/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Whether Ran is the shiki or the original kitsune doesn't matter as any "original" personality either is unrecoverable or never existed in the first place. Chen is described in her PCB profile to be the same in both personality and appearance with and without the shikigami possession, so Ran may not be any different if you could somehow remove the possession. Ran can disobey Yukari, show emotions, and act in revenge. If Yukari has to discipline Ran for doing something wrong, then she clearly has her own will.
>Ran Yakumo is strictly the shikigami, and the nine-tailed fox youkai she is possessing is an entirely different being.
I looked into the magazine article that references this, it leans heavily into the mindless automaton rendition and goes to note that Yukari prefers to see her act beyond her programming. At the same time her behavior in the games and other written works contradict this statement. Also note the concept that Ran is the shikigami is fairly recent as this article came out mid 2016, a little over 13 years after her debut. Before this, PMiSS (written from Akyuu's perspective), just makes a comparison to computers in reference to Ran preferring to examine existing things over new concepts. Of course, retcons can happen and ZUN may change his mind on how his characters are written, such as that 2016 article directly contradicting Chen's PCB profile by saying that the bakeneko she possesses is a clearly distinct being rather than not changing.
Though, just within PCB, Ran is her own character and is very easy to compare to Sakuya in Youmu in the respects that they're all loyal but free willed servants. She also didn't consider herself to be the shikigami, rather being "in shikigami possession" during her dialogue with Marisa.
Anyway, I think I will just ignore the retcon from the magazine, even if it was written by ZUN.
>>44178782
There's Youkai Kori Kassen - War of Fox and Badger which lets you play as either Ran or Mamizou, plays a bit like Great Fairy Wars but it's not translated.