release are also still available.

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Pete Davison
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