Sweaty Summer Encounter

Ran Yakumo (八雲　藍 Yakumo Ran) is the kitsune shikigami of Yukari Yakumo and the master of the nekomata shikigami Chen. General Information Personality Ran is described as a gentle youkai, unless provoked. Although Ran is a shikigami, she sometimes "forgets" her position as a servant and acts of her own volition, such as deciding to attack the heroine in Perfect Cherry Blossom to avenge Chen.

Abilities Using Shikigami Ran is an extremely strong shikigami, to the point that she can use shikigami of her own. Her shikigami, Chen, only possesses the wisdom of a child, implying that Ran lacks the level of power that Yukari has with respect to shikigami. While Ran cannot act against Yukari's orders, Chen is capable of disobeying Ran. Because of this, she sometimes has to lure or manipulate Chen with catnip.

Clear intellect Ran has super-human intellect equal to that of Yukari's, and excels at mathematics. According to Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, she was able to formulate and prove an equation for figuring out the width of the Sanzu River. The shikigami of Gensokyo have been often likened to personal computers found in the outside world.

Miscellaneous One of Ran's spellcards shows that she is capable of quickly increasing her physical capabilities. As part of Yukari's attacks, Ran typically spins at high speed. Ran is shown to use Chen in a similar way in Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost.

Occupation As Yukari's shikigami, Ran must do whatever Yukari commands her to do, such as doing Yukari's chores or checking the Great Hakurei Barrier around Gensokyo for problems. Apparently, Ran's own shikigami, Chen, is too unreliable to be entrusted with doing chores. Sometimes she might be sent as a messenger, or be entrusted with investigating incidents.[2]

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.

Species Shikigami Ran's true identity is that of a shikigami possessing a kitsune, or youko (妖狐, "mystic fox"). The fox she is possessing is an entirely separate being, but since it never comes to surface, there's no problem in thinking of Ran as a nine-tailed fox herself.[3] Because she is a shikigami herself, it's highly unusual that Ran has a shikigami of her own.

Youkai fox Ran's body is that of a youkai fox with nine large tails, which is a clear sign of great power and intelligence, as described by Akyuu[4].

Backstory Ran was formerly a resident of the Animal Realm, presumably being one of the many spirits inhabiting it. At one point, disgusted by the beastly ideology that pervaded the place, she fled to Gensokyo.[2] It is unknown when Ran met Yukari and became a youkai-possessing shikigami, but based on her interaction with Yuuma Toutetsu, it was likely after Ran left the Animal Realm.

Official Profiles Toggle all Official Profiles Spell Cards Spell Cards Character Design

Ran in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense Name Ran Yakumo (八雲　藍) is her name. The characters for Yakumo (八雲) literally mean "eight clouds", and Ran (藍) literally means "blue" or "indigo". Yukari and both of her Shikigami are named after colors.

According to Akyuu in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, her real name is unknown and Ran was a name given to her by Yukari. Yuuma Toutetsu, however, calls her "Ran" and then specifies Ran Yakumo now despite the two not seeing each other for a long time, which would imply "Ran" is the real name of the beast spirit that Yukari uses as a shikigami to possess the unnamed youkai fox, rather than a name Yukari decided by herself.

Design In Perfect Cherry Blossom, Ran has yellow eyes, short blonde hair, and nine fox tails. She wears a white dress with purple cuffs and collar, an indigo tabard with a white print, white and blue footwear, and a light pink two-tailed hat with many amulets that hide her fox ears. According to ZUN, she is fairly tall.[5]

Ran's motif, the nine-tailed fox, is a well-known mythical fox entity originating from Chinese mythology and appears in various East Asian folklores, including Da Ji or Huli Jing in Chinese, Tamamo no Mae in Japanese, and Kumiho in Korean. For further details on the nine-tailed fox in these cultures, please refer to their respective sources.

Appearances Games Spin-offs Literature Perfect Cherry Blossom

Ran sprite in PCB During Perfect Cherry Blossom, Ran is busy preparing for a banquet for her master Yukari Yakumo, who was still asleep as usual, when the heroine suddenly interrupts her.

Imperishable Night

Ran in IN Ran makes a return in Imperishable Night, somewhat as a playable character. She appears as a familiar of Yukari, where if the player chooses to focus, then Ran will appear in front of Yukari at a distance. She'll search for enemies and spin around on them until they're defeated. She'll act the same way if Yukari is unfocused while playing solo.

Ran's back sprite in UDoALG

Ran's sprite in UDoALG Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost Main article: Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost: Ran's Scenario Because of the opening of the marketplace, ownership of the ancient land was lost. This has caused greedy animal spirits to attempt to claim ownership of the land. Ran gets told by Yukari to investigate the incident in Gensokyo.

Ran meets Sanae Kochiya, who attacks her due to Kanako's policy of attacking all beast youkai near the shrine. Then, she finds Tsukasa Kudamaki there, and gets told by the tube fox that the origin of the incident is in Hell after she is defeated. After adventuring through Old Hell and defeating Rin Kaenbyou, she gets told by the kasha to adventure further into Hell. In her way, she finds Suika Ibuki. After beating the oni and arriving at the Hell of Blood Pools, she finds Chiyari Tenkajin who informs Ran about Toutetsu’s movements. Suspicious, she heads to the Animal Realm where she finds Yuuma and attacks her thinking she is the culprit of the incident.

At the end, she gives her report to Yukari omitting the details of Yuuma, as she finally decided to that she only took advantage of the incident. Although Yukari said that she thought that it was a natural incident, she seemed to know who the real mastermind was.

Fighters Ran in SWR Ran in HM Ran in the fighters and HM Ran appears in Immaterial and Missing Power, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, and Touhou Hisoutensoku as a projectile in Yukari's spell card Shikigami "Ran Yakumo". In Antinomy of Common Flowers she gets used in the same way, this time in a combined move with her servant Chen.

Shoot the Bullet In Shoot the Bullet, Aya Shameimaru encounters Ran on stage 8 and takes photos of her danmaku.

Hopeless Masquerade Ran made a background cameo appearance in Hopeless Masquerade on the Hakurei Shrine stage. She is seen standing with Chen watching the fights.

Violet Detector Attention: This section is a stub and it needs expanding with more information related to the section's topic. If you can add to it in any way, please do so. Attention: This section is a stub and it needs expanding with more information related to the section's topic. If you can add to it in any way, please do so. Curiosities of Lotus Asia Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red Main article: Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red: Ran's Article and Interview Ran gets interviewed by Aya Shameimaru after she managed to determine the actual width of the Sanzu River. Ran also explains how equations and shikigami are related, and how Yukari's equations, which she uses to increase Ran's power indefinitely, are too much even for her to understand.

Main article: Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red: Yukari's Article and Interview In Yukari's article, Aya confronts Yukari after the latter smacked Ran with an umbrella as a punishment for having fought humans without Yukari's permission. Although Aya is outraged by an animal being abused like that, Yukari insists that Ran is not an animal, but a shikigami that sometimes forgets that she is a servant.

Perfect Memento in Strict Sense Main article: Perfect Memento in Strict Sense: Ran Yakumo Hieda no Akyuu writes an in-universe encyclopedic article on Ran as part of the Gensokyo Chronicle.

Silent Sinner in Blue Yukari requests Ran to search for allies to take revenge for her defeat in the First Lunar War. After asking various people, like Remilia Scarlet, Yuyuko Saigyouji, Youmu Konpaku, or Suika Ibuki, Ran explains that apparently the only interested person is Remilia, but that she doubts she will cooperate. Yukari tells her not to worry, as she has everything she needs, confusing Ran. After asking about her true intentions, Yukari will claim that only when she could do more than just mathematical calculus and could "add single digits" she could understand her plan [6]

The Full Moon day arrives and Ran follows Yukari in her journey to the Lunar Capital. However, they fall in Eirin Yagokoro's trap, are apprehended, and are taken to the Capital to be judged thanks to Watatsuki no Toyohime. After being released and surprised her master was so happy after seeing her plan failed, Ran asks for an explanation. Yukari then tells her the true nature of her plan and they celebrate their success at the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

The Grimoire of Marisa Main article: The Grimoire of Marisa: Ran Yakumo's Spell Cards Ran is one of the people whose spell cards Marisa Kirisame documents, adding descriptions, comments, and considerations to imitate them.

Cage in Lunatic Runagate Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia Main article: Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia: Top 100 Famous Hot Springs of Gensokyo Ran was one of the visitors of the geyser hot springs right above Old Hell. When Aya asked her why she was keeping her hat in the bath, Ran said that it was because Aya was taking a picture of her.

Foul Detective Satori Tired of Satori Komeiji's slowness and supposed incompetency, Yukari orders both Ran and Chen to search for the vengeful spirit that was possessing a lot of youkais and humans in Gensokyo between all the Netherworld phantoms. They do so, and in chapter 8 Chen contacts Satori, Rin and Reimu to inform them that they had captured every phantom in the Netherworld. However, in chapter 10 Marisa Kirisame tells both of them not only that they didn't capture the vengeful spirit, but that it possessed their master Yukari. Surprised and worried about her, they leave Marisa and Satori to find her.

Whispered Oracle of Hakurei Shrine Main article: Whispered Oracle of Hakurei Shrine: Ran Yakumo Reimu Hakurei writes a fortune slip about Ran as a way of cleaning up in the aftermath of an incident.

Relationships Yukari Yakumo (Master) Yukari is Ran's Master. As a shikigami, Ran must do whatever Yukari commands, but since Yukari is asleep most of the time, Ran has a lot of free time. When Ran follows Yukari's will, she can obtain power equal to Yukari's level, becoming much stronger than she usually is. However, Ran sometimes forgets that she is a shikigami, and Yukari scolds her as a result.

Chen (Shikigami) Chen is Ran's shikigami. Since their relationship is the same as Ran's relationship with Yukari, one would expect Chen to follow anything that Ran commands, but Chen is unreliable and it's difficult for Ran to depend on her.

Yuuma Toutetsu (Old acquaintance) Yuuma and Ran knew each other before Ran became Yukari's shikigami. Based on their dialogue, it seemed like Ran was a member of the Animal Realm until she got bored of the “beastly ideology” there and left. She also claims to know Yuuma before she became the leader of the Gouyoku Alliance. [2] According to Yuuma's words, it seems they still treat each other as close friends.

Minor Relationships Yachie Kicchou and Saki Kurokoma The two seem to recognise Ran from the time she was a member of the Animal Realm.[7]