Ranma Saotome | Akane Tendō | Ryōga Hibiki/P-Chan | Tendō Household Residents | The Chinese | The Kunos | Other Recurring Characters | Major Story Arc Characters
The Kunos are an affluent family in Ranma 1/2 which primarily serve as pursuers and antagonists to Ranma and Akane. Known for their delusional and chaotic behavior, for being profoundly self-absorbed, obnoxious, and for not particularly liking each other, the Kuno children swear by heart that Ranma and Akane are hopelessly in love with them, while their father serves as a total antagonist and Spanner in the Works to everyone, including his children.
Kodachi and Tatewaki are the first love rivals presented in the story vying for Ranma and Akane's affections respectively. Neither are particularly smart people, this being the main aspect that foils their efforts, as they behave rather impulsively.
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Tatewaki Kuno
Tatewaki Kuno (九能 帯刀, Kunō Tatewaki)
Voiced by: Hirotaka Suzuoki (Japanese, most media), Kouji Tsujitani (Japanese, episodes 83-86, 2008 Rumic World Special), Ted Cole (English), Gabriel Gama (Latin American Spanish, TV series), Gustavo Carrillo (Latin American Spanish, episodes 25-26), Óscar Flores (Latin American Spanish, Movies and OVAS), Eyas Abughazala (Arabic), Vincent Ropion (European French)
Originally the greatest champion of Furinkan High, until Ranma Saotome arrived. He does remain its greatest pervert, though. A pompous, bombastic scion of a noble house, his father is the principal of Furinkan and this, coupled with his skill, makes him someone of importance in school. Caught up in his own ego and almost delusional obsessions with the samurai, he blatantly lusts after Akane Tendo — and doesn't lose any interest even when he finds himself also smitten with a mysterious "Pigtailed Girl" (Ranma's female form), making no secret that his ultimate desire/intention is to have them both as his wives. That neither of them is even attracted to him, never mind happy with the idea, is something that doesn't register.
Depending on the translation, he may be referred to as Uperclassman Kuno, Kuno-senpai, or just plain Kuno.
- Abhorrent Admirer: To both Ranma (female form) and Akane. Despite both of them not only explicitly pointing out how little respect they have for him and his "affection" and have defended themselves with physical force against his sexual advances, he remains completely clueless and continues to pursue both of them.
- Academic Athlete: He's a mix of this and Dumb Jock. On one hand, he does well in school and is very cultured; on the other, he seems completely incapable of understanding things that should be blatantly obvious, such as Akane's disdain for him and the fact that Ranma and the "pigtailed girl" are the same person.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Black-haired in the manga, brown-haired in the anime.
- Affectionate Nickname: Played with. Nabiki often calls him "Kuno-chan", but it's obvious that she does it to manipulate him.
- Always Someone Better: Played with. Even though he was the strongest boy at school before Ranma showed up, he has always had someone he has never once beaten: Akane. This is rather ironic, since Kuno himself is the person who set the conditions for everyone at school to date Akane by beating her in combat. However, it's later implied that he is indeed strong enough to defeat her and doesn't as to dissuade other pursuers, but when the defeating target becomes Ranma in the goal for Akane's affections, he's actually not strong enough.
- Amazon Chaser: In the anime, by his own admission, he has a thing for strong women, which is a big part of why he's obsessed with Akane and the "pigtailed girl". This also extends to girls who aren't known for being good combatants but have strong wills, like Nabiki.
- Arms and Armor Theme Naming: "Tatewaki" means "Bringing a Sword", a reference to his love of kendo and his ever-present bokken.
- Attempted Homewrecker: He doggedly chases after Akane even after knowing she's engaged to Ranma. He also chases after Ranma's female form despite believing that she's also with Ranma.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: On rare occasions, shows a sibling variant for his sister. Most prominently, in the anime, he has been acting as Kodachi's Parental Substitute for years since their father abandoned them to indulge in his love of Hawaii, and does everything he can to keep Kodachi from meeting him again because he knows their father is a lunatic.
- Badass Normal: Despite being on the weak end of the local pecking order, and never learning any of the Ki Manipulations, Kuno is still an incredibly formidable fighter. From his debut appearance, he is capable of the swordplay equivalent of Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs, and, despite being armed with a wooden training sword, he can not only effortlessly cut through trees with a casual backhand, but the air-pressure from his thrusts hits with enough force to shatter stone, in a bludgeoning version of a Razor Wind attack!
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Subverted to a hilarious point. He gets thrown around by basically everyone in the cast, even though he's actually pretty handsome.
- Book Smart: While he's a clueless meathead unable to see what should be obvious, he's actually quite talented at academics and gets good grades.
- The Bully: The primary reason he and Ranma almost constantly lock horns. Kuno loves to throw his weight around and brutalize people into bending to his will. Ranma not only refuses to bend the knee, but, being a Bully Hunter, comes down on Kuno like a ton of bricks every time he sees the lout try to terrorize someone else. Of course, Kuno utterly fails to comprehend that people don't like it when he bosses them around, and think Ranma is the source of their unease.
- Butt-Monkey: His track record would point in this direction... though oddly, Kuno himself seems rather oblivious to it.
- Can't Catch Up:
- Presumably because he's so arrogant that, given how he frequently "explains" away his losses to Ranma and co, he doesn't believe he needs to improve his skills. The result is that Kuno never manages to notably improve, and he's thusly relegated to the role of "punching bag" rather than The Rival.
- It looks like this trope is finally subverted when he loses his memory and learns a technique that turns him into more than a match for Ranma. The problem is that he can only use it with a visual trigger (watermelons). And then it turns out he went through that Training from Hell so he could become a master of the Smashing Watermelons game, so he could impress girls whenever he went to the beach.
- The Casanova: Thinks of himself as one, and might have actually had this status before Ranma arrived at his school. However the girls he actively pursues both despise him and reciprocate none of his affection. So by for the majority of the series he believes he's womanising Akane and the "pig tailed girl", whereas in reality neither of them give a crap about him or his "cheating" on them.
- Casanova Wannabe: Kuno will attempt to romance just about any girl that gives him the time of day, as he thinks that they're unequivocally approaching him with romantic intentions. If it's a girl, he'll hit on her regardless of the situation. He may be embracing Akane, and not even that will prevent him from hitting on other girls.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Is this Played for Laughs. How far he falls onto the chivalrous or pervert side, usually depends on Rule of Funny. He typically is much more pervert than chivalrous when dealing with Akane or "the pigtailed girl", recurringly glomping them out of nowhere or asking them for dates. During the "Date Monster of Watermelon Island" story, an amnesiac Kuno attempts to force himself on "the pigtailed girl", legitimately scaring Ranma in the process. On the other hand, when the lovestruck Mariko Konjo offered to allow Kuno to do anything to her, Kuno's response was just to doodle on her face.
- Cloudcuckoolander: It's not exactly clear what's up with Tatewaki, but he's odd to say the least. He's goofy, outlandish, buffoonish, egotistical and completely lives in his own world, being pretty much clueless about everything concerning the reality surrounding him. The guy's just plain weird, and It Runs in the Family.
- The Comically Serious: Ranma and Akane, and for all that matter everyone, may pummel him tender, but Kuno does not budge and is never discouraged.
- Congruent Memory: See Can't Catch Up. Don't come near him if you're carrying watermelons, unless you want him to turn into human-shaped whirlwind of Razor Wind that even Ranma can't defeat. He gets over it by the end of the story arc and it's not mentioned again in the manga, though an anime filler episode shows he does still have it, and may even have more control over it... Of course, he doesn't think of its combat potential even then; it's a way to impress girls.
- Costume Inertia: It's very strange to see Kuno not wearing his Kendo hakama. It's his whole persona.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Kuno practices modern Kendo, a heavily sporterized martial art whose practitioners move and fight in a precise and ritualized way. While he's a terror in a Kendo match, in actual combat Ranma and the others can easily outmanouver him.
- Determinator: Kuno's most outstanding feature is that, for all his flaws, he does not give up easily. Even when Ranma or Akane beats him down, Kuno will get right back up again and try it again in a surprisingly short amount of time. The Shonen Sunday special that provides the cast's Power Levels even reflects this; Kuno has a Heart score of 3 for this reason, which is his highest score.
- The Ditz: Several instances have emphasized that Kuno isn't very bright. Despite the glaringly obvious signs, he is never able to figure out that the "pig-tailed girl" he loves and his rival Ranma Saotome are one and the same. Also during the Moxibustion Arc, he interprets the "Ranma is weak" fliers that Happōsai dropped as Ranma trying to find an excuse for why Kuno beat him.
- Ditzy Genius: He does very well in school and is well versed in poetry despite his cluelessness. He's also the only character to figure out the best way to deal with Ranma while under the effects of the Nekoken is to treat him like an angry cat and just have him chase his shredded bokken.
- Doublethink: Kuno willfully disbelieves Ranma and the pig-tailed girl are the same person, even if he'll take advantage of information that relies on such. For instance, he knows the latter lives with Akane, and once walks straight into Ranma's bed to greet her.
- Dumb Muscle: Zigzagged. He's actually quite a capable student and fairly smart in terms of schoolwork... but aside from his almost willful blindness, he's also very much a blunt instrument in combat. He never tries to learn new moves or attempt sophisticated schemes, but just does what he's always done. He's also incredibly easy for Ranma to trick, usually, thanks to Kuno's infatuation with "the pigtailed girl". This is why Shonen Sunday gave him a miserable Intelligence score of 1, making it far and away Kuno's worst stat! In comparison, his sister has an INT of 2 and his father has a whopping 5 INT!
- Easy Amnesia: During the watermelon training incident, Kuno bonked himself on the head with his bokken so hard he embedded a watermelon on his head, causing him to forget absolutely everything. Another such self-inflicted headshot cured him.
- Entitled to Have You: Of the "who they are" subtype; Kuno feels he deserves to have any girl he wants, because he's rich, powerful, handsome, and a member of an aristocratic family. Ironically, this trait actually gets worse when he suffers from Easy Amnesia during the Watermelon Island story, progressing from Kuno's comparatively tame physical lechery to outright attempted rape!
- Everyone Has Standards: Kuno may be an arrogant, boastful, perverted buffoon, but he is appalled by his father, who he regards (rightly) as a tyrant and a lunatic.
- Expy: Takes some inspiration from Shuutaro Mendo from Urusei Yatsura, being a buffoonish rival to the main character, who at the same time claims a samurai heritage, is quite handsome, and also filthy rich. Unlike Mendo, though, Kuno's perversions have driven the rest of the students away from him, although he is shown to be popular with girls who don't know his true nature as a perverted idiot. Kuno is also considerably less personable than Mendo, has considerably less romantic prospects, is on less friendly terms with Ranma than Mendo is with Maboroshi, and Kuno has deadpan aspect to himself that Mendo doesn't have.
- Faceless Goons: An identical look-alike to Kuno in an anime Filler episode delivered the page quote to his group of Highly Visible Ninjas.
- The Fighting Narcissist: He believes his swordsmanship makes him the best fighter in the world, which he's always itching to show off on some poor sod, for little to no reason. Furthermore, he doesn't believe he can improve because he's already "perfected it." For the finale, he thinks that running around and beating up on random people with his bamboo sword will make every girl who sees him in action, fall madly in love with him, especially if said girl happens to be someone that showed interest in Ranma first, such as Akane and "pig tailed girl." Not only are his romantic obsessions wholly unhealthy, for all involved, he utterly refuses to believe he can be wrong about this.
- Friendly Enemy: Particularly in the anime, he is sometimes treated as a clumsy friend of the cast.
- Glass Cannon: He is strong enough to shatter stone with the air-pressure from his strikes, but can be floored with a single punch from Akane.
- Got Over Rape Instantly: Kuno tries to invoke this trope by "rescuing" the beautiful pig-tailed girl from the clutches of the "Zvengalli", Ranma, even pantomiming Ranma taking advantage of the pig-tailed girl. Of course, what Kuno doesn't know is that Ranma and the pig-tailed girl are, in fact, one and the same.
- Handsome Lech:
- Lusts after Akane and "The Pigtailed Girl", including groping them and grabbing them whenever he can, but is actually fairly attractive to other girls, due to being good-looking, athletic, aristocratic, rich and capable of speaking/acting in a flowery, poetic fashion. The anime plays this up by having Kuno be willing to try chasing after other women who he notices as attractive, including Ukyō, Nabiki, Azusa Shiratori and Miss Hinako Ninomiya. However, he never gives up on chasing Akane and Ranma's female form while doing so (in fact, the Nabiki episode goes so wrong partially because he declares to the whole school he's going to marry Nabiki and keep his "other loves" as his mistresses) and goes right back to chasing them wholeheartedly after his attempted diversions come to naught.
- The "Watermelon Island" story showcases the darker side of this trope when applied to Kuno. Without his normal personality, and thusly when not held back by his normal sense of honor (and his ego-driven belief that he is loved), Kuno actually attempts to rape the female Ranma when they are seemingly alone together on the island, showcasing how Kuno's sense of entitlement could express itself in someone who lacks his typical moral scruples.
- Has a Type: In the anime he admits he has a thing for strong women, such as Akane and the "Pigtailed Girl"... And also the strong-willed Nabiki.
- Hidden Depths:
- He's not as stupid as he seems, as shown when he was the only one to ever defeat cat!Ranma by treating him like a cat. He's just so delusional he rarely uses his smarts.
- He's also a considerably better combatant than what his Jerk Jock attitude indicates, and he is often underestimated by Ranma as a result. Given the right circumstance, he's shown to be tremendously dexterous, and can be quite the menace even with a practice sword.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Flashbacks show that Tatewaki's father abused him physically and verbally throughout his childhood, including leaving him to go to Hawaii, and constantly shaving his head.
- His Own Worst Enemy: For all intents, Kuno should be every bit the romance novel protagonist he thinks he is. He's handsome, athletic, does well academically, and he's from an affluent family. The problem is that he's a lecher knucklehead with a superiority complex, and every person he knows is aware of this.
- Hunk: Undeniable. He's handsome, is the most muscular boy of the series, and being one year older than the other main guys, he's the one who looks more manly. The problem is his personality makes him so unappealing it doesn't matter how good-looking he is.
- I Reject Your Reality: He believes that he is the greatest warrior around (comparatively, he's probably one of the weakest fighters in the cast), that Akane Tendo and "the pig-tailed girl" love him immensely (he's probably the one to blame for Akane's dislike of men and Ranma would hate him even if he didn't tried to get fresh with his girl form constantly), that Ranma is a "playboy" who has some sort of switching with the Pigtailed Girl, and that every time he's won against Kuno has been a "fluke" that involved Ranma using some sort of cheat (Ranma pulling an Offhand Backhand on Kuno (it just cannot be called a Curb-Stomp Battle even charitably) while dealing with the issues of the episode (like the latest argument with Akane) is one of the show's Running Gags), that said "cheats" are dark sorcery of some kind (Kuno has used more magical artifacts against Ranma than Ranma has used at all throughout the whole series) and that this "sorcery" is the reason the "pig-tailed girl" is under Ranma's thrall and that by defeating Ranma Kuno will have the Girl falling at his feet (Ranma has tried to explain a few times and has even changed in front of Kuno repeatedly—Kuno doesn't believes that there's a curse involved). There is absolutely no way to change his mind at all.
- I Will Fight Some More Forever: He has absolutely no understanding of how high over his head all of the other fighters in the series are, and even less desire to retreat in battle. Him yelling "I fight on!" after he gets seemingly knocked out in a fight (and then getting knocked out with the following attack) is practically his catch phrase.
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: As a result of reaching his High School Senior year, easily defeating any and every challenger, or person who happened to catch his eye when he was in the mood to beat someone up, he's let himself believe he's the best fighter the world has ever seen, utterly refusing to admit his near constant defeat at Ranma's hands is the result of anything but "sorcery." What's worse is that Ranma is clearly not even the strongest martial artist in Nerima alone, let alone the world.
- In Love with Love: Played with. He likes portraying himself as a playboy ladykiller, even though it's not entirely clear whether he realizes what the concept of "love" is. If anything, what he's doing is waxing poetic while behaving like a lech and pretending that is "love".
- Iron Butt Monkey: Kuno takes a lot of abuse and gets hurt easily but he has a high recovery rate most of the time. Lampshaded in the episode "Kuno acting Principal" in which Kuno gets kicked out of a window and instantly pops up two seconds later to Ranma's surprise.
- Irony:
- Kuno actually has the potential to be an excellent swordsman, but his arrogance, stupidity and penchant for picking fights make him lag behind. There are even occasions where he's come close to overpower Ranma.
- Kuno is handsome enough to warrant being pursued by girls like he thinks he is, but his attitude and pervy behavior make him have a foot on his mouth basically by default.
- Jerkass: He's arrogant, believing himself to be the best fighter of all, brags and flaunts his power to all who will listen, and treats his manservant like crap.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Combined with Right for the Wrong Reasons, his mandate to forbid anyone from dating Akane until she's defeated by said suitor has largely kept Akane from being approached by boys with iffy intentions, including Kuno himself.
- To his credit, Akane is indeed that beautiful, enough to warrant all the fuss he makes about her. This is about the most flattering thing that can be derived from the whole situation, but Akane is not particularly flattered about it herself.
- Kuno is indeed handsome enough to be as vain as he is, but he has neither the brains nor the control over his own perviness to pull it off.
- Jerk Jock: In a sense; during the Hiryu Shoten Ha arc, he has no qualms at all about attacking Ranma upon finding flyers that announced Ranma's weakened state, even though he had already confirmed they were true by beating up Ranma earlier that morning. On the other hand, Kuno's ego meant that he assumed the flyers were lying and he had won "fair and square", so he was attacking Ranma to try and prove that Ranma wasn't weak at all. Didn't stop him from continuing to pummel Ranma, or attacking him twice during and after the final battle of the arc, though.
- Kendo Team Captain: Is captain of the School's Kendo club.
- Kid Samurai: An excellent example of the comedic/antagonistic variant. Barely samurai in name only, though...
- Last-Name Basis: As shown in the character description, he is almost exclusively referred to by his family name except for, of course, his sister and father.
- Lethal Joke Character: Compared to Ranma, Ryōga, and Mousse, he's almost a joke. However, he's very deadly against normal humans and can fight evenly against Akane or his sister, who in turn has been able to keep up in free-for-alls against Ukyō and Shampoo.
- Kuno actually has the potential to be freaking scary if you consider that he was throwing Sword Beams long before ki was introduced as a viable power-up, meaning that he's making Razor Wind projectiles by sheer muscle power. There's no telling just how terrifying he'd be if he ever got some dedicated training that didn't depend on having watermelons around.
- An anime-only episode had Happosai train Kuno to beat Ranma. Said training involved sending Kuno on a wild goose chase around town that resulted in him repeatedly getting beaten up by hordes of angry women and girls. Yet, when Kuno and Ranma next face off, the training is shown to have actually improved his skills, as Ranma is repeatedly on the back foot throughout their duel; Ranma only manages to win on account of Happosai's "Speed of Light elixir" - actually Happosai's fingernail gunk boiled in water - finally kicking in and giving Kuno a crippling stomach ache.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Usually a pathetic comic relief character, he actually becomes a very potent threat to Ranma when he undergoes conditioning training using watermelons.
- Lord Error-Prone: Considers himself a samurai, and technically is one, but is a bumbling fool blinded by his own ego and considered by most as an arrogant moron.
- Loves My Alter Ego: He loves "the pigtailed girl", lusting after her hugely, but is completely unaware that she is actually Ranma's female form.
- Mad Love: Kuno is after both Akane and "the pigtailed girl". Neither rain, nor snow, nor repeated knocks into the stratosphere or blows to the head will deter him.
- Made of Iron: For someone so out of the league of other characters, he is able to take an immense amount of punishment while walking away with minimal injury. He's constantly battered and bruised by Ranma and Akane, but shows up soon after no worse for wear.
- Marry Them All: When first confronted in public with both Akane and Ranma's female form at the same time, he agonized over choosing between them for several moments, then finally tried to Group Hug them both with a passionate cry of "I must have them both!" This phrase is something of his unofficial catchphrase
amongst the fans.- In an anime filler episode, after a fortune teller accidentally predicts that Nabiki Tendo is Kuno's destined wife, Kuno spends most of the episode trying to be faithful to her... then ultimately gives it up and declares that he will wed Nabiki, but keep Akane and "the pigtailed girl" as his mistresses. This ticks off even Nabiki, who joins Akane and Ranma in punching him out cold for the affront.
- Master of None: In the Shonen Sunday ability score special, Kuno has the worst stats of any of the main male cast, with a bottom tier (1) Intelligence and a Heart of 3 contrasting 2s for Power, Stamina, Speed and Technique.
- Meaningful Name: Like most of the main characters in the series, Kuno's name sits between being a joke at his expense and being symbolic of his character. "Kuno" means "Nine Abilities", a somewhat obscure Japanese joke about the arrogance of himself and his family. The series doubles down on this with a gag in Kuno's introduction about the different kanji that can be used for Kuno's name; the precise variants different between anime and manga, but include "Capable" (which Kuno prefers, as it refers to his considerable kendo skills), "Incapable" (which references how he's not as good as he thinks) and "Insufferable" (which references how much he annoys the rest of the cast).
- Never My Fault: Kuno never loses! If he does, it's not his fault! His opponent must have cheated! That's the only explanation!
- The Nicknamer: Even after learning her name, he refers to Ranma as "The pig-tailed girl" (though this could be because he doesn't want to associate her with his hated rival). He also refers to himself as "The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High", even though nobody else does. During his first appearance, it is implied that he has given himself a long string of self-aggrandizing titles and nicknames, of which "The Blue Thunder" is only the most recent (and apparently the last); before Ranma showed up, he had been calling himself "The Shooting Star".
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Once Ranma and his real rivals, and maybe even Ranma's other fiancées, showed up, Tatewaki became a second-string threat.
- Poster-Gallery Bedroom: Has dozens, if not hundreds, of photos of Ranma's female form and Akane Tendo scattered around his room, both in dozens of photo albums and as blown up posters on his walls. In the anime, at least, he even as a poster-sized portrait of each girl hanging in the kendo club, in front of his favorite meditation spot.
- Prince Charming Wannabe: He believes himself to be the hottest and most irresistible guy in the world. Both of the girls he obsesses over can't stand him and clobber him every chance they get.
- Promotion to Parent: Had to raise his sister Kodachi alone for quite a bit. A whole episode in the anime is centered about him and the Principal fighting out for the right to be at her parent-teacher conference.
- The Rival: Initially, the series is set up as if Kuno will be Ranma's primary rival. Unfortunately, he was overshadowed by Ryōga Hibiki, whom the author found more interesting, and so he quickly fell into the background as a sporadic punching bag, making him almost a subversion.
- Running Gag: Ranma usually greets him with either a double kick to the face, or by standing on his head. Albeit he feels it, he seldom reacts to it and usually resumes whatever he was talking about before the attack.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: An aspect he shares with his sister, as they are very handsome siblings indeed. Kuno has a knack for belittling other boy's looks compared to himself, and he considers himself handsome beyond compare. Problem is, he's insufferable.
- Selective Obliviousness: He has had "the pigtailed girl" change into Ranma right in his arms, and back again, and he comes up with outlandish explanations instead of acknowledging they're the same person.
- Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: As far as canon can be judged, Akane was never interested in Kuno; he just decided that he had to have her out of the blue one day. Likewise, he decided that he was in love with Ranma's female form after he first met her (and she kicked his ass). Despite the fact that both girls make it very clear that they regard him as an Abhorrent Admirer, emphasizing their words with physical abuse, Kuno insists that they are infatuated with him and merely prevented from being with him because of Ranma's influence.
- Self-Serving Memory: Whilst exaggerated by fanon, Tatewaki has shown an ability to selectively rewrite his memories to suit his own desires. The most notable example was during the Watermelon Island arc, where, despite having lost his memories, he immediately fabricated the existence of a romantic history between him and Female Ranma upon seeing her.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: At many times, he's rather ignorant of how the world works.
- Ship Tease: With Nabiki in the anime. Besides the time he thought he was destined to wed her (and admitted he actually admired her strong will and personality), she also saved him in Nihao My Concubine, they got through the Cursed Tunnel of Love, and she immediately shows concern for him when he gets poisoned in "Let's All Go to the Mushroom Temple."
- Shock and Awe: His love of Dramatic Thunder is upgraded to Thunder control in many of the video games.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Despite how frequently he gets the floor wiped with his ass and the blatant disdain both Akane and "the pigtailed girl" have for him, Kuno insists he is the greatest martial artist around and that his two "love interests" are actually fighting each other for the right to be his one and only.
- Stalker with a Crush: An exemplary example, and perhaps the earliest one in the series. He frequently pops up out of nowhere to try and hug/grope Akane or "the pigtailed girl".
- Super Gullible: Kuno can be easily manipulated without much effort, and will pursue whatever he's steered into with unparalleled persistience.
- Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Combined with Wrong Genre Savvy, Kuno's fantasies mostly consist of silly and cutesy romantic escapades where he chases Ranma, Akane, or even both. He also behaves as if he were a romance protagonist.
- Token Rich Student: He's from a noble and wealthy family, yet he goes to the same public high school as most of the other main characters. The fact that his father is the principal may have something to do with it.
- Traumatic Haircut: As a child, his father constantly shaved his head against his will. This has left him deeply resentful towards the man.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Hangs around with Nabiki in class, mostly so he can brag to her, and she can make comments at his expense.
- Warrior Poet: This is how he sees himself. Of course everyone else sees him as a complete and utter raving loony.
- Wasted Beauty: Kuno is, as he comments in the wishing sword story, wealthy, good at sports, decent academically, and quite handsome. The problem is he's such an egomaniac, and such a moron, that his looks in no way compensate for how repellent he is as a person.
- Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: The bokken, the wooden sword wielded by professional kendo practitioners, is the only weapon Kuno ever uses. Though he does switch it up with a live steel katana in a handful of late manga stories.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Kuno behaves as if he were the protagonist of a shoujo romance story, being entirely convinced that female Ranma and Akane are tenderly in love with him. In reality, he's the Butt-Monkey of a wacky slapstick rom-com.
Kodachi Kuno
Kodachi Kuno (九能 小太刀, Kunō Kodachi)
Voiced by: Saeko Shimazu (Japanese), Teryl Rothery (English, seasons 1-4), Erin Fitzgerald (English, season 5), Sylvia Zaradic (English, seasons 6-7), Rocío Prado (Latin American Spanish), Hanan Shqer (Arabic)
Tatewaki Kuno's younger sister, whose revelation of kinship is only made in her second episode/chapter. The self-proclaimed "Black Rose of St. Hebereke Girls High School" (AKA St. Bacchus School For Girls), Kodachi Kuno is a master of the fighting style "Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics" and, while her general skill level may only be about the same as her brother's, she's a ruthlessly pragmatic fighter who is completely willing to use poisons and cheating to overcome her foe. Like her brother, she is unaware that Ranma Saotome is a Gender Bender, but in her case that's because she's only seen Ranma transform once, in a situation where the switch could have been a variant of the Ninja Log, and no attempt has been made to explain it to her (unlike her brother). She fell obsessively in love with Ranma after he saved her from falling off of a roof, though he was the one who knocked her off in the first place, and refuses to let his reluctance to be near her and her lack of an official tie to him keep her away.
Kodachi is the first fiancee rival for Akane presented in the story, though she's the least successful at it.
- Abhorrent Admirer: She won't back off Ranma, who finds her repellent because of her personality and mental instability.
- Adaptational Nice Girl: The anime gives her a few Pet the Dog moments and makes it clear that, deep down, she really does love her family. Furthermore, while her feelings for Ranma are very shallow in the manga, the anime suggests that she does care about him as a person on some level beneath her insanity and entitlement issues. She immediately comes to Ranma's aid with financial support when the Tendos fall on hard times, and when Ranma and Genma are kicked out of the Tendo dojo due to a falling out between the patriarchs, she takes them into the Kuno estate and gives them a lavish lifestyle to enjoy. She even shows she would be quite willing to fulfil the traditional wifely duties of cooking, cleaning and laundry, despite presumably having plenty of servants to do that for her.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: She comes from a wealthy and aristocratic family, and she's an incredibly petty, spiteful and selfish sociopath. While she's less resoundingly terrible in the anime, it's not by much.
- Arms and Armor Theme Naming: She's called "Kodachi", which is a type of Japanese short sword that is typically wielded in unison with a katana — this references her kendo-loving brother and his samurai fixation.
- Attempted Homewrecker: Chases after Ranma despite knowing he's with Akane.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: On rare occasions, Kodachi shows familial love for Kuno. The most prominent example is in the anime-exclusive story where her father tries to move back onto the Kuno Estate. She will also avenge her brother whenever he is defeated (Which is happens a lot).
- Badass Normal: Possibly the weakest martial artist of the lot (but in that case not far behind, as she can hold her own against either Shampoo and Ukyō, her brother, or Akane), but the one you least want to cross.
- Blackmail: Tried to blackmail Ranma with a doctored photo and does so again in a later arc to her brother/Ranma with another altered photo.
- The Beautiful Elite: Gorgeous, affluent and coiffed. She's also an example of Beauty Is Bad, though she's rather ineffectual at it because she's a dummy.
- The Bully: Ties with Happosai for the position of the worst in the series about it; she just has less capacity for damage than he does.
- Catholic School Girls Rule: She goes to an all-girl Catholic school.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She has tried to kill Akane multiple times. Also she is unaware of Ranma's curse and views his same-gendered form (the girl) as a rival for the affections of his opposite-gendered form (the boy).
- Combat Pragmatist: The dirtiest of the series. She tries to ambush and beat up her opponents prior to the scheduled matches, uses dirty tricks, likes to use knockout powder, is a massive Loophole Abuser, etc. Partially Justified: in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics it's fully legal to use your own brother as weapon, so it would be strange she wouldn't be this, but she fights dirty even for her style.
- Crazy-Prepared: Kodachi is Silk Hiding Steel by default, even when she has Ranma under her thumb. Kodachi is not one that trusts in flattery easily (even though she thoroughly enjoys it), so she'll play her many, MANY cards regardless of whether Ranma is sweetening her ear.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: She's fairly good looking, but, particularly in the Japanese audio, her laugh is almost as bad as Naga's.
- Dark Action Girl: OK, she's no match for Ranma outside a Martial Arts Rhytmic Gymnastics match, but she can hit hard enough with a steel bar to hurt Ranma, do practically anything with her ribbon, club an enemy with a dozen clubs per hand...
- Did You Think I Can't Feel?: She's surprisingly more sensitive than she appears. When Ranma flatly tells her he has no intention of dating her, her response is a teary Death Glare, to accuse him of hating her and to break down crying.
- Distinction Without a Difference: It's not ambushing their enemies before they can fight in a proper duel, it's "defeating them in a pre-duel" or similar excuses.
- Determinator: She may not be the physically toughest, but once she sets her mind on a goal, she doesn't stop until she has it in her possession. Shonen Sunday gives her (alongside her rivals Akane, Shampoo and Ukyō) a Heart score of 4 in its Power Levels special for the series as a result of this.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Pale white skin, black hair and purple eyes in the anime.
- Entitled to Have You: She's well aware that Ranma doesn't love her; she just doesn't see why that should stop her from trying to make him fall in love with her.
- Exotic Weapon Supremacy: Her main weapon of choice is a gymnastics ribbon, but she also turns the clubs into melee weapons and sometimes makes use of razor-edged hula-hoops and exploding balls as well.
- Expy: She's a more malicious version of Ryoko Mendou from Urusei Yatsura. Ryoko and Kodachi are both beautiful, affluent and spoiled, but Kodachi is somewhat more sincere and direct about her behavior, despite both hiding their deranged personalities under an ojou guise. Ryoko is also more personable than Kodachi, which is why other characters in Urusei Yatsura actually like her; Kodachi, not quite so.
- Fatal Flaw: Selfishness above all. Though pride is up there too, Kodachi is so selfish that she will not relent either confidence nor sincere appreciation for nice things dispensed towards her. It's not that she doesn't completely trust niceties, but rather, she'll more than likely won't proceed if she's not in complete control of the situation, so she'll attack by default. For instance, if Ranma is being nice to her, she'd first accept the compliment and then she'd try to knock him unconscious regardless.
- Foil: To Shampoo. They are equally tenacious and use underhanded methods to gain Ranma's heart, but Shampoo is considerably stronger and more appealing that Kodachi. Also, unlike Shampoo, Ranma dislikes Kodachi.
- Fluffy Tamer: Her beloved pet "Midorigame", which basically means "Mr. Green Turtle" (though in a few episodes of the anime it is mistranslated as "Mr. Scaly Green"), is a 20'-30' alligator. She's also shown in the OAV opening "Where Do We Go From Here (You & Me)" to be feeding a massive shark as though it were a koi.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: She's not above using her own brother as a weapon.
- Hated by All: She is, by far, the least accessible of Ranma's engagements. Unlike Shampoo, who understands but doesn't care (but at least can be talked to one-to-one), Kodachi neither understands nor cares. As such, no one tolerates her presence. Kodachi also happens to be only character in the story who is not on friendly terms with anyone... not that she cares, though.
- Her Own Worst Enemy: Kodachi may never win Ranma's affections due to the fact that she never once has cared about those. This is the main reason she's the fiancee pretender who most relies on blackmail to approach Ranma. As such, she is the least successful of Ranma's fiancees by virtue of being herself. What makes it more egregious is that Kodachi is more than capable of being an excellent prospect for Ranma's affections, as she has great attributes in her favor, including her beauty, her affluence, even her damn cooking is great... the problem is that she's Kodachi, and that alone nullifies everything good about her.
- Hypocrite: Immensely. She talks about honor in a fight, but would resort to dirty tricks BEFORE a match, and would justify it with twisted logic ("Cheater? I believe in fighting fair, before the match of course!").
- Iconic Outfit: Her famous mint-green gymnastics leotard, which she apparently wears under her clothes 24-7.
- Improbable Weapon User: Her standard weapon is a rhythmic gymnastics ribbon, but she has weaponized all the items of rhythmic gymnastics and her own brother.
- In Love with Love: Her reasons for "loving" Ranma are markedly superficial, as she makes little to no effort to familiarize herself with who Ranma is. He's like a trophy for her collection more than an actual love interest.
- Irony:
- Played with. Despite her dom tendencies, it's shown that Kodachi may be very malleable through affection. As such, she may easily be more submissive in a relationship than she shows.
- Kodachi has a great number of excellent attributes that would make her a great romantic prospect. She's beautiful, rich, academically strong, graceful, is a great cook, has great leadership skill and can be quite affectionate. Problem is that, girl's dangerously crazy.
- Jerkass: Much like the rest of her dear family, Kodachi is quite the insufferable person.
- Kick the Dog: In one anime episode, she gets her hands on Ranma during a vulnerable moment for him... and proceeds to tie him up and dangle him over her pet gator's pond, where he risks being eaten!
- Leotard of Power: Kodachi has been shown to wear her characteristic leotard under virtually all her clothing, presumably because it permits a superior range of motion while in combat.
- Locked Out of the Loop: She's just as ignorant of Ranma's dual identity as her brother is, but she simply never had Ranma attempt to explain his curse to her or seen him switch forms. She also doesn't attend the same school, so she wasn't around when Ranma was forced to attend school in female form.
- Loophole Abuse: She had promised to give up on her current love for (male) Ranma, if she lost the battle against (female) Ranma. When she loses, she agrees to put aside her current love for Ranma, and to pursue him with an all new burning love!
- Love at First Sight: She fell in love with Ranma at first sight after he saved her from falling due to being knocked unconscious, and she began chasing him relentlessly afterwards.
- Mad Love: Kodachi is not above using dirty tricks such as blackmail and paralysis powder in her pursuit of Ranma. She admits that she knows he doesn't love her, not that this actually stops her.
- Manipulative Bitch: Tries to pull this off, but her reputation is such that everyone's on guard for it, so it never works.
- Meaningful Name: She shares her elder brother's family name "Kuno" ("Nine Abilities"), which is a nod to their arrogance.
- Mooks: Her gymnastic team is implied to serve as this to her, although they only appear during her introductory storyline.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: Taken to a ridiculous extreme.
- Only Sane Woman: Zig-Zagged. She's just as kooky as the rest of her family, but she is definitely more cunning and scheming than her brother. Her Shonen Sunday statblock reflects this by giving her an INT score of 2, compared to his bottom-tier INT of 1.
- Oxymoronic Being: Kodachi is the dirtiest fighter in the series while behaving the most refined, somehow pulling the lowest while not stooping to the lowest.
- Petal Power: She often has black rose petals around her. Usually incorporated into her exits or entrance, but occasionally involved in an attack.
- Pet the Dog: Gets a few moments in the anime where she shows she's not entirely heartless or cruel. For example, when she heard Ranma was starving due to the Tendos going through tough finances, she did everything she could to help out, including bringing them a huge supply of food, acting like a housemaid for Ranma, and even offering to buy Ranma his own huge dojo with great advertising to attract swarms of customers. In another episode, she once provided Ranma and Genma with free room and board after they were kicked out of the Tendo house. In yet another episode, she is delighted to learn her father is still alive and tries to bring him back into their family's life, despite her brother's protests.
- Poster-Gallery Bedroom: A bit less blatant than her brother, but still likes to have large-scale images of Ranma to admire. She's not pleased when her brother purloins one of these to use as target practice.
- Psychopathic Womanchild: Kodachi is extremely immature, prone to acting more like a daydreaming child than a nearly-grown woman. However, she's also capable of extraordinary acts of violence on a whim. To put things in perspective, she's willing to paralyze Ranma with poisonous attacks or even try to feed him to her pet alligator.. and he's the man she loves!
- Rescue Romance: She falls for Ranma when he saves her from taking a bad fall... ironically, after having knocked her out in the first place! In fairness to him, it was an accident.
- Rich Bitch: Very bitchy, and extremely wealthy.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: Basically the mantra she lives by. To be fair, she is gorgeous indeed, but her attitude doesn't do her any favors.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: An elitist to a fault, Kodachi may be lacking in common sense, but she certainly isn't lacking in resources.
- Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Unlike all of Ranma's other romantic entanglements, Kodachi has no official claim to Ranma's heart whatsoever.
- She-Fu: She practices Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics; what did you expect?
- Single-Target Sexuality: Kodachi, unlike his other fiancées, is the only one who does not have an alternative love interest, and as such, she's the only one who pursues him unimpeded. Kodachi, being as she is, only has eyes for Ranma.
- Small Girl, Big Gun: In a couple of episodes she uses a gun to attack her brother, and by anybody's standards it is overkill (let alone what she (or most probably Sasuke) must have done to get it in Japan): it's a freaking Boys World War II anti-tank rifle.
- Something about a Rose: Sticking a rose in her mouth as a dramatic gesture is practically her trademark. She also uses rose bouquets to disguise bombs and even creates her own flurry of rose petals when she wants to make a dramatic exit.
- Spanner in the Works: Even when she's at her school, she's as big a pain in the ass towards her classmates as she is when she's courting Ranma. Girl's just the most inconvenient individual to have around.
- Spoiled Brat: She's as haughty as she is affluent. She's not the kind of girl who hears the word "no" very often.
- Super Gullible: Played with. On occasion, Ranma has used the prospect of romance to get her to do things for him, though she almost always ends up doing something self-serving instead, all while still believing Ranma's advances. Hence, she can't be trusted to do the right thing even when it may benefit her.
- Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Played with. Much like her brother, Kodachi sees herself as the protagonist of a romance novel. However, unlike him, she's aware that this is not the case and is actively forcing the pretense, as she's more self-aware than her brother on the matter.
- Through His Stomach: Kodachi is an excellent cook, which is a strategy she often employs on Ranma; the caveat is that she tends to lace her food with drugs.
- Wasted Beauty: She's very beautiful, but her possessiveness, irritating pompousness, cruelty and vicious temper means nobody wants to date her.
- Weak, but Skilled: When it comes to physical strength and durability, she's pretty much the bottom of the barrel, even given the lower standards for female martial artists in this series. But she's cunning, very adaptable, and a true master in her chosen form of Martial Arts and Crafts, even being able to legitimately keep Ranma on the ropes during their own and only proper duel. The Shonen Sunday statblock special gives her 1s for Power and Stamina, 2s for Intelligence and Speed, 3 for Technique and 4 for Heart to reflect this.
- Weapon Specialization: As mentioned above, her ribbon is her weapon of choice and she is a master with it, using it as a whip.
- Wild Card: She's the most unpredictable and least stable/agreeable of Ranma's fiancées.
- Yandere: She is completely infatuated with Ranma, and like Shampoo, will go to any lengths to be with him, albeit her methods are usually more extreme (i.e. blackmail, paralysis powder, etc.); still, Shampoo is considerably stronger than her.
Principal Kuno
Principal Kuno (九能 校長 Kunō Kōchō)
Voiced by: Tatsuyuki Jinnai (Japanese), Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese, 2008 Rumic World special), Scott McNeil (English), Carlos del Campo (Latin American Spanish), Rafat Bazoo (Arabic)
The headmaster of Furinkan High School, and father of Tatewaki and Kodachi, this strange man abandoned his family for an extended vacation in Hawaii, coming back as what can essentially be considered a compound of the "obnoxious tourist" archetype and the stereotypical Hawaiian. Obsessed with cutting hair and short haircuts, delighting in making his students hate him and fight against him, Principal Kuno frequently throws his school into chaos to amuse himself.
- Abusive Dad: To the point where Genma almost looks like a model father in comparison. He treated his son with great cruelty, with flashbacks showing him denying Tatewaki food, berating him, leaving him suspended in rope from tree branches, and physically manhandling him so he can shear his head. His abandoning his children for years to vacation in Hawaii added neglect to the list, but was honestly a relief to his son.
- Acrofatic: He's surprisingly athletic for all his bulk.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's not much of a physical threat, and he's absolutely bonkers, but he's also extremely cunning, capable of coming up with elaborate plans, and very adept at outwitting his foes. Battles with Ranma are always long affairs not because the Principal is hard to put down, but because he's so adept at constantly escaping and hiding from them. The Shonen Sunday statblock for him gives him a maximized INT score of 5... in contrast, his son has only a bottom-of-the-barrel 1 for INT.
- Character Catchphrase: "Oh My God!"
- Cloudcuckoolander: Even crazier than his children, but not bloodthirsty.
- Combat Pragmatist: An ineffective one, but still a man who goes out of his way to exploit any advantage he can, with a fighting style revolving around dirty trickery.
- Crippling Overspecialization: The principal's fighting style is predominantly aimed at shaving his opponent and battling kendo fighters like his son; his only named special technique is the Aloha Sword Shredder, which allows him to destroy a bokken and use it as a bridge to reach his opponent's head to shave it bald. As Ranma points out, it's useless against someone who doesn't use a bokken.
- Dean Bitterman: Relishes abusing his power over the students; seems to find their efforts to stop him hilarious. When Ranma is weakened by Happosai, tries to take advantage of it to forcibly cut Ranma's hair at last. He is more cheerful than most of the usual examples of this trope, though.
- Determinator: It's definitely a family trait; no matter how badly he gets thrashed, no matter how much everyone hates him, no matter what they do to express their fury at him, the Principal eats it up and keeps on messing with the students — he seems to think it's fun.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": His first name was never revealed, so everyone calls him "Principal" in English and Japanese — "Kōchō" is the Japanese for "Principal".
- Everyone Has Standards: In a 7th season filler episode, he temporarily appoints Tatewaki as the substitute principal whilst he's away. He is appalled to return and discover Happosai and Maomolin running rampant on the campus under Tatewaki's watch.Principal Kuno: Tachi! I be making you da substitute principal, and you be lettin' dis giant cat and dis freaky old man into me school?!
- Foreign Culture Fetish: The man is absolutely obsessed with Hawaii.
- Gratuitous English: In the Japanese version, replaced with Gratuitous Hawaiian in the Viz translations.
- Hula and Luaus: Just came back from a 3-year vacation to Hawaii, and acts like a flamboyant walking stereotype of Hawaii. The man dresses in a grass skirt, "Hawaiian" shirt and sunglasses as his principal's uniform and wears a bonsai palm tree on his head.
- Improbable Weapon User: His weapon is hand-clipped hair-shears for melee and explosive coconuts for projectiles.
- Jerkass: He's a dick. He knows it. He likes it. He's proud of it.
- Large Ham: Flashy and flamboyant, even by this series' standards.
- Mysterious Past: We don't know anything about the character beyond the fact he spent a prolonged period of time in Hawaii. The anime drops some extra tantalizing hints, such as a flashback to him trying to escape from what seems to have been an insane asylum, and his rivalry with the minor school store manager Toramasa, who knows that Kuno senior flunked English when he was a student, but still, we know nothing about it.
- Non-Idle Rich: One has to give the man credit where it's due, not many people as wealthy as him would voluntarily work as a public high school's principal. That said, it may well be just him wanting to amuse himself on the backs of the faculty and students...
- Parental Neglect: He essentially abandoned his children and left them alone for years to go and play with ukuleles, coconuts, and Hawaian resort luxuries.
- Perpetual Smiler: Well, technically. He can lose his grin when he gets upset... but Principal Kuno is an incredibly upbeat, optimistic and happy person who is usually seen sporting an ear-to-ear grin, clearly having lots of fun even as he makes his students lives a misery.
- Pet the Dog: A small one with Akane, when he genuinely tried to help her get rid of her Super Drowning Skills, even if his methods were kind of kooky.
- Smarter Than You Look: Yes, he's batshit insane, but he's far more cunning than his utter lunacy would suggest. The Shonen Sunday statblock for him gives him an INT score of 5, which is the maximum possible.
- Weak, but Skilled: He can't take Ranma in a direct fight, but he's cunning and tricky enough that he can certainly make Ranma work for his victory. In his Shonen Sunday statblock, his physical traits are all bottom-of-the-barrel (Power 1, Stamina 1, Speed 2), but his mental traits (Heart, Intelligence, Technique) are all maxed out at 5 points each.
Sasuke Sagurakure
