Tofu Ono

Tofu Ono is a fictional character in Rumiko Takahashi's anime and manga series Ranma ½. His name means "east wind axe".

History
Dr. Tofu is a chiropractor who runs a moxibustion and acupuncture clinic in Furinkan. His office is located near the Tendo dojo and has known their family for a long time. In addition to his medical skills, he is very knowledgeable about martial arts techniques although he is never seen practicing. He is also one of the earliest to realize the potential of Ranma and Akane's relationship and skillfully nudges them in the right direction from the very beginning.

For a time, he employed both Genma Saotome (in the panda form) and Shampoo as assistants. While Shampoo resigns her position as Tofu's nurse to become a waitress and delivery girl for the Nekohanten, owned by her great-grandmother, it is unknown whether or not Genma Saotome remains in his employment.

Tofu is a minor character, particularly in the manga, from which he disappears after volume 12. He is at his most important in the first few volumes, where he treats injuries suffered by Ranma & Akane and helps nudge them together. His most important acts in the manga consist of: telling Ranma that Akane is really a very sweet girl and secretly hitting a pressure point so Ranma's legs will go out, causing the two of them to start becoming more friendly after Akane piggybacks Ranma home, telling Ranma that he will need formula #119 shampoo to cure the Xi Fa Xiang Gao shiatsu attack on Akane, bringing a copy of the recipe to Ranma so he can make it (only to destroy it in one after one of his Kasumi fits), giving Ranma a once-off cure for the Full-Body Cat's Tongue pressure point, identifying the Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion used on Ranma and directing them to a temple where they can find a cure.

His role in the anime is expanded somewhat, but he is still a minor character. In addition to his acts in the manga, his mother Kin appears and tries to marry him off in "Pelvic Fortune Telling!? Ranma is the #1 Bride in Japan?" (neither of his parents are ever mentioned in the Manga), Akane is taken to his clinic in "Akane Goes to the Hospital" to recuperate after fracturing her leg, he patches up the anime-only character Yasukichi after he gets savaged by a dog (for which the grateful egg-catcher tries to help him hook up with Kasumi) in "The Egg-Catching Man", he helps Ranma protect a baby dragon from the Frog Hermit in "The Tendo Dragon Legend" (his final appearance in the series), and he tries to take Kasumi on a date to an amusement park, only for the entire Tendo household to tag along as well, in the episode "Tendo Family Goes to the Amusement Park".

Character
As the local physician, Dr. Tofu is often seen as very knowledgeable and quite serious, especially when it comes to medical attention. However, this serious nature is counterbalanced by two distinct mannerisms. First, he has a habit of punctuating his medical discussions by playfully referencing his full-size skeleton model, which he refers to as Betty. Second, and much more serious, is what happens whenever Kasumi Tendo crosses his path.

Unfortunately, whenever he sees the eldest daughter of Soun Tendo, his glasses fog over and he stops paying any attention to what he's doing - to the point that he can unknowingly become a danger to himself and the people around him. His patients have long learned to stay away from him when Kasumi is around, and the anime shows several humorous examples of what Dr. Tofu does when he is under the influence of love. On at least two different occasions, he has taken his skeleton and danced around town with it on his back after simply talking to her on the telephone. People who witness these antics often comment that "he's usually such a good doctor."

Even more unfortunately, Kasumi is completely oblivious to the effect she has on him, dismissing any of his unusual actions with the same casual air with which she addresses much of the insanity that occurs within the Tendo household. In a similar manner, Dr. Tofu was unaware of the crush Akane had had on him for years. In the anime, his mother Kin revealed this to be a family trait. According to her, Tofu's father - who looked exactly like Tofu would if he had grown a mustache - used to behave in exactly the same way when they were dating. The source of Tofu's infatuation with Kasumi is unknown, but flashbacks show that he's clearly been like this since Akane was a little girl.

Although Akane says he is a good martial artist and Ranma admits Tofu is skilled enough to hide his presence, he never actually gets into a fight in the manga. Instead, he only uses his knowledge of pressure points to help Ranma and the others. In fact, he was able to strike Ranma in such a precise manner that a very exact amount of time later—he is actually shown counting down—both of Ranma's legs, without warning, temporarily gave out completely. In the anime, Tofu has a small battle against the frog hermit, where he uses his knowledge of pressure points to completely paralyze his foe and his frogs for a time.

It is believed that Dr. Tofu is considered to be one the most skilled martial artists in the series (considering said battle) if he were to fight.

Trivia

 * Translated literally, "Tōfū Ono" means "east wind axe," a Japanese idiom for "the wind that brings the spring." In relation to the character's personality, it means nothing.


 * Tofu does not appear in the OAV's but he did appear in the OAV ending theme Red Shoe Sunday. He is the man in the black suit and sunglasses who is watching Kasumi while she is at the harbor. Kasumi's lyrics in this song heavily imply that she likes him and is waiting for him to make the first move.