Draft:Kamisato Ayaka

Kamisato Ayaka (神里绫华; 神里綾華; Hepburn: Kamisatō Ayaka) is a playable character in the action role-playing game Genshin Impact. She is voiced by Erica Mendez in the English dub, Xiao N in the Chinese dub, Saori Hayami in the Japanese dub and in the Korean dub. Being the daughter of the prestigious Kamisato Clan within the Japanese-inspired nation of Inazuma, Teyvat, she serves as one of the protagonists during the Inazuma portion of the game as she is tasked with the affairs within her Clan. She would make her official playable debut in the game on July 21, 2021, within Version 2.0.

Release
Ayaka was made a playable character released during a closed beta for Genshin Impact and was the first character from Inazuma to be publicly revealed. During G-Star 2019, Ayaka would be showcased alongside with different gameplay in comparison to her final release. On June 7, 2021, miHoYo released Ayaka's character art alongside. During a preview for Version 2.0. on July 9, miHoYo president would announce that Ayaka would make her appearance in Version 2.0. "The Immovable God and the Eternal Euthymia". Players are able to first meet her during Chapter II, Act I, "The Immovable God and the Eternal Euthymia". On July 15, miHoYo released her character trailer which introduced Kamisato Ayaka as the daughter of the Kamisato Clan of Inazuma. On the 20th, miHoYo released her character demo, showing the character's attack and skill animations. On the 26th, miHoYo would also an online event dedicated to Ayaka titled "The Heron’s Invitation" in which players are taskes to visit different stores in Inazuma and decide on which gifts to give to Ayaka. On the eve of the second release of Ayaka's banner, miHoYo held a fanfiction contest about the character on X. Later, a short story film delving into the childhood of Ayaka and her brother Ayato was released. On December 20, 2023, Version 4.3 would feature an event featuring Ayaka in the newly released region of.

Character design
The production team had designed Kamisato Ayaka as the daughter of the famous Kamisato Clan, who has a sense of elegance and care for the people of Inazuma, holding the title of Shirasagi Himegimi (白鷺の姫君) out of respect from the populace. At the same time, she also has an ordinary girlish personality deep in her heart, likes new things, participates in festivals, and is an advocate against social injustice. Ayaka is also proficient in various techniques, especially within swordsmanship, and has a knack for weapon crafting with a probability of the output being doubled when synthesizing weapon-related materials. Her appearance in the closed demo to the official launch, there have been a number of changes to her character design, such as the cancellation of the air transformation action at the end of the character slash, the performance of the action when the character elemental combat skill is activated from spinning and jumping to the release of her battōjutsu. The character's attack and skill values had also been greatly modified with her combo capabilities undergoing significant changes. The character's character design pays homage to characteristics associated with traditional Japanese culture. The character's clothing and hair accessories are designed in the style of Japanese samurai armor and helmets. Her clothes are printed with a family mon akin to a lotus pattern, and the pendant of her necklace being in the image of a golden cherry blossom. During development for Ayaka's signature fan dance animation, motion capture was utilized with company CEO Liu Wei performing the character's movements.

Voice acting
Ayaka's Chinese dubbing was done by Xiao N as she had signed up to participate in the audition of three characters,, Kamisato Ayaka and Razor, and was selected as the voice of both Xiangling and Kamisato Ayaka simultaneously. In the internal testing stage, the production team only provided a brief introduction to the character's approximate background and a reference to the dubbing performance. During the internal beta stage, the production team only provided a rough background introduction and vertical drawings of the character as reference materials for dubbing performances. As the content of the Inazuma area gradually finalized and the plots related to the characters gradually became clearer, Xiao N decided to re-record the character dubbing before the character's official release after consulting the dubbing director and production team. In order to be more accurate to the canonical age of Ayaka, Xiao N decided to make her sound younger in comparison to her older interpretation. Ayaka's English voice actress was done by Erica Mendez. In an interview regarding her dubbing, Mendez has stated that many of Ayaka's voice lines had already been pre-recorded with the character's voice direction undergoing changes in-between internal testing and her final release. The character's Japanese voice actress was done by Saori Hayami who stated that the character’s early dubbing only contained simple battle and monologue lines. She also stated that there were initially no lines involving dialogue with the character giving off a more rigid personality. It was only in later stages in development that she started dubbing the her story dialogue in the game, and she gained a new appreciation for the character, citing her meticulousness and orderliness within the Archon Quest.

Character biography
Kamisato Ayaka is the heroine of the Inazuma portion of the game's main plot who runs through the entire chapter and uses her influence to help the on their venture within Inazuma. Ayaka is the daughter of the Kamisato Clan of Inazuma and has an excellent reputation among the common people. Despite being a subordinate of Raiden Shogun, Ayaka displays dissatisfaction with the Shogun's policy of confiscating the Electro Gnosis, ordering the Vision Hunt Decree, and covertly seizing every Vision in Inazuma. Hearing about the Travelers' experiences in and, she holds hope that the Traveler would be able to make a difference within Inazuma upon news of their voyage to the island country. She appoints her retainer to bring the Traveler to the shrine, hoping to get their help. The Traveler initially rejects Ayaka's request for cooperation but reverts their decision upon learning from Ayaka about the impact of the Inazuma Tri-Commission on the citizens inhabiting the country, after which the Traveler participates in the retrieval of the confiscated Visions which were imprisoned at the Statue of the Omnipresent God.

While Ayaka and the Traveler make their there, they receive news of Thoma's capture by the Tenryou Commission. Briefly consumed with distress and urgency, the Traveler calms her down enough for the Traveler to rescue Thoma on their own and would join the Sangonomiya Resistance led by. After had defied Kujou Sara's arrest warrant for the Traveler, they reunites with Ayaka, and with her help, steals some documents that could incite a full-scale rebellion. After Raiden's defeat by the Traveler and her agreement to repeal Inazuma's draconian laws, Kamisato Ayaka was made in charge of organizing the festivals in Inazuma during her dedicated story quest.

Abilities
After the release of Genshin Impact version 2.0 "The Immovable God and the Eternal Euthymia", players can wish in the game for Kamisato Ayaka to join their party. She wields both the Cyro element and her tachi in which she specializes her combat in. The character was designed with a more offensive playstyle in mind with great damage output, good combo potential, and both her elemental skills utilizing ranged ice attacks. Ayaka also contains an Alternate Sprint known as the "Kamisato Art: Senho" in which it consumes her stamina but gives her the additional benefit of being able to traverse quickly in water as well as her tachi being tipped with the Cyro element upon its end.

Reception
Kamisato Ayaka was one of the first characters revealed during the game’s closed beta period which resulted in her character became a hot topic among players during the closed beta period. This included both media and player discussion and speculation over the character's official launch. TheGamer commentator Kyle Gorge believes that she is one of the most anticipated and least controversial characters in the history of Genshin Impact. Although the character has been adjusted and modified several times before her official launch, she been gaining popularity since the game's launch. In August 2021, in a survey subjecting on "The Inazuma Character I Want to Get Most" launched by the Japanese news site, Kamisato Ayaka won second place with nearly 20% of the votes, second only to Raiden Shogun. After the character's launch, it would inspire fans to create secondary creations. Game Rant once reported that a Reddit user named Yexlir would create a sprite-based animation based by Ayaka's Elemental Skill. Before the release of version 2.6 of the game, miHoYo released a short film based on Kamisato Ayaka's story titled "Camellia in Winter Snow", which received 5.8 million views on bilibili within four days and would become trending within its initial release. On April 19, 2022, the game would launch Ayaka's banner for the second time. On that day, "Genshin Impact" topped the best-selling list of iOS games in more than 40 countries and regions. Her rerun brought miHoYo more than 30 million US dollars in revenue on the App Store platform in mainland China alone, exceeding the records set by every previous banner within the game. Game Rant editor Hajrudin Krdžić analyzed two primary factors for this success, citing that MiHoYo delayed the update to version 2.7 of the game due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making this character banner the longest lasting one since the launch of the game as well as Ayaka's strong damage output which would attract many players to the character. A group of college students at the University of California, Berkeley, would deliberately imitate the dance performance of Kamisato Ayaka, partaking in the dance in hopes of increasing their odds to obtain the character.

In terms of character design, player reception to the character's full-bang hair design was mixed. Some thought that this design made the character look like a "village girl", while others think thought the design complemented the rest of her character design. GameDaily editor Xi Xi Guodong believed that the design of the character with straight bangs and a single ponytail may be because the production team hopes to increase the diversity and variety of each character's appearance.​ Mao Jun of GameDaily believed that Kamisato Ayaka was a "practical character with online appearance and strength". The character's attack animations were modified several times throughout development with GameDaily editor Hu Nanshan believing the changes would limit the redundancy in animation as well as improving the overall quality of life when using the character's elemental skills. Rock, Paper, Shotgun commentator Amelia Zollner believes that Ayaka was an elegant and perfect character, adding that she would make a great inclusion across many different teams. In terms of character plot design, Screen Rant editor Quinn Geiger would comment on the character stories that were added for both Yoimiya and Ayaka as part of version 2.0 which allowed players to gain an in-depth understanding of each of their characteristics and development. However, Ayaka's character story made some players feel unsatisfied as within the plot, Ayaka wanted to gift the Traveler a kimono in return for their help with the only option prompted by the game being to refuse her offer. Conversely, Siliconera editor Jenny Lada commented that the plots for Yoimiya and Ayaka not only allowed players to gain a better understanding of the characters, but also introduced the humanity within Inazuma and their focus on personal responsibility and duty in resisting the Vision Hunt Decree. Lada would ultimately praise the writing of the early Story Quests of the two characters due to their contrasting yet similar goals and aspirations they have when it comes to their nation. However, there has been criticism levied against Ayaka's characterization as some Chinese players felt that it was too simple and three-dimensional in comparison to other characters. Naoer of GameDaily praised both Kamisato Ayaka's animation in her dance performance during the Archon Quest as well as the emotional expressions of the Traveler and Ayaka.​

The character's gameplay design has received praise from commentators. Game Rant editor Nahada Nabila said that in the early days of the character's launch, the character was often criticized for being difficult to use and having insufficient output. However, more players would become aware of the character's potential and with the correct artifacts and weapons, Kamisato Ayaka had the potential to become one of the strongest characters within the game. VG247 author Josh Broadwell believed that Ayaka had the potential to become the main offensive force, citing of her advantage in being able to take into account both physical attacks and elemental reactions with her attacks utilizing ice. Commentators also noticed the character's special movement with Jenni Lada praising this design choice for improving the character's immediate accessibility and usefulness. The editor of the Chinese magazine Gamexpress also praised the character's special spiriting, commenting that it "makes her very flexible in exploration and combat." They would also praise Ayaka's physical recovery talent effect, stating on the character's "infinite dodge and infinite cooldown ice element gameplay."

Collaborations
On September 5, 2022, Genshin Impact would announce a collaboration with the Chinese tea drink chain Hey Tea, introducing a branded drink themed after Ayaka and Ayato with badges, stands, and in-game item redemption codes as rewards to those who participated with other similarly themed merchandise released around the same time. Reception among Chinese audiences was strong and met with praise to where at one point, the product was sold out due to exceeded demand.