List of minor Ranma ½ characters (anime)

The following "Ranma ½" minor characters appear only in the TV series, movies, or OAVs. For manga-only minor characters, please see Minor characters of the Ranma ½ manga; for minor characters common to both the manga and anime, please see List of minor characters in Ranma ½.

Note: Japanese names are in the Western order (given name, then family name).

TV series characters

Anna, Farmer Brown, and Charlie

Anna is a young cattle rancher whom Ryoga Hibiki meets while wandering through a rural area of Japan. After Ryoga stops an attack from the Oshamanbe clan, she comes to believe that he is a legendary vagabond named Joe. Joe the Wanderer is said to be a man who will appear out of nowhere and come to the aid of those in need. Anna falls in love with Ryoga during his time there, and he reflects some of that feeling for her, but in the end he chooses to return home to Akane which leaves Anna in tears.

In the English dub, she speaks with a Southern accent and despite her simple country-style appearance, she is unafraid to take part in revenge against the Oshamanbe clan. She is also strong enough to easily lift a large boulder she was tied to when kidnapped by Ushinosuke Oshamanbe, master of the Oshamanbe School of Western Martial Arts. Although Anna does have many similarities to Akari Unryu from the manga, Anna's character predates Akari. Anna first appeared in 1991 (episode 90), [cite web |url=http://www.furinkan.com/ranma/anime/tv5.html |publisher=Ranma ½ Perfect Edition
title=Anime - Nettohen Season Five |accessdate= 2007-05-07] while Akari first appeared in 1994 (volume 30). [cite web |url=http://www.furinkan.com/ranma/manga/vol30.html |publisher=Ranma ½ Perfect Edition
title=Manga Summaries - Volume Thirty |accessdate= 2007-05-07] However, there is no confirmation that Akari was in any way based on Anna. anime voices|Yuko Kobayashi|Maggie Blue O'Hara.

Farmer Brown is Anna's grandfather (father in the English dub) who is involved in a territorial dispute with the Oshamanbe clan. Farmer Brown and Anna just barely make ends meet with their ranch due to the clan problems so they intend to bring Ryoga home to their ranch to assist them with work. When Ryoga shows no intention of staying, Farmer Brown vows to take care of the Oshamanbe clan himself. However, he suffers a coughing fit and Anna claims he's in no condition to fight against them. He apologizes tearfully for any hardship he has caused and after emotional display, Ryoga reluctantly agrees to help out. His idea of revenge involves defacing cows with graffiti and stealing vegetables while leaving Ryoga to fight anyone that interferes. The dispute is finally taken care of when Ryoga defeats Ushinosuke in Hell Canyon. Farmer Brown seems to approve of the idea of Anna being together with Ryoga, even crying tears of joy when they embrace after Ryoga saves her. anime voices|Toshihiko Nakajima|Don Brown.

Charlie (known as Gertie in the English dub) is Farmer Brown's large brown steer. Charlie is knocked out by Ryoga after trying to rush him for an unknown reason, causing Farmer Brown and Anna to attack Ryoga in return. Like Akari's "sumo-pig" Katsunishiki, Charlie can sometimes stand on his hind legs. Apart from pulling carts, he tends to move around anthropomorphically. Charlie takes part in writing graffiti and stealing vegetables and he is seen happily throwing rice on Anna and Ryoga as they hug in Hell's Canyon after defeating Ushinosuke.

Atsuko

Atsuko was a young woman who was in love with Genma. She only appears in episode 7 in a flashback of Genma's, when he was trying to tell Ranma how people can sometimes hurt other people's feelings without them even knowing it. According to Genma, he and Atsuko broke up after Genma unintentionally hurt Atsuko's feelings by telling her that he had met a, in his own words: "a richer, prettier, and kinder" woman then her (it's unknown if he was referring to Nodoka or somebody else). Genma went too far with his insults and Atsuko clobbered him (just as his son did as he was telling the story). It's unknown if this story was just made-up by Genma or if it actually happened. anime voices|Akiko Hiramatsu|Cathy Weseluck.

Chemistry Club Leader

He appeared in "School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs Ryoga" as the leader of Furinkan High school's chemistry club. Like most of the male students at Furinkan, he was in love with Akane and was jelious of her engagement to Ranma. He and his men burried mines to defeat Ranma in the middle of his first fight with Ryoga. However, when Ranma and Ryoga didn't trigger the mines after stepping on them, the chem club attacked them with mallets. Ryoga and Ranma dodged them and the club's mallets ended up whacking the mines instead, blowing them up. The leader bears a super-facial resemblance to Megane of Urusei Yatsura an earlier creation of Takahashi. He was also the first anime-only character to appear in the series. anime voices|Shigeru Chiba|Doug Parker.

Copycat Ken

Copycat Ken is a martial artist whose specialty is making himself look and sound exactly like anyone that he has photographed. He does so by flipping his "copycat kerchief" over himself. He can also use their martial arts techniques by just watching them once, although he must be in the form of the person to execute the techniques he copies. His form changing is not limited to men as he has copied both Akane and Ranma's female form.

Ken is sly and deceptive. His opponents tend to underestimate him, viewing him as only a pale imitation of the original martial artist(s). For a very brief period, he trained under Happosai. He was defeated by Ranma when the latter "became" the technique Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire by putting his soul into it, rather than just speed and power. anime voices|Masami Kiguchi|Toby Procter.

Crepe King Joe

He is a master crepe chef who specializes in crepe style martial arts. He came to Furinkan and opened a crepe truck, putting Ukyo out of business. After he defeated her in battle, she went on a training trip to improve her skills. She later returned to Nerima and rechallenged Joe, this time beating him using her Batter Dragon attack. The attack combined all of her foodbased techniques together to create a huge dragon made of batter. Joe became trapped as an ingredient in a giant okonomiyaki. His name of Joe is never mentioned in the English version. Despite being an anime-only character, the manga-only character Hayato Myojin shares a similar rivalry with Ukyo. anime voices|Koji Tsujitani|Brian Drummond.

Daitokuji Kimiyasu

The leader of a trio, Daitokuji appears with his teammates to reclaim Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics as a male sport. To do this, his team is out to collect 3 sacred treasures of Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics. After claiming the Ribbon of Solitude and defeating Kodachi for St. Hebereke's Sphere of Fury, the men head to Furinkan High to claim the last treasure, the Clubs of Inscrutability. Daitokuji is quite passionate about it, despite ridicule from both the women and the men. He manages to defeat Akane in a match, but female Ranma intervenes and defeats him. His team ultimately steals the three treasures only to find themselves attacked by the spirits held within them when the treasures are brought together. anime voices|Keiji Fujiwara|Scott McNeil.

Evil Ranma

After Ranma briefly considers remaining as a female forever, Happosai uses a special incense burner to remove Ranma's female side. However, unknown to him at the time, the female Ranma carries only Ranma's evil half. After apparently disappearing, she reappears nightly to male Ranma, attempting to gain control of him and very nearly succeeding. Fortunately, with Cologne and Shampoo's help, Akane manages to stick a spirit ward on her and banish her.

While physically identical to female Ranma, this evil half is a spirit and shows the ability to use telekenisis as well as control male Ranma, even having him attack Akane. However, she cannot exist during the day, and is still afraid of cats.

It should be noted that in the manga a similar duplicate female Ranma (called "Mirror Ranma") appears, but the story and origin of the manga version is quite different. anime voices|Megumi Hayashibara|Venus Terzo.

Frog Hermit

A trainer of frogs, he was training at Jusenkyo when Ranma broke the pole he was standing on and he fell into one of the springs. Out for revenge, he kidnaps Shampoo, Ryoga and Genma, and then attempts to change Ranma into a frog with some of the cursed water, which he appeared to have used on his three captives. Akane and Mousse help Ranma in confronting him and eventually find out that the water is nothing more than normal water and that the frog versions of Genma, Ryoga and Shampoo are fakes, with the real ones simply being asleep. His true intention was simply to scare Ranma, which the later angrily kicked him away for. Later he show up to try a steal a small dragon Ranma found, so he can eat it and gain immortality. The Frog Hermit's cursed frog form is unusual in that it is not only the same size as his human form, but is also able to stand and talk, which he claims is because he has "been around so long". anime voices|Ryuuji Saikachi|French Tickner.

Genji Heita

Genji Heita (more often referred to by his last name of Heita) is a martial arts student who joins the Tendo training hall after seeing a battle between Happosai and Ranma. He does odd jobs around the dojo and tries to prevent fights, even talking Ryoga out of one with Ranma. He ends up training under Master Happosai on how to steal panties, although he believes this to be a training exercise rather than being perverted himself. His "cow-eye" design (as Happosai referred to them) is the same design as Tobimaro Mizunokōji from Urusei Yatsura. anime voices|Shinnosuke Furumoto|Tony Sampson.

Gindo

A vagabond mountain priest and friend of Sasuke who stays at the Kuno residence for a time. After successfully predicting several calamities that happen to Tatewaki, he is asked to predict Tatewaki's future bride. He gives Tatewaki an elaborate set of tasks to perform to discover who it will be. Although Tatewaki expects to meet either the pigtailed girl or Akane, instead he meets Nabiki. Luckily (for Tatewaki anyway), Sasuke accidentally gave Gindo normal fire wood in the fire that was burning when he made the prediction, meaning that he had acted incorrectly. Needless to say, Tatewaki was furious and he presummingly gave a hellish beating to the both of them. anime voices|Yoshitada Otsuka|Michael Dobson.

Higuma Torajiro

A overly passionate teacher Principal Kuno hires on. He is obsessed with youth and encourages his students to embrace their dreams and be passionate about them. He pays particular attention to Ranma who refuses to be inspired by his methods. However, his encouragement is so extreme that it makes people uncomfortable. anime voices|Hideyuki Tanaka|Paul Dobson.

Trivia

* His name means "brown bear."

* Due to his sparkling smile, determined attitude and over obsession with youth his personality is very similar to the taijutsu master Might Guy from the "Naruto" anime. By the same token, he is also similar to (though less intelligent than) Coach Shun Mitaka from Takahashi's "Maison Ikkoku".

Ino, Shika, and Cho

The three elders of the Mikaoji school of martial arts tea. They act essentially as the opposition for Matsu, Take and Ume from the Daimonji school and often end up fighting their counterparts. Unlike their counterparts they are more adaptive in their style and will even stand up during battle.

The characters' names are taken from the Inoshikachō combination of cards in the Hanafuda.

(Shika) anime voices|Haru Endo|Pauline Newstone, (Ino) anime voices|Terue Nunami|Patti Allen, (Cho) anime voices|Akemi Okamura|Janyse Jaud,

Kanna

Kanna is a girl that looks and sounds exactly like Akane. Genma encounters her after falling off a cliff into a river. She lives in an unnamed village with her father (who looks like Soun and is the village headman), grandfather (who looks like Principal Kuno), sisters (who look like Kasumi and Nabiki), and two faith healers (who look like Happosai and Cologne) and is engaged to marry Kotaro. Like Akane, her cooking is terrible and she always gets into fights with her future husband. Kanna is persuded by Hayato Ryujin who constantly tries in vain to win her affection. However, despite their constant arguements, Kanna and Kotaro truely love each other. Interestingly, she shares her name with one of Naraku's incarnations from InuYasha. anime voices|Noriko Hidaka|Myriam Sirois.

Kaori Daikoku

While traveling in his youth with baby Ranma, Genma traded Ranma for something to eat to Kaori's father. Ranma was to be the new heir to the Daikoku school of Seven Lucky Gods martial arts by marrying Kaori. Genma stole back Ranma later, but the father tracked down Ranma to the Tendo dojo. In order to decide which engagement would stand, Kaori challenged Akane to the 'Miss Martial Arts Takeout Race'. After a lengthly battle, Akane was able to win the race with aide from the girl-type Ranma. anime voices|Hiromi Tsuru|Lynda Boyd.

Trivia

* In the manga, it is Shampoo who participates in this race, which occurs between Ryoga's Breaking Point training and Happosai's introduction, but in the anime it takes place shortly before she returns from China.

* Kaori's special techniques consist of: Shampoo's Delivery Box Blowout and Chow Mein Strike techniques from the manga (re-named It's Fast or It's Free and Ramen Roundup Noodle Noose respectively), Fishcake Blizzard (which involves throwing a plethora of fishcakes at the target, presumably to blind them) and the ability to use chopsticks as throwing weapons, apparently to the point of being able to target pressure points with them.

Kogane Musashi

Kogane was a ghost trapped inside a notebook in the Furinkan High School store that Tatewaki, Ranma, and Akane had found. She sings a song that was thought to lead to a treasure hidden in the school. In the end it turns out to be a stuffed raccoon toy that she forgot to take with her from a notebook sale Toramasa held. In the English dub, she says she worked the word "treasure" into her song because it is the translation of her name, and it rhymes with "forever." In her second appearance, she visited the Tendos for the festival of Obon. During this time she met Hikaru Gosunkugi who fell in love with her. Apparently, the feelings were mutual. anime voices|Mako Hyodo|Saffron Henderson.

Kotaro

Kotaro is a young man who looks and sounds exactly like Ranma. Genma encounters him along with several other Nerima-resident look-alikes when he accidently falls off a cliff into a river. His parents are both deceased and he is promised to marry Kanna. His personallity is basicly the same as Ranma's and he shares a rivalry with Hayato Ryujin, who also lusts for Kanna's affection. Kotaro also gets into fights with Kanna but like Ranma to Akane, he secretly loves her. anime voices|Kappei Yamaguchi|Richard Ian Cox.

Kin Ono

Kin is Dr. Tofu Ono's mother. She arrives at his clinic one day to act as match maker for him, apparently determined to see him marry a woman with large hips, which Kin says is the most important characteristic for a wife. She tends to threaten suicide when Dr. Tofu does not cooperate with this. She keeps a shrine dedicated to her late husband, Dr. Tofu's father, with her. Akane, Nabiki and Ranma all pretend to be Dr Tofu's bride to be in order to get her off his back (Nabiki talks him into hiring her for this purpose). However, when Kasumi arrives Kin recognises his "spaced out" reaction to her as being identical to that of her deceased husband's behaviour while he was trying to court her. She realises that her son will have to work through his issue in the same way as his father did and leaves him, confident that he will marry Kasumi eventually. anime voices|Yoshiko Ota|Janyse Jaud.

Kin'nee

A member of the Blue Dragon Sword Muscle Martial Arts School (Cult of the Muscle Sword in the dub), he is a swordsman who helps the Jusenkyo Morals Committee to capture and attempt to punish the various cursed characters: Ranma, Genma, Shampoo, Mousse, and Ryoga. He also has a curse of his own, having fallen into Fushan Niichuan, spring of drowned priest. Unlike the other curses, Kin'nee's curse affects both his personality and memory. The priest Kin'nee has no memory of the time Kin'nee is in his normal form and has no desire to fight, making this curse Kin'nee's biggest weakness. anime voices|Takeshi Aono|Paul Dobson.

Attacks

* Earthquake Break Dance: By spinning his sword rapidly, Kin'ee creates huge slicing wind to cut the surrounding area (rocks, trees, mountains, etc) into large chunks them sending them falling at high speeds at his opponent.

* Kin'ee can also fly like a helicopter while spinning his sword.

Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung

A pair of young Amazons come from Shampoo's village to aid her in punishing the outsider, otherwise known as Ranma, who defeated Shampoo. This leads them into conflict with Shampoo, Ranma and Akane. After this is resolved and they learn the truth, they return to China, but later return in another episode where they battle Akane unsuccessfully. They are seen a third time in the Ranma ½ OAV "The Tendo Family Christmas Scramble". Although referred to as Shampoo's sisters, Akane clarifies that this means village sister, not biological sisters. In Japanese, they are referred to as Lin-Lin and Ran-Ran. They are very similar to Pink and Link, two rivals that Shampoo fights later in the series.

(Ling-Ling) anime voices|Yuko Kobayashi|Nicole Oliver. (Lung-Lung) anime voices|Yuko Mita|Nicole Oliver.

Little White Piglet

She is a small piglet who greatly resembles a white version of P-chan and wears a pink bandanna. She was being chased by some angry farmers until she ran into P-chan in a small cabin in the forest. After explaining her situation to P-chan, he quickly hid her in his backpack. When the farmers arrived, he had already changed back into Ryoga and told them he hadn't seen any pigs. After they left, he took out the small piglet, who was rather frightened until she figured out that Ryoga was P-chan, at which point she quickly gave him many little kisses.

Manpukuji Temple priest

A priest from the Manpukuji Temple who helps Ukyo rediscover the battle aura in her food inorder to fight Crepe King Joe. One of his temple's great treasures is a 100 year old Okonomiyaki that has so much battle aura in it that it has not spoiled over that whole time. Ukyo believes this to be made by the founder of the Kuonji School of Okonomiyaki, Ukyo's great grandfather. anime voices|Kohei Miyauchi|Richard Newman.

Master Chingensai

A old martial arts master specializing in an ancient Chinese form of ninjitsu. In particular he has an invisibility technique known as the Body-B-Gone. Soun and Genma trained under him for a time hoping to beat Happosai. However, it turned out that Chingensai is perverted like Happosai. In fact he is an old friend of Happosai's and the technique was meant to be used to peek on girls. He later re-appears during the Secret Demon Festival Saga as one of Ranma's foes. He is similar to another friend of Happosai's called Lukkosai (though he only appears in the manga). Also, it appears that Chingensai is on much friendlier terms with Happosai than Happosai is with Lukkosai in the Manga. anime voices|Kinto Tamura|Terry Klassen.

Matsu, Take, and Ume

The three elders of the Daimonji school of martial arts tea. While initially introduced mostly as advice givers to Sentaro, they are capable fighter in their martial arts style as well, and are roughly equivalent to Ino, Shika and Cho from the Mikaoji school. They are, however, very formal in their style, even criticizing Kasumi on her drinking of tea during a meeting.

(Matsu) anime voices|Chie Kitagawa|Janyse Jaud, (Ume) anime voices|Natsuko Fuji|Cathy Weseluck, (Take) anime voices|Natsumi Sakuma|Nicole Oliver.

Midori

A nursery school teacher that Happosai falls in love with. She treats him quite kindly while unaware of his perversions, prompting him to attempt to change his ways, but she ultimately finds out and is disgusted by him. "Midori" means green. anime voices|Yumi Takada|Megan Leitch.

Miyo

A fortune teller in Akane's class who uses tarot cards to predict people's futures. Akane had her fortune read by her, and she predicted she would marry in a week. She also predicted Happosai's death. However, neither prediction came true. In later episodes of the series, she can be seen pursuing Happosai along with Akane and the other girls as he steals their gym shorts. anime voices|Masako Katsuki|Nicole Oliver.

Mousse's mother

Mousse's mother is not seen in the manga but in the anime she did send Mousse a letter asking how his progress with Shampoo was going. She worries about her son very much and hopes he does succeed in gaining Shampoo's affection, but feels that her son should at least be more patient about it. Like her son she wears thick coke bottle glasses and is a member of the Joketsuzoku tribe in Ni-Chie-Zu. In her first appearance, she was seen with her sleeves rolled up so it is unknown whether or not she studies the same style of martial arts as Mousse.

Princess Ori and Kengyu

Princess Ori and Kengyu are two lovers of the Milky Way Martial Arts School and two characters in the Tanabata love story. Princess Ori comes to earth shortly before the Tanabata festival looking for Kengyu who has been away on a training trip. With the help of Akane and Ranma, she finds him challenging various Martial Arts schools, defeating his opponents with the "Kengyu Shooting Star Kick" which actually turns out to just be having his steer Li'l Moo (named Moo-chan in the dub) attack his opponent from behind. After Ranma manages to defeat him, Kengyu returns to Ori. However, it turns out the entire encounter with the pair was merely a delusion Akane had after falling off a balcony.

The pair's relationship somewhat mirrors Ranma and Akane's, the two being engaged by their parents, both being martial artists, and Ori even being lousy at domestic tasks in the same way Akane is. However, unlike Akane and Ranma, they are open with their feeling for each other. Although they only seemed to be a delusion created by Akane they did make a cameo in the Ranma ½ OAV "Tendo Family Christmas Scramble". (Ori) anime voices|Yuko Mita|Moneca Stori, (Kengyu) anime voices|Hikaru Midorikawa|Michael Benyaer, (English). (Li'l Moo) "Voiced by": Rei Sakuma.

Rinko

She is a hot tempered professional go-kart racer who participates in a race at an amusement park Ranma and company are at. The prize is a dinner for two, which Ranma and the others also want. Although in the early part of the race she is in front, Ranma soon passes her, as well as Happosai. In the end she lost the race after she crashed along with most the others save Kasumi and Nabiki who had been racing conservatively. In the end Kasumi wins the prize. anime voices|You Inoue|Nicole Oliver.

Hayato Ryujin

Hayato is a samurai who looks, sounds, and behaves just like Tatewaki. Like the relationships between Tatewaki, Akane, and Ranma, Hayato is madly in love with Kanna and has a grudge against her fiancee Kotaro. When Genma accidently arrives in the village after falling into a river, Hayato and his ninjas attack him only to be beaten back by Kotaro. After Kanna's father falls ill, two faith healers reveal that the only way to heal him is for him to devour the heart of a living Panda. When Hayato finds out about this, he takes advantage by holding Genma hostage and Kanna unwillingly goes along with the wedding if he lets Genma go, which he does. When Kotaro was unable to defeat him, Genma returned and tricked Hayato into piercing a ball witch was really a bomb, killing Hayato in the explotion and blowing all of his ninjas away. anime voices|Hirotaka Suzuoki|Ted Cole.

Unlike Tatewaki, Hayato uses a spear to fight rather then a sword. Also, his unnamed right-hand ninja resembles Tatewaki's ninja Sasuke.

akura

A mysterious woman who shows up at the Tendo Dojo looking to speak with Genma. When the others go to find out who she is, she asks to speak with Ranma, but Genma refuses to allow her to do so, leaving with her before the others can get a good look at her. Happosai then tells the tale of a woman Genma met during their training together who bore his son, namely Ranma. However, Sakura's parents opposed the match and they were separated, Genma taking Ranma with him. The conclusion they draw from this is that she has returned to take her son.

However, this whole tale turns out to be just a piece of fiction. This woman actually works for a traveling circus and is of absolutely no relation to the Saotome family at all. When she saw Ranma transform, she wanted him as an attraction in that circus. Genma was simply trying to substitute for Ranma in the circus. Although Happosai gives her name as Sakura, her real name is never given, and likely is not Sakura since the rest of the tale was false. anime voices|Kazuko Sugiyama|Saffron Henderson.

ankichi Urakishi

A Martial Arts Shogi player that Genma beat by cheating a year ago. Due to that loss, he became a drunkard and his wife Koharu (called Clairebell in the English dub) left him. Since then he has trained to face Genma in a rematch. However, Genma again cheats and wins their first normal shoji match, causing Sankichi to challenge him to a Martial Arts Shogi match, where people take the place of the pieces. Genma initially dodges the challenge, but after Sankichi and his men steal most of their food, Genma, Soun, Ranma, and Akane end up facing them. After losing all his pieces, he uses Akane as a shield. Since Ranma can't bring himself to hit Akane, he ends up losing, but Koharu shows up and gets him to leave.

Though Genma was forced to cheat to defeat him, Sankichi is hinted to actually be a rather bad player: one of the earliest scenes in the episode in which he appears involves him losing to a teenage member of a shogi club. This scene implies that he is skilled at Martial Arts Shogi (referred to as "Battle Shogi" in the dub), but rather bad at normal shogi. He also mistakes any girl he sees for his wife regardless of what they look like, including Akane, Nabiki and Kasumi. (Sankichi) anime voices|Katsuji Mori|Ron Halder. (Koharu) anime voices|Kachiko Hino|Nicole Oliver.

atori

While lost in the woods one day, Ryoga runs into Satori, a boy who claims he can read minds. After seeing a picture of Akane, Satori goes to the Tendos' to meet her. Although his mind reading talents are genuine, he finds himself initially unable to prove it as Nabiki's thoughts of money are too powerful, and Happosai's thoughts are too perverted. Akane, in particular, proves completely unreadable. He is, however, able to read Ranma's mind and torments him with this, claiming he knows Ranma is keeping a secret. Initially this seems to be about a doll of Akane's that was damaged, but Satori claims it is something more than that.

When he attempts to speak with Akane about Ranma and still finds her unreadable, Nabiki suggests to him that he can't read her because he has a crush on her. Satori then challenges Ranma to a duel, but during the fight Akane interferes and he is finally able to read her mind and decides to leave. anime voices|Kazue Ikura|Rhys Huber.

Trivia

* Satori claims to be the same Satori from a story about a mind reading boy. This is likely a reference to a folktale about a mind-reading animal called a satori. [cite web |url=http://www.dailyzen.com/zen/zen_reading29.asp |publisher=DailyZen
title=Journal 29 - Zen Readings |accessdate= 2007-05-07] .

atsuki's grandmother

She is the founder of the Mikaoji style of Tea Ceremony martial arts, her primary weapon is a giant fan which she uses to glide on, she is very skilled and extremely elusive, and she along with Sentaro's grandmother is retraining Sentaro in martial arts Tea Ceremony so he can be worthy of marrying Satsuki. anime voices|Reiko Suzuki|Elan Ross Gibson.

hadow Ranma

One day Ranma bought a mysterious magic smoke powder that was supposed to bring shadows to life. He used it on his shadow hoping that he could use it as a sparring partner, but instead it came out as a mischievous trickster that did things such as burn Happosai's panty collection, eat the Tendo Dojo out of house and home, and peak on Akane in the bath. Why it did these things was because it was acting out all of Ranma's hidden desires, although of course Ranma denied wanting to do those things completely. The shadow was also deeply in love with Akane. Akane hurt its feelings by saying that it "wasn't her type" and that it was "monsterously ugly", weakening it and allowing Ranma to defeat it with his Chestnuts-Roasting-On-An-Open-Fire Technique. After which, Ranma re-absorbed the shadow back into his body and he threw the shadow-incense over the horrizon, never to be seen or heard from again. anime voices|Daiki Nakamura|Brian Drummond.

otatsu Jikei'in

Head of the school of Martial Arts Calligraphy, Sotatsu is out to make his style the dominate one throughout Japan. He uses a giant writing brush, along with various other writing implements as weapons and fights only those with beautiful handwriting. He defeats both Tatewaki and Ryoga, who both have good handwriting, but refuses Ranma's many challenges because Ranma has awful handwriting. However, in the end he accepts one of Ranma's challenges and fights him in a formal Martial Arts Calligraphy challenge where the combatants must write out a set of characters during combat. However, during the battle, his weakness is revealed, namely they he starts to laugh uncontrollably to anything he finds funny. In the end, Happosai (who had gotten drunk the night before) caused Sotatsu to laugh even more out-of-control than he did before, resulting the match ending in a draw (according to Tatewaki, who was the judge of the dual). anime voices|Koji Tsujitani|Alistair Abell.

Temari Kaminarimon

A young girl who is an 12th generation expert in the Good Ol' Days Martial Arts style. This style utilitizes various childhood toys as weapons, such as marbles, cards, and tops. She comes to the Tendo dojo and challenges Akane to a battle. She defeats Akane, and takes the dojo sign. However, after getting a few pointers from Kasumi, Akane defeats Temari in a rematch, taking back the sign.

Her grandfather's name is Kunajiro Kaminarimon, and the two other league members are Tatsukichi Komagataya and Torahachi Kachidokibashi.

(Temari) anime voices|Minori Matsushima|Chantal Strand. (Kunajiro) anime voices|Kōichi Kitamura|Michael Dobson. (Tatsukichi) anime voices|Rokuro Naya|Scott McNeil. (Torahachi) anime voices|Jun Hazumi|Ward Perry.

Toramasa Kobayakawa

Toramasa runs Furinkan High's second school store deep in the abandoned bowels of the school and also calls himself the School Mentor. The store is only stocked with outdated merchandise and is something of a legend, Nabiki saying that Toramasa places curses on those that approach him. In truth, Toramasa is just a throwback to older days, telling tall tales of the past. Principal Kuno is out to get rid of him because he has his old report cards which show that he failed English in school.

Toramasa appears a second time in the introduction for Kogane as the person who sold the notebook she was bound to, and has a third appearance in the anime adaption of the Phoenix Egg storyline, being the one who sells Kuno the egg and later gives the recipe for the growth pills. anime voices|Hiroshi Masuoka|Terry Klassen.

Tsukasa

A sickly young woman who sells seashells at the beach (possibly a jab at the English alliterative phrase, "she sells seashells at the sea shore"). Happosai, disguised within an octopus pot, ends up stealing food for her around her home town. It is implied that she is not really sickly, but simply a moocher who swindles gullible people into caring for her. anime voices|Mitsuki Yayoi|Jenn Forgie.

Ushinosuke Oshamanbe

Ushinosuke is the First Son of the Oshamanbe clan and a master of Oshamanbe School of Western Martial Arts. He carries a pair of throwing axes held at his side in holsters, and appears like a typical Wild West-style thug. Ushinosuke's mount is a steer named Kotaro (named Botsie in the English version) which also wears an eye patch on the opposite eye to his. He and his men kidnap Anna, but are defeated by Ryoga. anime voices|Sho Hayami|Scott McNeil.

Yang Gui-fei

A woman who was enamored of Emperor Xuanzong who was murdered and left a curse. Her bra contained her spirit and was cursed to prevent the possessor from looking at any woman other than Yang Gui-fei by covering their eyes. When she sets her eyes on Genma Saotome in his true form, she instantly abandons her attack on Ranma (in cursed form, to avoid her man-hypnotising powers) and Akane to pursue him, believing him to be her former love. When Soun attempts to use her bra to trap Happosai, Yang is so disgusted by him that she releases him, then later disappears after a brief battle, causing the bra to disintergrate in order to avoid him.

She is based on the historical Yang Guifei. In the English dub, the characters call her Yo-ki-hi (which is how it's pronounced in the Japanese version). anime voices|Masako Katsuki|Patricia Drake.

Yasukichi

Also know as Vagabond Yasu, an odd man with a talent for catching eggs in mid air. He stumbled into Kasumi one day and the encounter had a mysterious effect on her, prompting Nabiki to suggest Kasumi had fallen in love with him, much to Soun's dismay. However, by chance he ends up at Dr. Tofu's clinic and sees an encounter between Kasumi and the doctor and decides to act as match maker for the two.

It turns out that Kasumi knew Yasukichi when they both were very young and gave him a charm he still carries with him. He may have been in love with her at that time but was unable to admit his feelings. anime voices|Koji Tsujitani|Brian Drummond.

Yuki Onna

After Ryoga is found outside the Tendos' nearly frozen and talking about a snow monster, Ranma and Akane go out to hunt this monster and find this girl. She is frigid cold to the touch and carries only a flute which also emits cold. They take her home, where all the heat seems to be drained from the house. When she awakens she speaks of a monster named Nu which came after her. Ranma and Akane go out to hunt this monster thinking it is the cause of the unusual cold. When Ryoga recovers he joins Ranma in battling Nu.

It turns out the girl is the legendary Yuki-Onna, mystical woman of the snow and that Nu is actually something of a guardian that falsely believed Yuki was in danger. Yuki also reveals herself to have a more adult form and thanks them for their aid, particularly Ryoga, before leaving. She is similar in appearance to Oyuki from Takahashi's previous series, Urusei Yatsura. anime voices|Masako Sugaya|Tabitha St. Germain.

Yutaro Yudono

Yutaro is the son of the late owner of the Royal Prince hotel. His father wanted desperately for his son to marry so he could see his grandchildren. Sadly, he died before this could occur. After his death, the Royal Prince began to decay and canidates for Yutaro's bride stopped appearing. This caused Yutaro to lock himself in the bathing area, hoping that a woman of his taste would eventually appear. However, due to the springs being said to improve one's own martial arts skills, the only guests they got on rare occasions were rugged male martial artists, and Yutaro would take out his frustration on them quite often.

When things looked like they were hopeless, the manager of the Royal Prince began sending out invitations to random groups of people, one of which happened to be the residents of the Tendo Dojo (including Ryoga Hibiki). Yutaro began his attacks on Ryoga and Ranma Saotome, and at the same time trying to make Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi his woman. However, in the end, Saotome defeated Yutaro and Ryoga rescued the girls. Afterwards, Akane insisted that he be featured in a commercial. In time, Yutaro's manly figure caught the attention of many woman and before long the Royal Prince was back in bussiness. anime voices|Akira Ishida|Paul Dobson.

Movie-Exclusive Characters

Big Trouble in Nekonron, China

Jasmine

Lychee’s pet elephant, guardian, and companion, Jasmine is highly intelligent. She understands her master’s commands and intentions perfectly, serving as powerful weapon for Lychee, who has no fighting ability. Jasmine forms a quick friendship with Wu when they meet for the second time in front of his castle gate, apparently content with him stroking her trunk.

Techniques
"See Jasmine's techniques."

Lychee

Lychee is a young Chinese girl who came to the Tendo Dojo seeking revenge on Happosai. Many years ago Happosai had eaten at her grandmother's restaurant and in exchange for the meal he gave her grandmother half of a legendary scroll, he told her that who ever possessed this scroll would one day meet their prince charming, Lychee then received the scroll from her grandmother and for ten years she waited for her prince to come, after so many years she had given up all hope and then she swore vengeance on Happosai for having wasted her childhood. But once she arrived at the Tendo Dojo and punished Happosai she angrily threw the scroll at Happosai and it bounced of his head and it landed on Akane's lap, and at that moment Kirin had arrived searching for his bride to be and he took Akane since she possessed the marriage scroll. But thanks to the help of Ranma and the others, Akane was saved and Lychee swore that she would find her prince charming on her own. A month later, a letter and a photo had arrived at the Tendo Dojo which revealed that Lychee and Kirin were happily married. anime voices|Sakiko Tamagawa|Diana Wong.

even Lucky Gods Martial Artists

The Seven Lucky Gods Martial Artists serve as the primary villains in the first movie. They are a group of skilled warriors from Nekonron, a remote region in China. Only Cologne and Happosai among the characters know about them. Most of them (as noted below) are based on members of the mythical Seven Lucky Gods. They travel to Japan in order to retrieve the second half of the Scroll of Luck and its bearer using a flying ship. The group is not limited to Kirin and his six warriors, but also includes masked followers who among other things, crew the flying ship and remain largely unseen throughout the movie.

Bishamonten

A large, halberd-wielding man, Bishamonten defeats Genma and Soun in combat when Team Ranma boards the Seven Lucky Gods’ flying ship. He is the guardian of the first castle gate, but does not get to fight, being defeated by one of Happosai’s Happo-Fire Burst bombs. Bishamonten is likely based on the Japanese god of the same name. anime voices|Kazuhiko Inoue|Robert O. Smith.

Daikokusei and Daihakusei

Daikokusei and Daihakusei are a pair of identical twins who are go masters. They can be distinguished by the black and white spheres (both sides of a go piece) that are respectively portrayed on the front of their shirts. During Akane and Kirin’s breakfast, they are perched on a Lazy Susan between the two, and alternately place slices of pickled vegetables on their rice bowls. The two do not actually fight when Team Ranma boards the Seven Lucky Gods’ flying ship. Daihakusei and Daikokusei are the guardians of the second castle gate, the floor of which is actually a giant go board. Using a regular-sized go board and pieces, they can pinpoint where their opponents are on the giant board, and attempt to crush them by causing massive go pieces to come down upon the giant board. The key flaw to this strategy however, is that the more go pieces are laid down, the more places an opponent actually has to go by getting on top of the pieces, and the twins cannot tell where someone is when this happens. Ranma smashes their go board, which also destroys their castle. Which members of the mythological Seven Lucky Gods they are based on is not clear. (Daikokusei) anime voices|Takehito Koyasu|Paul Dobson. (Daihakusei) anime voices|Mitsuaki Madono|Michael Dobson.

Ebiten

The smallest member of the Seven Lucky Gods, Ebiten appears to be Kirin’s right hand man, who holds Kirin’s half of the Scroll of Luck. He wields a fishing pole with a very long line, which he can use to snag targets, whip or cut opponents, or create a partial illusionary effect that distracts them. Despite his small size, Ebiten is able to pull Akane from the ground high into the air and onto the Seven Lucky Gods’ flying ship using his fishing pole. He defeats Ryoga when Team Ranma boards the flying ship, and is the guardian of the fifth and final castle gate. Eibten presses Ranma at first, but after his fishing pole is broken by one of Ryoga’s headbands, he gets trampled on by the rest of Team Ranma as they charge into Kirin’s tower. Ebiten is likely based on the god Ebisu. anime voices|You Yoshimura|Nick Misura.

Prince Kirin

Prince Kirin is the leader of the Seven Lucky God Martial Artists. He has come to claim the holder of the scroll as his bride, and while Lychee actually owns the scroll, Akane happens to be holding it when Kirin arrives. Team Ranma chases them back to Nekoron. He was defeated by Ranma in the end after battling his way though through the other six Lucky Gods, thus rescuing Akane. He is named after the mythical Kirin, as is shown when he introduces himself. Kirin also bears a resemblance to Herb, a character who appears in the manga only. anime voices|Kaneto Shiozawa|John Payne.

Techniques

"See Kirin's techniques."

Monlon

The sole female member of the Seven Lucky Gods, Monlon is the guardian of the fourth castle gate. She uses her lute as a club, but can also employ its strings to tightly ensnare her opponents with the Phantom Restriction Attack. Monlon uses this attack to trap Lychee and Ranma, and unleashes a series of massive vibrations against them, but her lute strings are cut by Shampoo. The two then fight, with Monlon losing. Mousse mistakes her for Shampoo, and carries her into Kirin’s tower.

Monlon’s beauty and Happosai’s overwhelming desire to see her serve as a powerful motivator, inspiring him to perform superhuman feats several times in the movie. When he is used as an ad hoc grappling hook to board the Seven Lucky Gods’ flying ship while supporting the rest of Team Ranma as well as Lychee and Jasmine by a rope, he is able to hang on and pull forward enough for them to board the ship. Presumably, he is also inspired likewise to hang onto the ship’s side when he was used as a grappling hook again after they were thrown off the ship. After defeating Bishamonten and destroying his castle with one of his Happo Fire-Burst bombs, he then appears fine and well when he tramples on Ebiten along with the rest of Team Ranma into Kirin’s tower.

Monlon is likely based on the god Benzaiten. She also bears a strong resemblance to Kiima, a character who appears later in the manga. anime voices|Eiko Yamada|Lynda Boyd.

Techniques

"See Monlon's techniques."

Wu

The largest of the Seven Lucky Gods, Wu does not say a single intelligble word in the movie. His skin is resistant to a barrage of bladed weapons unleashed on him by Mousse, but otherwise he does not appear to have any special abilities besides sitting on his opponents and disabling them. Wu is the guardian of the third castle gate, but forms a quick friendship with Jasmine, allowing Ranma to bypass his gate without fighting. He is likely based on the god Hotei. He also has a vague resemblance to Jizo, who only appears in the manga. anime voices|You Yoshimura|Terry Klassen.

Nihao My Concubine

arutoru

One of Prince Toma's three human-animal hybrid warriors. He appears to be the leader of the three and Toma's second in command as he is often seen trying to advise his lord, as well as being the only one Toma calls by his name. When Toma lets his men loose on the captured women, he takes Ukyo and tries to woo her until Ryoga busts in. Ukyo tricks Ryoga into fighting Sarutoru, only for Sarutoru to suicidally supercharge the lost boy's Shishi Hokodan move, which easily beats him. anime voices|Nobuo Tobita|Paul Dobson.

Techniques

"See Sarutoru's techniques."

Trivia

* Sarutoru is a monkey-man hybrid, but he hates being referred to as a monkey.

* The golden crown on his head shows that he is slightly based on Son Goku. Also, his shadow transportation illusion resembles Goku's Kinto'Un.

Prince Toma

Toma is the ruler of Togenyko Island. Because the island is situated on top of a spring that turns anyone who touches the water permanently into a man, the only way for his people to get brides is to capture them. He captures Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, Nabiki and Kasumi. Once there they compete to be his bride in strange contests. Toma has a number of human-animal hybrids that act as his lieutenants. He ends up choosing Akane despite Ranma-chan's best efforts because reprimands him about his treatment of the girls. Toma is a highly skilled swordsman and a master at creating illusions, but also proves to be near to Ranma in speed and basic combat techniques. anime voices|Mitsuaki Madono|Alessandro Juliani.

Techniques

"See Toma's techniques."

Trivia

* Although exclusive to the anime, a similar set of villains (Herb, Mint and Lime) who are also animal hybrids appear in the manga.

* The whole movie story seems to be based on the legend of Momotarō, as peaches (Momotaro's theme) are seen around Toma. Also, his three animal hybrids Sautaro, Toristan, and Wonton are the animals that accompanied Momotaro (a monkey, bird, and a dog).

Torristan

Torristan is Prince Toma's half-bird warrior and one of his elite fighters. He is capable of making his feathers as hard as steel and using them as daggers or shurikens. Torristan always wears a mask which hides his chicken-like face and which also makes his voice sound deeper. He kidnapped Shampoo for his bride, but Mousse arrived shortly thereafter to save her. But this proved more difficult than expected as the grueling battle nearly took Mousse's life in the process, due to Torristan's steel feathers which stabbed him continuously. As Mousse nearly reached his end, he mustered all of his remaining energy to defeat Torristan with a single punch and destroyed his mask. But in doing so, it cost him all his strength and he was soon to fall to his death. Instead, he was saved by Shampoo. anime voices|Issei Futamata|Gerard Plunkett.

Trivia

* Torristan could be based on Mint, who is also a half-animal hybrid who utilizes daggers as his primary weapons.

Wonton

One of Toma's three animal-human hybrid henchmen, a dog. He is large and seemingly very stupid, although his effort to give Nabiki a "treasure" at her request shows he is somewhat intelligent. He only speaks with the sound "awoo", which is a dog sound, and tries to take Nabiki as his wife. He is very strong and fast and is shown repeatably dodging attacks by Tatewaki Kuno and beating him into the ground. However, he is defeated by his own stupidity as Nabiki used the "treasure" (a bone) he gave her and told him to fetch. He did so - jumping right out of a high window. anime voices|Satohito Nakajima|Terry Klassen.

OAV-exclusive characters

Natsume and Kurumi

Two orphaned sisters who had been searching for their long lost father since their early childhood. Natsume is the older and more serious of the two, while Kurumi tends to be more light-hearted, and develops an empathy for Akane. They were attacked by a giant bear and rescued by Happosai. The girls quickly asked who he was, and he replied that he was their long-lost father Soun Tendo. Soon after, Happosai left the girls and disappeared. But before he departed he promised them that they would inherit the Tendo Dojo when they got older and even left them a note affirming this. However, they are unable to remember what Happosai looks like.

Many years later, they came to Nerima seeking Soun Tendo, but Kurumi continuously ate the food of all the town's residents on their way. Once they found the Tendo Dojo, they claimed to be his daughters and attempted to take ownership of the dojo. They briefly assumed control following an initial defeat of Ranma and Akane due to lack of teamwork on the latters' part. However, Akane and Ranma managed to defeat the pair after Akane went through some training. The two girls departed on good terms after their defeat and learned the true identity of the person who gave them the note. (Natsume) anime voices|Masako Katsuki|Lalainia Lindbjerg. (Kurumi) anime voices|Yuko Mizutani|Kelly Sheridan.

Natsume and Kurumi only appeared in the two Ranma ½ OAV episodes comprising "The One to Carry On" arc.

"See also Natsume and Kurumi's techniques."

Trivia

* Kurumi is actually capable of not only eating Akane's cooking but also enjoying it - a fact which even Soun Tendo comments on. She also is able to do a form of speed eating.

References

External links

* [http://www.furinkan.com/ranma/characters/index.html Furinkan.com Character Database]
* [http://www.animeinfo.org/featured/ranma/ranmapeople.html AnimeInfo Character Database]