Fictional character from Soulcalibur
, commonly called , is a character in the "Soulcalibur" series of video games. Created by Namco's Project Soul division, she first appeared in the original "Soulcalibur" and its subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise related to the series. She was voiced in Japanese by Yumi Tōma between "Soulcalibur" and "Soulcalibur III", Kanako Tōjō between "Soulcalibur Legends" and "," and Miyuki Sawashiro in "Soulcalibur V", and "Soulcalibur VI"; in English, she was voiced by Renee Hewitt in "Soulcalibur II" and Lani Minella for the remainder of the series.
In the game, she is the illegitimate daughter of undead pirate Cervantes de Leon who was raised by a noble family until her father became obsessed with the cursed sword, Soul Edge, leading to his death and later her mother's. Desiring to destroy the sword, she creates a segmented, animated blade-whip, only to become Soul Edge's pawn and learn that it intends to use her as its next host. After an attack by Cervantes results in the loss of her soul, Ivy uses a temporary artificial one to keep herself alive, and continues after the blade.
Ivy is considered one of the most prominent characters in the series as well as one of its mainstays, having appeared in every installment since "Soulcalibur". She is often referred to as the series' poster girl. Since her introduction, Ivy has been noted by critics for her sex appeal. Critical reception of her sexuality varies, with some saying the character's oversexualization is unnecessary, while others have argued that it is an essential aspect of her character design and has allowed for her to be more recognizable.
Conception and creation.
As a character introduced in "Soulcalibur", Ivy's signature weapon, a "snake sword" designed to be unique amongst the other weapons in the game, was selected before other elements of the character. Her design and concept were then built to revolve around it by designers Aya Takemura and Takuji Kawano, starting with gender, then physical measurements, and lastly background details. As with all the characters, after her appearance and movement were fleshed out by a concept artist, her character was rendered as a 3D model by a design team that worked solely on her, and then animated mostly by Naotake Hirata using motion capture to create her in-game movements, with Yasushi Shibue designing the animations for her throws, and several animations created without the use of motion capture for positions difficult for the actors. During this phase the team additionally worked with the "Soulcalibur" story creators, refining the character's own role in the plot as needed throughout development.
During development many alternatives for Ivy's design were considered, including a male ninja, a mummy, and a little girl, while the weapon remained constant, varying only in size. In the very early planning stages of "Soulcalibur", Ivy was originally conceived as "ninja girl/woman", something that was attributed to certain developers who were fans of the "young girl moe aesthetic. After a few concepts of a male ninja, they instead switched towards a female "queen" design. As things progressed they wanted to emphasize her as sexy but also highly mobile with a mysterious air, feeling the bondage-themed attire helped convey this image. Several ideas also considered giving her an eyepatch or a mask covering the right side of her face, with her missing eye locked in a look of "revenge", however they decided to instead streamline her appearance and outfit for the sake of rendering her character in game.
With "Soulcalibur II", the development team chose her as their favorite character from the previous title. Producer Hiroaki Yotoriyama felt that her fighting style was not perfectly expressed in "Soulcalibur", and focused on Ivy from the start of the project to make her more "uniquely lethal". Namco has called Ivy one of the three most popular characters in the series in North American markets, alongside Taki and Nightmare. "Soulcalibur V" producer Hisaharu Tago emphasized this as a reason for the character's inclusion for the game, additionally citing her fighting style and role in the game's storyline. Senior visual designer Hideo Yoshi, who also contributed to her design and modelling, considered her his favorite in the series due to liking "cool female characters who could easily wear the main character mantle."
Design.
A woman with short white hair cut into a bob cut, Ivy stands tall, making her the series' tallest female character. Her bust size is 100 cm (39 in), though this was an aspect that the developers felt they had overdone by her appearance in "Soulcalibur IV". A bluish-purple leotard covers her torso and arms, with patches of the fabric removed to expose her cleavage, buttocks and various parts of her abdomen. Similar leggings cover her legs midway below her thighs, connected to the leotard by garters at golden metal bands at their peak. A sleeve of the same material covers her right arm and hand, while armor covers her left arm, hand, and shoulder. A smaller pauldron covers her right shoulder, while high heels cover her feet, and a white glove covers her right hand. The left shoulder pauldron incorporates the Tudor Rose, a traditional heraldic symbol of England, while the plates of the armor were designed to resemble the links of her sword. The outfit was designed with a motif of both thorns and two intertwining snakes in mind, and to have a high affinity with her weapon. While it has been altered slightly as the series has progressed, the concept has remained consistent throughout the series, with the exception of the removal of the glove in later designs. For "Soulcalibur V", they considered several ideas for a redesigned look, including a thorn-based design with heavy amounts of exposed skin and a heavily laced full bodysuit made of "armor that looks like clothing". They finally decided to combine concepts of a homunculus, nobility and a nurse/female doctor for her outfit. Despite the time gap between "IV" and "V" Ivy did not age due to her "cursed blood", though a collar and sleeves were added to her design to give her a more mature look, and at one point they considered glasses also but decided against them due to too many characters having facial accessories.
Ivy's alternate character designs in the games are a contrast to her primary designs, often reflecting her role in aristocracy but meant to still keep an air of "adult sex appeal". The secondary outfits from "Soulcalibur" to "Soulcalibur III" consist of countess attire of either blue or red pants, vest, and jacket, with white boots covering her feet and her hair combed back. In "Soulcalibur II", a tertiary alternate design was added consisting of a red leotard and gloves with gold trimming, with red stockings on her legs; in addition, a fourth design resembling her appearance at the conclusion of "Soulcalibur" was considered, incorporating a cloak and the symbol of caduceus on the front of her leotard cupping her breasts, but was unused. In "Soulcalibur III", a long, rose-themed dress with hat and veil was used as a tertiary alternate, one of several considered designs. For "Soulcalibur IV", a similarly themed black dress was used as her sole alternate design for the game. In "Soulcalibur V" a second outfit was created by guest contributor Mari Shimazaki, who had designed the character Bayonetta for Platinum Games. The outfit consists of a golden catsuit with a plunging neckline and white fur trimmings, as well as a serpent necklace with the head pointed towards her breasts with similar accessories on her ankles and wrists. Shimazaki added that while exposed skin was a trademark of Ivy's design, she wanted to take things in a fresh direction and focus on one bold point of exposure for the character's body, and felt only someone with Ivy's physique could pull the look off. Shimizaki later created an additional bunny-themed outfit for her appearance in "Soulcalibur: Lost Swords", consisting of purple and lavender stripped frilled underwear, and a visored helmet with bunny ears sticking out of the top.
In an interview with "Metro" for "Soulcalibur VI", producer Michinori Ozawa was asked about changes to Ivy's design as the series progressed, with the interviewer describing her current designs as "a lot more problematic today than they were when the series began". In response he stated "I understand that there are different opinions about such characters. So I think what’s most important is how you want to express and design such characters, and not just the female characters. But I still want to keep the body shape and the atmosphere of each character to be the backbone of each character."
Appearances.
As introduced in "Soulcalibur", Ivy was raised by the Valentines, a noble family in London, England. Ivy's father became obsessed with the cursed sword Soul Edge, and worked himself to death. Her mother died shortly afterward, and revealed to Ivy that she was not their biological daughter. Becoming an alchemist, Ivy learned of her father's obsession and decided to destroy Soul Edge. She created an animated, segmented sword, bringing it to life by unknowingly summoning Soul Edge's current host, Nightmare, and was convinced to become one of his allies without realizing he wielded the blade she sought. After learning the truth, and that her real father was the sword's previous host Cervantes and her to be its next, she departed. Continuing her quest to destroy the sword in later games, Ivy was attacked by Cervantes and her soul consumed in "Soulcalibur IV". Using an artificial soul to keep herself alive, Ivy managed to defeat her father at Ostrheinsburg Castle at the end of the game. She also acts as a teacher to younger warriors when Soul Edge re-appears years later. In the rebooted timeline of "Soulcalibur VI", she breaks into the vault of long-dead weapon merchant Vercii to steal his notes, angering its guarding Voldo, though appeases him by returning the notes once she has the information she needs.
Outside of the main series, Ivy appears in the prequel "Soulcalibur Legends", allying herself with the protagonist Siegfried, and shares an understanding with another of his allies, Lloyd Irving. In ''s "Gauntlet" storyline, a side story set after the events of "Soulcalibur IV", Ivy assists the character Hilde and her party develop a cure for her father's ailment. When told that Cervantes' soul would be required as payment, they attempt to renegotiate, only for Ivy to use the protagonist's back as a chair while repeating her terms. She was also featured in a gamebook for the "Queen's Gate" series of ecchi books, and later appeared as a guest character in ', utilizing her character design from "Soulcalibur IV". Ivy appears in "The King of Fighters All Star" in both her "Soulcalibur VI" design, and her "Aristocrat Catsuit" costume from "Soulcalibur V". In the story mode, Ivy is initially hostile, but later helps defeat Saiki from "The King of Fighters XIII".
Ivy was also featured alongside Siegfried in a manga adaptation of "Soulcalibur Legends" printed in the Japanese shōnen "Kerokero Ace"; the manga, written in a humorous tone, used a running gag of Siegfried's annoyance that Ivy was significantly taller than him.
Gameplay and censorship.
Designed as a weapon with the longest reach in "Soulcalibur", Ivy's sword Valentine consists of several smaller blades linked together by a chain, able to take either broadsword or chain whip forms. These forms are represented by different stances Ivy can use in the series, altering many of her attacks for each and applying different uses to either form of the weapon, with some, such as Spiral Lust, a component of an existing attack. In addition to these, the sword can also have the segments be split apart, in which case they will attack the opponent in different ways before recombining on the sword's chain. Due to her variety, Ivy has been noted as being able to attack from any range, but also difficult to properly use unless utilizing a range the opponent is weakest at. Some of her attacks, such as Summoning Suffering and Calamity Symphony, involve grappling with the opponent to damage them, though these utilize complex controller inputs that require them to be utilized in tandem with other moves.
Some versions of the original "Soulcalibur" arcade game censored Ivy's default costume by covering her bare skin with a lavender catsuit. With "Soulcalibur IV", Ivy's look on the promotional artwork was modified