Kainé[a] is a character from the 2010 video game Nier, a spin-off of the Drakengard series developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix.

[b] Suffering discrimination from her home village the Aerie, she is cared for by her grandmother Kali, who treats her as a woman, encourages her to use feminine clothing, and influences her tendency to swear.

She briefly sacrifices herself by allowing Emil to petrify her to seal away a powerful Shade when the Gestalt leader Shadowlord kidnaps Yonah.

Further details around Kainé's backstory are included in Grimoire Nier, a guidebook featuring plot and character summaries, short stories, concept art and developer commentary.

[14] Kainé was planned to feature in a collaboration with the mobile game SINoALICE alongside the Nier protagonist and Emil, but she was not included due to budgetary limits relating to her voice actress.

[18] Kainé was created by Yoko Taro, director and story writer of Nier (2010), in response to a female staff member's vague wish for a "male heroine".

[2] Originally assuming her intersexality would be a hidden aspect of her backstory, Yoko was surprised that it formed part of the game's marketing.

[3] Yoko did not emphasise her intersexuality or the parallel narrative of Emil being gay, stating that people like them existed in real-life and it felt natural to represent them.

[21] Important to her in-game portrayal was the main cast's acceptance of her presented gender, with Grimoire Weiss never using insults based on her intersexuality.

Nier short story writer Jun Eishima felt that each ending was better suited to different versions of the protagonist; the father would choose to kill Kainé, while the brother would sacrifice himself.

[23] The Grimoire Nier scenario was included in the remaster due to the game's larger budget, and a request from producer Yosuke Saito for more fan service.

Yoshida was invited onto the project, alongside fellow artists Kimihiko Fujisaka and Toshiyuki Itahana, as an earlier collaborator with Yoko.

[5] Tanaka returned for the drama CD, describing her role involving much screaming, but noting that the high school scenario allowed her to show a different side to the character.

[5] In the English version, the beeping was left out due to negative feedback from Western playtesters, and localization company 8-4 "went nuts", featuring much more swearing in their first draft.

[31] GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd found Kainé "[not] wholly unlikable" but felt her swearing was out of place,[32] while IGN's Ryan Clements called her a fantastic character and one of the game's redeeming features.

[37] Alan Wen of Video Games Chronicle positively noted Kainé among the cast, contrasting her clothing against the revealing outfit of Metal Gear character Quiet.

[39] Jose Torres, writing for RPG Site, praised Kainé's redesign while also finding it the most jarring character change in the remaster.

[40] In contrast, PCGamesN's Ian Boudreau negatively described Kainé as "a powerful but troubled swordswoman who often curses and spends the entire game in a distractingly incongruous nightgown.

[44] Austin Jones of Paste, speaking of his own experience with coming out, highlighted how Kainé and Emil support each other and committed themselves to selfless actions despite being isolated from the world they defended.