Ran is a character from a series known as Tohou. Touhou is a series of danmaku shooting games made by Team Shanghai Alice.
Main Profile
| image = Ran Yakumo | name = 八雲 藍（やくも らん）
Ran Yakumo | species = Kitsune | abilities = Black magic, shikigami rituals | age = Unknown (possibly older than 800 years) | occupation = Yukari's shikigami | location = Boundary of Gensokyo | description = *Yellow eyes, golden brown hair, wears a pink two-tailed hat with many amulets. Has fox ears which are hidden under her hat, and nine fox tails. Wears a blue and white outfit similar to Yukari's in later series. | relationships = *Chen (Shikigami) *Yukari Yakumo (Master) | appearances = *Perfect Cherry Blossom (Extra Boss, Phantasm Midboss) *Immaterial and Missing Power (Yukari's Spell Card attack) *Imperishable Night (Yukari's Familiar, Ending No. 1,4) *Shoot the Bullet (Stage 8-1, 8-3, 8-5, 8-7 Boss)
During Perfect Cherry Blossom Ran is busy preparing for a banquet for her master Yukari, who was still asleep as usual, when Ran was suddenly interrupted by the heroine. Because she is actually a fox that became a youkai (Kitsune) and is a shikigami herself it's highly unusual that Ran has a shikigami of her own. Having nine tails, the highest number of tails a kitsune ever has, is a clear sign of Ran's power and experience. Since kitsune are said in many stories to grow an extra tail every hundred years to a maximum of nine, it's thought that Ran may be over 800 years old. Even though Ran looks similiar to a human and has more than enough intelligence to speak she is still essentially an animal and is often regarded as such by other characters.
Fun Facts
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, and is only a name given to her by Yukari. Her real name is unknown.
One of her Spell Cards, “Princess Tenko,” made her one of the most popular joke characters in the Touhou community, second only to “Chuugoku” with the silliness of its sound. It might have something to do with a famous Japanese illusionist, considering how foxes are known for their tricks and illusions in folklore.
Apparently this page is where aforementioned trend started. [Note: Not recomended for pure Ran fans.] Since then, in many fan works, she's been pictured as a… flasher.
Even though Ran is only a boss in two games and has never been a playable character, she's a fairly popular character and is often seen in fan comics partly because of her master Yukari, who is another popular character.
She's usually portrayed as a motherly figure especially towards Chen.
Ran is suppose to be a 9-tailed fox (called a “Kyubi”) 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.
Ran is often depicted as Yukari's 'voice of reason' in fan comics.
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. Her main ability is control of 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.
Ran is a fox youkai (kitsune) with nine tails.
The greater the number and length of tails that a fox has the stronger and smarter it is.
Ran is considered the top class of animal youkai with a full nine long tails.
She's extremely intelligent and is much better at math than any human.
She is Yukari Yakumo's shikigami and must do whatever Yukari commands her to, which means Yukari must be even stronger.
Although Ran lives in Yukari's house, she spends much of her time doing Yukari's chores for her because she's too lazy to do them herself.
This includes checking the border around Gensokyo for problems.
Ran's own shikigami, Chen, is too unreliable to leave chores to.
She shops in the Human Village for tofu, among other things.
Fortunantly her personality is mild and she's unlikely to cause trouble while around humans, so the villagers have nothing to fear.
She has no real weaknesses.