Kurama Ranko (鞍馬 蘭子, Kurama Ranko; "Ranko Kurama") is the leader of the Kurama-gumi, an illegal casino owner and member of Kakerou. Leo and Hyougo are her two most trusted subordinates.
Appearance[]
Kurama Ranko is an attractive youthful woman, with a svelte figure, a sizable bosom and long voluminous black hair. She is usually seen wearing a kimono and smoking a kiseru.
Her hair is pink in the pachinko game and blue in the OVA.
Personality[]
She has an unforgiving personality and is disgusted by people like Kokonoe Tarou. She hates people that kill children and women and deems them as inhuman.
A very clever and cunning individual who rose through Japan's underground with her Kurama-gumi, Ranko is often compared with a snake regarding the way she treats her enemies, allies and associates.
History[]
Ranko's father presented a 16 year old Ranko to his acquaintance/superior Kamiyama Hideki and managed to make him Ranko's protector. As the snake she was, she used Kamiyama to rise through the ranks and become one of the biggest yakuza in the country.
When she started as Kumichou, Kurama-gumi was a small group with 10 members and a subordinate of other yakuzas. The main reasons she made so much progress was her cunning personality and her "fangs" Hyougo and Leo. By age 18, she continued the traditional way of her yakuza's activities, especially the managing of the illegal casino "Clara" and her influence upon a big area of Tokyo.
Appearance in Usokui one-shot[]
Ranko first appears as the antagonist of the one-shot "A Peculiar Gambler, Usokui." In this prototype to the main series, her casino is called Kakerou. Usokui, the beta version of Madarame Baku enters casino Kakerou. He is invited to Ranko's suite after winning 20 million yen. They agree to play a number guessing game with chips, the loser will have as many whippings as chips he/she has in his/her hand.
Ranko starts first and guesses that Baku had 1 chip in his hand and the sum of both numbers is 2. After his punishment, Baku's turn begins. He realizes Ranko's subconscious disposition to not hear the number of chips she has and thus, not reacting to said number. Baku guesses 7 so the sum is 13.
Ranko's men gave Baku the same whip they used with him and Ranko says they won't interfere and that she accepts the punishment (an obvious lie according to Ranko). Baku whips her once, then Ranko's men try to harm him but Usogui starts explaining that he stole a policeman's badge and said man is waiting outside the suite and there is also an investigator outside the casino. The only thing Ranko can do is give Baku even more money in exchange for the whippings and the badge.
Problems with Q-Tarou[]
Ranko's animosity towards Q-tarou goes back to some years prior to the main story. Hyougo, Leo and other members of Kurama-gumi visited Q-tarou's building to threaten him into submission. Only Hyougo enters, Q-tarou tells him to follow him inside. Q-tarou's mercenaries ambushed Hyougo but he defeated all of them.
Confident that there's no problem if he doesn't get rid of Q-tarou and Marco by himself, Hyougo goes outside and told his men to kill Q-tarou and to leave the kid alive and leaves with Leo. However, Q-tarou manages to trigger Rodemu, unleashing hell upon those men. Soon after, Q-tarou calls Ranko to laugh at her.
Plot[]
Abandoned Building Arc[]
This is the first time she appears on the story. Kurama-gumi shows up at the building shortly after the Kakerou match and encounters Q-tarou lost in thoughts because of the results of the match.
Ranko asked with whom did Q-tarou bet and he unintentionally mentioned Usogui. Intrigued for this, Ranko decides to keep tabs on Usogui because he became more interesting. After calling Q-tarou an eyesore, her gang kills him.
Old Maid Arc[]
Her interest in Usogui draws her to become a 'man owner', and bet one billion yen on him during the game.
The Bull's Womb Arc[]
Ranko was at Hayama's house to tell Hayama Noriaki that they won't work with him anymore because his son, Hayama Ikuto, murdered a family in a case known as the "Okutama house case". Ranko was ready to take everything from him since she became a major shareholder of Hayama's loan company and has all the company's creditor rights.
After leaving him alone, she, Leo and Nammeribone go to the living room and interrupt Kaji and Ikuto and uncover Kaji's identity. After that, they also go to the bull's room to act as witnesses of the game.
After the game, Ranko's men restrain Hayama Noriaki and take him away and with that, Ranko and Leo left the house.
Tower of Karma Arc[]
A big opportunity appeared when Ranko got in touch with Suteguma Satoru, the man that not only defeated Fukurou, a senior Kakerou member, but has referee number zero with him. She watched the match against Fukurou and, after that, supported Suteguma so he could rival Usogui in he future.
The day of the match, she and Leo sneak into the tower before Kakerou takes over while Hyougo plays the game with Suteguma.
They were on standby until the second round of the Dotty game ended. Ranko receives a letter from Usogui telling among other things, to suspect Suteguma because he believes that the match with Fukurou was a fake match arranged by IDEAL, organization that wanted Kurama-gumi to act as a front for them. Kurama decided to stop aiding Suteguma for the time being.
Unbeknownst to them, Caracal and Martin White also snuck in the tower. They were aware of their presence on the 5th floor because of the traps planted by these members of Ideal. Ranko separated from the others, so Hyougo and Leo could fight Billy while, as she walked around the 5th floor, she found Martin setting some traps.
She fought Martin when he started to hallucinate but she managed to inmovilize him with a defibrilator. She also shot Billy with flechette rounds to put him to sleep. However, this happens to be the worst mistake; Caracal, now with a superhuman force, fights them again and managed to kill Hyougo and hurt the others.
Marco also clashed with Caracal, but ends up hurt as well. Ranko managed to trigger Rodemu so he can fight Caracal and, after an amazing battle, Marco won. When Suteguma reached the top, Ranko handed to him a gun with flechette rounds and told him to use it with Marco if he awakes.
When she was about to enter the numbers for him, Suteguma uses the gun against Ranko and everyone else and proceeds to enter his number, only to receive a wrong password advice.
Ranko and co. woke up a bit later and she reveals that the gun had fake rounds. As a last chance for Suteguma, she won't shoot him and also will admit him in her yakuza if he tells her the correct number. Suteguma guessed wrong and is shot but Ranko will have him in her yakuza "as a warning for herself".
Surpassing the Leader[]
Robert K comes to see Ranko, requesting to meet with his brother, Suteguma Satoru.
Abilities[]
Mental Abilities[]
Relationships[]
- Leo:
- Hyougo:
- Suteguma Satoru:
- Mogami Taeko: Mogami is Kurama's referee. They are also having sex.
Notes & Trivia[]
- Her first appearance in Chapter 472 is a reference to her first appearance in A Peculiar Gambler, Usokui. The dialogue is the same, as well as the "Kakerou" calligraphy on the wall.
- She and Hyougo have matching snake patterned suits.
References[]