Umeko

Ninjara is a fox who was once a part of an ancient race of humanoid foxes living on a hidden island off the coast of Japan. Her real name is Umeko, but for reasons that were never fully revealed she goes by the name "Ninjara." Ninjara joined the Ninja Turtles and moved into their lair in the New York City sewers. She is Raphael's girlfriend in the TMNT Archie comic series.

TMNT Adventures
She first appeared in issue #28. Ninjara ended up becoming a thief and assassin for the villainous dog-man Chien Khan, but then had a change of heart when she met the Turtles and fell in love with Raphael. Ninjara soon moved in with the Turtles, and began a romantic relationship with Raphael. She helped out on many missions, from the Mid-East to the darkest depths of space. Her family life was explored more in detail when her younger brother managed to track her down and convince her to come back home. The Turtles discovered the island was hidden by fog banks, but despite this, it had been discovered by an opportunistic, greedy hunter. She was a powerful member of the team from issue #29 until issue #70. The Moon Eyes Saga is when the relationship between her and Raphael came to end due to personal differences, as Ninjara realizes she was no longer in love with him, and would like to stay in Mokoshan's (leader of an Alaskan clan of humanoid wolves) village.

After TMNT Adventures
Since Ninjara was created by Dean Clarrain and Chris Allen rather than Kevin Eastman or Peter Laird, after the Archie series ended they were allowed to continue using her. She had a brief stint in her own comic in Furrlough, a comic from Radio Comix. So far she has appeared in issues #47, #48, and #52. The tagline was "She's not hanging out with teenagers anymore."

Ninjara during this time was now a widow to Mokoshan, and they have a daughter named Moka. Mokoshan was assassinated by an unknown human sniper as his original mate was, and Ninjara took Moka and left the wolf clan, bound for Japan she traveled with her child, working as a mercenary, to find the person who killed her husband with only a token bearing a kanji symbol, dropped by the sniper, as her only clue.

Trivia

 * Issue #70 where Raphael and Ninjara parted ways is the last in the Archie Comics Continuity, although it wasn't meant to be. The series was canceled by Archie before it could continue with its new storyline therefore it's unclear if the two could have patched up their relationship. However, given the fact that future Raph married someone else makes this quite unlikely.


 * Ninjara is one of the very few romantic interests in the Turtles fiction of any kind. Although the Turtles have many female acquaintances, such as April O'Neil, Mona Lisa and Mitsu, almost none of them have ever really shown more than a friendship.