Ayane's specials live and die by the quarter circle motion. Of her move list, all six feature quarter circle motions (three forward, three backward,) with no other variation. I have the most luck keeping a mid range between opponents. If they are too far, the arrows become dodgable. This is especially true with the slow moving Liberty Arts arrows.

Health:
Characters in Vangard Princess fall into two catagories when it comes to health. They are 900HP characters, and 1000HP characters. Ayane has 900HP.

• 900 HP Characters: Kurumi, Saki, Kaede, Eri, Ayana
  
• 1000 HP Characters: Yui, Haruka, Lilith, Luna, Natalia

Normal Bow Usage:

• Quarter Circle Forward + Weak = Shoot the arrow
  
• Quarter Circle Backward + Weak = Shoot the arrow upwards

Liberty Arts Bow Moves:

• Quarter Circle Forward + Special = Mega Arrow (Using one Special Bar)
  
• Quarter Circle Backward + Special = Mega Arrow from Above (Using one Special Bar)

Non-Bow related Specials:

• Quarter Circle Forward + Strong = Knife from the ground
  
• Quarter Circle Backward + Strong = Two Step Special Combo

In my practice I have leaned towards using the following:

• Forward Med, Away Strong - Forward+Medium attack to bring the heel down, then away strong to bring the back flip kick that sends the opponent into a juggle. This two step is a core that can be used for additional combo action such as leading off with an arrow and combing in, or finishing with a low kick.
  
  
• Arrows can be chained into each other if you are fast enough. This is limited with the four arrow depletion, however I have had luck chaining a Liberty Arts arrow into three quick standard arrows for max damage.
  
  
• Jump in with medium kick, and throw (back and strong) Be careful with the placement. If you are too far out, replace the throw with a leg sweep to avoid punishment.

These are my notes from play. For more detailed combo documentation, see the wiki at the bottom of the guide.

Like with all characters in Vanguard Princess, the Ayana’s color pallet will depend on the button that is pressed to select her on the character select screen. Here is a key for selecting her color variants.

• Weak = Red Ayane (The Default Color Scheme)
  
• Medium = Light Purple Ayane
  
• Strong = Dark Purple Ayane
  
• Assist = Grey Ayane
  
• Special = Light Blue
  
• No Action button = Dark Blue (Right shoudler on my pad)

The online manual makes the following recommendation:

Juliet - Geared towards keeping enemies at a distance, she helps maximize the use of the bow.
Eko - Geared to work all around with everyone. Close quarters combat assists

Ayane's page from the Mizuumi wiki
https://wiki.gbl.gg/w/Vanguard_Princess/Ayane_Ikuse

Ayane's page from the Heroes wiki
https://wiki.gbl.gg/w/Vanguard_Princess/Ayane_Ikuse

Also this is one of those rare games that actually has a PDF manual. Find it on the right hand side of your details view in Steam.

9/6/2017 - Guide Created and Published
12/23/2019 - Made sure the wiki link still worked.
3/30/2022 - The "Ayane Ikuse's page on the Mizuumi wiki" link broke, but the site still exists. I was able to get the link updated and working, as well as add an additional article to "Further Reading"