Ran (ラン, Ran?, Orchid or civil war), or Lan, is an alien girl of an unspecified race, and is a recurring character of Urusei Yatsura. She refers to herself as Ran-chan (ランちゃん, Little orchid?).
Biography
She is Lum's best childhood friend from elementary school, but when they got older they both fell in love with the handsome shape-changer Rei. Rei chose Lum, but she eventually realized he was a shallow glutton and dumped him and soon after got engaged to Ataru Moroboshi. Because of all of this, Ran has come to Earth in order to exact revenge on Lum.
She follows Lum to Earth and enrolls in Tomobiki High School, but has a different class than Ataru and the main cast. She plans to exact on Lum by kissing Ataru and stealing his youth. As the series progresses, she begins to date her beloved Rei. Although Rei seems to be mainly interested in the food she cooks for him, Ran is happy with whatever she can get.
Personality
Ran tends to act very cutely in public. She shows a sweet, child-like if not even elegant side when she is happy but when she becomes suspicious or even angry her personality turns into complete opposite. When she was a child she was usually violently punished by her mother which could have traumatized Ran to develop her split personalities. She shows her anger and suspiciousness towards Lum, who she believes wants Rei back.
Ran is desperately in love with Rei and is jealous of Lum, as Rei is in love with her.
Appearance
At first glance, Ran seems to be a sweet and lovely redhead, but in reality this is all merely an act. While she usually behaves as an elegant maiden, when she gets angry her fangs and violent nature are exposed and she begins speaking in Kawachi dialect.
She apparently did not develop her sweet persona until sometime after she fell out with Lum, as Lum is shocked to encounter it when Ran first arrives on Earth. (It seems likely that she took it up in the hopes of wooing Rei back.) When Lum asks her why she does not simply act naturally, she replies that if she were to break character even once it would destroy the credibility of her newly adopted personality. Hilariously, Ran is wrong—boys are so captivated by it that they never seem fazed at all no matter how many times they witness her harsher side resurfacing.
Outfit
She is usually seen wearing a skimpy silver bikini (pink bikini in the manga and in Urusei Yatsura 3: Remember My Love) or a light-colored dress and chiffon (the latter more than the former). While attending Tomobiki High School, she wears the standard girl's uniform.
Powers and Abilities
- Seize youth - She possesses the alien ability to suck people's youth through her lips, though she can also restore their youth the same way.
- (?) - She excels at technology and black magic, which she usually uses for her revenge on Lum.
- Excellent chef - She is also a superb cook and is often cooking special dishes for Rei, whom she frequently dates.
Portable things
Weapons
- Shooter -
- Hammer bomb - Used to attack enemies from short distance. Although it looks like an ordinary hammer, the explosive power is extremely powerful until the tree trunk able to break into two[1].
- Light Saber - Used only once, it is a red light saber that she uses to fend off against the snakes in the pool. It made its only debut in The Obstacle Course Swim Meet.
Others
- Messenger doll - Appears to be tiny Ran which used by Ran for passing message for the one that she needs to imply. It acts as a talking little doll that can move itself from place to place. Once the messenger doll accomplishes its job, self-destruction occurs.
Relationships
Ran spent most of her childhood as Lum's friend which led her to numerous problems which her mother would punish her later. Lum and Ran even shared the same love interest, Rei, but Lum left him. When meeting again, Ran and Lum were first happy to see each other but then Ran remembered that she wanted to exact vengeance for her traumatic childhood and broken heart on Lum. They still do act like friends, though Lum becomes more and more careful with her and Ran is suspicious on Lum because of believing that she is still in love with Rei.
Ran usually takes advantages over Ataru's flirtatious personality. In couple of her first appearance Ataru was her weapon for revenge towards Lum as she tried to suck his youth, eventually not failing each time (Though she unofficially succeed one time but Ataru had drank Youth Restoration Potion made by Cherry, making it look that she failed). Apart from Lum, Ran is only one to call Ataru "Darling".
Ran is desperately in love for Rei, who chooses Lum over her. Ran and Rei start dating at one point and Ran prepares a lot of food for him each time, though food is probably the reason why Rei dates her since Rei still tries to find possible ways to get Lum back. Ran does anything to keep love between Rei and Lum from triggering again.
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Speech
She also begins to refer to herself in the first person as washi (ワシ, washi?), whereas she usually uses the more common atashi (私, atashi?).
Appellations
| Name | What They Call Ran | What Ran Calls Them |
|---|---|---|
| Ataru Moroboshi | Ran-chan | Darling |
| Lum | Ran-chan | Lum-chan |
| Shinobu Miyake | Ran | Unknown |
| Shūtarō Mendō | Ran-san | Unknown |
| Ryūnosuke Fujinami | Ran | Ryūnosuke-kun |
| Kōsuke Shirai | Ran | Unknown |
| Ten | Ran-chan | Ten-chan |
| Cherry | Unknown | Cherry |
| Sakura | Ran | Sakura-sensei |
| Rei | Ran | Rei-san |
| Benten | Ran | Benten |
| Oyuki | Ran | Oyuki |
Quote
- "Lil' Ran's so happy!"
Trivia
- Lum and Ran are the only known aliens to live in Earth with their own UFOs. They both are also the only ones to refer Ataru as "Darling".
- While her race is never named, Ten does mention at one point that it is related to the Oni race.
- It is unknown how Lum knew of her twisted split personality upon their reunion, as Flashbacks going from their childhood and Lum dating Rei during their teens indicate she did not surface her second personality.
- Ran appears in every Urusei Yatsura movie, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer as small cameo in Ataru's dream harem.
- Her first Seiyu You Inoue would then voice Carla of Urusei Yatsura: The Final Chapter.
- Her second Seiyu Komiya Kazue would then voice Kasumi of Maison Ikkoku.
- The way how Ran shows her anger for the color of her eyes might be reminiscent Cruella De Vil's eyes in the car chase scene from One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
- Ran's outfit in the Opening Rock the Planet is based on Maris from Maris the Chojo, another work by Rumiko Takahashi.
Media Appearances
Manga
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Anime
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Gallery
References
- ↑ Urusei Yatsura manga - The Wraith of the Ice Queen - Part 2.