Shirin

Shirin
Character Information
Birthday:	March 7
Age:	24
Height:	170 cm (5'7")
Bloodtype:	B
Occupation:	Demon Clan member Shirabyōshi
Weapon(s):	none (uses demon powers)
Voice Actor(s):	Maria Kawamura
Live Action Actor(s):	Maaya Ono
First Appearance:	Harukanaru Toki no Naka de

Shirin (シリン) is a secondary antagonist in the early titles for the Harukanaru Toki no Naka de series. Enthralled by Akram's appearance, Shirin dedicates her every waking moment to him. Her admiration for Akram is completely one-sided.

Role in Games

Shirin, a demon follower of Akram, helps him conquer Kyoto. She uses her disguise to blend in with the townsfolk and learns valuable information from drunken nobles. In the first game, Shirin tries to obtain the eastern talisman for the Four Gods, but is interrogated by Yorihisa. She is blinded by Kōzanze Myō-Oh, and her second attempt to redeem herself is to sow distrust between the Four Gods. She summons a white tiger to attack them, but her downfall renders her meaningless in Akram's eyes. She teleports to the scene and pleads for the priestess's spare.

She saves Kyou and restores unity by reuniting the White Dragon and its pair. She loses her free will to the Black Dragon as a price, but is sent one hundred years into the future. Shirin's wit and dancing abilities attract the Retired Emperor's liking, and she becomes the mole for Chitose's rise to fame. She uses the Black Dragon's power to cast curses and plants vengeful spirits in the domain, eventually becoming the land's savior.

Karin's arrival complicates Chitose's beliefs, and Shirin attempts to defy her and her guardians by controlling vengeful spirits. The Black Dragon's hold on Shirin's mind weakens, and Karin attempts peace talks with Shirin. After her defeat, Karin uses her power to save her and release her from the Black Dragon's control, surprising Shirin. She departs to live a new life for herself.

Shirin makes brief appearances during the spin-off titles of the series. She gloats to Karin regarding the Demon Clan's victory in Akram's dream and challenges Tenma to a battle in the game version of Harukanaru Toki no Naka de Maihitoyo. Her curse is the true setting for Harukanaru Toki no Naka de Banjoyuugi as it causes Akane to lose her spirit in a dream. While the four priestesses challenge one another to decide the real priestess, Shirin disguises herself as one of them and participates. Her goal is to win the dream competition to take over Akane's body in the real world and inevitably kill the real Akane's spirit. The dream Fujihime sees through the ruse and drives Shirin out from the priestess's mind.

Character Information

Shirin's artwork in Harukanaru Toki no Naka de.

Development

For Shirin's design Tohko Mizuno was told to make her a "glamorous woman", but Mizuno feels she hasn't met that particular goal with Shirin's final designs. In her eyes Shirin is a serious and upright beauty who contrasts the kind men throughout the game. She figures that an assertive woman would naturally cause trouble for them. Her second appearance intentionally uses Akram's color scheme since Mizuno thinks the pigments are fitting for them. She wonders if Shirin could be counted as the secondary heroine due to her character arc. Mizuno enjoys drawing both of her outfits since her clothing is free-flowing and interesting to color.

Personality

Shirin, a woman of beauty, believes she is the embodiment of femininity and belittles younger women. She is a love interest for Akram, despite her scornful traits. She idolizes him and struggles to accept his true nature. Shirin's jealousy for the White Dragon Priestesses leads her to physically harm young girls. However, when she learns the truth, her grudge towards Karin disappears, and her feelings change to sincere gratitude and amazement. Shirin is forgiving her past life and shares a playful joke with the priestess in the bonus epilogue scenario.

Character Symbolism

Shirin or Shireen (شیرین) is a name found in Indo-European languages and it is derived from the adjective Sirin. The common definition for both words is sweetness, often to describe the sensation of taste (as in "honey is sweet"). Other definitions of the words include gentle, pleasant, or charming. Shirin is also the name of a woman within a famous Persian love story, Khosrow and Shirin. Like the Haruka Shirin, the princess fell in love with the prince instantly. In her case, she first saw his likeliness in a painting and was captivated by it.

Her symbolic item is a rose, which adorns both of her stylized upper tops in the series. The rose is best known as a flower of beauty, romance, happiness and love. A famous story remarks that the flower bloomed during Venus' birth, and the gods themselves praised the blooming spectacle. Depending on the source, the white rose entered the world once her lover, Adonis, was slain. His blood tinged an anemone, and the nearby roses turned completely pale to signal his passing. For Shirin's first outfit, dark crimson roses are used to decorate it. Within the flower language it additionally means faithfulness and passion. The presenter of this flower is also longing for another person's attention.

Shirin's second outfit has a large pink rose on its front. A pink rose means satisfaction and warmth in the flower language. Other meanings include entrusting one's heart to another person or holding a passionate love within one's heart.

Quotes

• "Men are pathetic. They don't hold a candle to my lord."
• "Surely you knew this would happen. Humans are but dirt to a demon."
• "I will be better than that child, my lord. I beg you, please entrust this task to me. I will not fail you."
• "What do you guardians see in her? All of you cling to her like you've never seen a real woman before!"
• "You're a woman too, aren't you? You must understand why I plea for mercy. He's everything to me!"
• "One hundred years later and nothing has changed! You guardians are so infuriatingly stupid!"
• "Who says I'm pathetic? I'm a true woman!"
• "I'm not anyone's slave. I live only for my lord!"
• "Unbelievable... I'm so pathetic to rely on your kindness again. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
• "Shirin, if you defeat the priestess, I might spare you a moment of my time."

"At once, my lord! Prepare to die, you little brat!"

~~Akram and Shirin; Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 2

Fighting Style

The player is never given the chance to fight Shirin in the series. During story events, however, she possesses the ability to hurl destructive balls of energy and can attack characters by scratching them with her nails. Shirin often uses her demon powers for shape-shifting, teleportation, creating curses, and summoning vengeful spirits. She may choose to do so by dancing and singing within other media for the series.

Gallery

Haruka Oboro Soushi live action theater production

Haruka 2 live action theater production

Haruka 2 Saien live action theater production