Jusenkyo Guide

The Jusenkyo Guide is the caretaker of Jusenkyo, a cursed training ground in China filled with springs that transform anyone who falls into them into whatever drowned there last. He warns visitors of the dangers — usually moments too late.

Few characters set a story in motion quite like the Jusenkyo Guide, who made his debut in Ranma 1/2 #1 in 1993, courtesy of the legendary Rumiko Takahashi. This Viz publication brought Western readers into the wonderfully chaotic world of martial arts and transformation, and the Guide stands as one of its most memorable presences — a figure whose very role seems bound up in the strange, fateful place he oversees. Over the series' run through the early 2000s, he shares the page with an unforgettable ensemble including Genma Saotome, Soun Tendo, and the perpetually put-upon Ryoga Hibiki, keeping remarkably vivid company for a character with a modest seven catalog appearances. He may not dominate the page count, but as a fixture of one of the Copper/Modern Age's most beloved manga series, the Jusenkyo Guide is the kind of supporting presence that true fans of Takahashi's work will always be glad to encounter.