Hikaru Gosunkugi

Infobox animanga character
name = Hikaru Gosunkugi
series = Ranma ½


caption = Hikaru Gosunkugi
first = Volume 4
last =
creator = Rumiko Takahashi
voiced by = Issei Futamata (Japanese)
Michael Benyaer(English)
alias = Voodoo Spike
Underclassman Gosunkugi, by Kuno
The Furinkan Stalker, (Anime only)
age = 16
born =
occupation = Student
relatives = Mr. Gosunkugi, father
Mrs. Gosunkugi, mother
divider = yes
aux1 name = Curse
aux1 =
aux2 name = Fighting style
aux2 = Japanese Voodoo

nihongo|Hikaru Gosunkugi|五寸釘 光|Gosunkugi Hikaru is a fictional character in Rumiko Takahashi's anime and manga series "Ranma ½".

The name Hikaru is fairly common and means "flashing brilliance." Gosunkugi is a pun: when broken apart it means "five inch nail", a reference to his use of nails in his voodoo practices. He is mostly referred to by his surname by his fellow students.

History

Hikaru Gosunkugi is one of the least popular students in Furinkan High School and has no known friends. He is a student in Ranma's class and often tries to get back at him for becoming Akane's fiancé, ignoring him or saying something he finds insulting. The truth is, Ranma does not really know how to deal with Hikaru and usually just plays friendly jokes on him. It is also important to note that Ranma constantly saves Hikaru from the bullies who often rob or otherwise torment him. In the anime, he seems clueless about Ranma's curse, while it is not explicitly referred to in his rare appearances later in the manga, but the entire class had long since found out by this point, so it seems unlikely that he remains unaware.

Hikaru seems to be a good photographer, and he often takes pictures of Akane or other girls. Because of this, Tatewaki Kuno pays him for the photos he takes in hopes of discovering Ranma's weak spot, which Hikaru eventually learned to be of the feline persuasion, and even developed a (failed) plan to take advantage of it. Later, Tatewaki's sister Kodachi also takes advantage of Hikaru's predilection for voyeuristic photography.

His photos are popular among the other guys at Furinkan High as it is one of the few ways they can lust after Akane now that she is engaged to Ranma.

Hikaru has a much larger part in the manga than in the anime, where he does not appear until the sixth season. The character of Sasuke Sarugakure, the Kuno family ninja, was invented to take most of the parts that Hikaru originally performed.

In Latin America, Hikaru's name is Beto Fetiches, "fetiche" being the Spanish word for .

Character

Like many of the other male characters in the series, Hikaru is in love with Akane even though he is too shy to tell her. He is a physically weak character who realizes that he would never stand a chance against her other suitors like Ranma, Ryoga, and Tatewaki. For example, in the manga during the performance of "Romeo and Juliet", he was shown to be too weak to hold Akane up for more than a few seconds. The circles under Hikaru's eyes are hereditary, as his parents have them as well.

Hikaru earned the nickname "Voodoo Spike" because of his interest in the occult. He is often seen with lit candles tied to his head in order to see ghost lights. One of his trademarks is nailing straw voodoo dolls to nearby objects; unfortunately, he is rather clumsy and often misses, hitting his thumb instead. Hikaru also thinks that he is a master of disguise but rarely manages to fool anyone but himself. He did, however, successfully blend into the bars of the balcony on which Juliet (played by Akane) stood during the Ranma and Juliet story arc, remaining unnoticed until he revealed his presence.

Hikaru is not always dependent on magic or disguises; he once bought a powerful high-tech suit of armor (called "One-Punch") and used it in an effort to physically compete with Ranma. The armor, however, was rigged to explode unless the wearer defeated his stronger rival in combat. Ranma, always prideful, wouldn't let Hikaru beat him and the armor blew up. The only good thing for Hikaru was that Ranma got caught in the non-lethal blast as well.

In the anime episode 'Gosunkugi's Summer Affair', he fell in love with a ghost named Kogane, who liked him back, but she had to leave when the summer ghost festival was over.

Other appearances

Hikaru was a playable character in the video game Ranma ½: Hard Battle for the SNES.

References

* [http://www.animeinfo.org/featured/ranma/ranmapeople/gosunkugi.html Gosunkugi at AnimeInfo]
* [http://www.furinkan.com/ranma/characters/hikaru.html Gosunkugi at Furinkan.com]