Tatewaki Kuno

Infobox animanga character
color = SkyBlue
name = Tatewaki Kuno
series = Ranma ½


caption = Tatewaki Kuno in the anime
first = Volume 1
last =
creator = Rumiko Takahashi
voiced by = the late Hirotaka Suzuoki (Episodes 1-82, 87-161, OVAs, Films)
Koji Tsujitani (Episodes 83-86) (Anime)
Hikaru Midorikawa (recent video games) (Japanese)
Ted Cole (English)
alias = Blue Thunder of Furinkan High also known as the Immortal Phoenix by himself
Upperclassman Kuno/Kuno-senpai, or Pervert by fellow students
Bokken Boy, by Ranma
Kuno Baby/Kuno-chan, by Nabiki
Brother Dear, by Kodachi
Tachi, by his father
age = 17
born =
occupation = Student
relatives = Kodachi Kuno, sister
Principal Kuno, father
Sasuke Sarugakure, servant
Armadillo, his dog
divider = yes
aux1 name = Curse
aux1 = Unable to acknowledge that the "pigtailed girl" is actually Ranma
aux2 name = Fighting style
aux2 = Kendo

nihongo|Tatewaki Kuno|九能 帯刀|Kunō Tatewaki is a fictional character in Rumiko Takahashi's anime and manga series "Ranma ½". "Tatewaki" means "bringing a sword" which relates to how he almost always carries a sword with him. "Kuno" means "nine abilities" which is an obvious joke on how skilled he believes he is.

History

A master of kendo, Tatewaki is a senior at Furinkan High School and a classmate of Nabiki Tendo. He is also the older brother of Kodachi Kuno, who attends St. Hebereke School for Girls (called St. Bacchus in the manga) instead of Furinkan High. He is referred to by his surname more often then his first, unlike his sister.

He had long been interested in Akane Tendo, and had made a decree—given as his entry for a school speech contest—stating he would punish anyone who tried to date her without first defeating her in combat, thus resulting on Akane having to fight a barrage of boys every morning when she arrived at school. When he learned of her engagement to Ranma Saotome, he immediately assumed that Ranma was hounding Akane and challenged the pigtailed newcomer. It ended when both of them landed in a swimming pool and Ranma changed into his girl form. After being defeated, Tatewaki fell in love with her as well, though he continued to lust after Akane.

As the story progress, he attempts to make Ranma his girlfriend more than he does with Akane. Since Ranma is actually a man, he has no feelings for Tatewaki at all and has shown extreme disgust at the concept, although he has taken advantage of Kuno's lust when it suited his purposes. Blown up photographs of Akane and the Pigtailed Girl, courtesy of Nabiki, adorn the walls of his bedroom.

Personality

Tatewaki comes from wealthy samurai stock, and speaks in flowery poetic text. No matter how many times Ranma defeats him, he continues to be supremely confident in his abilities. He has a huge ego, which led Kuno to nickname himself "The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High," a moniker used by no one else.

He is totally clueless when it comes to Ranma's dual nature, making him the only one at school explicitly unaware of it even late in the manga (although Principal Kuno and all of the teachers except Hinako Ninomiya may be unaware in the anime). He refuses to acknowledge the possibility even when Ranma transforms right in front of him, so he might be either too caught up in his own delusions to believe it, or simply unable to process the certain strange phenomena such as a person's physical form changing almost at will. Other times, Tatewaki may be distracted by something (or someone) or simply uncontious when Ranma changes. After Nabiki defined the relationship between the two Ranmas by saying that "the pigtailed girl's body and soul both belong to Ranma", Tatewaki interpreted this to mean that Ranma had enslaved the object of his affection, with no shown surprise on his informer's part.

He spends a lot of his time in class talking to Nabiki, but it is not due to any actual friendship between the two, instead simply because they are students in the same class. She frequently manipulates him to obtain money through trickery, information, or selling photographs of female Ranma and her sister. When it initially appeared like he was going to 'dump' Akane for Ranma-onna, she encouraged him to keep his previous infatuation, since 'she wouldn't let him two-time her sister', and instantly offered him photographs of both. Beyond this, she generally seems to regard him with derision, while he's stated that he detests her in turn. Her nickname for him, Kuno-baby, is used with extreme sarcasm to underscore her dislike. Nevertheless, she turns to him regularly whenever she needs some quick cash. In the anime, they seem to share a mild friendship partially influenced by mutual benefit.

Tatewaki's strong sibling rivalry with Kodachi is a running gag. He once angered her by destroying her pictures of male Ranma and she retailated by poisoning and throwing him to her pet alligator, Midorigame (Mr. Turtle / Green Turtle or Mr. Scaly Green in the English anime), and through spreading nasty rumors about Tatewaki and the pigtailed girl. He also has a small dog named Armadillo, who acts as a taster for any food his sister cooks.

Another common gag is his willingness to share everything he writes in his diary with female Ranma or any other girl he is interested in, usually Akane. He claims this helps to build trust in a relationship.

In the anime, he's been shown to ally with Mousse or Ryoga against Ranma, though it's only happened through accident in the manga. (in Ryoga's case, after seeing a picture with Ranma kissing Akane, and during a noodle-eating competition, and with Mousse during the Moxibustion Saga). Tatewaki and Ryoga attacked Ranma in "Ukyo's Skirt! The Great Girly Girl Gambit!" as well as trying to prevent Ranma and Akane from getting together in "Let's Go to the Mushroom Temple!". He and Ryoga smashed up Ranma and sent him to the hospital for an entire month in a full-body cast in the first OAV. He also trained with Ranma, Ryoga, and Mousse in order to defeat Ken in "Enter Ken and his Copycat Hancheriff". Even if they may team up, Tatewaki is not friends with Ryoga or Mousse and appears to on somewhat better terms with Ranma in the anime, even though they generally loathe each other more in the Manga.

Though he mainly acts antaginistic towards Ranma for the majority of the series, there have been some occations where he has teamed up with, or even asked help from him in certain situations either involving arguements with his sister or his father. He was willing to give transportation to the other members of the cast (including Ranma) to Nekonron after Akane was kidnapped by Kirin in the first movie (though it's likely that he was trying to save Akane himself rather then actually helping Ranma do it).

Love life

Tatewaki romantically pursues girl Ranma (not knowing she is really a boy) and Akane. Despite copious evidence to the contray, Tatewaki is convinced that Akane and his pigtailed girl love him even though they have made it very clear they can't stand him. Despite this Ranma will sometimes pretend to be interested in him if Tatewaki has something Ranma needs or wants (a good example of this is during the Wish Bringing Sword Saga).

The only girl who has been shown to seriously pursue Tatewaki romantically, of her own free will, during the series is Mariko Konjo, captain of the Seisyun High School Martial Arts Cheerleading team, but even she quickly lost interest at the end of her introduction story. Though after displaying his immensely powerful watermelon splitting move at the beach, he was encircled by a multitude of girls enamored with his skill and his status as an amnesiac, to Nabiki's disbelief. [http://www.furinkan.com/ranma/characters/chart.html] His sister's schoolmates also considered him very handsome, but his own classmates commented that it was because they didn't know what he was really like.

Tatewaki and Nabiki being a couple is sometimes joked about in the anime, mainly in the OAVs (much like Ryoga and Ukyo), but it seems very unlikely in the manga.

Fighting Ability

"See also Tatewaki's techniques."

As captain of the kendo team at Furinkan High School, Tatewaki was the school's most powerful warrior (and greatest pervert, according to one schoolmate) before Ranma's arrival. Initially he constituted a legitimate threat, but has afterwards generally been used as a running joke, and is usually swiftly defeated by Ranma. During the "martial arts cheerleading" arc, he kept Akane strictly on the defensive in a kendo duel. He here didn't consciously inhibit himself because she's a girl, since she concealed her identity, but also didn't use his air-pressure strikes. He has apparently been a roughly even match for his sister Kodachi, but it's uncertain whether or not he holds back in these confrontations.

In both the manga and anime, upon losing his memory during training to slice watermelons on Watermelon Island, Tatewaki temporarily became far more than a match for Ranma, demonstrating the potential to exceed his self-proclaimed nemesis. The technique he used to destroy the watermelons appeared very similar to InuYasha's Backlash Wave from the series of the same name.

He has sometimes gained the use of magical swords or techniques that gave him an advantage, such as the "Wishbringer" sword, a phoenix nestled on his head, which emitted blinding light, or (Anime continuity) Musashi Miyamoto's wooden sword and Happosai's "speed of light elixir", whirlwind technique, although in the last case it turned out to be a placebo confidence boost.

While he has mastered his chosen art of Kendo, he has apparently failed to learn any unarmed combat skills and is therefore very dependent on his bokken to defend himself. For this reason, he always carries several of them with him. Despite his speed, he's also never been shown as comparatively physically strong, although he was able to effortlessly remove an at least 3 ton boulder with one hand. Ultimately, Tatewaki's arrogance and delusions may have hindered his progress as a martial artist.

Trivia

* While Tatewaki often says he would do anything for Ranma's female side, it often applies as long as it involves kissing or touching her. For example, in the Principal's return story arc, he explicitly told her that he would not shave his head despite her proclamation of loving the way that particular hairstyle would look on him. However he has genuinely helped Ranma's female side on some occasions.

* According to the anime only episode "Dear Daddy...Love, Kodachi" Tatewaki always comes to Kodachi's school for Parents' Day, apparently appearing as her guardian, since he is her older brother.

* Though he almost exclusively uses his bokken, there were at least two exceptions: in the last chapter of Volume 36 he suddenly forges a katana to use against Ranma, and this is repeated in the very last chapter of the manga when trying to stop Ranma and Akane's wedding.

* Originally, Rumiko Takahashi recommended Akira Kamiya (the voice of Shutaro Mendo, a character of similar personality traits in her earlier Urusei Yatsura) to voice Tatewaki in the anime. However, because the series director wanted new faces, he chose Hirotaka Suzuoki instead. After Hirotaka's death, he was replaced by Hikaru Midorikawa, who voices Tatewaki in the recent video games.

External links

* [http://www.animeinfo.org/featured/ranma/ranmapeople/kunou.html Kuno at AnimeInfo]
* [http://www.furinkan.com/ranma/characters/tatewaki.html Kuno at Furinkan.com]