Rouge

Rouge is a young girl who traveled to Nerima in search of Pantyhose Taro, who she believed had stolen "the source of her powers". Like many of the other characters (Shampoo, Mousse and Cologne) she is named after a beauty product.

Personality
Rouge is generally presented as "over-feminine". She is vain, shy, melodramatic, sensitive to the point of easily fainting when mentally exhausted, and fond of traditionally "girlish" superstition like astrology and blood groups. Very polite, somewhat helpful, and apparently compassionate in her regular state, but also violently vengeful when upset, and mostly disregards any damage she causes, or doesn’t act consistent with her regret, alternately thinks it’s a "sign of bad luck". She’s compared entering her "Asura" form with going into a trance.

An Asura is a Hindu demon/god that is said to be extremely powerful. These three-faced, six-armed creatures are described as being very aggressive. In this state Rouge's personality turns far more brash and destructive, greatly enjoying to fight, eat, and blow things up, being comparatively "over-masculine". Her mind is apparently split into three mostly identical, independently sentient parts.

Rouge
Akane takes Rouge back to the Tendo Dojo after she finds her in a fountain which a large ball of light had fallen in to, which caused the water to boil. After introducing herself to Nabiki and Kasumi Rouge explains that she was taking a wash in a hot spring when an "armed venomous snake-like, ugly, vulgar lecher". Just then Pantyhose Taro, who'd been unconscious in the other room, appears behind her and tells Rouge if she tells them anything he'll beat her to death, but before Pantyhose can do anything Soun and Ranma step in and beat Pantyhose back to the floor. Rouge tells Pantyhose she'll forgive him if he returns what he stolen from her. Pantyhose then runs away by turning into his cursed form scaring Rouge in the process. Once Pantyhose leaves Rouge faints and she is put in a separate so she can rest.

As Rouge rests Happosai enters through a window, knocking a vase of water onto Rouge. This causes Rouge to awaken and transform, she then leaves her room and asks where the vulgar bastard who stole from her is. Ranma and Akane, who came to see what the noise was, are shocked by what they see in front of them. As the two of them stare the creature gets extra faces and says that she'll pursue the person who stolen from her to the end of the earth. The creature uses a very hot wind which prevents Ranma or Akane from doing anything. The creatures then blasts through the roof and begins to look in every direction the person who stole from her. As the creature leaves Ranma and Akane deduce that it must've been Rouge.

After Ranma finds Pantyhose, Rouge quickly follows and a battle between Pantyhose and her ensues. At first Pantyhose jumps into a fountain to turn into his cursed form, but Rouge simply causes the water to boil making Pantyhose turn back. Rouge then fires some flames out of her mouth, which Pantyhose manages to avoid. However, after Pantyhose gets distracted by Ranma, Rouge manages to land a successful hit. But just as Rouge is about to finish off Pantyhose she runs away.

Later on, after Akane finds out from the Jusenkyo Guide what curse Rouge has (that being she fell Ashiuruonīchuan, the spring of drowned Asura), Rouge comes through the roof of the Tendo Dojo. Rouge then begins talking with her other two heads and decides to stay until her thoughts are settled, eating much of the Tendo's food in the process.

The next day, Rouge helps Ranma, Akane and Nabiki to repair all the damage done to Tendo Dojo the night before. Just as all of them sit to eat lunch the roof caves in as Pantyhose Taro enters in his cursed form. Pantyhose then changes back into his human form and asks if then things in his hand are the "Source of Power" that Rouge is always talking about. Rouge then attempts to take back the "Source of Power" but Pantyhose quickly closes his hand and moves it out of her reach. Rouge then believes that if she goes on a date with Pantyhose he'll return the "Source of Power", however, Pantyhose quickly dispels this fantasy and asks her how to use the "Source of Power".

Rouge then says she can't cause anymore trouble to these good people and she'll sort this problem herself. She then pours a bucket of water over herself and turns into her Asura form, as Pantyhose quickly turns into his cursed form as well. Rouge then tells Pantyhose that the "Source of Power" is her's and no one else can use it. She then uses her "Asura Flash" to blind Pantyhose temporarily. This is quickly followed by her "Asura Fire" which prevents Pantyhose from getting close to her.

Despite seemingly having the advantage, Akane notes that as long as Pantyhose has the "Source of Power" he has a chance. Pantyhose then tries to punch Rouge and manages to hit Rouge, this causes Soun to notice that her movements are slower then before and Ranma concludes that she needs the "Source of Power" to maintain her energy. But just as Pantyhose is about to land a successful punch it begins to rain and, due to the heat given off by Rouge's cursed form, it turns into steam and she turns back into her human form and then begins to fall. Pantyhose manages to catch Rouge and begins to squeezing her, planning to squash her to death.

Seemingly accepting her fait, Rouge tells Pantyhose that she'll tell him how to use the "Source of Power". However, Rouge turns back into her cursed form (due to the rain becoming cold again) and steals the "Source of Power" from Pantyhose as he caught her in the hand he was holding the "Source of Power" in. Rouge then places the "Source of Power" on her back and continues to fight Pantyhose.

With Rouge now having the Source of her Power in her possession she is now able to easily defeat Pantyhose and sending him falling down to the ground. Pantyhose ends up landing in the Tendo bathroom's bath and turns back into his human form. Rouge is about finish off Pantyhose, however, Ranma protects him with some frying pans. Ranma then decides to pair up with Pantyhose as neither can do it alone and he (Ranma) doesn't want to see the Tendo Dojo destroyed more than it already is.

The two then return to fight Rouge, now with an arsenal of cooking equipment. Rouge tries to attack Ranma with her Fire Breath, but Ranma stops it with a pan. However, Ranma ends up accidentally burns Pantyhose's head, much to his annoyance. After Pantyhose gets his own back on Ranma, Ranma tries to turn Rouge into her non-cursed self by throwing a Tetsubin at her. However, this just hits one of Rouge's heads and makes her even more angry.

Rouge tells them they'll suffer for this humiliation and she executes her "Fire Dragon Great Circle Dance" and engulfs both Ranma and Pantyhose is a whirlwind of flames. While Rouge is distracted with her technique, Pantyhose throws Ranma above the whirlwind flames so he can hit Rouge with his Frying Pan. However, another one of Rouge's heads notices and uses her fireballs and fire breath to try and stop him, but to no avail, and Ranma hits Rouge hit the frying pan.

Ranma tries to hit Rouge again, but Pantyhose grabs him as it turns out the fireballs Rouge threw were the Source of her Power and are now lodged in the frying pan. After Pantyhose takes the Source of Rouge's Power he discards Ranma, who, luckily, lands on Rouge's back (much to her annoyance). Ranma tells Rouge there's nothing to worry about as he has the Source of her Power in his hand. Ranma then uses his "Empty-Handed Filial Piety Random Strike" which seems to return Rouge's power back to what it was before.

This return of her power makes Rouge use her "Thunder Heaven Snakes Retribution" technique which creates a large lighting storm. At first Pantyhose seems to avoid the lighting with ease, but Rouge sees him and hits him with another lighting bolt which connects due to the metal frying pan he's still holding. However, this causes Pantyhose to let go of the frying pan, which hits Rouge on the head and she too falls to the ground with Pantyhose.

Some time later and Rouge has turned back into her human form and is now crying over the loss of the Source of her Power which was destroyed along with the frying pan. Rouge then blames Pantyhose for this so begins to hit him with various nearby objects. Eventually Ranma tells her to stop and come with him. When Rouge enquires where, Ranma says they're going to get her more of the Source of her Power, much to her excitement and surprise that people sell it.

Ranma, Akane, Rouge and Pantyhose go to a drug store, where it turns out that the Source of Rouge's Power is nothing more than magnetic plasters, which loosens up stiff shoulders and makes movement easier. Rouge explains that when you have six arms you're shoulders become very stiff (meaning that Ranma's "Empty-Handed Filial Piety Random Strike" was nothing more than a back-rub). Rouge buys a large quantity of the magnetic plasters and leaves.

Abilities
Rouge seems almost completely unable to fight in her normal form. Her cursed form, however, is one of the characters with highest amount of raw power ever to appear in the series, but also seems quite physically weak and susceptible to impacts, when compared to the cast of highly trained martial artists. Being unexpectedly hit to the head by a frying pan, falling from just a few meters above, immediately made her unconscious. However, given her ability to hover and attack from out of reach this has not constituted a serious problem. Beyond this weakness, her three separate minds can occasionally make it very difficult to make quick decisions.

Rouge is capable of effortlessly flying for extended periods, including chasing cursed Taro from China to Japan under the span of a sunny afternoon to a dark evening/early night.

Thunder Heaven Snakes Retribution: A blitz of multiple lightning bolts streaming from her hands, taking considerable manoeuvrability to evade, and momentarily stunning Ranma when holding on to her. Alternately summoned as a single, and much wider, focused strike from above, which appears to be her strongest attack, as the full power, combined with the impact from falling about 50 meters to the ground, was enough to knock out cursed Taro for several minutes.

Six-Fisted Random Comet Shots: She uses all of her six arms to throw several miniature blazing meteors, capable of briefly stunning the behemoth and sending him plummeting towards the ground.

Flaming body: A protective sheath of flames, singeing the hand of Taro's cursed form, forcing him to release his grip on her.

Fire Dragon Great Circle Dance: Rouge’s most impressive feat. She continuously twirls her body, resulting in a turbulent revolving inferno, approximately 40-50 meters across. Literally a firestorm, which Ranma found painfully hot, and was able to bother Taro-chimera through prolonged exposure.

Fire Breath: A stream of fire from any of her 3 mouths. It stunned Ranma for 5-10 seconds when distracted from the skirmish by arguing with Pantyhose, and was likely the sucker-attack that took down Happosai for at least 1-2 minutes, when catching the latter unawares.

Fireballs: Small spheres of fire thrown from her hands. Instantly boiling a small fountain of water.

Asura flash: She projects an omni-directional, temporarily blinding burst of light.

Shining Nimbus: She is frequently surrounded by a glowing globular corona, roughly 12 meters across, which might be useful to light her way at night.

Non-canon Appearances

 * Rouge only appears in the manga. However she makes an appearance as the boss of the video game Ranma ½: Battle Renaissance, in which she was voiced by Kumiko Nishihara. There was also a planned English version where she was going to be voiced by Lynda Boyd. However, it was canceled for unknown reasons.

Trivia

 * Rouge is one of the few characters in Ranma ½ to have either her blood type or star sign known, those being A and virgo respectively.