Ran Yakumo

Personality Ran is described as being a gentle youkai who won't start a fight unless provoked. Although Ran is a shikigami, she sometimes "forgets" her position as a servant and acts of her own volition, such as deciding to attack the heroine in Perfect Cherry Blossom to avenge Chen. Because of this, Yukari punished Ran to remind her who the master is.

Backstory Ran was formerly a resident of the Animal Realm, presumably being one of the many spirits inhabiting it. At one point, disgusted by the beastly ideology that pervaded the place, she fled to Gensokyo.[2] It's unknown when Ran met Yukari and became a youkai-possessing shikigami, but based on her interaction with Yuuma Toutetsu, it must have happened after Ran left the Animal Realm.

Abilities Using Shikigami She has the privilege of strong youkai being able to use shikigami while also being a shikigami herself. However, Chen has the same level of wisdom that a child does, perhaps because Ran does not have the level of power that Yukari has, or perhaps because Ran's own power of turning youkai into a medium wasn't enough. Also, although she's not able to go against what Yukari says, this doesn't mean that Chen perfectly listens to what Ran says. Because of this, she sometimes has to lure Chen with catnip to make her listen.

Clear intellect She has super-human intellect equal to Yukari's, and excels at mathematics. According to Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, she was somehow able to formulate and prove an equation for figuring out the width of the Sanzu River. It seems to be her specialty to process formulated calculations than invent new things through her intellect. At this point, the shikigami of Gensokyo have been often likened to the PCs of the outside world.

Miscellaneous One of her spellcards shows that she is capable of quickly increasing her physical capabilities, but other than this nothing else about her other abilities have really come to light. She's likely able to use various other kinds of sorcery as a strong youkai, but since she pretty much never acts alone, this too is unclear. Ran usually appears as a means for Yukari to attack, so when she flies, she often spins around. Perhaps the way Chen also spins around is related to this.

Occupation As Yukari's shikigami, Ran must do whatever Yukari commands her to do, such as doing Yukari's chores or checking the Great Hakurei Barrier around Gensokyo for problems. Apparently, Ran's own shikigami, Chen, is too unreliable to be entrusted with doing chores. Sometimes she might be sent as a messenger, or be entrusted with investigating incidents.[2] In her spare time, Ran often calculates various things such as the width of the Sanzu River. She may also be seen in the Human Village shopping for tofu.

Species Shikigami Ran's true identity is that of a shikigami possessing a youkai fox, or youko (妖狐, "mystic fox"). The fox she is possessing is an entirely separate being, but since it never comes to surface, there's no problem in thinking of Ran as a nine-tailed fox herself.[3] Because she is a shikigami herself, it's highly unusual that Ran has a shikigami of her own.

Youkai fox Ran's body is that of a youkai fox with nine large tails, which is a clear sign of great power and intelligence

Name Ran Yakumo (八雲　藍) is her name. The characters for Yakumo (八雲) literally mean "eight clouds", and Ran (藍) literally means "indigo". All of the Yakumo family are named after colors. According to Akyuu in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, her real name is unknown and Ran was a name given to her by Yukari. Yuuma Toutetsu, however, calls her "Ran" and then specifies Ran Yakumo now despite the two not seeing each other for a long time, which would make "Ran" the real name of the beast spirit that Yukari uses as a shikigami to possess the unnamed youkai fox, rather than a name Yukari decided by herself.

Design In Perfect Cherry Blossom, Ran has yellow eyes, short blonde hair, and nine fox tails. She wears a white dress with purple cuffs and collar, an indigo tabard with a white print, white and blue footwear, and a light pink two-tailed hat with many amulets that hide her fox ears. According to ZUN, she is fairly tall.

Ran gets interviewed by Aya Shameimaru after she managed to determine the actual width of the Sanzu River. Ran also explains how equations and shikigami are related, and how Yukari's equations, which she uses to increase Ran's power indefinitely, are too much even for her to understand.

Yukari Yakumo (Master) Yukari is Ran's Master. As a shikigami, Ran must do whatever Yukari commands, but since Yukari is asleep most of the time, Ran has a lot of free time. When Ran follows Yukari's will, she can obtain power equal to Yukari's level, becoming much stronger than she usually is. However, Ran sometimes forgets that she is a shikigami, and Yukari scolds her as a result.

Chen (Shikigami) Ran's shikigami. Since their relationship is the same as Ran's relationship with Yukari, one would expect Chen to follow anything that Ran commands, but Chen is unreliable and it's difficult for Ran to depend on her.

Yuuma Toutetsu (Old acquaintance) In Ran's fight against Yuuma in Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost, it is revealed that Yuuma and Ran had known each other in Hell before Ran left the Animal Realm (and subsequently Hell) due to the "beastly ideology" disgusting her. When they met each other once again, Yuuma is now the leader of the Gouyoku Alliance and Ran is now the shikigami of Yukari.

Indeed, she has big boobs.

Nine-tailed fox from tales of the rare, Yakumo Yukari's shikigami. Also uses Chen as her own shikigami. A program that generates programs by its own will, in some sense it's closer to what people think AI can do. Although the AI everyone's arguing about now still hasn't reached that point... Either Ran or Chen or whoever, it seems that those that can be qualified as a shikigami has to be a youkai beast. And the number of their tails directly correlates to their capability (like disk space), the more they have the more capable they are. In other word, she's very fluffy.

Shikigami of the Gap Youkai Ran Yakumo Extra Boss, and Yukari's shikigami. She does Yukari's work for her while her master sleeps. She has the ability to mainly use shikigami. Yukari sleeps 12 hours per day and is only awake from sunset to midnight. On top of that, she hibernates through winter. Because of that, Ran takes care of Yukari's work while she's asleep. Ran has been a shikigami for quite long time, so she's more powerful than ordinary youkai. For that matter, she has enough power to possess her own shikigami. Perhaps she has already forgotten that she herself is a shikigami. Every year, when cherry blossoms are about to bloom, she visits the Netherworld for flower viewing. The cherry blossoms this year feels very pleasant. Just as she was considering that, some living humans dropped in. She watched them with interest for a few moments. She later heard that her shikigami had been defeated by them, so she plotted a little revenge. Her true form is a fox-turned youkai. Like Chen, her shape is unchanged and she has a well-sociable personality. Even without looking closely, it's obvious that she has several tails. As a matter of fact, when it matters, she has plenty of power ever since she uses her true form. Through all these events, her master continues to sleep.