Profile: Tatewaki Kuno, who calls himself the "Blue Thunder" of Furinkan High, is the Kendo captain at the school and one of Ranma's major enemies. He is a big influence at school, not only because of his money (he comes from a very wealthy family) but also for his skill at wielding the wooden sword he carries around. At least, that's how it was before Ranma Saotome showed up...
Kuno is apt to quote Shakespeare at every moment to express how he feels about something....especially when it comes to Akane Tendo. Kuno declared, in his flamboyant and poetic way, that whoever wanted to date Akane (which was found to be most of the male population of the school) had to defeat her in hand-to-hand combat. Thus, Akane was beset every day afterwards by a whole bunch of guys trying to get a date with her.
A lot of this changed, however, when Ranma Saotome entered Akane's life. Ranma's supposed engagement to Akane discouraged most of Akane's "suitors", but Kuno was not to be defeated. He challenged Ranma to a duel. Unfortunately, it was during this duel that Ranma accidentally jumped into the school's pool, turning him into a girl. Kuno accidentally found out that he was now fighting a girl (he had grabbed Ranma-chan's chest by mistake), but had no idea that the girl and boy-type Ranmas were one and the same. As a result, Kuno fell for the girl-type Ranma as well, referring to her only as "Osagi no Onna", or "pig-tailed goddess/girl". Whether Kuno is really naive about the curse of Ranma, or if he's just denying it is unclear. However, Kuno still holds firm in the belief that he will one day get Ranma out of the way and "double date" with Akane and his pig-tailed goddess...
Personality: Kuno is very eloquent in his speaking and generally has sort of a self-absorbed attitude (e.g. he has an ego). He pursues both Ranma-chan and Akane with a fervor that could almost be called insane....this is the only time we see him get worked up and lose his cool, poet's attitude (which he only really manages to keep for a few seconds anyway). Kuno also has a high sense of honor, but it is easily undermined or twisted to fit his own needs. He's been defeated by Ranma many times, but is determined to use his "superior" intelligence and skill to defeat him one day.
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© 1997 by Frank Sanchez