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Ken Takakura (
He is an occult fanatic, mainly a believer in aliens and UFOS, who was living an introverted school life until he met Momo Ayase from school. After a bet with her leads to them forming a friendship and having his kintama missing from being cursed by the Turbo Granny, Okarun makes it his mission to find what he has lost with help from Momo and other allies as they overcome any paranormal obstacles along the way.
Appearance
Okarun is a teenager of short height and slender build with brown hair (black hair in the anime), brown eyes and he wears round-frame glasses. Originally, Okarun's hair was fashioned in a bowl cut, but it has since become unruly after his confrontation with the Flatwoods Monster. Though he was initially very skinny, Okarun has gained toned muscles as a result of his dedication to strength training and the numerous battles he faced dealing with spirits and aliens.
While he is one of the few characters that can be seen wearing a variety of outfits, his most common attire is his school uniform, which is a typical gakuran outfit.
Gallery
.png "Child Okarun (Anime).png (800 KB)")
Personality
Okarun is a self-described socially awkward individual who has a consuming interest for the paranormal with his main focus being the existence of aliens and cryptids. This interest goes all the way back to his childhood where he tried to make contact with aliens in a desperate attempt to make friends, having grown up without a single one in his life due to constant bullying. As a result, Okarun developed an inferiority complex where he believes that he is incapable of fitting in with others or that people are better off not associating with him. Even after making friends with Momo Ayase, Okarun still seems to retain some low self-esteem. After Jiji stepped back into Momo's life, Okarun thought to himself that he could not compete with him when it came to being her friend based on his observation on how entertained Momo was being around him and had almost come close to ending his friendship with her as to not be a bother. According to Momo, Okarun's real problem with making friends was that he was too quick to make assumptions about others judging him, which resulted in him subconsciously keeping others at arm's length.
Okarun is an altruistic person who believes that it is only right to help others when they are in trouble. A noticeable example being how he offered Mr. Mantis Shrimp his kintama for him to sale and earn funds for his son's blood transfusion. As a friend, he is fiercely loyal and protective as he will not allow others to get away with harming those whom he has formed a bond with, such as how he furiously attacked the Evil Eye for harming Momo and taking over Jiji's body.
Before learning that spirits truly walk among the living, Okarun was first skeptical of their existence since he believed that there were logical explanations as to why people would come to the conclusion of this paranormal activity.
Okarun is also formal to a fault as he can never bring himself to address his friends or allies by their first names or nickname without a polite suffix added. The only exception to this is Jiji since the latter will ignore him if he does so. It is because of this characteristic that Momo could tell that Reiko Kashima was impersonating Okarun, due to referring to Jiji as "Jiji-san". The only time he is heedless to formality is when he shifts to his Turbo Granny form.
Background
Ever since elementary school, Ken had a hard time fitting in with the crowd and was constantly picked on by others. In an effort to make any friends, he tried contacting aliens, which eventually developed into an obsession.
Abilities and Powers
Natural Abilities
Physical Prowess
Athleticism: As a result of the many paranormal obstacles he had to overcome, Okarun boasts great physical fitness that is on par with an athlete. During a physical fitness test, he completed a 50-meter sprint in just 5.8 seconds, surpassing his own expectation of 9 seconds, threw a handball 35 meters, reached 3.6 meters for the standing long jump, managed 80 steps for the sidestep test and completed 120 shuttle runs. Overall, he outperformed the rest of his class and still retained more stamina than them.
Former Abilities and Powers
Supernatural Abilities
| Spiritual Awareness | ||
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Okarun is able to clearly see spirits, such as earthbound spirits and yokai. This also makes him one of the rare few who are able to enter Empty Space. | ||
| Turbo Granny Form | ||
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Okarun possessed the spiritual power of Turbo Granny after only the yokai's consciousness was extracted out of his body by Seiko and Momo. Initially, Okarun was only able to enter this mode while still being cursed by Turbo Granny and with help from Momo's psychokinesis powers to suppress the curse from his head, thereby allowing him to control his body. After the yokai's powers were accidentally left inside him, Okarun became able to enter the transformation willingly. When accessing this power, Okarun's hair flared up and turned white, gained two thick vertical stripes across his eyes, and had a noticeable dark jaw mask with a row of multiple teeth. Underneath his clothing, Okarun's body was given a more muscular definition, while forcing his posture to become hunch-like, and the nails on his hands and toes became sharpened and black. The clothes he chose to wear were also slightly altered to become flame-like. Okarun's mental state also changed in addition to his physical, giving him a depressing personality and a strange tendency to say "yo" at the end of his sentences. |
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| Enhanced Speed | ||
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| Strengths | ||
  Okarun's enhanced speed and reflexes allowing him to dodge a barrage of explosive musical notes. After assuming the form for the first time, Okarun's body reacted fast enough to move out of the way of the Flatwoods Monster's attack after it had come a few seconds close to crushing him. As the Earthbound Spirit Crab chased him, he was able to cover some ground in Shono City and managed to keep the earthbound spirit from catching him. After Aira took a hit from Bamora, Okarun was able to quickly reach her from a considerable distance away to save her just in time from being struck by another attack. This speed also allowed him to keep up and overwhelm the likes of the Evil Eye, a formidable yokai who had proven himself on multiple occasions to be too difficult of an opponent to fight singlehandedly. In terms of combat rhythm, Turbo Granny proclaimed that her speed should allow Okarun to make five different actions in a single beat. | ||
| Weaknesses | ||
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Okarun was limited to using All-Out for only two sprints, as the intense supernatural speed put too much strain on his human body. Once the limit had been reached, Okarun ended up reverting back to normal and was left barely able to move for a short period of time. However, after further training to adapt to the form, Okarun's body no longer ached after reaching his limit, though this drawback was liable to return if he ran for too long. Okarun was also unable to swim since Turbo Granny did not possess the capabilities to. | ||
| Usage | ||
  Okarun attacking the Evil Eye in a repeated succession. Okarun used this power in combat or to put some distance between himself and his enemies. When engaging foes in close combat, Okarun relied on his speed to make swift physical attacks that gave his opponent no window of opportunity to counter, with his attacks taking the form of a series of squats and headbutts. When partnered with his allies, Okarun could use his speed to quickly jump in and move them out of the way of incoming attacks, or carry them on his back to either catch up with a target on the move or make a necessary escape. After receiving training from Turbo Granny herself to properly harness her power, Okarun managed to improve his combat rhythm. This was shown in his battle against the Music Room Portraits, where he effectively used his enhanced speed and reflexes to evade the tulpas' barrage of explosive musical notes by recalling the rhythm of the hayashi music and defeating them with a succession of five headbutts at once, so fast that he left afterimages. Later, he was capable of dodging the Evil Eye's multiple grudge ball attacks, whereas he had previously struggled to dodge even one in his first fight with the yokai.   Okarun launching himself at Acrobatic Silky. Since All-Out came from the boost in leg strength, Okarun was able to launch himself with great force like a missile, which was his preferred method of attack. The charging speed was great enough to have Okarun get through a crowd of possessed citizens and send Acrobatic Silky, a large body yokai, crashing back and left badly injured to stand up for a short amount of time. Most incredibly, Okarun was able to split the giant body of the Serpo Dover Demon Nessie in half. While running from the Earthbound Spirit Crab, Okarun was also shown capable of using All-Out to keep himself and Momo afloat in the air long enough to land on city ground by having his legs rotate around his body like a helicopter’s rotary wings. | ||
| Enhanced Durability | ||
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Okarun also gained an increase in durability as well, as he was capable of withstanding his own launching attacks and endured attacks from powerful opponents such as the Evil Eye. | ||
| Enhanced Bite Force | ||
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Okarun's mouth mask gave him an immense bite force, as he was able to bite off all five fingers from the Flatwoods Monster's left hand. | ||
| Telephone Wire Transportation | ||
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| Strengths and Weaknesses | ||
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While it took some time to reach a desired place, Okarun was able to instantly teleport to his intended location if he transversed an active telephone line being made by a person from where he wished to go. This ability also helped to accelerate Okarun’s immense speed once he ejected from a telephone wire and continued to move, being so fast that his movements appeared to be akin to lightning rippling through the area. When traveling via a telephone wire, Okarun found it hard to reach his intended destination when there were multiple telephone lines to travel across. He also could not remain within a telephone wire for long periods of time due to the spiraling magnetic field ejecting him out rather quickly. Okarun’s traverse was also disrupted if his opponent severed the telephone wire he was within, causing him to be ejected out. | ||
| Usage | ||
  Okarun instantly takes down a few Kur from ejecting out of a telephone wire. Okarun was able to apply his telephone line transportation ability in battle. By continuing to be on the run after ejecting out of a telephone wire, Okarun’s immense speed became augmented, allowing him to attack his foes in the blink of an eye. During the battle against the Kur, he was able to instantly take down multiple enemies before any one of them could react to his series of collisions. Using an All-Out that had been amplified by this speed, Okarun was able to completely destroy the spatial suit alien with a single collision before he could attack Momo. | ||
| Astral Projection | ||
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| Strength and Weaknesses | ||
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In this form, Okarun gained the ability to fly and was invisible to people who did not possess refined control of their spiritual power. He was limited to staying in this form for an unspecified short amount of time, as the longer he stayed, the thinner the cord linked to his physical body became until it detached. Once detached, he could never return to his body. | ||
Chapter Appearances
Kintama Hunt Saga
| 1. That's How Love Starts, Ya Know? | Debut |
| 2. That's A Space Alien, Ain't It?! | Appears |
| 3. It's a Granny Vs. Granny Clash! | Appears |
| 4. Let's Go to the John | Appears |
| 5. Kicking Turbo Granny's Ass | Appears |
| 6. Craving for Crab | Appears |
| 7. You're the Hundred kmph Granny | Appears |
| 8. Let's Eat Crab | Appears |
| 9. I Can't Find Him | Appears |
| 10. Like, Where Are Your Balls? | Appears |
| 11. You're a Rotten Tangerine, Ain't Ya? | Appears |
| 12. Seems He Finally Realized She's Cute | Appears |
| 13. A Dangerous Woman Arrives | Appears |
| 14. "Acrobatic Silky" Is Kinda Long | Appears |
| 15. Let's Just Call Her "Acro-Silky" | Appears |
| 16. Acro-Silky | Appears |
| 17. To A Kinder World | Appears |
| 18. Eat Some Somen Noodles or Something | Appears |
| 19. I've Got This Funny Feeling | Appears |
| 20. They're, Like, Back Again | Appears |
| 21. Gotta Put On Some Clothes! | Appears |
| 22. Momo Still Has Some Pent-Up Feelings | Appears |
| 23. You're Bothered, Aren't You? | Appears |
| 24. Merge! Serpo Dover Demon Nessie! | Appears |
| 25. It Makes Your Heart Race, Don't It?! | Appears |
| 26. We Picked Up A Kappa Monster | Appears |
| 27. Have You Ever Seen A Cattle Mutiliation? | Appears |
| 28. That's A Premonition About The Turmoils of Love! | Appears |
| 29. First Love! | Appears |
| 30. Don't Give Up! | Appears |
| 31. The Life of an Anatomical Doll | Appears |
| 32. Let's Go to the Cursed House | Appears |
| 33. Better Decide Which One's Into Her | Appears |
| 34. The Kito Family Is Coming | Appears |
| 35. Where's The Tsuchinoko Monster? | Appears |
| 36. The Kito Family's Old Lady | Appears |
| 37. Like, This Is the Legend of the Giant Snake | Appears |
| 38. Mongolian Death Worms Are Deadly | Appears |
| 39. The Evil Eye | Appears |
| 40. Contract | Appears |
| 41. Jiji the Prodigy | Appears |
| 42. Escape! Multistage! | Appears |
| 43. You Won't Get Away With This! | Appears |
| 44. That House Is a Damn Eyesore | Appears |
| 45. It's a Pump | Absent |
| 46. Put That Fire Out | Absent |
| 47. That's, Like, Way Deadly | Absent |
| 48. That UFO Is Awesome | Appears |
| 49. He's, Like, Sealed | Appears |
| 50. Let's All Carry Around Hot Water | Appears |
| 51. We Can All Stay There Together! | Appears |
| 52. The Hayashi Performers Are Here | Appears |
| 53. We Became a Family | Appears |
| 54. Get a Part-Time Job | Appears |
| 55. Moe Moe Tri-Beam | Appears |
| 56. Feeling Kinda Gloomy | Appears |
| 57. Scary Dudes at School | Appears |
| 58. Symphony No. 6 | Appears |
| 59. Symphony No. 9 | Appears |
| 60. You Can Do It, Okarun! | Appears |
| 61. The Evil Eye's Briefs | Appears |
| 62. I Want to Rebuild the House | Appears |
| 63. School Life | Appears |
| 64. The Secret Art of Being Attractive | Appears |
| 65. I Can't See Them! | Appears |
| 66. Hey, It's a Kaiju | Appears |
| 67. The Kaiju's Wicked Strong | Appears |
| 68. Kinta's Imagination | Appears |
| 69. Clash! Space Kaiju vs. Giant Robot! | Appears |
| 70. This Is How You Beat A Kaiju, Okay? | Appears |
| 71. I'm Sick of Robots and Kaiju! | Appears |
| 72. Somebody, Please Translate | Appears |
| 73. Let's Eat Some Takoyaki | Appears |
Current Saga
| 166. Is This a Little Fairy? | Appears |
| 167. Hey, There's Something There | Appears |
| 168. There's Someone Here | Absent |
| 169. Find The Culprit! | Appears |
| 170. A Suspicious Woman | Appears |
| 171. Corner the Perp! | Appears |
| 172. Those Pygmies Are Scary | Appears |
| 173. Corner the Criminal! | Appears |
| 174. Queen Sensei's Infirmary | Absent |
| 175. So Who's the True Perp? | Absent |
Anime Appearances
| 1. That's How Love Starts, Ya Know! | Debut |
| 2. That's a Space Alien, Ain't It?! | Appears |
| 3. It's a Granny vs. Granny Clash! | Appears |
| 4. Kicking Turbo Granny's Ass | Appears |
| 5. Like, Where Are Your Balls?! | Appears |
| 6. A Dangerous Woman Arrives | Appears |
| 7. To a Kinder World | Appears |
Etymology
- The name Ken means "healthy, strong" (健).
- Ken's surname Takakura means "tall, high" (高) (taka) and "warehouse, storehouse, barn, treasury, granary, cellar, magazine, godown, depository, elevator, storage place, repository, supply shed, grain elevator, stockpile, arsenal" (倉) (kura).
Trivia
- Okarun is listed as #2 among Yukinobu Tatsu's top 4 favorite characters in the series.[1]
- Much to Momo's dismay, Ken shares the same name as her favorite celebrity, Ken Takakura.
- Okarun's first name and white hair and black mouth mask when using Turbo Granny's power draws reference to Ken Kaneki from the series Tokyo Ghoul. The two also share the same Japanese voice actor Natsuki Hanae.
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