Chapter 352

Chapter 352
Name
Japanese	迷惑!! あばれ絵馬
Romanized	Meiwaku!! abare ema
English	Drawn and Quartered Horse/Drawn-and-Quartered Horse
Information
Chapter	352
Volume	31 (Viz Media) 33 (Tankōbon/Shinsoban)
Chronology
Previous:	← Chapter 351
Next:	Chapter 353 →

Drawn-and-Quartered Horse (迷惑!! あばれ絵馬, Meiwaku!! abare ema^?) or "Drawn and Quartered Horse" in the first Viz Translation, is the 352nd chapter of the Ranma ½ manga and only chapter of the Horse Prayer Tablet Arc.

Summary

Ranma, Akane and Hinako head to a local temple where the charms students have placed for good luck in their scholastic future are being destroyed. There they meet Ukyo, who is filling in for the miko who ran off when the trouble began. Soon the priest shows everyone the charms that are being destroyed, which show a crudely drawn horse on them.

Plot Overview

Ranma and Akane are walking with Hinako to the local Shinto temple. Whilst they walk, Hinako explains that there's been someone destroying the Ema charms which students offer when taking their school entrance exams. She then says (whilst stuffing her face of food) that it's her job as a teacher to stop it, Ranma just replies "yeah, yeah" and tells Hinako to just stop talking with her mouth full.

The group find Ukyo working as a Miko at the Shinto.

When the trio arrive they're greeted by Ukyo, who's dressed as a Miko and sweeping up more broken Ema charms. The group then go to see the Shinto's Priest, who explains that soon people will be making their first visits to the temple of New Year, but with all these incidents all the Mikos have been scared away and at this rate his Shinto shrine will close. Ranma, meanwhile, wonders just who would do a thing like this.

A little later, Akane, Ukyo and Ranma (who's turned into his female form) are dressed as Mikos and have set up a large number of false Emas to try and lure out the culprit. Ranma then notices that all the charms have a rather crudely drawn horse on them. Hinako and the Priest appear and the Priest tells Ranma to stop embarrassing him, but Ranma notes that she wasn't exactly giving praise either.

The Priest then explains that at the shrine he raises a very sacred and divine horse by the name "Pure success", or Shussemaru for short. Akane is surprised that the horse is real, but Ranma and Ukyo can't get over how awful the drawing is. The Priest then proceeds to give them his autograph, which includes a very well drawn self-portrait. As Akane and Ukyo admire the Priest's artistic talent, Ranma deduces that this horse must look like he does on the charms.

Shussemaru appears and looks exactly like the Ema charms depict him.

At that moment, Shussemaru appears and sure enough looks exactly like he does on the charms. After destroying the false Emas, Shussemaru trots off, leaving Ranma and Akane in completely silence. Akane and Ranma then both note that the picture was a very realistic one, much to Priest's embarrassment. Hinako quickly declares that there's no time to be standing around and chases after Shussemaru, but gets distracted by a nearby dumpling stand.

Just then a a young couple arrive to give their Ema charm so that they can go to same college together. Angered by his portrait, Shussemaru kicks the male holding the charm into the air before destroying the charm. Ranma then hits Shussemaru with a mallet, but gets hit in the face by Shussemaru's hoof. After a quick moment's contemplation, Ranma throws some Reins over Shussemaru and begins to drive him away from the Ema charms.

Meanwhile, visitors begin flooding into the shrine asking for Ema charms. Back with Ranma, she decides that the sacred horse is just another dumb animal and plans to keep it away from the Emas. However right after Shussemaru runs under a tree with a low-hanging branch and knocks Ranma off. Shussemaru then runs over to the Emas, causing chaos within a crowd so Ukyo and Akane tries to stop it, however, they both quickly give up when Shussemaru begins to sneeze and they flee from the mucus that flies towards them.

Shussemaru poses for the girls so they can draw more flattery portraits of him.

Shussemaru then proceeds to destroy the Ema charms. With tears running down his face, the Priest tells Shussemaru that he drew him perfectly and they look just like him. As the Priest gets hit with Shussemaru's hoof, Akane tells the Priest that that's the problem. Akane and Ukyo suggest that they draw Shussemaru more attractively, an idea which Shussemaru seems to be in agreement with.

Hinako returns to see the girls drawing Shussemaru. She looks at Ranma's drawing first, but confuses Ranma's attempt at drawing Shussemaru with a Mantis and the unimpressed Shussemaru hits Ranma with his hoof. Shussemaru then looks at Akane's attempt, which is even worse than Ranma's, but he can't bring himself to hit Akane, much to Ranma's frustration.

Ukyo then reveals her very impressive attempt (which Ranma puts down to Ukyo's cooking skill), however, Shussemaru isn't satisfied with it and draws what he believes he looks like to the others. The group is very impressed with Shussemaru skills, but it doesn't look very realistic any more. Hinako then childishly scribbles on Shussemaru's self-portrait and the group are subsequently chased by the angered horse.

After hearing about the Boar Mantenmaru, Akane and Ukyo decide to just go home.

After running away from Shussemaru for a short while, Hinako uses her Happo Five-Yen Satsu to absorb Shussemaru's chi. After Hinako gloats about how dangerous the situation was, Ranma reminds her that it was her fault that they ended up in it. Akane then reminds the group that it doesn't solve the problem, as so long as Shussemaru is on the Ema charms, he'll keep coming back and destroying them. The Priest then comes up with a suggestion and draws a slightly less sacred Wild Boar on an Ema charm.

Once they look at the crudely drawn Boar, Ranma puts two-and-two together and rhetorically asks the Priest if he's also raised a sacred Boar at the shrine. The Priest replies that he has and it's called "perfect", or Mantenmaru for short. As Mantenmaru angrily sits behind the Priest, Akane and Ukyo decides they've had enough and head back home.

Characters in Order of Appearance

• Akane Tendo
• Ranma Saotome
• Hinako Ninomiya
• Ukyo Kuonji
• Shussemaru
• Shinto Priest
• Fugu and Uni
• Mantenmaru

Quotes

To be added

Trivia

• The English title for this chapter is a pun on the traditional English penalty of being Hanged, drawn and quartered.
• Ranma is depicted holding a gohei on the title page, which is typically used by a shrine priest or miko in various Shinto rituals.
• Ema charms are the wooden signs that are hung from trees in temples. They are traditionally taken down and burned to offer their prayers and wishes to the heavens.
• The girls' temporary role as mikos is a possible nod to Sakura, a miko in Rumiko Takahashi's prior manga, Urusei Yatsura.
• The names of the two people who offer up an ema, Fugu and Uni, are named after a Japanese pufferfish and the Japanese word for Sea Urchin, respectively.
• The chapter reveals that Ukyo has decent artistic talent, Ranma is so-so, and Akane has nearly none. This ties in with Ranma's comment about a chef being an artist and is another reflection of how their cooking skills stack up against each other.