Pantyhose Taro
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| Pantyhose Taro パンスト太郎 |
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|---|---|
 Pantyhose Taro |
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| Alias: | Pantyhose Freak, by Ranma Panty Princess, by Ranma |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age: | 18-20 |
| Curse: | Human to Yeti-Bull-Crane-Eel-Octopus Having "Pantyhose" for a name |
| Family: | His Mother Happosai, godfather |
| Rivals: | Happosai Ranma Saotome Shampoo Mousse Ryoga Hibiki Rouge |
| Occupation: | Martial Artist |
| Fighting Style: | Self-taught |
| Attacks: | Ink Shot (after octopus curse) |
| Seiyū: | Shinnosuke Furumoto |
| Voice Actor: | Matt Hill |
| 1st Appearance (Manga): |
Volume 18 |
Pantyhose Taro (パンスト太郎 Pansuto-Tarō) is a fictional character in Rumiko Takahashi's anime and manga series Ranma ½.
Contents |
[edit] History
Pantyhose Taro is a young martial artist who was born in Jusenkyo. Unfortunately for him, Happosai was visiting the cursed springs that day and decided, in a rare moment of altruism, to help the mother out with her birthing. Once he had the newborn baby in his hands, Happosai decided to bathe him and accidentally chose to use water from the most accursed spring in Jusenkyo: The Niuhoomanmaorenniichuan (Níuhèmànmáorénnìquán 牛鶴鰻毛人溺泉) or spring of drowned "yeti holding an eel and crane while riding an ox" (literally, "ox-crane-eel-hairy-man-drowned-spring"). Because of this, he transforms into a giant, winged minotaur-like creature when splashed with cold water. While others would consider it a tragedy, Pantyhose Taro in fact enjoys having the massive strength and power his cursed form grants him.
However, Pantyhose Taro’s real misfortune was that according to the laws of his village, the person who gave him his first bath was also the one in charge of naming him. Having learned this Happosai deliberated for several days and eventually named him “Pantyhose Taro” a name the old pervert believed everyone would love. Pantyhose Taro hates his name and has made his goal in life to somehow have it changed. The laws of his village, unfortunately, state that only the person who named him has the right to do this. Because of this, Pantyhose Taro has held a grudge against Happosai, who plainly refuses to give him a new name.
When Pantyhose Taro first tried to force Happosai to change his name, he stole the Jusenkyo visitor registry and then searched for him by attacking the people who had visited the cursed springs. This, however, eventually put him into a direct conflict with Ranma and his friends. After a brief fight, Pantyhose Taro kidnapped Akane in order to lure Happosai to his lair. Eventually, Ranma managed to defeat Pantyhose Taro’s monster form and to deliver Happosai to him. Unfortunately, the old man didn’t grant his request.
Later, Pantyhose Taro returned with a jar of water he thought was from the cursed spring of the drowned Samaritan. He planned to use that water to turn Happosai into a gentle old man who would be more than pleased to grant his wish of a new name. The water, however, was from the spring of drowned twins, which would have split Happosai in two. This mistake once again placed Pantyhose Taro at odds with Ranma, with the fight ending once Pantyhose Taro realized he had water from the wrong cursed spring. When they met again, Pantyhose Taro had added octopus tentacles on his back using one of the other cursed springs of Jusenkyo.
Pantyhose Taro was to cross paths with Ranma yet again. Only now he was not searching for a way to change his name, but to somehow end his conflict with Rouge, a Chinese girl who was also cursed in Jusenkyo and now transforms into the powerful Hindu Goddess Ashura when splashed with cold water. In the end, Ranma got involved in the fight and Pantyhose Taro, who was by now attempting to steal Rouge’s source of power, was defeated one more time.
[edit] Personality
Taro is a mean, arrogant, ambitious and power-hungry individual. He enjoys working by himself and always angers all of his potential allies, especially Ranma, whom Pantyhose hates because he used to call him panty-princess or pantyhose-freak before he knew his true name. To remind himself of the shame his moniker brings, he wears a pair of pantyhose around his waist like a belt.
Even if he is a cold and cruel person, who often mocks everyone around him just for fun, Taro is not completely evil. He has saved two girls (Fua Fua and So Fu Lan) from wild animals because he felt that was the right thing to do, although he could not bring himself to give them his name, instead fleeing with shame and tears. This, however, doesn’t mean he’s not willing to kill in order to get what he wants.
[edit] Cursed Form
Taro's cursed form is one of the most powerful Jusenkyo curses in the series. His cursed form has the unique appearance of a Minatour, with small crane wings which allow him to fly great distances despite his enormous size, and an eel sticking out of his lower back which works as a second set of eyes for Taro during combat. He later got an octupus curse to gain a set of tentacles, which he uses to constrict his enemies and shoot out ink. A side effect of this new curse grants him the ability to shoot ink out of his fingertips.
More often than not, Pantyhose Taro favors the use of his powerful cursed form to easily win his battles, which helps him overcome the fact that his fighting ability and strength are not very high in human form.
[edit] Trivia
- In the English anime version, Taro wants to be renamed "Mister Cool"; in the Viz graphic novel, he asks for "Awesome Taro";while in the manga,he asks for "Handsome Man".
- The "Taro" in "Pantyhose Taro" is a common ending for male given names in Japanese, or even a common name by itself (so an American could think of Pantyhose Taro as "Pantyhose Bob" or "Pantyhose Ed"). The actual pun in the Pantyhose part of his name is that all of the Chinese characters are named after beauty products, musk fragrances or lingerie.
- Taro only had one appearance in the anime, but he appeared two more times in the manga, and thus made more appearances than any other non-recurring character.
- Latin American Voice Actor: Irwin Daayán (best known as the voice of Shotaro Kaneda in Akira), who was the voice of Kirin in the first Ranma film
- Bankotsu from InuYasha has the same English voice actor.
- Pantyhose was a playable character and the final boss in Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle for the Super Famicom. He was selectable in versus mode from the beginning (though it took the game to be beaten for him to be selected in one-player mode, where the final boss would be Happosai instead). In the game, Pantyhose is the only character besides Ranma that can be selected in both his normal and cursed form. Most of the cursed characters of the series appear only in their normal form (Shampoo, Mousse and Ryoga), with the exception of Genma, who appears only in his panda form.
[edit] References
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Ranma ½ Characters
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| Saotome Family | |
|---|---|
| Ranma Saotome | Genma Saotome | Nodoka Saotome | |
| Tendo Family | |
| Soun Tendo | Kasumi Tendo | Nabiki Tendo | Akane Tendo | Mrs. Tendo | |
| Chinese | |
| Shampoo | Mousse | Cologne | Jusenkyo Guide | Pantyhose Taro | |
| Kuno Family | |
| Tatewaki Kuno | Kodachi Kuno | Principal Kuno | Sasuke Sarugakure | |
| Notable Furinkan Residents | |
| Ukyo Kuonji | Hikaru Gosunkugi | Dr. Tofu Ono | Hinako Ninomiya | Konatsu | |
| Major Adversaries | |
| Ryoga Hibiki | Happosai | Mariko Konjo | Herb | Ryu Kumon | Saffron | |
| Recurring / Other Characters | |
| Akari Unryu | Tsubasa Kurenai | Shinnosuke | Minor Characters | |
| Media | |
| Manga | TV Series | Movies | OVAs | |
| Other Articles | |
| Anything Goes Martial Arts | DoCo | Items | Locations | |
