UKYOU KUONJI

Ukyou Kuonji is the best okonomiyaki chef in Nerima as well as one of Ranma's fiancees. Okonomiyaki is what can be best described as Japanese pizza (any proper fan of anime or Japan will of course chastise me for such a description ;) ) and not only is Ukyou an expert in creating delicious ones, she also utilizes them in her unique style of martial arts.

The story of how Ukyou came to be caught up in the chaos of Nerima started in her childhood when she first met Ranma. She was a six year old child who went around with her father, an okonomiyaki vendor, selling his wares. One day, out of nowhere, a boy and his overweight father jumped their cart and stole some food. This event was then repeated the day after and so on and so on and eventually turned into some kind of a friendly rivalry where Ranma and Ukyou would fight each other while their respective fathers watched and if Ranma won, he got some food.

Ranma and Ukyou became fast friends who even came up with nicknames for each other. 'Ranchan and Ucchan.' A strange thing about their friendship was that Ranma didn't realize that Ukyou was a girl and actually thought she was a boy. Well, that's not too surprising since not only do little boys and girls look similar unless they're wearing gender specific clothes, Ranma probably didn't have much contact with people being dragged around the country by his dad. Still, you would think that it would have come up at some point.

While this was going on, Ukyou's father and Ranma's father, Genma, talked and the young girl's dad proposed to engage his daughter to Ranma and even offered to throw in his okonomiyaki cart as a dowry. Genma agreed but he never had any intention of taking Ukyou along with Ranma and him. He just placed his son on the cart and ran off down the road, ignoring Ukyou, who was running after them crying that they had promised to take her with them. Ranma thought his friend was simply saying goodbye so waved at her, not knowing he was rubbing salt in her wounds.

A devastated Ukyou lashed out by living her life from then on as a boy. She suppressed and hid every aspect of her femininity and began training in the okonomiyaki-style martial arts so she could one day get her revenge on a certain Ranma Saotome.

When she felt she was ready, she tracked down the Saotomes and after beating up Genma, she joined Ranma's high school. She went to school in a Furinkan's boy's uniform and challenged Ranma to a fight. The fight went badly for Ukyou as Ranma constantly evaded her attacks and in the middle of it, Ranma found out that Ukyou was really a girl.

Angered and ashamed, she really tried to pound her enemy, but then Ranma did the unexpected and said she was cute. Ukyou could only stand there in shock as Ranma and Akane began arguing with each other over that (which is perfectly understandable!). When Ukyou saw that Ranma and Akane didn't get along, Ukyou saw a chance to have the wrongs against her made up, so she instantly reclaimed her fiancee status and thus forgot all about her plans for revenge and such.

Now, Ukyou is operating her own okonomiyaki restaurant and when she isn't busy with that, she tries to gain Ranma's love or subtly break Ranma and Akane apart. She spends a lot of time daydreaming about what a perfect life she and Ranma would have once they got married and tries her hardest to see that future comes true.

Though a lot of unpleasant things had happened in her life, she is always cheerful and is said to be the most rational of Ranma's fiancees. But when she gets mad... watch out!

I've always wondered what Ukyou's father was thinking. Genma actually admitted that Ranma had a prior engagement that was arranged a long time ago before he turns around and accepts the offer put before him! The fact that Ukyou's father found nothing wrong with this turnabout and gave Genma the dowry is very confusing and doesn't exactly indicate good things.

I feel sorry for Ukyou since her best friend just ran off without her when she looked so forward to going with them. This is one of the times when I really don't like Genma Saotome. I can understand the girl preparing for revenge against Ranma because she thinks he betrayed her, but I do wonder why she decided to live like a boy. A form of self-punishment or way to protect herself from the constant whispering that occurred when people heard about her predicament? Perhaps her father forced her into it? This part is never clearly explained but since it did happen, let's move on.

I can only guess that her life wasn't too good before Ranma came and that's why her father tried to unload her. Small children scar easily and her father should have done something to help her. Thinking on this I can understand why she reacted to Ranma the way she did when he called her cute. This was probably the only compliment she has heard in a long time since she was so convinced of her unfemininity. (The fact that she lived as a boy for many years and actually made a convincing one couldn't have helped either!)

It is strange to some that Ukyou would suddenly change her attitude about Ranma so quickly. She was hurt by Ranma, but she might not have really hated him. In a way, what Ranma did was sort of an unofficial apology. It must be noted, however, that Ranma never really did apologize or tried to make up for what his father did to her. Not to say that he wouldn't if Ukyou really pressed the issue but it is another example of the Saotome motto of, "Everything's okay as long as I don't do anything."

She might love Ranma but she should acknowledge the possibility, no matter how small she may think it is, that Ranma may not return her feelings or have actually shown much indication that he did. Besides, comparing her daydreams of a perfect married life to what I know about Ranma, I'm afraid of her getting disappointed.

Ukyou deserves some happiness in her life. Out of all the Nerima Wrecking Crew, she has actually suffered the longest from meeting Ranma (That's a rather unfair implication about Ranma, isn't it? :) ). Even with that, she hasn't copied Ryouga and made her life more hellish by blaming all her problems on someone else. Ukyou knows what she wants and is willing to get it in a relatively fair manner.

There is a lot of indication that Ukyou hates being betrayed or having other people suffer (unless she thinks they deserve it, of course :) ). Whenever she tries to break up Ranma and Akane, she almost always tries to make sure that Akane will have somebody around, like Ryouga, to comfort her and get her over Ranma when she starts off on some new plan of hers.

Ukyou would make a good wife for anybody and she deserves the chance to explore her options and not be stuck waiting all the time for life to come to her. She has already done that when she worked to get revenge on Ranma. She put her life on hold until that feud could be settled and she's doing the same thing now by not really moving on with her life until Ranma makes a decision. It may be comfortable if one is not used to the idea that they don't have to watch the world go by.

She is a rather carefree and open-minded individual. When she found out about Ranma's curse, she was actually amused by it and had child-like glee in splashing Ranma with alternating buckets of cold and hot water. Over and over and over...

Some try to make her out as obsessive, but she is nowhere up in the leagues of say, Shampoo or Kuno in terms of desperation. I seriously think that if Ranma ever actually dumped her (I know the series is over and that will never happen but work with me, people!), she would be depressed for a while, but she's a strong person and she would and could get on with her life.