Mousse (Ranma ½)
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| Mousse 沐絲 |
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|---|---|
 Mousse and his cursed form |
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| Alias: | Mu-Tsu Mu Mu-chan the duck Stupid Duck-boy, by Shampoo |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age: | 16 |
| Curse: | Human to Duck Horrible eyesight |
| Family: | His mother |
| Love Interest: | Shampoo |
| Rivals: | Ranma Saotome Cologne Maomolin Happosai Ryoga Hibiki, (occasionally) |
| Occupation: | Waiter/Delivery Boy |
| Residence: | Formerly: Joketsuzoku Village, China Now: Cat Café, Furinkan |
| Fighting Style: | Hidden Weapons |
| Attacks: | Oversized Sleeves Hawk's Talon Fist of the White Swan Flying Ostrich Kick Exploding Eggs |
| Seiyū: | Toshihiko Seki |
| Voice Actor: | Brad Swaile |
| 1st Appearance (Manga): |
Volume 10 |
| 1st Appearance (Anime): |
TV Series, Season 2, "Enter Mousse! The Fist of the White Swan" |
Mousse (沐絲 Mùsī or ムース Mūsu) is a fictional character in Rumiko Takahashi's anime and manga series Ranma ½.
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[edit] History
Mousse is a male Chinese Amazon and a master of the Hidden Weapons fighting style who is desperately in love with his childhood friend Shampoo. He's been in love with her since they were both three and sees Ranma Saotome as the rival he needs to either defeat, exceed or kill in order to win Shampoo's affection. Though according to Cologne Shampoo's rejection of his proposal at that time will still hold true regardless if he manages to overcome Ranma.
He has extremely bad eyesight which requires him to wear Coke-bottle glasses, but he usually has them concealed within his robes (manga) or propped up on his forehead (anime), leading him to sometimes mistake people (or animals, sometimes even inanimate objects) for other people (usually Shampoo or Ranma).
Mousse fights using hidden weapons (Anki 暗器), which includes roped hooks, rope darts, iron balls, hidden knives, bombs, and even training toilets, all hidden in his long sleeves and robe. The reasoning for this is supposedly dark magic which in the Ranmaverse is hiding things where it's dark. Mousse has been shown though to not have an infinite supply of weapons in his cloak. Additionally, he's quite crafty, and is able to make complex fireworks or actually plan traps to defeat Ranma.
He was cursed at Jusenkyo to turn into a duck, having accidentally walked into the Spring of the Drowned Duck due to his poor eyesight. According to the Jusenkyo Guide, he is the first person to ever fall in a spring after taking only one step. Even in the form of a duck he can still make use of many of his projectile weapons, such as knives and bombs. Somehow he manages to hide the weapons in his feathers while his duck form, making him one of the very few cursed characters who is not completely defenseless while in his cursed form.
Mousse's vision appears to improve greatly while he's a duck, but this may be because when he is in his cursed form, he has to always wear his glasses, with which he can actually see well enough in both forms. Though when a magic jizou statue blatantly disguised itself as either Shampoo or Ranma, Mousse failed to see any difference from the originals even while wearing them. Unfortunately for him - either on reflex or to appear cooler when making an important statement - he tends to take off his glasses and thus embarrasses himself when he talks to the wrong addressee.
[edit] Character
It is proven that, despite his obsession, Mousse truly cares for Shampoo's well-being. In the last story arc of the manga, Shampoo is placed in a Surikomi Egg, a form of magical mind control that causes one to become slavishly devoted to the first person one sees after being released from it. Later in the arc, she is placed in one again, and Mousse is offered the chance to make her his slave. Instead, he shows her a mirror, granting her independent thought. Unfortunately for him, she immediately returns to chasing Ranma, leading Mousse to remark that he's going to be kicking himself over the decision for years.
He hasn't been above occasionally using dirty tricks or traps to succeed, and in an early appearance he thoughtlessly almost skewered Kasumi when attempting to snare and kidnap Akane, as well as some children when aiming for Ranma, but he turns more considerate towards the end. He's shocked at the prospect of 'just' running into some kids with his bike and apparently refrains from using dishonourable methods after they almost caused Shampoo to lose what little respect she had for him (his superior skill and enormous resolve to never give up), and Ranma embraced the practise to even sillier extremes. He's also displayed nearly limitless tenacity and dedication when fighting for the chance of 'winning' her affection, even if she callously sabotages his prospects, or Amazon law apparently doesn't grant him any automatic rights through overcoming either her 'groom' or herself. It seems more like a case of proving his worth.
Mousse dislikes Ranma with a great intensity, but at the same time seems to be developing a more relaxed rivalry with him, much like Ryoga did. He has gone as far as to help him on a few occasions, like during the fight with Pantyhose Taro, the confrontation with the Musk Dynasty warriors, and the final battle with Saffron. However during the first two occasions he was initially planning to betray him, and the third time he was largely motivated by the draining Jusenkyo springs and (later) to free Shampoo from their slavery. Towards the end of the manga, when both Ranma and Ryoga were turned to kids by a magic mushroom, simply seeing their likeness maddened him enough to reflexively slam their heads together (perhaps due to his constant defeats at their hands). Though his first objective remains to win Shampoo, not neccessarily by going through Ranma. He was enthusiastic at the prospect of seeing Ranma and Akane get married.
[edit] Romantic Prospects
There are hints in the manga/source material that Shampoo's feelings for him are not restricted to contempt, loathing and annoyance. For instance she beat him up in the regular manner while wearing the Reversal Jewel incorrectly (which turns love to hatred - and possibly hatred to love but this was never explicitly stated), which Cologne commented on by saying that 'It seems as if Shampoo does not hate you as much as before'. She also agreed to go on a date with him, when he eventually abstained from using magic apology-inducing glasses during his duels with Ranma, while the latter retaliated by using any petty cheats available. However the goodwill from appearing in a better light than his nemesis was eradicated when Mousse took her to a zombie-demon show, which she found disgusting and not romantic in the least. Later, when Mousse was almost drained of life while enchanted into dating a jizou statue he believed was Shampoo, she initially didn't care and stayed home to play video games instead, but eventually reluctantly gave him a scarf she was making for Ranma to wake him from the trance.
Nevertheless, it always takes extreme circumstances for her to give him any leeway whatsoever, while she more generally treats him in a cold, cruel and derisive manner. For example, she was gladly willing to thow bombs at him, since she didn't want to give him a promised date if he prevailed against Ranma, and while she temporarily felt bad about it and cradled his beaten duck form, she quickly got over it, tied him with a chain to the neck and taunted him by holding his food out of reach. Another seemingly two-sided occurrence happened when she saw his beaten (by Taro) duck form on the road. She nonetheless intentionally ran him over with her bicycle, but seemed concerned afterwards. After Ranma pinned Mousse's duck form to a wall and said 'If you weren't such a moron I wouldn't have Shampoo pestering me all the time', she did turn into a cat and began to chase Ranma, but not to save Mousse, but because she was maddened by the statement.
In the separate anime continuity there are hints that Shampoo actually does hold some love for him, despite vehemently professing the contrary. In the later part of the series Shampoo was the one who convinced him to stay in Japan rather than go back to China, and she tearfully cradled him in her arms when he saved her life but was almost killed in the 'Nihao, My Concubine' movie.
[edit] Special Techniques
Mousse is an extremely proficient martial artist and is skilled in several systems, presumably including the acrobatic and flexible Joketsuzoku style used by the other two Amazons, Shampoo and Cologne. He is a master with practically any weapon, and is very agile. His hidden weapons techniques allows him to often overwhelm opponents with the sheer number of items he can produce. By using his full arsenal in combination with his considerable speed, he has managed to almost compete even with Mint, who may be the swiftest character in the entire series (though he had to use trickery to actually prevail). Towards the end of the manga, he also received a remarkable strength boost through constantly dragging around a heavy jizou statue, and afterwards managed to split a large iron bell with a single blow, which was enough to apparently be considered physically stronger by Ranma himself (but likely still doesn't compare to the 400 ton ice boulders hurling Ryoga). It is unclear if this remained afterwards but, given that similar power-ups for Ranma & Ryoga did, it doesn't seem unlikely.
Strictly speaking of their comparative mettle in serious battles with Ranma, he appears vastly more dangerous than Shampoo herself, but doesn't seem to be as swift or skilled in unarmed combat as either Ranma or Ryoga, and has been consistently beaten despite the advantage of using a barrage of bladed weaponry against mostly bare-handed fighters. He's been repeatedly been overcome by the former, and when confronting the latter during the onsen race, Ryoga easily waded through his barrage of weaponry, and swiftly prevailed.[1] When Mousse was teamed up with Tatewaki & Kocho Kuno, Ryoga also effortlessly simultaneously parried their attacks and defeated them all in a few seconds.[2] Regardless, one hit from a sharp sword is all it would take to win permanently (at least in Ranma's case) and he hasn't been truly tested since apparently turning physically stronger than Ranma himself.
Even though he is a very talented martial artist and a good hand-to-hand fighter, Mousse prefers to use his mastery of the Hidden Weapons style to fight at a distance, where his naturally expert marksmanship can be put to better use. His greatest weakness, despite his remarkable abilities, is his own eyesight. Occasionally, when sufficiently motivated, he has displayed impressive endurance and highly dangerous mettle. In his second battle with Ranma he continued to fight until his last breath, despite being caught in numerous explosions and receiving several beatings, and barraged his nemesis with an arsenal of weapons, to the point of making him fear for his life. He also possesses a stronger tolerance to regular punches than Saffron, since the latter had been pampered all of his life, while Mousse has honed his stamina through constant sparring. In the anime continuity, during his fight with Torristan, he was able to expand his muscles to remove many steel knife-like feathers from his body and defeated his opponent with a single punch despite being near death.
- Oversized Sleeves (Weapons Container): Mousse is a self-proclaimed practitioner of "dark magic," which is actually just hiding things up his oversized sleeves where it's dark. Mousse is able to keep almost any item imaginable in his sleeves and never seems to run out of room. Many fans believe this to be because of his ability to access Hammerspace. Mousse's weapons of choice are throwing knives, ropes, and chains.
- Fist of the White Swan (白鳥拳 - Hakucho Ken): This technique is similar to Mousse's others. He removes the "White Swan", in this case a swan-shaped child's training potty, from his sleeves and hits his opponent with it. He usually draws it out, swings it, and then quickly hides it again so the potty cannot be seen by his foe, representing the swan's graceful but unseen swimming.
- Exploding Chicken Eggs (雞蛋拳 - Keiran Ken): Mousse pulls a chicken out of his sleeves and it quickly lays eggs into his hand. When thrown, they become similar to grenades, exploding when they hit their target.
- Hawk's Talon (鹰爪拳 - Takazume Ken): Large, sharp claws appear on the tips of Mousse's shoes as he plummets toward his opponent. He stated it is taught to a single student per generation.
- Flying Ostrich Kick (飛鴕脚 - Dachö Kyaku): Facing away from his opponent, Mousse kicks sharply at an almost-180° angle. Usually performed with a needle on the tip of his shoe, this manga-only move is capable of slicing through metal.
- Scythes of Sorrow: An attack used only in Mousse's second fight with Ranma, it involves wildly slashing at his opponent with scythe-like blades from his robes. Additionally, the blades can be thrown like boomerangs.
- Love Rocket: Not really an attack, but a firework he planned to use to impress Shampoo. It would have formed a heart-shaped burst that rained down roses if it had functioned properly. Instead, he accidentally blew it up in her face.
- Fire breathing: Likely just the one used in the real world. Mousse never made use of this move in combat, but has nonetheless mastered it (volume 33, chapter 4).
[edit] Trivia
- Despite the fact that Mousse's parents are never mentioned in the manga, in the anime his mother once sent him a letter asking how his progress with Shampoo was going.
- Because of his mastery of the art of Hidden Weapons, he is sometimes credited as one of the few males with access to Hammerspace.
- His Latin American Spanish Voice Actors are José Antonio Macías (famous for his outrageous performance as James from Pocket Monsters) and Jose Gilberto Vilchis.
- His Brazilian voice actor is Hermes Barolli, well-known for voicing Pegasus Seiya in Saint Seiya.
- Mousse speaks with a Tōhoku accent in Japanese.
- Hsien-Ko, from the Darkstalkers series, has a fighting style similar to Mousse, from Hammerspace concealment of objects to throwing such objects. Judging from their fighting concepts and design, it appeared that Mousse somehow was an inspiration for her creation, though Capcom has never confirmed nor denied this. The only difference is that she is a Hopping corpse, while Mousse is a living person with a Jusenkyo curse.
- In the InuYasha episode "Battle Against the Dried-Up Demons at the Cultural Festival", he is briefly seen in his duck form as InuYasha was running to cool his mouth after having spicy curry.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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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 | |
