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Ran Yakumo
Ran Yakumo jakɯmo ɽaɴ (♫) | |
|---|---|
 Ran Yakumo in Perfect Cherry Blossom Shikigami of the Sukima YoukaiMore Character Titles | |
| Species | Kitsune |
| Abilities | Using Shikigami |
| Age | Older than 800 years |
| Occupation | Shikigami |
| Location | Boundary of Gensokyo |
Music Themes | |
| Show Music Themes | |
Appearances | |
| Official Games | |
| Show Official Game appearances | |
| Print Works | |
| Show Print Work appearances | |
Ran Yakumo (八雲 藍 Yakumo Ran) is a shikigami who attacks the heroine when her shikigami Chen loses to them and to avoid waking her master, Yukari Yakumo.
Contents |
General Information
Occupation
As Yukari Yakumo's shikigami, Ran must do whatever Yukari commands her to do, such as doing Yukari's chores or checking the border around Gensokyo for problems. Apparently, Ran's own shikigami, Chen, is too unreliable to be entrusted with doing chores. In her spare time, Ran often calculates various things such as the width of the Sanzu River. She may also be seen in the Human Village shopping for tofu.
Character Basis
Name
The characters for Yakumo literally mean "eight clouds", and Ran "indigo". All of the Yakumo family are named after colors.
Ran Yakumo is apparently not her real name, according to Perfect Memento, her name was given to by Yukari Yakumo. Her real name is unknown.
Design
Ran has yellow eyes, short blonde hair and she wears a light pink two-tailed hat with many amulets. She has fox ears hidden under her hat. She has nine fox tails and wears a blue and light purple dress with a blue print on the front.
Story
- Perfect Cherry Blossom
- Main article: Reimu Arc
<Insert Summary>
- Main article: Marisa Arc
<Insert Summary>
- Main article: Sakuya Arc
<Insert Summary>
Relationships
- Chen (Shikigami)
- Yukari Yakumo (Master)
Spell Cards
| Name | Translated | Comments | Games | Stage | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total: 15 | ||||||
| 式神「仙狐思念」 | Shikigami "Hermit Fox Thoughts" | PCB | St. Ex | |||
| 式神「十二神将の宴」 | Shikigami "Banquet of 12 General Gods" | PCB GoM |
St. Ex -- | |||
| 式輝「狐狸妖怪レーザー」 | Shikigami's Radiance "Fox-Tanuki Youkai Laser" | PCB | St. Ex | |||
| 式輝「四面楚歌チャーミング」 | Shikigami's Radiance "Charming Siege from All Sides" | PCB | St. Ex | |||
| 式輝「プリンセス天狐 -Illusion-」 | Shikigami's Radiance "Princess Tenko -Illusion-" | PCB | St. Ex | |||
| 式弾「アルティメットブディスト」 | Shikigami's Shot "Ultimate Buddhist" | PCB GoM |
St. Ex -- | |||
| 式弾「ユーニラタルコンタクト」 | Shikigami's Shot "Unilateral Contact" | PCB | St. Ex | |||
| 式神「橙」 | Shikigami "Chen" | PCB | St. Ex | |||
| 「狐狗狸さんの契約」 | "Kokkuri-san's Contract" | PCB GoM |
St. Ex -- | |||
| 幻神「飯綱権現降臨」 | Illusion God "Descent of Izuna Gongen" | PCB | St. Ex | |||
| 式神「前鬼後鬼の守護」 | Shikigami "Protection of Zenki and Goki" | PCB GoM |
St. Ph -- | |||
| 式神「憑依荼吉尼天」 | Shikigami "Dakini's Heavenly Possession" | PCB | St. Ph | |||
| 密符「御大師様の秘鍵」 | Secret Sign "O-Daishi-sama's Arcanum" | StB | St. 8 | |||
| 行符「八千万枚護摩」 | Austerity Sign "Eighty Million Holy Boards" | StB | St. 8 | |||
| 超人「飛翔役小角」 | Superman "Soaring En no Ozuno" | StB GoM |
St. 8 -- | |||
Additional Information
- Ran is supposed to be a 9-tailed fox (called a "Kyuubi") which, according to ancient Japanese folklore, would be at least 800 years old. Foxes start life with 1 tail and gain an extra tail once every hundred years. So at 100 years old they would have 2, and at 800 would have 9. At this point, assuming Ran follows traditional folklore, she will eventually start losing tails until she has 4 and will be considered a "Tenko" (heaven) type of fox and will then be one step away from divinity.
- The name of one of her Spell Cards, "Princess Tenko," is likely a reference to a famous Japanese illusionist of the same name, considering how foxes are known for their tricks and illusions in folklore.
- Ran is the only stage mid-boss in any Touhou game that is immune to bombs.
- Since her master is the only Phantasm boss, Ran is also the only Phantasm stage mid-boss.
Fandom
- A standard fan-name is to call her Ran-shama, where "shama" is a childish mispronounciation of "sama" that Chen would call her by. Sometimes, the "Ran-sha" part of it is rendered as 乱射, which means "random firing," a phrase commonly said whenever it seems like she is about to shoot.
- Ran is sometime portrayed as a flasher in fan works due to the "Suppatenko" (literally, "Naked Heaven-Fox") meme spawned by this page (images on page defunct; archived here). (NSFW)
- According to Ran's spellcard, "Princess Tenko", and the phrase on the first scene of EX stage of PCB, "A mysterious occurrence on the crossing to three countries", some fans of Ran think her as Tamamo no Mae, rather than White-faced Golden Fox of Nine Tails, or that being showed above.
- She's usually portrayed as a motherly figure, especially towards Chen.
- In certain memetic fanworks, Ran is seen to suffer from excessive nosebleeding whenever she sees Chen.
- No one really knows how Yukari met Ran but it is speculated that she was taken in by Yukari as a baby. The reason for this speculation is unknown but this could have something to do with the fact that Ran has known Yukari for some time and that her original name is unknown (as stated by her profile), leading to fans to think she didn't have one originally and that Yukari gave her that name upon finding her. However, as with most fan-works and theories, this completely omits what has been proven as canon and the fact that Ran was older than an infant when she became Yukari's shikigami, as proven in her interview with Aya in the Bohemian Archive.
- Though, it could be said fan theory above just fits well in a typical fan art/ficion scenario.
- In a related sense, she is often depicted as being child (usually no older than five) as having met Yukari and becoming her shikigami
- Though, it could be said fan theory above just fits well in a typical fan art/ficion scenario.
Official Profiles
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○すきま妖怪の式 八雲 藍（やくも・らん） |
Shikigami of the Youkai of Boundaries Ran Yakumo Extra Boss, and Yukari's shikigami. She does Yukari's work for her while her master sleeps. She has the ability to mainly use shikigami. Yukari sleeps 12 hours per day and is only awake from sunset to midnight. On top of that, she hibernates through winter. Because of that, Ran takes care of Yukari's work while she's asleep. Ran has been a shikigami for quite long time, so she's more powerful than ordinary youkai. For that matter, she has enough power to possess her own shikigami. Perhaps she has already forgotten that she herself is a shikigami. Every year, when cherry blossoms are about to bloom, she visits the Netherworld for flower viewing. The cherry blossoms seemed to be lasting somewhat longer than usual this year. Just as she was considering that, some living humans dropped in. She watched them with interest for a few moments. She later heard that her shikigami had been defeated by them, so she plotted a little revenge. In truth, she is a fox turned youkai. Like Chen, her shape is unchanged and she has a well-rounded personality. Even without looking closely, it's obvious that she has several tails. As a matter of fact, when it matters, she has plenty of power even without support from a shikigami. Through all these events, her master continues to sleep. |
Official Sources
- 2003/08/17 Perfect Cherry Blossom - Extra Stage dialogue; Phantasm Stage dialogue; キャラ設定.txt (official profile)
- 2005/08/11 Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red - Article and Interview: Ran
- 2006/12/27 Perfect Memento in Strict Sense - Ran Yakumo
- 2007/06/08 ~ 2009/04/09 Silent Sinner in Blue
- 2008/06/25 Cage in Lunatic Runagate - Chapter 5
- 2009/07/28 The Grimoire of Marisa - Ran Yakumo's Spell Cards
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This page is part of Project Characters, a Touhou Wiki project that aims to write proper descriptions for all official characters of Touhou Project. |
