Waterproof Soap Arc

The  is the 27th story arc covered in the Ranma ½ manga, spanning five chapters. This arc was included in volume 12 of the  and volume 11 of the Viz Media tankōbon.

Plot Summary
Ryoga finds his way back to Furinkan and visits a bathhouse where Ranma, Genma, Shampoo, and Akane are also present. Shampoo tells Akane that she has some Waterproof Soap that will prevent her from changing into a cat when she gets wet. The soap slips out of Shampoo's hand and is picked up by Ryoga. He uses the soap and finds that he has become free of his curse. Now immune to cold water, Ryoga tries to ask Akane out, but is unable to do so. Ranma and Shampoo disguise themselves as the Kew and Pid (Ranma and Shampoo respectively) and tell Ryoga that Akane wants to meet him at the Healthy Leisure Land Spa to trick him into giving the soap back, but fails. Shampoo continues to look for the soap and Akane assumes that Shampoo and Ranma are trying to fix her up with Ryoga so they can go out together. Akane does so to spite Ranma.

Ryoga tries to take Akane somewhere that they can not be bothered, but his sense of direction keeps leading him astray. Akane figures out that Ranma is simply after Shampoo's soap. Shampoo uses a technique to make Akane hug Ryoga, leading him to believe that Akane likes him back. Shampoo gets the soap back but Ranma accidentally swallows it. Akane doesn't remember the hug, but Ryoga now begins destroying everything in his path to hug Akane back. Ranma helps her by switching clothes with Akane and receiving Ryoga's hug of inhuman strength. Ranma becomes disinterested in the soap once she figures out that its effects are temporary.

Major Events

 * Ryoga is temporarily cured of his curse with a special soap.
 * Ranma and Shampoo team up.
 * Akane unintentionally hugs Ryoga.

Changes in anime

 * The anime accidentally switches "Kew and Pid" names around. (In the English dub. Subtitles never mention their names). But they only pretend to be bath attendants, not Akane's friends.
 * In the anime, Genma never uses the soap.
 * In the haunted house, Ranma actually explains to Akane about the soap (she's still angry though).
 * Chapter 123 is extremely abridged. Leaving the haunted house leads almost immediately to Ranma swallowing the soap. (So Akane never hugged Ryoga, but he thinks she did it in the haunted house).

Characters Introduced

 * No characters were introduced in this arc.