"New" character, Ninya. (Patreon)

Ninya is not actually a new character, as he appears during your first adventure in E-Rantel before leaving for good.
So far he has existed just as a token with no actual appearance, however, from R17 his old scenes will feature a new token and animated sprite (preview above).

In the near future, depending on your choices, he might come back once again, hence why he has an actual sprite now.