Ran Hibiki (ひびき 蘭 Hibiki Ran) is a fighting game character from the Rival Schools series. She was first introduced in Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2 and was then included in Project Justice.
Biography
Personality
She is a spirited girl, almost as hot-blooded as upperclassman Batsu Ichimonji and her gym teacher Hayato Nekketsu. She has a strong desire to succeed, and always goes for the gold.
Appearance
Ran has long dark purple hair which is tied in a high ponytail, black eyes and orange sunglasses as her headband.
Like Chairperson, she wears a blue openly down vest under a long sleeve white buttoned shirt which is folded below the elbows. She has a pink ribbon on the collar, sky blue skirt, black fingerless gloves, black socks and red shoes. Unlike other girls, she wears black cycling shorts underneath her skirt, and it has a red press logo at the left side of her shoulder.
In the School Life Mode in Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2, Ran is seen for the most part in her primary outfit. She is also seen letting her hair down in one formal occasion which is the Christmas event.
Story
Background
Ran is a student at Taiyo High who is working toward a career in journalism. Though still a freshman, she has already earned a reputation in Taiyo High as the resident "Scoop Girl", due to the fact that she is always on the hunt for the latest gossip, juicy story, or anything that sparks her interest.
Rival Schools: Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2
Ran is the editor in chief of the school's newspaper. She investigates the kidnappings and disappearances, seeking to scoop an exclusive news story. In truth, she decided to embark on this mission for a personal agenda: to win a very influential prize, "Taiyo High's First Prize Scoop".
Project Justice
Ran works with the Chairperson and students from Pacific High School to find the ones responsible for creating havoc between the schools. In the Pacific High School ending, Ran decides to make a journal about Roy Bromwell's future while waving goodbye along with Boman and Chairperson outside the airport where the plane that Roy and Tiffany rides had passed through.
In the Taiyo High ending, Ran is responsible for taking a photo of Kyosuke Kagami who was emotionally devastated after the death of his twin brother Hyo Imawano, which is the main reason of why Kyosuke did not go back to school afterwards and it was said that Ran herself had felt personally guilty for taking the photo of a personal and emotional family tragedy.
Gameplay
Arsenal, combat style, and fighting strategy
Ran fights by using two different weapons--a camera, and a harisen (ハリセン huge paper fan) which can deflect projectile attacks back to her opponents. In Project Justice, she has the most powerful Burning Vigor Attack, which is also among the most difficult to successfully connect.
Special Attacks
- Flash Attack (Japanese: フラッシュ攻撃 Flash Kougeki) - This is Ran's signature special attack, which has her do a flash photography attack. Depending on the punch button pressed for this attack's button combination, a sidestep may or may not precede the attack, similar to Hinata's Sunrise Punch. After using this six times, she will change films (see Film Change below). This is also usable in the air.
- Film Change (Japanese: フィルム交換 Film Koukan) - Ran changes the film on her camera. This can also be done while sidestepping, but the animation will not be shown. This is also automatically done after six Flash Attacks.
- Extra Edition! (Japanese: 号外！ Gougai!) - Ran tosses the latest edition of the school's newspaper. The angle and range of this attack depends on the punch button pressed for this attack's button combination. Good as an anti-air, and has fast startup. Like the Flash Attack, this is also usable in the air.
Burning Vigor Attacks
- Super Flash Attack (Japanese: スーパーフラッシュ攻撃 Super Flash Kougeki) - This is the five-hit version of the Flash Attack, and is a good Air Combo finisher as well.
- Assault Interview (Japanese: 突撃インタビュー Totsugeki Interview) - This is the most damaging Burning Vigor Attack (as of Project Justice). Ran approaches the opponent, who then does different poses (varies with the character) while Ran does snapshots at different angles. The last snapshot deals the damage. Startup, however, is horrible; it takes luck to get this to successfully connect.
Team-Up Technique
- Climactic Scoop (Japanese: いただきスクープ Itadaki Scoop) - Ran, the active character, and the opponent all pose in front of the camera, which takes multiple shots of all three in different poses. The last shot launches the opponent into the air, from which an Air Combo can be connected if the player is fast enough. Startup attack, however, has almost no range at all, making this somewhat difficult to connect.
Party-Up Technique
- Ran does the Horse Riding Smash.
Trivia
- The Kanji for her given name (蘭) literally means 'orchid'.
- Her epihet is "Scoop Girl".
- Her name is a play on Dan Hibiki from Street Fighter. It has been speculated that they are related.
- The following details on Ran's life is as described.
- She excels in Japanese language and art, but fares poorly in home economics and mathematics.
- She also looks for the "juicy scoops" outside school, but this is a debatable issue on whether this qualifies as a part-time job of hers or not. Taiyo High policy prohibits students from having part-time jobs.
- Her family life remains undisclosed to this day.
- Although she represents Taiyo High, she is not playable at all in either of Taiyo High's two storylines in Project Justice; she was only mentioned having taken a picture of upperclassman Kyosuke Kagami grieving over the death of his twin brother Hyo Imawano after the fight in the burning Justice High building. Some fans speculate that this must be the reason of why Kyosuke has not yet returned to Taiyo High after the incident.
- As per its description, her Film Change can actually be seen as parallel to reloading bullets in a revolver (also known as a six-shooter), since a revolver normally carries six bullets, hence the alternative term for the weapon.
- She is voiced by Akiko Hiramatsu.
Gallery
