Ranma ½/Characters/Major Story Arc Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Ryu Kumon

Ryu Kumon
Demographic Information
(as of the character's first appearance)
Gender Male
v · d · e

When Ryu's father was killed practicing one half of a paired school of martial arts that Genma invented, Ryu spent the rest of his life training himself to master the Yamasenken in hopes of tracking Genma down, taking the Umisenken and then building a new dojo to the memory of his father. When Nodoka mistook him for her long-lost son, he tried to take advantage of that to get what he wanted. But losing to Ranma revealed to him the ugly truth behind the 'Senken Schools', and so he left Nerima, a sadder but wiser man.

Tropes exhibited by Ryu Kumon include:
  • Arrogant Kung Fu Guy
  • Blackmail
  • Character Development
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: If it is a Damsel in Distress at least, even older ones that he isn't attracted to. At the very least heavily into Giri in some respects.
  • Combat Pragmatist: His fighting style is largely based on distracting opponents and then attacking full force. One "attack" simply consists of tying up the enemy in a lasso just to make them vulnerable to a real attack.
  • Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Zigzagged with the Yamasenken. It's not inherently dangerous to the practitioner, unless you're Too Dumb to Live like Mr. Kumon, but because of the terms of his and Ranma's battle, Ryu is forbidden from using the Yamasenken techniques after losing to Ranma. He also doesn't want to use them anyway because he's humiliated by the fact that they were created as thieving techniques, not fighting techniques.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He draws the line at torture, his word is his bond, he is very dedicated, will rescue bystanders from monsters, wild animals, and similar things he happens upon that he can actually do something about, and he isn't a particularly bad person in general. A bit chauvinistic, and tends to be very ruthless in battle though. However, he apparently refrained from using his strongest/killing moves against Ranma after getting to know Nodoka.
  • The Fettered/Honor Before Reason: To his vows. First to find the other half of the school, and then not use his art for destruction again.
  • Friendly Enemy: At the end of his story.
  • Heel Face Turn: Sort of, after Nodoka played mother for him, and the revelation that his style was created for violent burglary.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ryu initially seems to be just a wandering bruiser, so manipulative that he will even take advantage of Nodoka's loneliness. As the story progresses though, he shows a genuine soft side and a fundamentally honorable nature.
  • Made of Iron -> Nigh Invulnerable: At least in Ranma's class.
  • Make Me Wanna Shout: The Yamasenken school usually opens with a loud yell of "Don't move!". It's not the words that freeze the opponent, but the sheer VOLUME that catches anyone, even rampaging grizzlies, off guard.
  • Now What?: He has dedicated his entire life to finding the counterpart school of the Yamasenken in order to rebuild the Kumon Dojo. Not only did he lose the chance, he has to seal away his school, the school he uses exclusively and likely the only school he knows by this point. What is he supposed to do now?
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Thanks to his Yamasenken mastery, Ryu is a highly destructive force, capable of literally tearing up anything in his way. As his fighting style is based on violent burglary, he has a tendency to smash his way through walls and doors to get to places.
  • Pet the Dog: Although Ryu initially was manipulating Nodoka to try and find the Umisenken, he repeatedly does things just for the sake of making her happy, and before he leaves asks Ranma to finally come clean and present himself to her, so that she can end her loneliness.
  • Rated "M" for Manly: Militaristic in attitude and combat style, and probably the most "man's man" male in the series (with the possible exception of Lime).
  • Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Apparently quite isolated.
  • Shout-Out: To Guile, but not overly so.
  • Super Speed
  • Super Strength: At least as strong as Ranma.
  • Walking the Earth: Ryu has spent many years roaming Japan, honing his martial arts and trying to find Genma Saotome for revenge.
  • You ALL Share My Story: Despite the fact Ranma had never even heard of him, Ryu and Ranma are ultimately drawn to clash because Ryu is searching for Ranma's father, a search that inadvertently brings him into contact with Ranma's mother.


Shinnosuke

Shinnosuke
Demographic Information
(as of the character's first appearance)
Gender Male
v · d · e

Shin-who? Oh, now we remember. He is the stoic guardian of the legendary forest of Ryugenzawa, and successor to his grandfather (the janitor of the zoo that previously stood there, and the first guardian of the forest). Shinnosuke is a kind, introspective boy with a forthright --if often aloof-- demeanor. Having taken over his role from an early age, he once saved a preschool-age Akane from a giant animal attack, getting himself mortally wounded in the process. His grandfather, desperate to save his life, used the mystical Water of Life to heal Shinnosuke's injuries... but inadvertently caused Shinnosuke to be fully dependent on the water, and without it, he lapses into a sickly state, then coma, then finally... wait, who were we talking about again?

Tropes exhibited by... er... oh, yeah, Shinnosuke include:
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Falls helplessly in love with Akane and wastes no time confessing it to her once he realizes it. This comes a huge emotional blow to her, since he's the first genuinely nice guy to say those words and leaves it entirely up to her if she wants to reciprocate.
  • Badass Longcoat: A janitor's coat, yes, but Shinnosuke makes it look badass.
  • Brush On A Stick: Shinnosuke's Weapon of Choice is a simple janitor's push-broom, the kind his grandfather used to scrub animal pens at the zoo. And he's deadly with it.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: He's brave, strong and smart enough to keep the boundaries of Ryugenzawa safe for animals and people alike, and will face down and attack a dangerous giant serpent from the mists of Japanese myth without hesitation, it's just he... 'forgets things. Lots of things. Like his own grandpa. Or the traps he himself set in the forest.
  • Easy Amnesia: Shinnosuke suffers from severe memory issues. Long-term is shot to hell (he can't even remember his own grandpa, to the latter's distress and annoyance), and short-term is basically non-existent. He can basically remember only two things: what his job is, and (by the end) Akane. For the most part, it doesn't really affect his daily life (except to annoy his grandpa), so his condition is generally Played for Laughs: although he knows he rigged the whole forest with monster traps and deadfalls, he always forgets where they are and falls right into them. But when he meets people other than his grandfather, his forgetfulness starts affecting his relationships with them, and even endangers his life once (in the manga version, where he attacks the Orochi with his broom after forgetting it has the Moss of Life already smeared on its bristles). In his heartbreaking final scene, he watches Akane leave the forest with Ranma and regrets not getting the chance to confess his love for her... even though he did.
  • Faking Amnesia: Played with. Since everyone knows how forgetful he is, when a contrite Ranma tries to thank him for saving Akane's life Shinnosuke claims to not know any Akane, seconds before the girl in question shows up, and he laments his unrequited love for her internally.
  • The Hermit: He and his grandfather are basically this, due to their self-imposed task of keeping the animals of Ryugenzawa from leaving the forest while preventing ordinary people from venturing too deep into it.
  • Incurable Cough of Death: The first sign that Shinnosuke is going into Water of Life withdrawal.
  • Note to Self:: In order to keep himself from forgetting Akane's name, he scribbles it with a permanent marker all over his house (and all over his grandfather), much to her amusement. Judging by the end of his arc, it worked.
  • Phlebotinum Dependence: To the Water of Life, which otherwise makes ordinary animals grow to titanic proportions.
  • Romantic Runner-Up: Given how Akane responded to him, and the drama with which the story treated the relationship (as opposed to, say, her obliviousness to Ryoga's Dogged Nice Guy attempts), he's generally considered Ranma's only serious rival for Akane's affection.
  • Scars Are Forever: As a child, Shinnosuke received three huge gashes across his back from a giant platypus' claw while trying to save Akane from the animal. He would have died from this injury without application of the Water of Life, but these scars remain and prove to Akane that he IS the boy from her childhood. By the end of his arc, his grandfather forcefully scrubs the Orochi's moss (which creates the Water of Life) into Shinnosuke's scars, which vanished permanently.
  • Secretly Dying: Inverted. Shinnosuke is the only one who doesn't know, and his grandpa goes to huge lengths to keep him unaware of his own condition, especially the fact that he's slowly dying. When Akane learns about this, she joins the charade to keep Shinnosuke from finding out.
  • The Stoic: Since Shinnosuke has been immersed in his work since childhood, with only his grandpa for company, he has very few words and the ones he lets out are often very blunt. When Akane got past that barrier, however, she found him to have a very innocent, earnest outlook towards her and other people.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: The healing effect of the Water of Life on Shinnosuke grows less and less potent as time goes by, requiring him to take more and more of it in increasingly shorter periods. Worse, the springs from which the Water issues have been drying up. His grandfather realizes that, one way or another, Shinnosuke is doomed to die.

Tsubasa Kurenai

Tsubasa Kurenai
Actor or Voice Actor Eiko Yamada (JP), Saffron Henderson (EN)
Demographic Information
(as of the character's first appearance)
Gender Male. No, really.
v · d · e

At her last (junior?) high school, Ukyo Kuonji found herself the recipient of the affections of one Tsubasa Kurenai, who pursued her relentlessly. When Tsubasa tracked Ukyo to Nerima, it caused quite a stir... mainly because everyone thought that he was a she.

Tropes exhibited by Tsubasa include:
  • Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Once, while feeling down in the dumps, he disguised himself as a trash can.
  • Attractive Bent Gender: He makes a very cute girl when crossdressing.
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: Specifically, dropped on Ranma and Akane. Ukyo knew all along, but...
  • Master of Disguise: He regularly pretends to be a girl, and has also been a vending machine, mailbox, trashcan, wastepaper bin, flower arrangement, umbrella, kasa-obake...
  • Stalker with a Crush: Doesn't actually use his costumes to spy on the girls he's chasing, but does follow them wherever they go, chase them in the streets, send them hundreds of loveletters...
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Despite how convincingly he can pretend to be a girl, it's all in fun and perhaps something he started to try and help "woo" Ukyo, on his claim that since she dressed like a boy, he should dress as a girl to match. In the official subtitled anime, Akane straight out asks if he's gay, and he just as straightforwardly tells her that he's straight, he just likes to "dress up". To the point that, if he's disguised as random scenery, he'll still be wearing a pretty dress under the costume.

Mariko Konjo

Mariko Konjo
Demographic Information
(as of the character's first appearance)
Gender Female
v · d · e

A master of Martial Arts Cheerleading from a rival high school, Mariko makes an enemy of Ranma when she humiliates Akane at a volleyball match between Furinkan and Seishun. When Mariko falls in love with Kuno, Ranma sees the chance for revenge.

Tropes exhibited by Mariko Konjo include:

"Being as cold, cruel, and selfish as you can... that's what I call a real man!!"

Rouge

Rouge
Demographic Information
(as of the character's first appearance)
Gender Female
v · d · e

This Indian Hindu girl is the recipient of the most powerful known Jusenkyo spring. Pantyhose Tarō accidentally stumbled across Rouge bathing one day. During her resultant punishment of him, he accidentally got her magnetic plasters (for treating her constant backaches) stuck to him, so she chased him after he ran away from her fury. The two of them tore up Nerima until Ranma managed to settle the problems.

Tropes exhibited by Rouge include:
  • Blessed with Suck/Cursed with Awesome: The Spring of Drowned Ashura, of course. Supernatural powers, but it suffers such extreme backache from carrying around six arms that she can't take its form for long without locking up in pain.
  • Flying Brick: Superhumanly strong, tough, capable of transoceanic flight, insanely accurate, and can generate light, fire, and electricity at will.
  • Kill It with Fire: She can breathe fire from any of her mouths and creates small bolts of fiery energy from her hands.
  • Magic Pants: In human form, her vaguely Indian-inspired wardrobe includes translucent pants under her skirt. Whenever she turns into Asura, the pants mysteriously go away, and they come right back when she reverts. They're the only article of clothing she wears that does this (although her waist-long hair also shortens enough to accommodate the extra three faces, and grows back when normal).
  • Misery Poker: Oh, woe, she suffers so much. It's all because of that evil, evil man! Won't someone please stand up for her? She seems to genuinely believe it all though, as she is a firm believer in astrology, bad signs, happenstance and the like. Basically, she will help rebuild after wrecking part of the house as Asura, but is apparently completely oblivious to that she caused it in the first place and simply think that it is a sign of bad luck.
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: In Ashura form, she has six arms.
  • Multiple Head Case: Well, more like Multiple Face Case: she has three faces on one head, though each seems to have its own personality and mind, as they can be knocked out seperately.
  • Physical God: The Asura is a semi-divine warrior-demon from Hindu mythology, so Rouge's cursed form is basically the living, flesh-and-blood embodiment of a deity.
  • Required Secondary Powers: Subverted. The curse of the Spring Of Drowned Ashura neglected to account for stronger back muscles to go with those six arms.
  • Shock and Awe: Conjuring lightning is her secondary, but most devastating, means of attack.
  • Split Personality: In her human form, acts like a sweet, polite, superstitious and very feminine girl. As Ashura, is much more aggressive, masculine and violent. Of course, she could just use the Ashura form as an excuse to vent her own negative feelings...
  • Weaksauce Weakness: She can only remain in Ashura form for a little while, as her tremendous backache forces her to retreat to recover even when she has the upper hand of a battle.

The Seven Lucky Gods

Kirin

Kirin
Debut Ranma ½: The Battle of Nekonron, China! A Battle to Defy the Rules! (らんま1/2 中国寝崑崙大決戦! 掟やぶりの激闘篇!!, Ranma Nibunnoichi: Chūgoku Nekonron Daikessen! Okite Yaburi no Gekitō Hen!) (Viz title: Ranma ½: Big Trouble in Nekonron, China)
Demographic Information
(as of the character's first appearance)
Gender Male
v · d · e

Ruler of Nekonron and leader of the Seven Lucky Gods School of Martial Arts, he comes to Nerima in search of a legendary scroll half... and if that is in the possession of a woman, he must marry that woman. As Akane happens to be holding it at the time, Hilarity Ensues.

Tropes exhibited by Kirin include:

Lychee

Lychee
Debut Ranma ½: The Battle of Nekonron, China! A Battle to Defy the Rules! (らんま1/2 中国寝崑崙大決戦! 掟やぶりの激闘篇!!, Ranma Nibunnoichi: Chūgoku Nekonron Daikessen! Okite Yaburi no Gekitō Hen!) (Viz title: Ranma ½: Big Trouble in Nekonron, China)
Demographic Information
(as of the character's first appearance)
Gender Female
v · d · e

Bearer of one half of the Scroll of Luck from Nekonron, she comes to Nerima chasing Happōsai, who gave it to her grandparents and told them it would bring them luck. It did... all bad. When she sees Prince Kirin, she thinks her "happily ever after" has come at last... then he decides that Akane is his bride because she caught the scroll that Lychee just threw away.

Tropes exhibited by Lychee include:

Six Lucky Gods

The loyal vassals of Kirin and his fellow masters of the Seven Lucky Gods School of Martial Arts. These six warriors -- the fierce-looking Bishamonten, the twins Daikokusei and Daihakusei, the hulking Wu, the dwarfish Ebiten and the sultry Monlon -- serve as Kirin's last line of defense and agents of his will.

Tropes exhibited by the other Lucky Gods include:
  • The Brute: Wu fits this to a tea. He's bigger than the Asian elephant Jasmine and dumber than a box of rocks, while being almost impossible to hurt.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Ebiten, a pipsqueak who functions as Kirin's direct lieutenant and retainer, and thus gets stepped on or yelled at more often than not. Until he whips out his fishing rod...
  • Dumb Muscle: Wu: he can't even speak, he's that dimwitted.
  • Gentle Giant: As formidable as he looks, Wu is actually very placid and would rather play with Jasmine than fight.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Ebiten and Monlon wield a fishing rod and a lute, respectively.
  • Nigh Invulnerable: Wu's skin is so thick that Mousse's blades just bounce off of it.
  • Razor Floss: Monlon's special technique involves entangling the victim in lute strings and then pulling them so tight that, if she strums the strings, the vibrations will cut the victim to pieces.
  • Shout-Out: All of the fighting scenes are a huge Saint Seiya parody: more exactly, the Sanctuary arc.
  • Stone Wall: Wu.
  • Stripperiffic: Monlon's outfit.
  • The Unfought: After a formidable display of spearfighting skills, Bishamonten is taken out by a single Happodaikarin because Happosai tripped. Meanwhile, Wu doesn't care much for letting people past him as long as he has a plaything to distract him.
  • Whip It Good: Ebiten's primary means of attack is lashing his foe with his fishing rod's line so that it slices their flesh.
    • He also uses a minor version to capture Akane, sending the line out to grab her by her arm and pull her to the spot in which the group is.
  • You Shall Not Pass: What the Six Lucky Gods attempt to protect Kirin's sanctum.

Prince Toma and Elite Guards

Ruler of the floating island of Togenkyo, Prince Toma is faithfully served by three Beastmen: Sarutoru, Toristan and Wonton.

Tropes exhibited by the natives of Togenkyo include:
  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: He may use it mostly as a focus for his illusions, but Toma's sword is sharp enough to easily sink halfway through the ceiling.
  • Berserk Button: Don't make fun of Toristan's appearance. Just don't.
  • Cool Mask: Toristan's. And he has a very good reason for wearing it.
  • Dumb Muscle: Wonton. Nabiki only needed to throw a bone to have him defeated.
  • Flechette Storm: A favorite tactic of Toristan, sending out his razor-sharp feathers with pin-like stems to strike at foes' Pressure Points and incapacitate them.
  • Ignored Enemy: Poor Sarutoru. He actually has to raise his hand and ask for permission to resume his fight...
  • Kill It with Fire: Subverted: the Mystic Illusion Chaos Strike attack looks and feels like it incinerates the victim, but it's nothing but an illusion.
  • Love At First Punch: Toma decides Akane is the perfect bride after she climbs up to his spot, slaps him and chews him out for his treatment of the women he's selected to be his bride.
  • Mars Needs Women: They have to abduct women from the outside world to have children.
  • Master of Illusion: Prince Toma, big time.
  • No Woman's Land: Togenkyo's waters are tainted by the magical spring at its heart, meaning only boys are born to women there.
  • Petting Zoo People: Toristan's a bird, Sarutoru's a monkey and Wonton's a dog.
  • Pinch Me: In deleted scenes, Ranma is given a pin by Cologne to jab into his leg, which is how he sees through the Mystic Illusion Chaos Strike attack that Toma favors.
  • Punny Name: Saru(monkey)toru, Tori(bird)stan, Won(wan, "woof")ton.
  • Shout-Out: Prince Toma and his elite guards are a parody of the famous Japanese mythological hero Momotaro.
  • Spoiled Brat: Prince Toma. His parents died when he was very young, so having the allegiance of the entire island and its elite warriors thrust upon him went to his head.
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