Principal Kuno

Infobox animanga character
color = blue
name = Principal Kuno
series = Ranma ½


caption = Principal Kuno in the anime
first = Volume 11
last =
creator = Rumiko Takahashi
voiced by = Tatsuyuki Jinnai (Japanese)
Scott McNeil (English)
alias = Hawaiian Headmaster, Headmaster from Hell
age = Late 30s/Early 40s
born =
occupation = Principal of Furinkan High
relatives = Tatewaki Kuno (son)
Kodachi Kuno (daughter)
divider = yes
aux1 name = Curse
aux1 =
aux2 name = Fighting style
aux2 =

nihongo|Principal Kuno|九能 校長|Kunō-kōchō is a fictional character in Rumiko Takahashi's anime and manga series "Ranma ½". "Kuno" means "nine abilities". His first name has never been mentioned in the series.

Principal Kuno is the headmaster and principal for Furinkan High. A Japanese man heavily influenced by the ways, manner, and speech of the Hawaiian Islands, he rules Furinkan High with a comedic, yet darkly annoying fist.

History

The Principal of Furinkan High had been mysteriously absent for three years when he returned from Hawaii. Whatever his reason for being gone, he came back with an obsession for both conformity and all things Hawaiian, including his very dark skin and a fake Hawaiian accent. His first official action as Principal was to lay down a new dress code — specifically, that the student body had to get haircuts — buzz cuts for boys, bowl cuts for girls. Not doing so risked demerits. The rather awful hairstyles annoyed many students, especially Ranma Saotome, who wanted to keep his ponytail intact. He, along with Akane Tendo and some other students, invaded the Principal's jungle of an office to acquire a coconut with a pardon to the rules inside.

After a long battle which, amongst other things, involved teachers in animal suits attempting to give the students haircuts, Ranma changing to a girl and disguising himself as an island wahine, and Tatewaki Kuno almost getting his head shaved (again), the group managed to obtain the coconut. During the fight, they discovered another interesting bit of information about the Principal of Furinkan High.

They learned that the Principal was none other than the father of Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno. He not only was responsible for embarrassing Tatewaki by forcefully shaving his head when he was a young teenager, but also for planning in advance his hair code to make trouble for the students. The two were re-united after a number of instances proved they were related, including pictures which they had of each other, similar experiences, and the Principal's knowledge of a Kuno family secret technique for shredding swords called the "Kuno Wooden Sword-Shredder" (known as the "Aloha Sword-Shredder" in the anime). Thus, they were re-united after three years apart, much to Tatewaki's disgust and disdain.

In the anime, Principal Kuno's return is the plot for the first episode of the 4th season. However, his relationship with the Kuno family isn't discovered until the 5th season, and neither realises the relationship until circumstances (primarily involving Sasuke and a picture of Principal Kuno taken before he left for Hawaii) revealed the truth. He did not meet Kodachi until the first episode of the 6th season, where he tried to return to the Kuno estate, but after that episode left the house again. After this, the rivalry between Tatewaki and his father seems to have more or less ended, partially because of the Principal's claims that he is trying to make his son become strong by being mean and strict to him, partially because he stopped trying to return to his former position of the Kuno family's patriarch. In "Tatewaki Kuno, Substitute Principal", Tatewaki and his father aren't fighting. This may not be true Manga plot-wise, as the events in "Dear Daddy...Love Kodachi" were filler and had no impact on the overall storyline. Tatewaki never exactly interacted with his father again after his intro story in the Manga, with the exception of an accidental team up along with Mousse during the Moxibustion Saga.

Also, just like his children, he has no idea about Ranma's curse, though this can be attributed to genuine ignorance (he has never seen Ranma change forms in the anime, in the Manga, however, when seeing him transform, he is confused and wonders where the male Ranma went).

In both the anime and the manga, the principal tattooed something on Kuno's head before he left for Hawaii. In the manga, this is a map to the location of the actual "get out of school rules free" pass, while in the anime this is the actual pass itself.

Character

Principal Kuno is one of the most eccentric characters in an already colorful cast. He speaks with his own vocabulary and loves nothing more than to make trouble for his students - especially Ranma (according to the teachers, he enjoyed causing trouble for the students before he went on the vacation as well). In fact, he hired aura-sucking delinquent killer Hinako Ninomiya for the express purpose of dealing with Ranma, who had been preventing him from carrying out his hellish schemes from the moment he returned to Furinkan.

There is little love lost between Principal Kuno and his children. Tatewaki finds him irritating and has horrible memories of having his head shaved as a child, which left him with a long-lasting emotional scar. Kodachi, however, does love him, but she tends to resent the fact that he considers irritating his students to be a higher priority than spending time with his own children. She didn't even know she had a father for several years. Strangely, she only met him in the anime. Principal Kuno calls Tatewaki "Tachi" and Kodachi "Kochi."

He has shown a softer side on occasion. Principal Kuno tried to teach Akane Tendo to swim, hurting his own fingers while stitching her strange costumes to use as training aids. Although the outfits he made were outlandish and embarrassing, he genuinely wanted Akane to learn. This was in part because he made the ability to do so a requirement for graduation, though Akane believed that he had just made it up.

Special techniques

"See also Principal Kuno's techniques."

Though he is most likely not a trained warrior like his children are, Principal Kuno has employed a wide variety of dirty tricks and goofy attacks, rather similar to Sasuke of the anime. These tricks have included: forcing the teachers to dress up as ferocious animals or statues of the principal and attack the students, unleashing Robber Crabs trained to shave heads and using remote-controlled miniature aeroplanes to attempt to "buzz" students.

External links

* [http://www.animeinfo.org/featured/ranma/ranmapeople/pkuno.html Principal Kuno at AnimeInfo]
* [http://www.furinkan.com/ranma/characters/principal.html Principal Kuno at Furinkan.com]