Romeo? Romeo? Romeo?!

Ore ga Romeo da (おれがロミオだ) is the 75th chapter of the manga and the second chapter of the Romeo and Juliet Arc.

The day of the play arrives and Ranma is nowhere to be found. Happosai, Kuno, and Gosunkugi are all still vying for the role, but Ranma arrives just in the nick of time encased in a block of cement, thanks to Happosai.

Akane's Search for Ranma
The day of the play has begun and large troupes of actors from other schools have gathered at Furinkan High School, all wanting to see China. Akane, meanwhile, is looking everywhere for Ranma. Worried, she heads to the dressing room for the possible Romeos, where Kuno, Happosai and Gosunkugi are preparing, but Ranma is still nowhere to be find. Kuno takes this as meaning that he can be Akane's Romeo so hugs her, overjoyed at this fact.

Unsurprisingly, Akane punches Kuno for his actions, but he still continues to talk about how terrified Ranma must be of him so gave up the role without a fight. Happosai, who's just finishing putting on some makeup, calls Ranma a snivelling coward for not showing up. He then jumps towards Akane, telling her not to fear as he'll be her Romeo, however, before he gets close to Akane, Ranma appears (encased in a block of concrete) and kicks the old lecher.

Happosai is disappointed that Ranma is still alive, to which Ranma angrily shouts at Happosai asking him if he thought that sealing him concrete and burying him in the yard would slow him down. Just then Ranma hears a voice saying that they're his number one fan and they're so glad he's going to play Romeo after all. Akane and Ranma are horrified when they see that the voice is coming from Gosunkugi, who's unconvincingly disguised as a girl.

Gosunkugi then gives Ranma a costume which he made for Ranma by himself and forcibly gives it to him before running out of the room. Gosunkugi then thinks to himself about the outfit contains a bomb so when Ranma's rendered incapacitated, he can be Romeo. Suddenly, however, Ranma appears and gives back the costume to Gosunkugi using the excuse of him being engaged so can't accept gifts from other girls. As the costume explodes in Gosunkugi's hands, Ranma walks off thinking what an idiot Gosunkugi is.

Ranma and Akane head outside, where Akane asks Ranma if he can handle being in the play. Ranma then tells Akane that he's got a trip to China riding on this play, so he'll become Romeo... and he wants Akane to become Juliet. This puts Akane aback slightly, but she then asks Ranma if he actually knows what Romeo and Juliet are to each other. Without a second moment's thought, Ranma says that they're brother and sister. After a brief moment of disbelief at Ranma's stupidity, Akane calmly tells Ranma that before the curtains go up... could he at least learn the story! She then proceeds to hit Ranma into the air with the script.

The Play Begins
It's late evening by the time that the Furinkan High Troupe can perform. Akane is ready for her role and recites her lines perfect, while the Director narrates and the would-be Romeos fight amongst themselves backstage. Happosai is the first to break from the fighting and goes straight for Akane, but is attacked by Kuno who in turn is attacked by Ranma.

As the three of them fight, the Director asks the audience who they believe to be the real Romeo, and Ranma appears to be the crowd favourite. Just then Akane is horrified when she realises that Gosunkugi disguised himself as the balcony so he could get close to Akane without having to fight. Luckily Ranma than appears, having dealt with Kuno and Happosai to kick Gosunkugi away.

Forcing the Kiss
With who will be Romeo finally dealt with, Akane continues by declaring "Oh Romeo!" to Ranma and waits for him to say his line. However, the pair just end up staring at each other in silence. This confuses some of the audience members, but others say that they're just performing a dramatic pause. Akane, still in character, asks Ranma if he learned his lines or not.

At that moment, Soun (dressed as a ) pushes Ranma towards Akane and tells him to hold her in his arms. Soun then whispers into Ranma's ear, telling him what he should say, however, this turns out to be a ploy by Soun who makes Ranma tell Akane that he'll pledge himself to marry her and take over her father's Martial Arts academy, causing much confusion in the audience. Soun then pushes Ranma a little closer to Akane telling him to do the big kissing scene.

This action causes a huge uproar of excitement from the ground, resulting in Akane to break character and tell them that it's just pretend. Genma (in his panda form) then appears, holding a sign which advertises the play as having "real kisses, live on stage", which Ranma quickly hits Genma for doing. Soun then removes his face mask and he and Genma attempt to force Akane and Ranma to kiss each other.

Ranma finally loses his patience and punches Soun and Genma, he then declares that he doesn't care if it's just a play, there's nothing that will make him kiss Akane! This angers Akane greatly who begins to attack Ranma with a tree that forms part of the scenery, meanwhile Genma holds up a sign telling the pair that their parents want them to kiss as Soun asks the pair why they must always fight. In the audience, some of the female members note what a tragedy this is.

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Akane Tendo
 * Tatewaki Kuno
 * Happosai
 * Hikaru Gosunkugi
 * Ranma Saotome (male)
 * The Director and his Assistant
 * Soun Tendo
 * Genma Saotome (panda)
 * Yuka and Sayuri

Trivia

 * The others group of actors include "", "" and "".
 * There is also a Snowman from Urusei Yatsura, a and a man dressed as  from Japanese folklore present as well.
 * Akane's costume is based on the one worn by in the  of . Ranma's is inspired by the one worn by  as well, with a few changes.
 * When Soun sneaks onto the stage he's dressed as a, who are stage hands in theatre.