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Niao Sun
Xmas / Winter
Shenhua Poem
Copyright 2001, 2002
Julian McKenzie
This woman appeared in various old Shenmue promotional material but did not appear in Shenmue 1 and is not seen in any Shenmue 2 promo material. Just who is she? She must play an important role in the series because she is one of the four pre-loaded "Shenmue Characters" in the VMU file on the passport disc. On there it states her name is Niao Sun. She also appears on the front cover of the Shenmue Orchestral Soundtrack CD.
This handdrawn artwork appeared on old Shenmue merchandise which Niao Sun was called Chonghua. Which is her real name, or is this simply a case of Japanese/English differences such as the names Lan Di and Shoryo.
Note that the second part of her name is hua, which is the same second part as in Shenhua. This means flower. I don't know what Chong means though.
There is a Japanese mobile phone icon for Niao Sun which throws further confusion on her name as it calls her Tyo Jun.Where it held the phone icon on the official site, it also said she was a character to be in the series from the THIRD GAME ONWARDS.
I have recieved three new pictures of Niao Sun which I have also seen before. Thanks to Vicky Adams for these pictures. The first one is a handdrawn piece of artwork showing Niao Sun. The following two show in-game footage of Niao Sun in a forest at night.
At the end of Shenmue II, there are various pictures shown during the credits. Niao Sun appears in the final one. This picture features Shenhua and Ryo in the centre, with Lan Di on the far left and Niao Sun on the far right. If anyone could take a picture of this, I'd be very grateful. Is this final picture of Shenmue II a foreshadow of things to come. Will Ryo and Shenhua be the main characters of the next game, or indeed the series, with Niao Sun joining Lan Di as the main enemy? Only time will tell.
Moth Zilla has come across an interesting speculation regarding Niao Sun. In his words:
There is a quote in one of the Shen2 discs (when you view it in your PC) where they describe some characters with older drawings of them. One quote where they talk about selecting the look for Shenhua goes as follows:
"At first, we had prepared a different character as the main heroine of the game. Later, when we provided the image sketch for a young girl whom Ryo would meet in Tibet, our producer decided on the spot to use her as the main heroine."
In other words, they were originally gonna use Shenhua's look for a girl Ryo meets in Tibet. Since they used the look for Shenhua instead, one can only assume that the Niao Sun we are seeing is the girl Ryo will meet in Tibet.
The Official Manga, Shenmue: Side Story Volume 3, has pictures of Niao Sun and a bit of backstory. Click here to see it. However, I cannot understand it since it is in Japanese.
If you have any information on Niao Sun or anywhere else she has appeared, please email me.