Jizo (じぞう, Jizō?) is a stone statue of the bodhisattva of the same Ksitigarbha name that is located in a small shrine near some stairs.
Biography[]
After Mousse gives the statue a scarf that was originally intended for Shampoo, Jizo seeks to repay him by giving him what he desires the most, namely, dates with Shampoo. It does this by assuming Shampoo’s form and coming to visit Mousse at the Cat Café that same night. Although Jizo hardly looks like the real Shampoo and is a very heavy statue, Mousse believes that it really is her and does not notice its weight. He goes on a series of dates with Jizo in the guise of Shampoo over the next several nights which to him appear romantic and elegant, but are really gross exaggerations of the mundane surroundings that the dates take place in. Usually at the statue's shrine.
The Jizo statue disguised in Shampoo form
These dates and his normal work greatly tax Mousse and raise Shampoo’s suspicions over his sudden change in behavior. With Ranma and Akane, she tails Mousse to one of his rendezvous with Jizo. Seeing an opportunity to finally get him off her back, she eagerly gives him to the statue. Ranma tries to get Mousse’s scarf back from Jizo and lift its hold on him, but his attempts are successfully rebuffed.
The Jizo statue disguised in Ranma form
When Mousse is eventually put in a cage in the Cat Café to restrain him, Jizo comes for him by breaking through a wall and helping him escape. Later Jizo again rebuffs Ranma’s attempts to take back the scarf, but it eats some ramen that Shampoo was tricked into delivering by Akane. Wanting to repay Shampoo, Jizo then takes on Ranma’s likeness. It is only after Shampoo gives Mousse a scarf that she was originally knitting for Ranma that Jizo considers its debt to Mousse paid and ceases to transform, staying in its shrine with the scarf that he gave it. While the characters believed the statue was trying to kill Mousse, they conclude that it had no malicious intentions and he was simply fatigued due to never sleeping during this time.
Trivia[]
- Though it only appears in the manga, one of the Seven Lucky Gods martial artists from the first movie, Wu bears a vague resemblance to Jizo.