We know Rumiko has an interest in mythology, and that Lum, Benten, and Oyuki, are clear parllels to real world mythological figures. Ran is the odd-one out and for 40 years fans have tried to figure out which specific mythological creature Ran actually is.

Name
Email
Subject	Spoiler Image
Comment
File	Upload Info 3 files max, 25MB limit Images: JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG, WEBP Video: MP4, WEBM (note that the video stream must come first) Audio: MP3, OGG Text: TXT, EPUB, PDF Flash: SWF Please use catbox for larger files
Embed
Password	(For file deletion.)

File: 1745387739599.png (242.89 KB, 434x441, 1590026503289[1].png)

What is Ran? Tomobikanon 4/23/25 (Wed) 05:55:39 No.1407

We know Rumiko has an interest in mythology, and that Lum, Benten, and Oyuki, are clear parllels to real world mythological figures. Ran is the odd-one out and for 40 years fans have tried to figure out which specific mythological creature Ran actually is.

She has some kind of life-drain kiss so she's a Succubus? Is that the European variety or a Japanese one? No one's ever been able to pin her down exactly.

It's entirely possible Rumiko didn't think of anything specific so it's a red-herring.

Tomobikanon 4/23/25 (Wed) 06:24:54 No.1410

File: 1745389494161.png (3.03 MB, 2867x2048, doitran2.png)

>What is Ran
My wife, thank you very much.

Tomobikanon 4/23/25 (Wed) 16:43:49 No.1417

space succubus iirc

Tomobikanon 4/23/25 (Wed) 16:48:36 No.1418

>>1417
you are 100% right

Tomobikanon 4/23/25 (Wed) 17:04:11 No.1419

>>1417
yes, everyone knows functionally she's some kind of succubus. But what kind? Is she a European succubus or is she from Japanese folklore? The series never identifies her. The issue is that everyone else is clearly something: Lum is an Oni, and Benten is the Shichifukujin Benzaiten. Oyuki is a Yuki on'na.

Then that leaves Ran who is… something? Something magical? Given the theming she should be part of Japanese folklore as well, but she's too vague to fit anything and the series never identifies it. Fans have tried to figure it out for 40 years.

Tomobikanon 4/24/25 (Thu) 03:35:07 No.1624

>>1419
>Is she a European succubus or is she from Japanese folklore?
iirc there isn't really a succubus analogue in Japanese folklore. It's a pretty Christian European thing. (I'm mostly going off the possibly apocryphal story of Morrigan having originally been a vampire before being changed to a Succubus after someone suggested it.)
If so that would make her the odd one out since the rest of Lum's friend group all come from Japanese folklore.

Tomobikanon 4/24/25 (Thu) 05:33:50 No.1635

>>1624
>If so that would make her the odd one out since the rest of Lum's friend group all come from Japanese folklore.

Well Ran does wear european style clothing compared to all the other alien girls

Tomobikanon 4/24/25 (Thu) 05:37:51 No.1639

>>1624
oh yeah and kurama is clearly based on tengu, just like my favorite girl in dead or alive.

Tomobikanon 4/24/25 (Thu) 14:37:41 No.1658

>>1624
>>1419
Well, the grouping of the four space babes only came later. For many chapters in the manga, it wasn't clear if Oyuki and Benten even knew Ran. They were fun concepts for a chapter first, Lum's friends second, thematic grouping third.

Tomobikanon 4/28/25 (Mon) 08:43:04 No.1789

File: 1745829783451.webm (2.68 MB, 640x480, 1665711316406[1].webm)

When you get right down to it Benten and Oyuki are mostly superfluous characters back when the series was actually about its premise that it mostly dropped. Ran fits the role of friendimy and goes to Tomobiki high so she's integrated into the series much better.

Tomobikanon 4/28/25 (Mon) 12:24:33 No.1803

>>1789
Their eyes are wigging me out.

Tomobikanon 4/28/25 (Mon) 16:09:25 No.1821

Ran is the famous mythological “street walker” of American urban mythology. These ladies of the night lurk on street corners, sucking the spunk out of men who pay them for this immoral service. They are said to spread disease and ill omen to the the towns they prowl at night.

Tomobikanon 4/29/25 (Tue) 05:15:17 No.1826

File: 1745903717791.png (89.14 KB, 690x594, Screenshot 2025-04-29 at 0….png)

UY wiki trying to parse it out.

Tomobikanon 4/29/25 (Tue) 13:06:41 No.1839

>>1826
Seems about right
>>1821
lol

Tomobikanon 4/30/25 (Wed) 01:02:27 No.1841

File: 1745974947724.jpg (211.81 KB, 1920x1080, 2644568[1].jpg)

>>1658
The 4 space babes stories are by far the least interesting. Even Ran is a downgrade in them. Ran works best paired with Ataru and scheming against lum.

Tomobikanon 4/30/25 (Wed) 01:06:16 No.1843

>>1841
I found them hilarious and a personal highlight from my watch through, felt like classic slapstick at times.